Well, I guess I won't be joining you ladies. I haven't traded with anyone in the group before. Sandy has sent me something, and I've been in a swap group with Hazelnutbunny, but haven't swapped with either of them personally (at least I don't think I sent Sandy anything in trade for what she so graciously sent me - if I did Sandy, let the other Carol know)....so.....I have a proposition..... Since I really want to be in on the cookbook/food/goodies swap and join you fun sounding bunch of ladies, does anyone want to swap with 2 people? The one you get from the swap and with ME? THEN I will have a recorded swap with a group member and I can join you! Woohoo! Just think - double your pleasure, double for fun, with lots of stuff, lots of stuff, yum yum yum! lol If no one wants to - or if the hostess would prefer that I don't crash her reign - I'll understand, tuck my tail between my legs and start chanting 'no one loves me, everyone hates me, i'll just go eat worms!'....and sit in the corner for a while. Someone asked me where I work....I'm an LPN in a Veteran's Hospital, and yes, I have had plenty of things happen while I've been here. Especially since I went to the psych ward about 5 years ago. My first 12 years I spent on med/surg.....some good things happened there too. Like the night this really crotchety old coot got ticked off about something. I was in his room and he grabbed his urinal to empty it and left the room. I called after him that he had a bathroom there in his room, and he kept walking. The charge nurse was standing at the counter on the OUTSIDE of the nurses station, she had just reached over the counter and answered the phone. As I stood at his door calling to him, he walked passed her and without missing a step, raised his urinal and emptied down her back! Since she was someone I not only wasn't friends with, I actually couldn't stand her - I thought this was too too funny. She did not share my opinion. Oh, by the way, he was on the medical floor because he had gotten sick while on one of the psych wards....go figure! Maybe he thought she had moles/voles. LOL. Well, will get out of here for tonight. I still have cartoon to send out to soldiers, clothes to fold for my grandaughter that is going home tomorrow (sniff sniff) and have to be to work in 5 hours. Woe is me! Have a great day everyone Carol B

Fran, lol, thanks for NOT telling us! (Eggs & ketchup) It would probably turn me for good and this is only a once in a few months craving so please....lets let it go.....*grin* Dan hope you have a good trip and glad you and Fran have your boxes worked out, no problem! a residual effect of female hormones? Yes, probably! They're again, I craved cakes, pies, pasteries, etc when I was preggers almost 27 years ago, and since can't stand anything sweet. Love pound cake, but don't give me one with icing. Also, before that time I wouldn't eat any kind of greens, but craved them while preggers. Weird. I've eaten them ever since. Annie, sorry but great minds think alike and you're the winner in our book of the simplest and easiest and tastiest receipe! Love it, love it! Not that I don't love everyones else's and have copied them all and will be trying them:))) Tracy, that was so funny about the potato casserole receipe at the party, lol! Thank goodness she knows a good thing when she tastes it! Apparently it calmed her down! lol (Her good fortune, I'm sure) Fran! Congrat's on the iris! You done good girl! Annie, I'm closer to Fayetteville than Fran, I'm only an hour away, my step daughter lives there. Where I live here I'm only 10 miles from the SC/NC line and at the other house about the same to the NC/VA line, guess I like lines, lol. Hey think about it, how easy is it for me to be in 2 places at the same time? lol I'm so glad you don't have to work tonight after all, you sure deserve the time off! Thanks for posting Susie's receipes, she sent them to me too, bless her heart, I told her how my tomato bushes are just worn completely out, though they still have lots of tomato's on them,,all green. Now mind you I picked these off the bushes today, some are green because a storm knocked 2 bushes and frames down, so I had to bring them in. I had 2 pots on the stove blanching when I took this photo. Now mind you, I only have 6 plants, but I've never seen any produce harder. I've got 20 pint packs in the freezer now, I've given my SIL (3) plastic grocery bags full and this is what I picked today! And of course....a little suggie for those in need:)) (Notice the pout forming, my Mom took the pic as she was looking at me tell her to get out of there! lol) She does this u-turn with the bottom lip and 'holds' it there, lol. God I love this kid!!!!!! Sorry, okay, totally sidetracked....thanks so much Susie for the wonderful receipes, girl I have so many more tomatoes out there! I'll need them. Mariann, thank God someone noticed besides me! Thought my computer was going crazy! Its driving me nuts and only happened later today. Hope it straightens out soon, too hard to read. I've always wanted to try Fried Green Tomatoes, I've heard they taste like fried squash, which I love. Only way I'll eat squash. I do love chips in any sandwich, and I've got to try Tracy's receipe! I already know I'll love it! I have all the others copied too, did I already say that? Hummmmm, well if I did I'm sorry:( Vic, sorry the trip didn't go so well, you blinked and forgot, now would you call that a brain f@rt? Ok, I'm bad and I'm sorry!!!!! Please forgive a lil ole lady that can't hardly stand up straight like that kitty!!!! lol Night girls! Sassy

The internet is a wonderful tool for a cook. I use it frequently, much the same way as I use cookbooks, for ideas mostly. I get itchy just following a recipe, though I will if it is a dish I've never tasted or one using ingredients I'm totally unfamiliar with. I prefer my cookbooks, because I can take them into any room of the house, including the kitchen, without having to print out recipes. Plus, you get to know a cookbook. You know which ones mesh with your cooking style and your taste. You get to know which ones you can trust too. However, sometimes I want a recipe I don't have in any book, or one I know I have but I can't remember in which...I have lots of cookbooks! Or, I get on a roll with something and want more recipes for it than I have. I do this when I'm teaching myself unfamiliar dishes from other cuisines. I want to capture the essence of a dish, and learn to just make it, the way I just make the American foods I grew up with. So I will cook the same dish many times using many different recipes, and eventually I end up feeling comfortable just winging it. For a kid going away to college, I have to agree, they probably won't be bothering too much about cooking. For one, if they're living in dorms, their ability to cook is generally pretty limited. If they live off campus, sharing an apartment or house with friends, they may cook sometimes for parties etc, but most will not break out the cookbook to cook an omelet for breakfast, they'll just grab something out of the microwave or eat a slice of last night's pizza. But, on the occasion they DO decide to cook, a tried and true, basic cookbook (my pic is Fannie Farmer's) with simple, easy to follow recipes is something they'll likely use from time to time and then keep for the rest of their life. I still use my FF, when I can't remember how many minutes to cook this or that at what temperature or want to refresh my memory about some basic dish I don't often make...like meatloaf. I don't make it often, and when I do I'll check on the proportions of meat, bread & egg, as well as oven temp & cooking time. What the heck temp need I cook this meat to? How long for a baked potato? Things like that. Anyhow, maybe buying the kid a cookbook might just start something, who knows?

As usual, I find Rachelellen's post full of wisdom. It gives me some of the guidance I want. Cooking the same cuisine (not the same dishes) for one week straight would be no hardship at all for me. When I returned from a one week trip to Italy I cooked nothing but northern Italian food for at least three weeks. There was nothing monotonous about it. That experience has faded. I need another trip to Italy for a refresher course. I don't see the need to limit the experiment to a single cookbook, although that could be an effective way to do it, given the right book. Books I would recommend are: Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni The Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy These books are similar in approach and format although about different cuisines and by different authors. They provide a solid foundation for cooking each cuisine. Again, I say that switching to another ethnic cuisine for an extended period of time is a fine idea. Those for whom that is their native cuisine eat it daily year after year don't they? Jim