Hi Sherilou! I'd love your Kale seeds! Still have a few of the same that survived this heat but it'll not make seeds, doubt it the way snails attack it even if I spray often with soapy water, oh well, it was great and used for a few months..and it all originated from GW Fall seed swap, smile. I have a blue kale, artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, different beans and more, let me know, thanks. Bea

Hi everyone, I've planted Siberian and a few seeds of Dinosaur Kale -would love more of Dino Kale, plus Dwarf Curly Blue, Red Russian or any colorful and tasty kale, also Collards. Willing to send stamps if you can't find seeds in my list, fingers crossed, Bea Ammyself333Bea@Yahoo.com

I was thinking of asking my dad to take the kale (white russian is really getting big, though started same time as others), broccoli, spinach to his house and put in sunroom - gets pretty warm there during day (too warm?) but would get more sun and would be cooler (too cool?) at night than in my family room, but be more sheltered than moving outside. Would also give me more room under grow lights for my tomatoes and peppers (1 flat off cool weather stuff isn't even under light, it's 1 shelf below and gets some light from the (wire) shelf above and from the window, if I'm careful to keep the flat fo tomatoes pushed back a little. I've got to buy at least 1 more clamp-on lamp. I have 1, works with regular bulb but it blew out a CFL last year and I don't want to put it on a timer with another CFL. Funny how we're in the same zone but frost dates are different? I'm going by 90% LFD, 50% is end of April but not anywhere near next week. Like I said, it's going to be mid-30's at night this w/e, warming up to lows in 40's next week but averages are 36-38 for the rest of the month and last April we had 3 hard freezes the last week, after unseasonably warm weather in March and earlier in April. Like they say, "If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a little bit - it'll change!"

Okay, I've seen the High Line in a children's book, and do get the part about TJ's being far. The rest could have as easily been about Kamchatka, given how much I know about New York. :) TJ's has things that come and go, so if you're making a special trip, it might be worth calling ahead. I do the same with kale, in the low oven, but I cut out the heavy stems. Can't do it with kale sprouts, so did the hotter. They were probably too hot, but they got nice and crunchy. :) Your toasted garnish sound great! I was thinking more of the little shreds of veg that you're supposed to eat with the meat, which they also call garnish, but so much better yet to make the decorative bits into a snack! I think plenty of people in New York, at least among the people I know, are more like you with the less amount of meat. It's the chefs who don't get it! Or maybe not even the chefs there, but the ones who come here from there--maybe their fare wasn't what the New Yorkers wanted anyway. Or maybe an Eastern thrift thing of if you're paying $$$ or more, it should be for something with Calories. :) The French and German chefs seem to have at least a good acquaintance with vegetables. The Italians--the fine dining chefs here here--use them in the cooking, but it seems if you want one to actually bite into, it's in a salad, and the Brits promise all kinds of delightful veg, but it's really just a smear of puree meant to be eaten with the meat (high class substitute for ketchup) with a few micro greens and three twigs for color on top. The other fun thing that TJ's had this last year was "heirloom red spinach". I love that they're getting in these oddities, half cleaned and ready to use. :) I admire your vegetable garden. I have herbs and peppers, but I'm not a great gardener, and am not ready to commit to vegetables. Are there any you're planting now for the Spring?