"Hey, what is it with the Carolinas and double cousins? My grandmother was born in NC and she had a bunch of them." I think it is because a lot of people were farmers in the 1920's. The kids, at least in my parents family and the surrounding farms, didn't go to school very long. They had to help on the farm. Dad made it to 7th grade, Mom the 3rd. That reduced the number of people that they got to know. My parents family's lived about a mile apart. Plus transportation, If you had time, you had to walk 10 miles of dirt road to get to town. The church was local, about 4 miles away and they walked to church. All of those kids wouldn't fit in the model T Ford! And when you got to church, who did you see? Your neighbors! The only time that they went to town was once a month or two for staples, or to take their farm goods to the market.

ROTF Karyn - oops, sorry. Oh bad seafood - that's just the worst. I was at the lake place and a friend next door, she was storing all the Walleye from the annual Canada trip all the guys take. Well, one weekend, she comes down, she's opening, I wave and yell hi as she's bringing her stuff in, and - MAYBE - 30 seconds later - she comes crashing through the door and smashes right into the railing bending over - and empties her entire stomach over the railing. Her breaker had blown - the fridge/freezer went out - and every single package of walleye and crappie had thawed. When the breaker blew - it had been in the high 90s all week so you know inside the place must have hit 110. We spent the entire weekend cleaning! Eeesh. . .needless to say - she doesn't store the fish for everyone anymore. (grin)

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.

Oh yes that halibut looks good doesn't it. And also Dixie's apple cake.....I'll cut and paste your recipe Stacy. And lovely presentation of the canapes Dixie. Welcome to the WFD trsinc...I bet your enchiladas were delicious! Yesterday I had the best osso buco I've ever tasted....and I made it from a recipe from the web that looked interesting as it used dry sherry and brandy in the sauce. Oh was it ever good! I halved the recipe as I was using two pieces of beef shank (no veal here) about one pound in weight, and I increased the chopped vegetables. We had it with steamed and mashed potatoes, carrots, leeks and cabbage. Now I'm going to also drag out my slow cooker and try using the same ingredients for some other pieces of beef. Here it is: New Italian Recipes Presents ITALIAN OSSO BUCO Ingredients: 3 lbs. Veal shanks Note: If you can't find veal, or the cost is prohibitive, you might try lamb shanks. Some recipes say you can substitute beef shanks. Keep in mind, if you use lamb or beef, the meat won't be as "fall off the bone" tender. The wonderful, meaty-vegetable stew taste will be there, however, so it's still worth it. Additional Note: If you use veal, you may want to tie cooking twine around the shanks to keep them from falling completely apart during cooking. 3-4 T extra virgin olive oil 2 T butter or Butter Buds 1 red onion, coarsely chopped 1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped 1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped 3 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped 1 large stalk celery, coarsely chopped 5-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1/3 cup Marsala wine or dry sherry...(I used a very dry sherry) 1/3 cup brandy 1 T balsamic vinegar 2 T tomato paste 1 sprig rosemary 4 sprigs thyme 2 bay leaves 2 cups chicken broth (homemade chicken stock recipe) Veal or beef stock can be substituted. Salt and pepper to taste Gremolata: 2 T chopped Italian Parsley 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 t grated lemon peel 1 T lemon juice Mix in a bowl and reserve to sprinkle over individual servings. Preparation: In a large skillet or Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid, add 2 T olive oil over medium high heat. Season shanks with salt and pepper on both sides, then brown them on all sides. When browning is down, remove the shanks to a bowl to be added back in later. In the same pan, reduce heat to low and add 2 T olive oil and butter or Butter Buds. Add the onions, peppers, carrots, celery and garlic. Stir well to coat, then cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. (This will allow the vegetables to release their juices. Add the Marsala or sherry and the brandy, also the balsamic vinegar. Stir in well, cover again, and let simmer on low for about 6-8 minutes. Make a "bouquet garni" out of the rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. (Wrap them in cheese cloth and tie with cooking twine.) Add this to the simmering vegetables, along with the tomato paste. Increase heat to medium-high and add the shanks and chicken, veal or beef stock. Stir both in well to mix with vegetables. When broth is boiling, reduce heat to low again and cover. Cook for about 1-1 1/2 hours. Veal should be "falling off the bone" tender after an hour or less. Lamb or beef might take a full hour and a half to reach maximum tenderness. Falling off the bone is probably not going to happen with lamb or beef, but the meat should be very tasty and quite tender. Garnish with gremolata, and serve the osso buco with the above-mentioned risotto, or with creamy mashed potatoes. In keeping with true gourmet cooking, here are a couple of variations for you: 1. Add either a 14 oz. or 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes at the point you add the Marsala and the brandy. 2. At the end of cooking, mix 1 cup of sour cream with 1 T of flour. Stir into the osso buco and remove from the heat. (This would give you a German version. Call it German Veal Shank Stew!) Source: New Italian Recipes printer version of online recipe. *************************************************************************************************** Sharon's Note: I halved the recipe but used 1/3 cup each of onion, celery and carrot chopped very finely into a mirepoix. rather than chopping these three ingredients coarsely as called for in the recipe. SharonCb