Oh you are the most delightful bunch! Caroline, I'm starting to think that I need to try Chocolate Cheesecake again. I've only had it once, and thought it was terrible! Maybe I got hold of a bad cook! Then again . . . I guess I really don't need another food on my "love it" list! Keesha, how wonderful that you're daughter will be home from London! (Mum's the word!) GGG, I've not had lentils since my flower-child days. Now that I'm actually making some effort to eat healthier I need to drag out some of the old recipes! MrMorton, Thanksgiving has been our traditional day to start the Christmas season too. I figure that it's too much work to go through just for a few weeks, and I love the decorations and lights etc. Memo, selfishly I'll be glad when the wonderful wedding is behind you . . . maybe we'll be see more of you around the C.G.! So glad to hear from you! Kent, I agree with Steven (even though I sadly have no idea who the writers are that he refers to!), but your post about your relatives and the traditional dishes was hilarious and you really should be paid. Annette, LOL at your DH and the brussels sprout! A drumroll please. FlowerLady, your meal sounds delicious. I'm ever thankful for your gracious presence around the cottage. Tracy, What a fun tradition! No doubt your run will be a piece of cake after hosting the Seed Swap! ThinMan, I hope you're really not going to make your brother wait until Thursday! lol! What lucky children to be living next door to wonderful grandparents (I should know, mine lived next door too!). Steven, I hope you'll be sending us a photo of you with your DuMOL pinot and expandable pants! Happy Thanksgiving to All, Patti

You all made such interesting points but some trouble makers (lol) have crushed my unstated theory if the amount and type of clutter in my home mirrored the amount and type of clutter in my landscape the same must be true for my neighbor. I was so taken back by the self-realization that I purchase decorative items for both my interior and exterior based on a drive to surprise, I thought for sure I could then deduce I would find similarities in neighbors interior and exterior design ie if their landscape was filled with lots of big bold color that the same would be true for their interior. I suppose in a perfect world any thing we added to our interior or exterior would have been predetermined by our overall design but lets be honest most of us don't live in furniture showrooms or nursery display gardens. The clutter of aunt Mildred's rocker or your Hydrangea collection can water down your original plan to a point where you can't recall ever having had an overall design. For fun lets try this little experiment imagine if you will the conversation when there is a knock on your door or garden gate and it is someone who you don't know very well and who has never been to your home/garden. Of course the first sentence out of your mouth is something about excusing the mess, your guest then makes a complimentary statement (isn't it telling what first catches a visitors eye). Now your response is the significant moment in the conversation I believe whether we realizes it or not most of us are compelled at this point to define our design for the visitor. "Thanks, I really like that cottage look ect". Let me know what you think. Wendy- aka troublemaker, I love your analogy. Although I am a big fan of bright bold color I have always limited that impulse to rugs and fabric (ie Susan Sargent) I don't know why I am such a paint pussy but I am. Recently I replaced upholstered furniture in my living room and discovered that there was little for sale that wasn't a neutral beige, white, or black. I suppose we are held more captive to the trends offered in commerce to our interior designs then we are with our exterior designs. Carl- I am sure I am not the only one who is hoping to make the move back to New England. Carol - making one object or plant the center of attention for a short time - placing a blooming potted plant in an important location, or bringing out a different beautiful curio each month, the way the Japanese do, in the tokonoma . Also, the grouping of objects or plants concentrates the "busy-ness" and leaves the rest of the space feeling more open and calm Really Brilliant. Pixie lou - Wouldn't it be interesting to hear the first impressions of a visitor to both your public and private spaces. I am going to guess you would be very surprised. sharbear50- Welcome to the New England forum and safe travels. Nan - I think you are being your usual humble self I see an overall design in both your indoors and out. dee - I am curious after you ask your visitor to excuse the mess in your home/garden what comes next? spedigrees - We are a lot alike but after many many years of collecting I am now readying my house for the possibility of renting. It has been an interesting process and I surprised my self in the end to see what was packed up and what was not. terrene - I envy your self control when it comes to interior clutter!

Here's the recipe I use and my daughter too. Made in the crock pot. How to make apple butter - easily! Prepared this way, the jars have a shelf life of 18 months to 2 years, and require no special attention. A side benefit is that your house will smell wonderful while it is cooking - much better than potpourri! You can also skip the last canning steps, and just store it in your refrigerator (2 or 3 months) or freezer (indefinitely). Directions for Making Apple Butter Yields about 9 - 10 pints Ingredients and Equipment 9 quarts of Applesauce, fresh or canned (See step 1) 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon of allspice 4 cups sugar or Splenda, or an equivalent amount of sweetness to taste, from honey, Stevie or frozen concentrated apple or white grape juice. Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars) Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling water where you sanitize them. ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page) Jar funnel ($2 at Target, other big box stores, and often grocery stores; and available online - see this page) 1 Crock pot (slow cooker) 6 quart size (if your crock pot is smaller, just reduce the ingredients proportionately) Large spoons and ladles 1 Canner Ball jars quart jars including the lids and rings) Apple Butter Recipe and Directions Step 1 - Make unsweetened applesauce! That's right, apple butter starts with applesauce! You can use store bought applesauce, but the apple butter won't taste nearly as good. It's better with your own applesauce (either previously canned or fresh made). So if you haven't made some applesauce yet start here with how to make applesauce. Otherwise continue to step 2. Step 2 - Fill the crock pot Fill the crock pot to within an inch of full with applesauce, mine takes about 5.5 quarts. You will add the remaining applesauce later, in step 5. Now, you CAN do this using a regular large pot on very low heat on the stove, but the crock pot works much better, because its heat is very low. I've never had a batch burn in the crock pot. Step 3 -Add the spices Add: 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon of allspice 2 cups sugar (the other 2 cups are used in step 4) In place of sugar, you can use an equivalent amount of Splenda (sucrose) OR 1 twelve ounce can of frozen concentrated fruit juice (preferably a neutral juice, like white grape or apple). You could use honey or Stevena, also. The sweetener is present ONLY for your taste, not as a preservative, so you can use anything that is heat-stable, in quantities that suit your own tastes. You can skip the sweeteners entirely, too; but it loses a lot of the richness of flavor, in my opinion. 95% of folks seem to like using a total of 4 cups of sugar. Some folks prefer 3 cups of honey instead, and diabetics obviously like Splenda or Stevena. Step 4 - Cook down the Apple butter Set the crock pot on low or medium heat. Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter as it boils slowly, so I also cover nearby surfaces with towels. You don't want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken. A visitor suggests, take a couple of butter knives, and lay them across the top of the crock pot. They are parallel and located about 2/3 of the way out from the center. Then put the lid on these supports, leaving it "covering" the pot and keeping the splatters under control, but, leaving a good gap for steam to escape. I just made a batch and tried this approach, but I used a pair of wooden chopsticks or bamboo kebab skewers - they worked great! Leave it to cook for 6 - 18 hours. How long depends on the size and power of your crock pot, and how thick you like it, If you want to stir it occasionally, that's fine but not necessary. I start mine around 8 pm on high for 1 hour, then on medium until I am ready for bed around midnight, then leave it on low overnight. But do be careful: if your crock pot does not heat evenly, and has hot spots; you can get localized burning. So once in a while, use a rubber or silicon spatula to scrape the sides and look for any burned apple butter. If it does burn: pour the apple butter out of the crock pot into a bowl. The burned apple butter will cling to the crock pot. Clean the crock pot, discard the burned bits and pour the unburned apple butter back in! Step 5 - Add the remaining applesauce It will reduce in volume by about half overnight. As it cooks down (the next morning), add the remaining applesauce (about 2 or 3 quarts) and 2 more cups of sugar. Then let it cook a couple of hours more to mix the flavors. Step 6 - Wash the jars and lids Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sanitize" cycle, the water bath processing will sanitize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher with a sanitize cycle, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sanitize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot apple butter. Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out. Step 7 - Blend the apple butter (optional) You want a smooth, creamy texture, right? The easiest way is to use a hand-held drink blender. It does a great job of making it smooth. You can also put it into a regular blender, but if you are going to do that, you might want to blend the apple sauce before you put it in the crock pot (it will be much thicker afterwards and won't move in a regular blender). Another visitor says running it through a food mill with a fine screen or through a sieve works, too. Tips: Too thick? if the apple butter cooks down too much or is too thick for your liking, just add a little bit of apple juice and blend it in. Not thick enough? Just let it cook some more, with the lid off so the steam can escape! Step 8 - Fill and seal the jars home canning jars, lids and rings If the crock pot isn't keeping the apple butter boiling hot, you will need to briefly return the butter to the stove to get it hotter. It varies from crock pot to crock pot. I find that if I set my crock pot on high for the 15 minutes before I fill the jars and stir frequently, it gets it boiling. Fill the jars to within 1-inch of the top, wipe any spilled apple butter of the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Step 9 Process the jars Process means put them in the canner and keep them covered with at least 1 inch of water and boiling. if you are at sea level (up to 1,000 ft) boil pint jars for 5 minutes and quart jars for 10 min. If you are at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, see the chart below. Even though these times are right from the USDA, I usually tend to err on the side of safety and let mine go for 15 minutes; there's no harm in going longer. Recommended process time for Apple Butter in a boiling-water canner. Jar Size Process Time at Altitudes of 0- 1,000 ft 1,001 - 6,000 ft Above 6,000 ft Half-pints or Pints 5 min 10 15 Quarts 10 15 20 Step 10 - Done Lift the jars out of the water and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can then remove the rings if you like, but if you leave them on, at least loosen them quite a bit, so they don't rust in place due to trapped moisture. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the caner, it's usually ok. Linda

Hi James, Here's a recipe I begged my Aunt Mildred for, about 20 years ago. Her New York cheesecake. She generously shared it with me, and I have 'wowed' many guests with it. I always get requests for the recipe. It's very creamy and delicious. Aunt Mildred said there would be less likelyhood of it cracking by following her directions for cooling it. I've not had any cracking problems. Here's her recipe: New York Cheesecake 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter 1 cup sugar - divided (2 Tablespoons for crust, the remainder for the filling) 2 pounds cream cheese, (allowed to sit at room temperature till softened) 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 Tablespoons cornstarch 1 cup sour cream Blend together well, the graham cracker crumbs, butter and (2 Tablespoons) sugar. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9 inch springform pan. Chill the springform pan in the freezer while you perpare the filling. Heat the oven to 450ð. Beat the cream cheese and sugar till smoothe and light. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and cornstarch just till blended. Stir in the sour cream. Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 200ð and bake an additional 45 minutes. Turn oven off. Open door slightly. (Aunt Mildred used a wooden spoon to have her oven door cracked a peep) Let cool 3 hours in the oven. Carefully remove the sides from the springform pan. Chill the cake thoroughly in the refrigerator. Then top with a glaze before serving, if desired. Aunt Mildred also gave me the recipes for her 2 favorite glazes on this particular cake. One is strawberry and the other is pineapple. I'll give you those recipes too. Strawberry Glaze 1 quart fresh strawberries - rinsed and hulled 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tablespoon cornstarch 1/4 cup water 2 Tablespoons butter 8 drops of red food coloring 1 Tablespoon lemon juice Crush enough berries to make 1/2 cup. Set remaining berries in the refrigerator. In a saucepan mix sugar and cornstarch. Gradgually add the crushed berries and water, stirring till well blended. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil and stir for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and food coloring. Strain. Cool slightly. Add lemon juice. Cool completely. Carefully arrange reserved berries on cake. Cut very large berries in half, and place cut side down. Spoon cooled glaze over berries. Chill in refrigerator. Pineapple Glaze 1 - 9 ounce can crushed pineapple (drained) 2/3 cup syrup from the drained can of pineapple 2 teaspoons cornstarch Blend syrup and cornstarch in a saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Continue to boil and stir for 3 minutes. Cool slightly. Add pineapple. Cool completely, and spoon over cake. Chill in refrigerator.