It may mellow a bit, but over-salty pickles of any sort can always be leached in fresh water after opening. So you could take a serving of pickled ginger and soak it in one or more waters until you achieve the desired saltiness. Pre-measuring and laying out all the ingredients (i.e. mise en place) can really help when you're tired or just doing a lot of things at once and at risk of distraction. I am one of those who hates company in the kitchen while I'm canning for just this reason. Carol

I had incredible yields of Khing Yai - there's still some in the ground so I haven't counted it all yet, but looks like at least 10:1. Yellow Hawaiian was only 3:1, Bubba Blue was 4:1. Big Kahuna was a flop, 1:1. It rotted in the trays and didn't sprout. I can't sell frozen ginger without having an approved kitchen. I've candied a lot of ginger and started making ginger chews and hard candy. Both of these freeze well, make nice gifts and are good for cold and flu season. I get about a cup of juice from a pound of ginger. I puree it in a food processor and strain with a sieve. I use 1.5 cups white sugar, 3/4 cup corn syrup and 1 cup of ginger juice. I use a candy thermometer and heat it to 250 degrees for the chews, 300 degrees for hard candy. Makes a very spicy candy. I managed to find a grocery store to sell some of my ginger to. I got $10/lb, and they sold it at $15/lb in the store. The could only sell around 10 lbs a week tho. I can easily sell that much at even a moderately busy farmers' market, and was surprised they couldn't move it more quickly. The "baby" part of it doesn't seem to be as important as local and organic. I cut back on the amount of ginger I'm growing next year, but am growing more turmeric. I've talked to a few produce buyers who are very interested in turmeric, even if they don't want ginger. I think I'm going to lower my prices next year, maybe $8/lb wholesale for ginger and $10-$12/lb at the farmers' market. Maybe higher for turmeric, depending on my yields. I made a mistake in not covering my ginger inside my high tunnel when it got into the 20's. The stems and leaves froze, but it took a few weeks for them to completely die off. It's been about a month now and the ginger that's still in the ground looks great. Some of my ginger had developed a skin, but I think those plants had dried out; it doesn't seem to be from freezing.

Clarification: I meant that most American recipes use too little of the spices called for--really like the authors are being stingy--not that they need to call for more spices. H B, I'm glad to give you a laugh, but I've actually been there when making small, low heat sauces. :) Re combos of many flavors, I do like a lot of them, like the Italian spaghetti sauce I grew up making, Indian and Mexican food, etc. Mr. Rao talks about how his mom removed "everything unnecessary") from each sauce. That leaves a clean, fresh, simple flavor and makes it possible to distinguish one cooked down tomato sauce from the next, however, for depth and richness, my own is the best with all its components making a harmonious whole. Both answers are "right"--it just depends on what you want it to taste like in the end and they're all good. Re meat: I was taught that good meat (the opposite of the half rotten medieval stuff Linda mentioned that needs exotic spices to cover the stank) doesn't need any spices at all. Broiled or grilled naked with a little finishing salt is all. I also like meats with good sauces, because I like sauces, but it doesn't require it, and if the sauce is hiding the flavor of the meat it's too much. Chicken needs more to be entertaining, but flavorwise, it can be fine on its own as well.

Was that cactus green at one point? Is it mushy? I just left my plants for six days, the temps were between 90-100 degrees during the day. I watered all my plants the day I left (watering until water came out of the drainage holes in the bottom of the pots) I didn't water them at all until the 6th day when I returned home, and I had no problems. My staghorn fern was a little wilted but bounced right back after being watered. My point is, one of the best things about succulents is they can handle some neglect every once in awhile. Unless I'm leaving for several weeks I don't let anyone touch my plants. The only instructions I left for the person who lives on my property was to not touch/water them. If your cactus isn't mushy than its probably a lighting issues. The other plants with the exception of that brown one in the long planter all look ok and if they looked different than when you left them they should bounce back. When in doubt don't water. I have a haworthia coarctata that will turn very dark green when exposed to a lot of light. Unless it's burned, the burn spots are obvious and white. It had gotten a burn spot when I first brought it home, the burn was on a lower leaf which I was able to cover with gravel but now it's hardly noticeable.