for whats its worth.. i was told.. that CONICA .. is simply the green version of concolor.. the green candicans if you will ... i said!! .. for what it is worth ... it is not a dwarf.. and surely not a mini .. below are old pics of mine ... its now about 10 feet tall ... and rather fastigate ... which makes me question that above ... which means mine.. in this post .. way above.. is COMPACTA ... it was my typo up above that started to confusion.. but i have to check the label outside.. later ... ken this is conica

Lars - Do you mean a Mexican market? We have a "super mercado" in town. They do have good pork and even beef that I've bought. I've never seen a ham but, I could check it out again. Otherwise, I'll look for a Smithfield. Thanks everyone for your input. I guess I've never officially introduced myself because I've been posting with the GW since 1996 when things were much simpler. Then, I became a Master Gardener in 2000 and that occupied most of my time. Now, I'm retired from MG having Emeritus status. I have 5 grandkids now with two more on the way - one in July and another in Sept. And they all live close, one next door! Comes over for breakfast most mornings with her two since she's still on maternity leave I met lindaC. at some of the Chgo. GW get-togethers and often wonder if any of the others are still around. If they are - they are probably in flowers somewhere. There are just too many forums nowadays. lindaC - do you know if Cora Lea or any of the others are still around? I like Cooking, Veg.,Tomatoes, Peppers, Herbs and Harvest Forums so I could pop up anywhere there. Hope everyone has a Blessed Easter! -gloria

Love their Roseland (?) brand pork chops and Appleton Farms hams and the AF hams are a great deal for $.89cents/lb for shank portion They freeze well too. AF hams are seasonal, usually fall thru Easter. Have no issue w/their chicken - in fact, the last time I bought some they had a sticker that said take $2.00 off this pkg. Ground beef was fine too. Extra virgin olive oil is a good deal as well. Now the the thing I didn't care for is their foil - it was inexpensive but also very thin. I'm also a fan of their Fit & Lively smoked sausage. Also, their Fit & Lively brand soups are low sodium and fat, I like to use the cream of chicken or mushroom in casseroles or gravy.

Last Christmas when my family was visiting, my brother wanted to pay for the ham, but since he was flying in he couldn't actually bring it with him. He suggested ordering and picking up a Honey Baked (TM) Ham, but upon checking I found that the local store had closed and the next closest was about an hours drive away. Even though the price wasn't an issue (since he'd be paying) , I still couldn't bring myself to pay $80 for a ham. The local store had a special on Boar's Head Sweet Slice Ham for about $4.99 a pound, but didn't have any large ones left. I saw that they also had the same ham on offer at the deli (for $6.99 / lb sliced), and got an 8 pound ham (IIRC) and then managed to convince the manager to sell it to me whole at the lower advertised whole ham price. The ham is as good or better than the Honey Baked one I had had in the past. I only baked it enough to warm it through and made a glaze/sauce from a jar of habenero pepper jelly and some other ingredients.