Slick, Facebook does it all. My wife and I were pitched last Saturday. The meal was okay, only because there was fried chicken "mashed" potatoes and corn and peas. The rest either got eaten by my wife (a very close "cousin" to a pure Vegan) or tossed out. I've read this entire thread. Thanks to all who contributed, but especially to Dan the "resident chemist" (retired). Anyone who has purchased any of these extremely expensive pots and pans is thinking differently about money than I/we do. But hey, money is a tool. I won't find fault with, or mock, anyone for spending their money however they want. We were given the "acid" test too, and the saleslady really wanted us to concentrate on what was happening as we moved from the tip of the tongue to baking soda, to the SM brew, then a SS brew and finally to the brew bubbling in our aluminum Teflon coated (with scratches) fry pan. Eeew! Yes, the SM brew was like tasting liquid baking soda. The SS brew was like licking ferrous metal, and the scratched Teflon and aluminum was like tasting poison. We were expected to withdraw from our own kitchen utensils in horror and pick a SM pots and pans set immediately. My wife only scheduled our "free" dinner on the chance that she would get the SM hand shredder, or maybe even want to buy one. But, the danged thing won't handle kale. It just wiggles right through all the shredding cones. She was really hoping to save time on the chopping of her daily kale with a knife. So the saleslady lost us on that disappointment alone. The over-priced items. The skepticism I instantly had over the boiling baking soda "test". And finally the Net providing good information. This thread is the Bomb! Thanks again. I specifically wanted information on the baking soda gimmick and the concentrated information contained in this years-long exchange has been most appreciated. So, Salad Master is still at it. But their methods are so "old school". The Net provides everyone with instant reality check at their fingertips. I can just see someone pulling up this thread "in situ" while the "soda test" is going, and reading off Dan's educated denouncement of it. That, would be funny! I bet it's happened already more than once.

I have been out of town working all week with no time to respond here. Please understand my sensitivity regarding this matter. I make my living as a creative person, mostly doing visual art but am occasionally called on for my writing skills such as they are. I would be very upset if my efforts - visual or written - were presented as someone else's even if only by omission of attribution. To me it is just wrong. Pleading ignorance doesn't make it okay. Just because it's posted to the internet doesn't make it okay - anymore than taking someone's belongings because they left them unguarded in a car with an open window. Having opportunity does not grant permission. Many years ago I sat in the audience of a local design and advertising awards presentation and watched as my design work - a year's worth of my daily efforts - was presented on screen with no designer/illustrator credits given. I had resigned from my art director position with the design firm a few weeks prior to the show. I left on good terms and had even given a month's notice. I left because I couldn't work a 60 hour week any longer, I was exhausted. My heart broke as I watched my work receive award after award. Even the presenter commented that there were no credits to individuals (like the other entries). My former employer had no idea I was in the audience. She looked rather startled when she ran into me in the lobby after the show. I said nothing. At the same show a photographer had entered one of my pieces (her photo, my design) with no credit to me. Ironic because she had made a big stink about the design firm using her image without credit or royalties. The client had supplied us with a large number of transparencies without informing us that they didn't actually own rights to many of them. Our ignorance didn't make it right. A fee was negotiated and she was given printed credit on the finished piece. Yet she submitted that same printed piece as her own. Go figure. Another time I was asked by a friend and professional colleague to create a poster for an event. It was for the one-time performance of a master's thesis, an interesting adaptation of a Mozart opera. Most of the professional opera singers donated their time, as did the costume designer and others. I created the poster, promotional materials, and tickets. When I opened the program (written by my friend) I read the many credits and my name did not appear! I hadn't given myself a credit on the poster itself, either. I mentioned it to him. He looked horrified, poor fellow. I have a distinctly formed opinion about creative ownership. I can site many examples of my work being imitated, sometimes it's flattering. It feels a lot better to be acknowledged and appreciated. I do gratis work as well for friends, for fund-raisers. It isn't all about monetary gain. Eileen

Ann, try saving it to your Clippings. Look to the right of your last post (just above this). You will see the word Clippings in green letters. Under that it will say Clip This Post. For each recipe or comment you want to save, click on Clip This Post. Another way to do it is to highlight the entire thread, or the parts you want, right click with your mouse and then click on Copy. Start a new document in Word and paste the thread into that document, then save it to your computer. If you want me to do that for you and then email it to you, let me know.

WOW! So many great ideas! I had no idea there was so many potato salad variations. Since my DD loves potatoes (practically the only veggie that she will eat) many of these sound good for a side dish. I like the low fat, no mayo, recipes too. Can't wait to try. GIBBY: Do you cook the egg whites in your salad? Or froth them up and mix with the other ingredients? I think this sounds very good - low cholesterol and yummy! DH is being a pain in the youknowwhat, since I make potato salad the way his dear ol' Mom made it. So he is sticking to his guns on what he likes. Stubborn, yes? However, on yesterday's salad I omitted my usual poultry seasoning and instead I added dill, celery seed, minced garlic, fresh parsley + basil (right from my mini herb garden) diced vadilia onion, chives, and some purple onion for a little colour. Oh! And I baked the potatoes on the bbq, since I was going to cook dinner on it anyway. I just put some EVOL on the mini potatoes (whole) and sprinkled them with onion salt and put them in a foil pie plate. (This is how we like our baked potatoes). I let them cool then cut them up removing any peel that was falling off, otherwise I just left the peel on. I couldn't tell much difference (dh didn't even notice) between the baked potatoes and the boiled pots, but the texture of the baked potatoes were a little different, slightly denser, and it did add a nice flavour. However, I think I'll stick to boiling the potatoes, personally I like the texture of boiled potatoes better. Overall, it was wonderful. DH liked it okay, but it wasn't like my other salad (ie., his Moms). Geesh. His Mom never added roast chicken seasoning, that was my addition, I've tweaked it over the years and he never noticed. I think this version tasted fresher, imo. Today we try some sour cream, and a few other other combinations. Maybe dill pickle. DD has been away all week and will be home today, so she'll be my lab rat! :-) Have a great day all! BJ