Hey, Lady! A very Merry Christmas to YOU, too! I count having you among my friends as a blessing. Actually, I count all my friends as blessings, so Merry Christmas to ALL of them!!! Happy new year! Al

Ditto from me, Butterflutter, I too hope everyone has a great Christmas with lots of butterfly gardening gagets under the tree. Santa, just a few days ago, delivered my Christmas present which was a 10 by 12 greenhouse!! I am so excited and can't wait til they get it up and going for me.

Thank you everyone, your complements make it worth my while to try to figure out what to do with two weeks worth of leftovers. Posted by hawk307 "------ DC: Talk about Dinners fit for a King !!! Wheeooo ! ---" Be careful Lou, behind every great king, there is a great queen who actually rules the kingdom. Posted by jasdip "----and now you have a year to plan next year's festivities.---" Yes I know, I hate to hear, "Come on dcarch! Not rib roast and duck again!" Posted by mustangs "Amazing!! How does one get on your guest list? Cathy" Marry me? LOL! Posted by jimster "It's the spectacular food we have come to expect of you, dcarch. And the photos too, are mouthwatering, even the blurred ones. ---" Thanks Jim, but truth be told, there are so many folks here cook with great panache, yet my cooking with sous vide, that requires absolutely no skills, nothing can go wrong, no overcooking or undercooking possible. Just flip a switch, "Set it, and forget it." Ann_t and FOAS, regarding Potato Latkes authenticity, what I went by was as defined by Wikipedia, under the section: Hanukkah Tradition - "Latkes need not necessarily be made from potatoes. Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were, and in some places still are, made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foodways of the various places where Jews lived." And I did not invent the Mushroom Wild Rice Latkes recipe either, it was adapted from the KosherEye Web site The Wild Rice Latkes tasted very good because I didn't have Schmaltz, so I used the dripping from the roasted duck and rib roast, as it turned out, much tastier than Schmaltz, IMHO. It is always fun to engage your guests to go out of the regular food boxes a little. They really liked the purple Okinawan sweet potatoes, for instance. dcarch

Tamoure & family May you also have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. and enjoy great happiness, health and prosperity. All the best from the International Cordyline Society Inc.