Hi Madonna, I'm so glad that the Mandarin Orange Cake turned out to be a success for you! I really enjoy the icing for it, and it hits the spot every time. I hope the gardening season is successful and we don't have a dry summer like we did last year. It's rained overnight for the past two nights, thankfully. I have a rain chain hanging from the gutter, and they're so much prettier than a downspout. As for my costume, I will be keeping it a surprise. There's more work going into this one than what I did for Cruella, as a friend said she was going to help me. It's another female character, not exactly Disney, but similar. Speaking of which, I'm hoping to go see Maleficent when it's released. Brad AKA Moonwolf

I frequently make a dill dip, and I add a bit of lemon juice and garlic to it. I bought a small bunch of dill (for $1.00) at the Hollywood Farmers' Market last Sunday, but I used most of it to make a large batch of tartar sauce, which is similar to your dill dip, but it has pickles in it. It is definitely a good idea to use fresh dill (if possible) instead of dried, as it will have more flavor. I planted some dill seeds last week, and they are just now beginning to come up. Have you tried growing dill yourself? I have a lot of parsley in my yard right now - that is also easy to grow. If you add garlic and lemon to your dip, you can use regular salt instead of seasoned salt. I mash the garlic in a mortar & pestle with a bit of Kosher salt to make a paste, and I substitute this for seasoned salt. If you use dried onions instead of fresh (I use chives because I also have those in my yard), you will probably need to thin the dip a bit, but lemon juice will work for that. You might want to add some freshly ground black pepper also. Using cream cheese instead of mayo will also make the dip too thick, but you can use it if you thin it with milk or lemon juice.

Here it is :). These will be mixed together tomorrow morning. Hope it tastes as good as it looks! Linda, I bought a three pack of bell peppers for $1.88 or so at Wal-Mart. They were extremely fresh, just based on the smell when I sliced them (quite pleasant to my nose). The mushrooms were already sliced and were $0.98 per pack. I diced them a little, then I got lazy and just threw them in. We had the mini onions (not pearls, but roasting onions I think they are called). "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore...." Brad AKA Moonwolf

Indeed. I'll be sure to use a bowl deep enough so splatter is reduced. The latest show is "Four Weddings and an Elvis". It takes place at a Las Vegas wedding chapel, and the minister is an Elvis impersonator. I am not helping out backstage, but I helped make artificial bouquets, boutonnieres, and strung beads to use for a wedding dress and veil. I also tacked two pieces of fabric together for a tablecloth (one on top of the other-the gold part was made to be in a diamond shape). The flats were painted Pepto Bismol pink (we really went for tackiness lol). Now, back to my lunch of my first ever homemade steak sandwiches (made with sizzle steaks (aka minute steaks), peppers, onions, and pepper jack cheese. Brad AKA Moonwolf