OK, I haven't chimed in on this thread at all, but I need to share this with you guys: I love beets. Roasted, pickled, sauteed, in borscht... it doesn't much matter, I think they're tasty. I was out weeding in my garden yesterday and I noticed a beet. Only one. And it was big enough to pick. I didn't remember planting beets, but I planted a micro-green mix last spring, so I decided it probably had beets for the greens and one just grew up. Steve is out of town, so I decided to roast the beet with a few carrots and call it dinner. Scrubbing the beet, I noticed it was a little odd. The greens, which I intended to saute with some garlic and olive oil, were also a little odd. When I cut into the beet, I was struck by a familiar smell, and ... ... sigh... and a nasty, woody one at that! Now I have to go to the village farmer's market tomorrow to buy some stupid beets to satisfy the craving! Thank goodness I didn't saute the greens!

By George! I think shes' onto something... My mantra has always been "Cooking is love"! One of the most satisfying things I ever experience is that little "um" people say when they first taste something they like. Putting some mashed banana into a baby's mouth and see him open up for more. Carrying a plate of warm cookies into the room where your daughter and her friends are gathering for a slumber party and seeing then dive in. I am cooking a funeral lunch for 100 on Saturday. I could make a pasta tomato, ground beef and cheese casserole and it would be fine....but I will spend all day friday making my sauce and mixing ricotta and make 10 pans of lasagna, because I can, and I know people will enjoy it more than a school lunch typs of dish. And, I selfishly like people to enjoy what I do for them. People who don't cook don't have that pleasure. I am sorry for them and I really really don't understand it. I have another friend who is an average cook, who will go out to a local greasy spoon type of place of a weekend morning and eat breakfast alone. She says she likes to go and just sit and read the paper. I don't understand why she doesn't sit in her own beautiful house, in her lovely garden room and watch the birds in her jammies rather than get dressed and go out to drink bad coffee at a chain type restraunt on the highway? I don't figure it out...

I've loved reading this thread - so many great things. I received a wonderful Masala Dabba from my son and DIL with a spoon for each cup and a large capacity. I'm so happy not to have to search for all the spices used together in Indian dishes. You would understand if you saw how my spices are crammed here and there. Oh to have a whole divided drawer like Cathy's. Max gave me the new Suvir Saran cookbook "American Masala". I've just begun to look at it and I'm looking forward to trying some new to me Indian dishes. From my DIL's parents a fun bag of gourmet food items, sun dried tomatoes, jasmine rice in an airtight glass jar, a box of Gnocchi and much more. And a gift that will go on giving - from my DIL"S brother, a bag of frozen homemade Gnocchi and a LESSON on how to make them. His Gnocchi are really wonderful, I'm so excited about learning to do it from him. He has a handmade board from his Grandfather - I hope that's not his secret to success because I can't get a board like that. I'll take my camera when I go to learn from him. Lee

oh kathy--i'm sorry to hear that! i figure dad really has been pleased along the way but he's not gonna let us know that because it would just be out of character, ya know? anyway, that's the way i hope it is, and for you too! attached is a pic from this summer when i went home for a visit and includes my little sister and her daughter. you'd think he'd smile then but again, it's not his way. but he most assuredly loves us and was always one of the hardest working men i know! my oldest brother was born with a number of problems and needed numerous operations through his young adulthood. insurance didn't cover that--dad worked several jobs for a number of years to take care of things. fortunately, the other 4 of us were fine but man, not a decent set of teeth in the house! we all had braces because they thought that was important, even if we weren't exactly thrilled at the time. in fact, i remember being particularly resistant to the idea but i'm certainly happy my parents were smart enough to just plod on and take care of things. the other important thing was education. we were free to pick a career but by golly, we were going to college! i have no idea how they did it, but each of us was given that opportunity and a couple of us even finished! but i don't recall that turning him into a grinning fool either--not even when my youngest brother got his JD and a couple years later, his PHD. it's just not his way, you know? i'm sorry some of you are missing your dads--i do know what that's like. Mom died 20 years ago and that's been harder on poor pop than anything else i'm sure. he said at the time that his biggest regret was that they didn't get to celebrate their 50th anniversary--they only made it to about 46. sure wish i knew a way to fix that one... but it's almost time to pack up his christmas box. and we found the cardigan sweater vests that he wears all winter long and that i wasn't able to find the last 2 years. maybe it won't exactly make him smile, but i think it might at least please him a little bit. that and a few more cadbury bars and an extra large jar of WHOLE cashews (old family joke) and NO dry or clumpy popcorn, even though i know he'll be eating the nuts and the chocolates instead of breakfast. but at 91, i think he ought to be doing whatever he wants, don't you? happy birthday again, pop! Here is a link that might be useful: dad and crew