You know that cooking forum looks pretty active, but I don't think I want to get involved. I bet there are at least a few forum masters over there. Did you see the post about ginger? I guess if we eat the stuff from China we all croak. Not good. Very nice lemons Judy. Hope no innocent reader takes that the wrong way. My fridge is kind of a mess right now and I really hate that. All the food for T day plus all those hibernating orchids and carnivorous plants I vowed never to store there. Some of them are actually growing new roots inside their little baggies. I wonder if that's normal? Not many posts now before we reach the magic number. Only profound and heartfelt comments accepted from now on.

Wow! I just learned a lot from Wekick! So the reality is actually flipped on its head from what we've always been told. I haven't used a recent residential gas oven enough to know, but I do know my Gaggenau regular oven does retain a lot of moisture even though it vents a lot of air from the oven. That is, I can see the steam on the door, and when I open it, and I know that it's oven air and not just the instrumentation air that's being vented from things like cooking smells, and smoke by products that escaped the filters when I tried smoking in the oven (never again indoors!). What I can say is that I've cooked in all kinds of ovens except that newfangled gas, and even baked in a commercial convection oven, and, while I haven't necessarily analyzed what I was doing, I have been able to adjust and make everything come out right. The difference, in buying a really fine appliance and using something jury rigged out of discarded parts is convenience and control. As long as you have that, you can make everything work out. So, there are other pros to choosing gas: Lacanche is all valves, rather than circuit boards, right? Or I'm I mixing that up with La Cornue? Because the tech for the temperature sensor is really old and simple. Cuircuit boards can get fried. If the gas oven doesn't require electricity to work, if you can light it with a match if the electricity is out, that could be useful. (Some with electronic ignition allow manual lighting, some don't.) Assuming, that is, that you had what to cook without ruining the food in the fridge by opening it. An all gas range is usually a much simpler build, and therefore there's less interference between the burner system and oven, though I kind of doubt that's an issue with Lacanche. Um... I had some other good points but I started sneezing and they all flew out of my head. Devil's advocate aside, I agree with Wekick's points about the versitility of electric, but you already have another fine electric oven going in, and you said you don't bake much and I can see you enjoying gas just for its primal nature. Oh, crap! I just reread your opening yet again. I keep losing bits. The broiler goes to 700ð. I've read it four times before and it didn't register right. As a pizza maniac, how can you pass that up? Pizzeria ovens can go up to 900ð, but still... Even if you just used the gonzo broiler to heat up your stone to blazing and didn't actually broil the pizza, though a lot of folks are having success with a steel and a broiler... I've been working on perfecting a whole wheat pizza recipe, and even though it's not quite there yet, it's all been better than restaurant pizza. :)

Isn't banana catsup a Phillipino food? Seems like I remember DH talking about it once. The house I grew up in had a pantry that was about 6x10...certainly bigger than the bathroom! And it was stocked floor to ceiling. I used to kid my mother about having converted to LDS (I'd heard somewhere they are supposed to have two years supply of food on hand -- don't know if that is really true or not) or having starved in a former life. It was not unusual to find things on the top shelves that were 5+ years out of date. We'd sneak them to the trachcan one at a time. As for what's in the pantry here...I'm scared to look! The house was empty for nearly a year before I moved here, and I doubt there was much grocery buying going on the two years before that. I cleaned out one section of shelves when I moved in, but there's aother ssection that could have just about anything from any decade. Tackling that section is on my spring cleaning list. Emily - after my experience some years back with the old chili peppers and moths, I'd just walk that whole container to the trash bin, unopened. You haven't missed that Tupperware bowl this long, you won't miss it going forward. LOL!

I could have sworn I came back right after submitting the previous post to add the recipe, and submitted it, but the post has disappeared. I even changed the heading just like we're supposed to do. Oh well, here's the recipe. I served it with home fries made with home grown red potatoes and simply cooked fresh spinach. Zucchini Frittata with Marjoram (or Basil) 1 1/4 pounds zucchini, coarsely grated Salt and freshly milled pepper 3 tablespoons live oil 6 eggs 1 large garlic clove, crushed or minced 1 tablespoon chopped marjoram (or a few tablespoons chopped basil leaves) 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or dry Jack Toss the zucchini with 1 teaspoon salt and set it aside in a colander for 20 or 30 minutes. Rince briefly, then squeeze dry. Warm half the oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until its dry and flecked with gold in a few places, about 6 minutes. Transfer the zucchini to a bowl and wipe out the pan. Preheat the broiler. Beat the eggs with a few pinches of salt and some pepper, then stir in the garlic, zucchini, herb of choice, and cheese. Add the remaining oil to the pan and, when its hot, add the eggs. Lower the heat, cook for a minute or so, then give the pan a few jerks to make sure the eggs are loose on the bottom. If theyre sticking, loosen them carefully with a thin rubber spatula. Cook over mediium-low heat until the eggs are set and the top is nearly dry, about 10 minutes. Put the fritatta 4 to 6 inches under the broiler to finish cooking the top. I did make it last night, using the basil, but wasn't up to doing the photography thing. I don't know what a frittata is supposed to look like, and in the recipe, Madison doesn't specify how large of a pan to use, just a wide pan, so my frittata turned out maybe too thin. I used the largest skillet I had that could go into the oven or under a broiler, which is a big 12" (I think), or bigger, enamel covered cast iron skillet. I don't use it very often because it's so #%@!#&^#$! heavy! Anyway, the frittata turned out pretty thin. Are they supposed to be thin? It was fairly tasty. Jerry (DH) liked it, but we both agreed that I over cooked it. As thin as it was, 10 minutes on the stove top plus extra under the broiler was a bit too long. Seeing as it was the first frittata I made, I think I need to practice some more. Sally