Janet, thank you so much. I wasn't able to read the first web site, because of the color they used. It was too dark, but the second one was great. Is there something I did wrong, or is that web site just that dark? Thanks again, JOY

Re: sous vide. I love sous vide. I rigged up my own sous vide contraption using a temperature controller and a crock pot. Marcolo, the point isn't so much that the dishes will be more tender than conventional. Instead, sous vide has two and a half strong points. The first is cooking things like lamb shanks or short ribs, as you point out, but keeping them from getting overcooked while at the same time getting them tender. (You can have a tender short rib done medium rare, still showing pink. Yum.) The second strong point is cooking, say, a rare steak. You can cook it entirely rare, with no chance of overcooking it, and no worries about timing. Then just brown the outside, and you have a delicious steak that is 90% rare, and still has the wonderful browned outside part. A rack of lamb cooked for 8-10 hours at a medium-rare temperature is divine. The "half" part is just the ease of not having to worry about timing. You can start cooking your scallops anywhere from 3 pm to 6 pm, and the timing matters essentially zero. Cook the rest of your dinner, then pull out the scallops when everything else is finished. I made the recipe below last New Year's, and it was pretty manageable due to the insensitivity to timing. My guests thought is was the best meal they ever had, and still say so 7 mos. later. Here is a link that might be useful: sous vide lobster

Ut Oh, (thud) [that was me hitting the floor !!] I never should have clicked on that link !! OMG there are so many wonderful sounding recipes there !! I marked it in my favorites and will probably be spending the afternoon there I think. (and using a whole lot of ink and paper today) I am going to start with the grilled lobster tails. Then I am off to check out the other links that you ladies have provided. I am just now finding so many great cooking sites. Now what am I going to do with all my cook books? (I have shelves filled with them) Yummmmm Helen

We received this wine aerator as a gift. https://m.wine.com/product/vinturi-wine-aerator/120451?warehouses=CA&cid=GoogleBase_CSE_120451_Beta&gclid=CjwKEAjwlq24BRDMjdK7g8mD6BASJABBl8n310IPzm54CwZGYb5jIVpe2Mj-rkHdl7ntD2MlAdvEXRoC3Pnw_wcB&mode=xfercomplete Sometimes I have guests do blind tastings - (1) a glass straight from the bottle, (2) a glass poured through the aerator. They prefer (2) about 2/3 of the time. 1/3 of the time they can't tell the difference - but those guests might not be able to tell a California wine from a French wine, so we won't give their opinions too much weight. No one, so far, has preferred (1). If you decant into a carafe then the aerator is unnecessary. I picked this laser-sighted infrared thermometer up on a whim, because I was in Home Depot and it was only $16. http://m.homedepot.com/p/PRO-SERIES-Non-Contact-Infrared-Thermometer-with-Laser-Sighting-12-1-Spot-THERMNC/204262824 Along with enabling all sorts of geeky investigations - have you ever wondered how much hotter your ceiling is than your floor? do cats have the same internal temperature as humans? when your spouse is "steaming mad", is she really? - it has certain cooking uses. Measuring the temperature of a pan. Or of spitting oil that is too scary hot to dip your probe thermometer in. This one is as cheap as they come, and no doubt there are advantages to the expensive models, but save your money and get the wine aerator too. Differences in the emissivity of surfaces limits the accuracy of infrared temperature measurement anyway.