I really like them. Hopefully in the future I will be able to put in a bigger pond and I can try again with the Golden Orfes and do it right by getting about 5 or 6. For now I am going to pass on them as I see the advice the guy in the pond store told me that one was good, was wrong. Meantime I rewarded myself by going back to the pond store and buying two new fish. I got a stunner of a butterfly koi in a strange metalic almost mustard old gold color. I know that might not sound attractive but the fish is lovely. Also a most beautiful deep almost red "goldfish" with the most long, long, long tail and fins.

I made baked stuffed flounder night before last - yes Ritz are a wonderful cracker to mash into crumbs for fish! That is what I used. If I am coating haddock, cod, flounder, etc in crumbs to bake, I usually mix a little melted butter into the cracker crumbs. Less if I am using Ritz, more if I am using common crackers (saltines, oyster, etc) since they are lower in fat to begin with. And add a little lemon juice and parsley with a sprinkle of paprika before it goes in the oven. 30 - 40 min is a long time for most filets. I usually do about 10 min per inch thickness (thickest part) at 400. which usually means no longer than 15 min. Also, and I probably should have said this first, I don't do the flour & egg part. I just turn the filets in buttered seasoned crumbs and bake them. Basic and not very gourmet, but that is how I learned to make them growing up in Maine and have used the same recipe for 20 years. Alexa

Michael, we never did get to do croissants which were on the schedule. Our teacher wasnÂt feeling up to snuff with the remains of a cold, and we asked a lot, a LOT, of questions. She is teaching a class later  a one day-er  on breakfast pastries that a few of our group are taking. I think that might be going into dangerous ground for me. As much as I like them, I donÂt have the metabolism to handle a batch of them. However, for those of you who are thinking of making them, she suggested taking them to the point of final rise, wrap well and freeze, then take them out the night before, thaw in fridge, then take out in the a.m. for the final rise and baking. This way you CAN have one or two or eight fresh when you want them. Most baking does seem to require some advance thinking; otherwise thatÂs why god invented bakeriesÂfor the rest of us. Sally, where is your son studying? If we didnÂt travel so much, I would take more courses. LOL Free food!! (actually as a taxpayer, I kind of pay in advanceÂ) Annie, one day you two will be "mature" (that = older!!) and possibly live somewhere that has money for student education. ItÂs a shame about Michigan. Michelle, that apple pie is a snap. Basic (your fave) one unbaked crust pie crust shell in a 9" pan. 5 or so green apples, peeled, cored and sliced about the thickness of your little finger  well my little finger. Pile them into one good layer and add a good coating of brown sugar. Continue to pile high And then pat the streusel topping all over to coat the apples and seal them in. I didnÂt do a very good job at that as my streusel kept falling off. We also noticed that things were drying out as we made them in stages. The streusel was brown and white sugars, butter and walnuts, made in the KA. The pies that had the apples sealed in did a lot better, tho the pie I took home had apples that were still firm but cooked. I know one of us cut her apples much thicker than I would have, so mine might be ÂhersÂ. Bake and learn. ;-) As our teacher said, apple pies are darn cheap to make  her mother had 6 children to raise and feed and seemed to know fast and good pretty well! If anyone wants any of these recipes, feel free to send me your snail mail, as some are long and I donÂt know if I will have time to scan this week. I also have not played around with my scanner enough to know how well it does the written material. Maureen

Only once have I ever had catfish and liked it -- last summer, in fact, in North Carolina. Only one bite of the dish had that muddy taste that usually makes me unenthusiastic. I'm not crazy about tilapia either. I remember visiting my mother in Galveston in the late 1970s and seeing oil tar on the beaches from the offshore wells. For anyone who is interested, from Encyclopedia Britannica ( there is a picture of workers cleaning up oil off a beach there. Further on in the article it talks about the persistent deleterious effects on ocean creatures such as dolphins): As oil began to contaminate Louisiana beaches in May, it was manually removed; more difficult to clean were the state’s marshes and estuaries, where the topography was knit together by delicate plant life. By June, oil and tar balls had made landfall on the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. In all, an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km) of shoreline were polluted.