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

Curiosity got the best of me this morning so I climbed up onto the scale. 159.5 lbs! Yippee! It does work. That is a 4 lb loss from what I weighed on Friday or Saturday last week. Unfortunately, I did not write it down. I remember 163.5, but I can't remember which day it was. I am just happy to be under 160. I sure did learn a lot this past week. Especially about eating the right portions. I don't have that stuffed feeling after I eat dinner that I use to have either. Tonight we went to TGI Friday's. I planned out what I would have before we left the house and I stuck to it. I especially used to overeat at restaurants because they give you such large portions. Well, I really noticed that when I finished eating what I wanted, that I didn't feel so full. It is a good thing. Interestingly, I feel somewhat lighter, but not skinnier. Well, while it is amazing that I lost those 4 lbs, I'm not overly impressed by it. I mean, I am glad that I lost it and it was a really great start. I certainly don't expect to lose this weight too fast. I just mean that I can see my weight fluctuating 4 or 5 lbs for no reason at all. What I am really looking forward to seeing is 10 lbs come off. Not at once, but a total of 10 lbs. Then it will seem real to me. I just think that if I could lose 4 lbs in one week, I could just as easily gain 4 lbs in one week. I'm skeptical of my ability to stick with it, I guess. Or maybe I just have a teensy bit of doubt that it is really due to the changes I made.

Hi Wintercat and Barb: I'm glad to see rose-growers here in Cooking Forum. Roses are NO longer important to me ... already have too many (60+ roses). My focus is taking care of my family through healthy cooking. I agree with everyone that daily exercise boost up the metabolism. Yesterday I spent 1 1/2 hour shoveling the ice .. was sweating & hot for hours afterwards. Grainlady has a good point that healthy fats like Coconut oil raise metabolism. Omega-3 is used to treat Raynaud syndrome: defined as excessively reduced blood flow in response to cold, or extreme pain with cold temp. My kid eats at least 1 cup of walnut per day, plus 2 tablespoons of flax oil (high in Omega-3 and Omega-9). My kid is always warm. Studies show that Omega-3 increase the "brown fat" storage with higher metabolism. My kid hates it when school made her wear her coat during recess. She never wear gloves nor hat, even in our freezing zone 5a winter. I notice the same effect when I have walnut or flax oil for dinner: very warm at night, so I only use that during the winter. The "China Study" is a landmark book by Dr. Campbell. According to Wikipedia, "Dr. Colin Campbell, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and his son Thomas M. Campbell II, a physician. It was first published in the United States in January 2005 and had sold over one million copies as of October 2013, making it one of America's best-selling books about nutrition." I read that book twice, it showed that a vegetarian diet resulted in higher metabolism than a high-protein diet, plus reduced rate of cancer & heart-attack. The book included lab. studies on rats which showed they are much more active on a vegetarian diet, than a high-protein diet. Here's an explanation from Wikipedia "... consuming diets high in protein and fat transfers calories away from their conversion into body heat to their storage form as body fat." On sensitivity to cow-milk, Wikipedia explained, "... autoimmune diseases are more prevalent among people who live at higher geographic latitudes, and also among people who consume a diet high in animal protein, particularly cow's milk. ... Vitamin D is important for the proper regulation of the immune system, and that for people who live at higher geographic latitudes, a lack of exposure to ultraviolet sunlight can result in a deficiency. The consumption of animal protein, especially casein in cow's milk, results in higher concentrations of calcium in the blood, which inhibits the process by which the body activates vitamin D in the kidneys to a form that helps repress the development of autoimmune diseases.[21] Here is a link that might be useful: The China Study book by Dr. Campbell This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Jan 14, 14 at 9:44

As PP mentioned above, the average joe just doesn't care - they load the machine, drop in a dose of detergent (and in a lot of cases, actually overdose above what the manufacture states) comeback to wet clothes to move to the dryer and as long as look and smell clean - they're happy/not bothered. However, for those who do care, it becomes just like chemistry - everybodys laundry is completely different: detergent type, water type/temp/level, machine type, cycle type/temp, load size, fabric type in the load (and what's loaded in together or not), stain types and even down to how long an article has gone between last wash, what its been subjected to, and even what its made of (2 items of 100% cotton could be different due to manufacturing processes and dyes etc) - I'm waffling, but this list won't even be all that's at play. Detergent manufacturers are a business, they need to make money; they have stakeholders, employees, suppliers, contractors and marketers to pay - so they must drive value and revenues. Don't' suppose it'll ever be proven (or ever admitted), but it's in their interest to give customers what they're happy with/what is acceptable, whilst maximising revenue - end of the day, if they dont make money, what are they doing it for? I did read somewhere (and I wish I could remember where) that a certain big manufacturer of a very famous detergent was starting to see revenues drop to a level below what they were aiming for/happy with, and it was centred around the launch of single dose detergents - on the one hand, they carry a premium price tag and it guarantees that a user gets no more than the stated amount of loads - but what they actually found was customers weren't purchasing detergent at the store as often due to the fact that compared to when the same users were using powder/liquid format, the overdoing (just dumping 1 full cap in) was causing people to repeat purchase more often than that of pod users. And what do you know, the dosing recommendations for pods were increased - going from 1 pod for any load, to 1 for medium, 2 for large and 3 for high capacity/extra dirty. The same has now become true of liquids - dose increased - line 1 for medium, 3 for large and line 5 for "full he loads" as "they are a higher capacity than standard top loaders and of course more clothes = more dirt)" --their tag line-- All this in a time when detergents are becoming more "concentrated" and front loaders use as much as a quarter the amount of water than that of a TL. Now how can detergents be being concentrated, Used in machines that use less water (which is what will ultimately determine the strength of the solution that detergents are dissolved within) and the doses are going up? Add this to the fact that washer manufacturers often say use less than recommended. Makes you think.