Hi Jude, I'm trying to get the thread to pop up, but it's being stubborn. Hang tight for a bit. Thanks, Tamara

We were visiting my wife's family in Vermont which ends up being a large group, with most of her brothers and sisters, and their spouses and kids, and this year even several girlfriends of the kids. All told we were about thirty. Meals were split up with one or two people volunteering for each meal. New Year's Eve was my night. I was stumped at first as far as what to make, but the co-volunteer Eric (a foodie BIL) came up with the suggestion of top-your-own tacos. We actually went with tostadas, and made black beans, three different meat toppings, and about a dozen other topping options, with side dishes of Mexican-spiced rice, and homemade cole slaw. Logistically the meal worked well, although some people didn't realize that they were supposed to be able to pick up the tostada after they made it, and instead they buried it beneath a 2-inch deep mound of toppings. Also we forgot to put out the guacamole until after half the people had served themselves. Food wise, some parts of the meal worked better than others. The shredded chicken verde was good but would have been better with more of the tomatillo salsa, however the co-op closed early, and the normal grocery store had no green salsa. The beef/chorizo was good but could have used a bit more of something, Eric and I couldn't decide what it needed. The shrimp was a big hit, the only problem with it was it disappeared so fast, the recipe (as well as I remember it) for the shrimp is below. Chili-Lime Shrimp 2 lbs peeled uncooked shrimp (31-40 count -- cut into thirds) 10 cloves garlic (minced) 1 4oz can diced green chilies 2 limes chili powder canola oil Liberally cover raw shrimp with chili powder and the juice of 1 half of a lime, and let rest for 10 minutes. In small pan, heat oil over medium heat, add garlic and green chilies, until garlic is softened and fragrant. remove from heat. In large pan, heat oil over high heat, until it is smoking hot, add shrimp stirring occasionally to make sure all the shrimp are getting cooked, and none are burning, after about 2-3 minutes the shrimp should all be cooked, add the garlic and green chilies that you set aside, and the rest of the juice of the limes. Stir for about 1 more minute, and place in large bowl to serve. Overall the meal received rave reviews.

Oh man, I'm behind again. I really love John's yogurt bottle, though, LOL. I've been super busy here, mostly with gardening. I've made my way through a bushel of poblano peppers, all of a sudden they were happy. I took a half bushel to the food pantry, gave a 5 gallon bucket to the neighbor and then began roasting/peeling/freezing for future chilies rellenos. Also got a bushel of mixed Anaheim and Pasilla and dried about half of those, then put a tray of chopped red habaneros in the freezer for future Habanero Gold Jelly. I've canned tomato sauce and salsa and catsup and Sharon's chile sauce and I'm officially over tomatoes, even though I still have this in the backyard. Again, no takers so they will go to the food pantry. So many people here have their own gardens and fruit trees and by the end of the summer everyone has garden burnout, I guess. I've also been wading my way through the peaches, Elery and I picked 3 bushels before we both gave up and said the rest could fall on the ground. I tried hard to give them away, peaches are $60 a bushel here, but they are clingstones and no one wants to mess with them, so no takers. I froze 18 quarts, made some peach butter and peach cobbler and peach crumble bars and I'm almost done with them. In the meantime, I have actually been cooking. I made black bean sheet pan tacos last night along with queso fundido: Tonight it was country style pork ribs with roasted golden beets and kale from the garden. The Princess was home and came for breakfast and she wanted crepes with cream cheese filling and blueberry topping, and it was so. She is the Princess after all. I made burgers with our homegrown beef and roasted potatoes with fingerlings from the garden as well as a salad with everything I could find that was still crunchy in the fridge: Chicken gyros which were just OK: A chilies relleno casserole which I wasn't optimistic about but it turned out to be really good: Bratwurst with potatoes from the garden, homemade sauerkraut and some cheese bread from a small local bakery: I made apple sauce and apple butter with some MacIntosh apples I got from a neighbor in exchange for some of my Red Delicious. They were very dark red and even were red in the center and they made awesome sauce and apple butter. I've never seen Macs go red inside, though. And, since we got our first frost a couple of days ago, I also had a bucket of sweet peppers to use, we picked them all before they froze. I dehydrated two quarts of them and put 24 in the freezer for future stuffed peppers: My next project? Cutting an 18 pound cushaw into bakable pieces, then packaging the puree for pies. They have become a favorite with several family members, and I only planted one plant. I got 3 squash, one was chewed by something, we got this one and one more about half this size. I'm sure I won't need any more, that should be about 20 pies, LOL. The garden is winding down, I still have to deal with the kale and have 3 tubs of leeks in the garage that need to be dehydrated. It's cooling off and although we are officially in drought conditions it seems better than when it was 90F for far too many days. I'll be planting garlic in the next couple of weeks, a sure sign of fall. Annie

It was my birthday on Thursday, and DD asked what I wanted for my birthday dinner. Lamb radiatore, I said. This is a dish that I ordered all the time at our favorite local Italian eatery, until they cruelly discontinued it, never to reappear again. This keeps happening to me. Three years ago our local brewery dropped their “Luscious Lupilin” beer, that I’ve been drinking for a decade, and have refused to restore it, no matter how much I whine and wheedle. My radiatore has gone the same sad way. This is hard. I’m old, and don’t like change. DD questioned me about the dish. We decided to use half lamb, half pork, and to use ground meat rather than hand chopping. Plenty of umami from anchovies and suchlike, not too much tomato, long slow cooking, and radiatore pasta bought from that same eatery’s little market. It was almost the same as my long lamented dish, and the next day, a bit of heavy cream into the leftovers closed the gap. Served with a radicchio salad, carmelized leeks, olives, a cheese platter, and creme bruleé. Another birthday. Sigh. But I’m creeping closer to Medicare eligibility, and that’s good, because what is happening to the ACA is making that coverage expensive indeed. SWMBO got on Medicare last year, and she enjoys taunting me about it :-(