Ruthieg, I love beans and peas too! I'll let you know what I think of the Tobacco Worm ones here as soon as I eat some. I'll be saving seeds, so if you end up wanting some, we could always swap. I went back to look at the pkg. I received in trade of the cow peas. It just says brown, lol. They are small and brown. The plants look like they are getting bigger now. Is this normal? It sure took a long time. Well, I shouldn't complain. At least I'm going to have cow peas. Remy

Okiedoke, I'm not sure what a groupon is. A girl that a co-worker dated for a while worked there, and he kept telling us the sandwiches were really good so we decided to try them. We'd tried to go there before, but parking is so limited (unless you want to walk a couple of blocks) that we usually couldn't find a place close to park. Today we got lucky and got there early enough to find one. My co-worker was right, their sandwiches are wonderful! Debra

Crazy, busy weekend here again due to many things. Thanks for all the cool and supportive responses. All of the troops need those no matter the country. Justin knows about all y'all and as always asked what's up with your foodie/cooking friends....way before his military thing. We were talking today at the lake and he thinks he was...yikes.. 13 or 14 when he first tried Sharon's pickles from a swap years ago. Man time flies! Thanks again everyone but this guy has to get to hit the hay so to speak. Justin and his group got the best of me at the lake today. OY! I'm starting to feel my age.....LOL! David

Thanks everyone - It really was amazing!!! I walked into Jolane and there was Peppi exactly as she said she would be. She's pretty much told you everything but I want to add a bit. Peppi is the first cooking forum friend I've met in real life and she was raving about some of the other friends she's met through here. If y'all are half as nice as she claims, I can't wait to meet more of you. Next time anyone is in Chicago or passing through, drop me an email and we can get together for more of this addictive kind of fun. We talked so much and had such a great time they had to kick us out - very politely of course - but then we had already been there for THREE hours!! Where did that time go? Good thing Peppi wasn't working that day - that was a very long lunch hour. I had the best girlfriend lunch ever. Most of my girlfiends are salad nibblers and forget about dessert. Peppi and I shared a delicious lunch and between the two of us we finished most of it. When we were emailing back and forth to set it all up she said something to me that just struck a chord..."Never trust a skinny cook". I'm framing it for my kitchen - it just made me feel so warm and good. Of course I can't let that be an excuse not to get to a healthier weight but it is a lovely thought :) Next time, and i know there wil definitely be one, we will take pictures and maybe I'll get brave enough to put a picture of myself on the internet. I had to run, barely made it home before the bus, but I did. Peppi did you run into the Viking shop? Just wondering if that's where you picked up that cool (hot) pepper de-seeder?