Thanks everyone for the wonderful Birthday wishes. I love being apart of this great group of people. bonnie12210 Im still around just not much at night right now. My computer has caught the flu and I have someone working on it for me right now. So I can only post during the day from work when I have time. C YA!!!! Rigo74

Interesting data. I don't have any "official" data, but I noticed my Burpee Jalapeno M were some of the first to pop up. They aren't the early ones per say, but they are usually the first variety that produces ripe fruit for me. Probably around 8 days if I had to guess to pop up(based on the 4-5 days it took for the 'maters). California Wonder, Big Dipper, and Chianti were about a day later. Anaheim were a little slower for some reason. Corno di Toro never germinated at all, as you know.

Posted by glenda_al "Are you married? tee hee" I know. I don't cook as well as many of you do. I must not be married right? LOL! Posted by Charcuterie "You food looks amazing! I love your plating and photography. The Asian serving platters is beautiful and fits perfectly. Do you have a blog or anything? If not you definitely should! The Char Siu came out incredibly delicious looking, I would love the recipe. When I make it, it's usually from a powdered mix at the Asian grocery store. The meat comes out radioactive red from the food dyes and the taste is rather meh. If you make it again save some to make steamed Chinese pork stuffed buns aka char siu bao. " Thank you. The Asian platter was bought cheap because it is chipped. The char siu recipe is a typical recipe. Except I don't use red coloring. The sous vide makes it kind of pink anyway. I sometimes add a little balsamic vinegar in the marinate. I never seem to have leftovers for bao. LOL. No, I don't have a blog or WEB page. Haven't had the time at this point. Posted by bumblebeez "Beautiful as always but it's nice to see some carbs too. I don't recall seeing a pie from you before and that's a great design." Thank you. I make pie once in a while. I don't post the pies because I have not tried to make the dough myself like you guys.. dcarch

My kitchen remodel was absolutely designed around how I cook & how we use the kitchen. Three things I wanted were: 1. Lots of natural light - I cook from-scratch meals almost every day and spend a lot of time here. In addition to prep/cooking, this is where most casual entertaining happens, where I fold laundry, work on the computer, and where DH & I eat most meals. I used to have one small window and we looked at walls of upper cabinet boxes (depressing). We eliminated many uppers, added storage in the island, put the range in the corner so that this is now what I see when I'm working there. 2. Induction range - I also chose my stove for how I cook. I prefer the look of a pro-style gas stove but chose induction because the perfect stovetop temp control works best for my style of cooking. I don't do wok or high sear frying, but for 9 months of the year you'll likely see a pot on my stovetop. I do lots of stocks, soups, stews & chowders. Induction was made for simmering! Here's the pot of chicken stock I have going on this rainy day. 3. Big stone (no prep sink) island -I chose to have a big, uninterrupted island top that, in addition to being our preferred everyday eating spot, also works as a serving table for buffets (has the plugs for crockpots/warming trays). It also allows for a number of people to work around it with room to spare. Like when the grands come over for the annual Christmas cookie bake ;) There are SO many elements I just love in other kitchens posted here but some just wouldn't have worked as well for me. I've used this kitchen for almost a year now, though, and still appreciate it every day. Great thread to get people in the planning stages to really consider their priorities for use over just looks. ETA - Happy Birthday, Texas_Gem!