I chop it finely, stir it into some butter, freeze the butter in a roll wrapped in plastic wrap, then cut off rounds to cook or serve with a steak. Very yum. Goes well with an assortment of veges, too. You can add a squeeze of lemon juice to the butter mixture if you like. You can do the same with chicken, or pork, or lamb chops etc. Tarragon Omelette 6 eggs 1 tablespoon tarragon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoons pepper 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons butter 1 tomato, diced 1/2 cup cheddar cheese 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese Combine eggs, tarragon, salt, pepper, and water. Add butter to pan and pour in mixture. Lift eggs with spatula and tilt pan until eggs have set. Sprinkle half the omelette with tomato and cheeses; fold and serve. Garnish with extra cheese, diced tomatoes and parsley. Tomato and Tarragon Muffins 1/4 cup oil 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind 1 diced onion 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon OR 1 tablespoon dried 1 teaspoon chilli sauce 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 3 cups self-raising flour 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, extra (optional) Preheat oven to 200C. Thoroughly blend all Ingredients except flour and extra cheese. Add the flour and mix until completely combined. Place in greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with extra cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes and remove from tins when slightly cooled. Makes 12. Serve with fish and salad meals. Pork and Tarragon Pie 1 tablespoon margarine 1 onion, peeled and chopped 90g bacon, rinds removed, chopped 500g minced pork 1 chicken stock cube, crumbled and dissolved in 200ml hot water salt and pepper 1 teaspoon dried tarragon shortcrust pastry made with 185g flour beaten egg or milk for glazing tomato wedges and a sprig of parsley to garnish Melt the margarine and fry the onion and bacon gently for 5 minutes until soft. Add the pork and cook gently for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Season well, add the tarragon and mix thoroughly. Leave to cool. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and use to line a 20cm shallow, fluted flan tin or pie plate with a removable base. Fill with the pork mixture. Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid. Damp the edges of the pie and cover with the lid. Press the edges well together and trim. Cut a slit in the centre and decorate the top with pastry leaves cut from the trimmings. Glaze with the egg or milk and bake in at 220°C for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180°C and continue to cook for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the tin. Serve hot with baked jacket potatoes and a green vegetable or cold with a mixed salad, garnished with tomato wedges and sprig of parsley. Roast Tarragon Chicken 1 whole chicken, about 2kg salt and pepper knob butter 3 teaspoons dried tarragon, or use fresh 4 tablespoons oil 2 rashers bacon Sprinkle salt and pepper into cavity of chicken, add the butter and tarragon. Put chicken into a baking dish, pour oil over it, sprinkle with more salt and pepper and put a sprig of tarragon (or sprinkle dried tarragon) on top. Cover the chicken with greaseproof paper and bake at 190°C for 1 1/2 hours. After 20-30 minutes, remove paper, baste the chicken with pan drippings, then replace the paper. Vegetables of choice may be baked in the same dish as the chicken. Baste again after another 30 minutes. During the last 20 minutes of cooking, remove the paper and cover the breast with the bacon rashers. Tarragon Leek Frittata 4 medium leeks, trimmed to the pale green and cleaned 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 tablespoon olive oil salt and freshly ground pepper 8 eggs 2 tablespoons chopped tarragon 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Quarter the leeks lengthwise and dice them. Soften them in the butter and oil in a frypan and season lightly with salt and pepper. Beat the eggs lightly. Add the chopped tarragon and cheese. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Pour the egg mixture over the leeks and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes. Then cover and cook 6-8 minutes longer, or until the bottom of the frittata is browned and the top is set. If the bottom is browned enough but the top is not quite set, invert a flat plate or pan lid over the frittata, flip the pan over, then slide the inverted frittata back into the pan and cook a minute or two longer. Serve the frittata hot, warm, or at room temperature.

hi, I just posted about ABs on the Craft & Dec page (post about going away gift). I'm in a round robin right now. Each participant passes their book to the same person after a certain length of time (1 month in our case). Each time we get another book, we work in it and send it on to that same person. Eventually our books come back to us. We formed a yahoo group just for sharing about our progress, and to post pictures. And yes, I think the main thing is to have a theme. I was really scared to take part in one of these, but now I highly recommend a round robin. I've also heard of "Tip Ins" --a kind of swap where others send pages or spreads that you "tip in" to your book. You can attach the pages directly to other pages, or cut off existing pages leaving only a tab, and glue the tip-in to that.

I will always recommend the Harry Potter books. They are long, but most kids cannot put them down. 10 is a good age to read the first one. The series has been known to turn the hardest cases of non-readers into bookworms. ;o) The Goosebump series (R.L. Stein) was hugely popular a few years ago, but is still a favorite on the bookshelf at my kids' school. Creepy stories, haunted houses, kids caught in supernatural mysteries. Fast reads, and so many books in the series that if she likes one she'll find a lot more like it. New books are still coming out, too. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Jeff Kinney) is very popular series right now, but I have not read any of these yet. It's very new, there are only 2 out, but another is coming. They are humorous. I LOVE the kids' novels by Carl Hiaasen, "Hoot" and "Flush." They are stories of environmental wrong-doing adults foiled by the earth-conscious kids in the funniest, most ironic, "poetic justice" situations. Smart kids will get the irony. My 11 y/o DS is also a bright kid, but really not much of a reader. He loved both those books, laughed through them, and stole a couple one-liners. They are risque enough to be "cool" to kids, defiant kids question authority, a coupls "damns" and "hells" in the text. But the prevailing message is "Do the right thing." Great books, in my opinion. (But know that kids' books is not Hiaasen's main genre. If she likes the author, don't let her get into the other books he writes for adults. Those are for mature readers, R-rated situations and language including the f-bomb.) She might like books by Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie, Tale of Desperaux, and others). They are either realistic fiction featuring animals/pets, or fantasy with animal characters. There is the Redwall series (Brian Jacques). Those are fantasy about animals, rodents mostly, and set in a sort of medieval setting, with castles and heroic battles to save the village, sort of mice as knights. Varjak Paw (SF Said) is a fantasy/mystery about a house cat who goes into the world to save his family. I didn't read it, but my 11 y/o read it twice, so it must have impressed him! The poetry collections of Shel Silverstein. I was given Where the Sidewalk Ends when I was 10, I still have it, dated and inscribed "Love, Mom and Dad." My kids read it. They all like hearing the poems, but it's my 11 y/o that gets the humor and play on words. Some more titles/authors that might appeal to her b/c they are fantasty and some feature animals. A Cricket in Times Square, George Seldon Indian in the Cupbord, Lynne Reid Banks James and the Giant Peach, Ronald Dahl Rats of NIHM series, Robert C. O'Brien Well, sorry to go so long, you hit one of my favorite topics. Hope there is something there that helps.

San, Fine Cooking magazine is always a great source for new ways with vegetables. We love the recipe from them for Roasted Green Beans: Roasted Green Beans with Garlic Source: Marilyn (from Fine Cooking) 1 1/2 pound fresh green beans 1 small head garlic (I use only 6 to 8 cloves) 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon kosher salt Fresh ground pepper to taste 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese Wash, trim and dry green beans. Position oven rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 450° (425° is using dark pan) and place a baking sheet in the oven. Peel each garlic clove and cut each into 4 pieces. Place green beans in a large bowl along with garlic, oil, salt and pepper; toss to coat evenly and pour onto hot baking sheet in a single layer. Roast beans for 10 minutes, stir and continue to roast another 5 minutes if beans are slim and another 10 minutes if beans are thick. Remove to serving dish and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan cheese. And yesterday I made a wonderful cauliflower dish from them. The cauliflower is browned first so it makes a beautiful carmelized combination: Browned Cauliflower with Anchovies, Olives and Capers 1 medium-small head cauliflower (about 2 pounds) 1 large clove garlic pinch coarse salt- sea or kosher 6 oil packed anchovy filets, drained (I used 1 tablespoon anchovy paste) 1/4 cup EVOO 15 black olives, pitted and roughly chopped 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, more to taste (this really made the dish pop!) 2 teaspoons capers, roughly chopped (I left these whole) 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I left out) Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes Clean and cut cauliflower into chunks, keeping florets attached to pieces of stem. Crush garlic with salt into a paste and add anchovies and pound them to a paste as well (since I used anchovy paste I just stirred it into crushed garlic). Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, olives, lemon juice and zest, capers and red pepper flakes; stir well. Heat 2 tablespoons EVOO in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat and add half the cauliflower pieces in a single layer, cut side down. Cook until cauliflower is well browned on all sides then transfer to plate. Add the remaining cauliflower and more EVOO if necessary and brown on all sides. Add cauliflower from plate to cauliflower in pan and turn the heat down to low. Carefully add 2/3 cup (I only used 1/4 cup) water; cover and let steam until the stems are just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and pour off all but about 1 tablespoon cooking liquid (or place in a serving bowl). Gently fold in anchovy mixture. Serve warm or room temperature. *This is my new favorite way to eat cauliflower! Marilyn