hong I'm probably the most impatient person around! lol! It's just NOT one of my better qualities - sorry! Example: I've been waiting patiently (not) for Spring to 'SPRING!' - so the brugs can go outside! lol! I'm sure Mark is not in trouble - so I wouldn't worry about it. We all come here as a group of friends (more like family) to share our love for brugs & anyhing else that might peak our interest. We help one another as best we can. So please - as someone new to the forum family - welcome & enjoy the people here! :) We have a great group of people here who are ready, able, and willing to help. What more can I say?? I have a feeling after awhile you'll fit in with us - or we'll fit in with you! lol! Either way - we ALL benefit! Anyway - I'm sure you'll enjoy the brug you purchased from Country Garden. :) Which one did you finally buy? Inquiring minds want to know! Mike

Photography: If you are in NYC and you want to visit the Empire State Building and you have a map. It will not be difficult for you to find the place. And if you don’t have a map, you can drive for days and still not find the building. Is the person with the map a better driver? I am not a good photographer. I use extremely simple methods (the map). I use one light, one tripod and the camera on automatic for the same shots every time. Plating: I have been told that I have a unique style. I don’t know what that means. I do find it interesting that all food by nature have God’s given colors and geometry. So I try to take advantage what nature has to offer. There are many plating styles which I don’t practice, for many reasons, mostly because I don’t have the time to perform intricate carving and stacking. I don’t have the patience to take food to a presentation plate, arrange, assemble, move, sculpt, tweezer -----. compose, compose and compose---tasting menu style ----- then relocate the food on a serving plate, reheat and serve. The dishes that I take pictures with are the same dishes that go on the dinner table. I think there is no style that will please all, which is very interesting to me. I learn a lot from good comments and very critical comments. I find age differences, culture, geography, etc. have a lot to do with perception of and preference to aesthetics. After all, if you go to a fine arts museum, chances you will hate at least half of the “art” there. Sleevendog, everything you have said has been said to me by more than one person more than once. I have no disagreement with your thesis. I can see that you have some background in artistic training. I certainly do not think you are being critical at all. You have made valid observations from your perspective and I do appreciate them. I assure you each time I create some dishes, I will be thinking of your comments before I click. The important issue in discussion here is really for those who have some degree of photophobia. Taking good food pictures and creating good plating while not that important, but if you want to add additional joy to the eating experience, it is much easier and cheaper than you realize. A while back, I decided to send a couple of pictures and entered in a cooking competition sponsored by a major publication and some food companies. I was immediately qualified just by the pictures I sent. During the actual cooking, the appliance which was given to me (All finalists cook with the same appliances) failed. I was unable to fully execute my recipe. However, the picture of my plating was used in the centerfold by the publication and also the Facebook advertisement for the sponsoring food company. Then recently I entered another competition sponsored by a food forum. I won the competition just by the photos I submitted. I did post those pictures here in this forum. Those were a lot of fun to brag to my friends and family. And the equipment used for the photos? As I said nothing more than one light bulb, and a broken kitchen container. Lighting is very important, for instance, the same picture of the artistically plated dish up thread by Sleevendog would look totally different if it were taken with better lighting; No shaking, no bad lighting, that is the “Map” to good photos even with cheap cameras. Just do it. Plate, click, plate, click ------- Small investment in learning time for a life time of amazing food fun! dcarch

just saw an interesting interview on one of dr. drew's shows - with the woman who was inside the anthony home while she was acting as casey's body guard. she talked about this horrific fight between casey and cindy the night before casey left home -have heard this fight referenced before, supposedly knock-out-drag-out, but it was never talked about in court. she said her theory was that casey was so furious and sick of cindy's rules for casey and jealous of cindy's love for caylee, that that's what forced her over the edge. she thinks casey took care of things the next day while george and cindy were at work/not home .... and then started her 31 days of celebrating. this theory would explain all casey's hateful expressions toward cindy during the trial -remember when cindy mouthed "i love you" to casey as she exited the stand and casey rolled her eyes and snarled -and now the visit denial. and of course, i'm sure casey blames cindy for "pushing" her to do what she did -and further explains cindy's guilt which forced her to lie on the stand about the chloroform searches ............

Yay! I'm so happy reading things are getting fixed for you- I hope the finished product is done correctly and doesn't have the same issues. I didn't read every comment, so forgive me if you addressed this already- did anyone ever tell you exactly what caused this? I would want to know the cause to ensure the problem doesn't repeat itself. If it was poor craftsmanship - then I would want someone new fixing them. All I can say is, I have cheap builder grade cabinets that are almost 20 years old. I painted them five years ago (turned out great) and mine today look almost the same as they did five years ago. I have a couple hairline cracks but nothing like you pictured - so little oh me thinks - a kitchen like yours should be holding up way better than my old builder grade cabinets I painted myself. You had every right to be upset too. Again, I'm happy things are getting fixed. Post more pics when they get reinstalled :)