Those are the wrong snails to use for escargot. You need the much large brown garden snails. That said, cross your fingers that you don't have them in your area. As far as I'm aware, your snails are mainly scavengers. But the kind of snail varies from one part of the country to another -- where do you live anyway? -- as well as their dietary habits. You might run your image past the folks in your county's Extension Service office to determine if your little snails should be a source of fear & loathing. Locate your county's office with this map: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ Here is a link that might be useful: locate your county's Extension Service office

Walt's Tree Service has done a good job for me. They did lovely and inexpensive work cutting oak branches looming over my home (with no damage to the house!), removing a dead three-story redwood and grinding the stump, taking down a dead tree leaning against my shed with no further damage to that shed -- and cutting/stacking the resulting firewood (though they didn't split the large discs, just chainsawed it all up into appropriate lengths). They will chip up what they cut if you prefer. Call Anner at (240) 876-9983. His English isn't the best, but I speak no Spanish and we made ourselves understood. Or call his brother Walt at (240)674-3638, and they'd be delighted to come give you an estimate. The actual office number is 301 933-0752 but they don't speak much English at all. Lynn

Well, you reminded me that I need to make a stir fry, I haven't had that in a while. I had a wok years ago but it didn't fit well on my gas stove's grates and that little metal ring didn't help. I finally put it in the yard sale, no one bought it and I gave it to GoodWill, LOL, but it was carbon steel and worked fine other than it tipped over off the burner regularly, spilling some of the contents. Lynn, I agree with azzelea, you need to season the cast iron with shortening instead of oil. I know some other people use oil and have been successful, and my dutch oven is well seasoned because I've done numerous batches of french fries in oil and that's kind of "soaked in", but I still think shortening works better. I season mine for about an hour at 350 in the oven. I rub the pan with the shortening and then put it upside down in the oven with a baking sheet under it to catch any drips. Mine are pretty old and so just need occasional reseasoning when I cook something high in acid. I never burn the old seasoning off, I scrub it off, and Dad actually sand blasted one for me, LOL, but I know someone here sprayed theirs with oven cleaner and put it in a garbage bag to get back to the "beginning". Annie

Hi slowlane! I'm an occasional lurker on this forum, but have never posted here (other forums, yes, but never on the cooking forum). I live about 10 minutes from Bethesda. I don't eat out a lot but am happy to share what I know. I don't know how adventurous of an eater you are, but many of the best cheap restaurants are ethnic. Bethesda has a slew of restaurants in the downtown area, so you'll have a ton of choices. In Bethesda: My favorite downright cheap place is Moby Dick House of Kabob at 7027 Wisconsin Avenue. I could eat their chicken kabobs every night and be a happy camper. If you like Indian food, Haandi Indian Cuisine at 4904 Fairmont Avenue is excellent. Not cheap, but excellent, is Blacks Bar & Kitchen at 7750 Woodmont Avenue. If you have a car, you're also close to Silver Spring and Wheaton. Wheaton has many excellent thai restaurants (my favorite is Ruan Thai). Silver Spring has a couple of ethiopian restaurants I love -- Addis Ababa and Bete are my favorites. I've linked Washingtonian magazine's most recent Cheap Eats article. Hope that helps. Have a good visit. Here is a link that might be useful: Washingtonian Cheap Eats