Wow, just wow. Beautiful food that I would like to eat much of. Lousy grammar but you get the idea. Teresa is right with the drooling. Ann, I think I could make myself sick eating all your good food from the crepes, through the haddock and well past the bread to my favorite, the pasta. The only thing that saves me is your liberal use of black pepper which I don't eat at all if I can help it. I'd be doing some serious scraping at your house with no complaints. Smiles. DCArch, I love that onion soup in particular. Just gorgeous and I can almost taste it. John, the trout is calling me and the grapes look beautiful with it to me. I loved your earlier pics with the girls cooking. Foodona, Christy and I would both be happy with your Saltimbocca dinner. We like orzo too and treating it with a rizotto dressing is a great treatment for it. Ya did Mardi Gras in fine style. We almost always use shrimp, chicken and sausage in our gumbos and jambalaya. Love the combination. Ruthanna, the shad is running? Spring really is on the way! That strawberry cake is envy worthy. I love the pie plate it's in, it's the same one my Mother used for many years and brings back great memories. Thanks. That tablecloth is one of my all time favorites. I used to collect old linens. Sol, what can I say? I'll skip dinner and eat dessert with you any day. Although, those mini pita's do look perfect and the white bean hummus wants my lips on it. LPink, I think your concoction looks pretty cool and delish. I'm sorry it's so hard figuring this diet out, but sounds like you're getting there. Best of luck to you. Annie, I love that I can count on your veggies being done. Yum. I'd be eating the potatoes and asparagus with you happily and leave the wings to Elery and Christy, carnivores that they are. I'd probably have to fight off Ashley because I'd love that goulash too. Oh Annie. All that pasta. If I'd thought about it in time I should have just sent you my motor for your pasta machine. It would help you so much. It would only be a loan, but ... guess it's too late to help now. Sorry I haven't been around enough to notice you needed it. Now for that doodle. Yeah, there aren't enough unwanted dogs around that they have to design mutts now. The biggest joke is that they aren't even really hypoallergenic and can be... well as you noticed... a bit hyper.. lol.. He's way cute though. Love how he's looking up at you.. lol.. Oh,,, btw, your cannelloni look just perfect. We have been eating here and even cooking, lol, but no pics for a while. Finally got a new batch of batteries for the camera and all I've managed to take pics of is soup and cornbread. Smiles. Well the cornbread deserves the most pics because I've been obsessed with it lately. I needed some more cornmeal to further my experiments and told Christy, stoneground. Well ladies and gents, the DH's aren't the only ones that bring home grocery surprises, the DW's are just as capable. She brought home a 5# bag of stoneground white self rising cornmeal. She got the stoneground part right and was quite proud of herself. I tried the recipe on the bag first but it was a bit dry so I've tried several variations and I'm liking it. I see I'm not the only one cooking the yellow dried split peas. The soup was very good. As is my custom I made several pounds of it so I have a nice amount of quarts in the freezer. I'm not sure when last I had yellow peas but I was pleasantly surprised to notice that they're a bit more mellow than the green ones. A nice change I'll use more often. Now my yellow pictures. Smiles. A few of the cornbreads from the self rising in Mom's cast iron pan. And the soup, with some cornbread of course.

"I don't understand the french door thing. Why have to open two doors? It has an application in kitchens with small aisles, I guess, but I dunno - I'd rather have the aisle spaced correctly. The ones with the big trays across the bottom are the worst to me." LOL - side by side fridges are basically French Door fridges - it's just the freezer is one side and the fridge is another - get an old school fridge with the freezer on top or bottom with one door the entire width of the fridge and I don't care how big your kitchen is, you will be desiring side by side or french door for the half-width doors. Also, if you prefer a side by side, why would you have to open both doors on a french door fridge? Your already used to accessing the fridge through a narrow door anyway :o) The side by side fridge I have came with my house - otherwise I would never own one. You can't put in odd-ball sized stuff, and normal stuff doesn't even fit well. It has allot less drawer space than the Samsung freezer on the bottom I had in my town house, and my Samsung was the smaller 18 cubic foot and my side by side is 25.5! To me, a side by side is like a 1500 square foot two story house vs. a 1500 square foot ranch. Theoretically they are the same square footage, but in the two story you loose space to stairs and hallways - not nearly as much actual usual space. I too have an extra chest freezer, but as others stated I would have one anyway. I have a foodsaver and I'm not afraid to use it. I buy things in bulk, on sale, and freeze them routinely. I wish I could find a fridge with a single height freezer drawer for quick access to the stuff I use regularly and the rest dedicated to fridge space. That would be ideal. Indeed, if I ever remodel my kitchen I'm seriously considering putting a fridge only in where my side by side is and a single freezer drawer (if they make such a thing? Surely someone does) in my island. I'd gladly sacrifice a little cabinet space for some more fridge space. I guess if you don't cook at home often, or eat that many fresh fruits or vegetables it's less important, but I never seem to have enough fridge space.

It's the morning after, and I am thankful for all you good people who took the time to post and get me through a bad moment. I learned from your posts, and I laughed with your posts. Most importantly, I found out that even on a cooking forum, not everyone makes the perfect, flaky, homemade pie crust. Thank you for telling me that I am not alone. I am through with pies and pie crusts. This year will have been the 20th year of trying, and it was the worst yet. It is time to move on. I am a market gardener, and I grow wonderful organic strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and rhubarb. When I bake with the fruit, I do a crisp, a cobbler, or a tart. DS has a love of pumpkin pie, and I think my efforts are emotionally entwined with being the "good mother", but I am going to find a good bakery next year. You are all right- there is more than one way to skin a cat (that is a horrible saying isn't it?) I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. You all helped make mine a good one. :)

Crumb Topping 1 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup flour 1/3 cup butter 1 cup chopped nuts Mix well together. I used my food processor to blend all together. This makes enough for 5 dozen muffins. Sue