bk thanks, I well understand the traditional food culture. I was omnivorous until 2007, now I'm 46 years old (in june), the only regret I have is not having started earlier to be vegan. Change eating habits it is not so difficult, for me it was indeed an extraordinary experience. Ken, I prefer escargots alive and kicking, ...preferably not on my hostas hehehe ...anyway I don't use products to kill them. Gary assassin, you are a meat cutter? there are still people who eat meat? ;-) josy67, thanks for the compliments. My advice is to try the Honeybells, I'm sure you'll like it, my plantaginea was soft and very tasty. Jan and tj thanks, but for me all meats are inappropriate ;-)

Thanks everyone - It really was amazing!!! I walked into Jolane and there was Peppi exactly as she said she would be. She's pretty much told you everything but I want to add a bit. Peppi is the first cooking forum friend I've met in real life and she was raving about some of the other friends she's met through here. If y'all are half as nice as she claims, I can't wait to meet more of you. Next time anyone is in Chicago or passing through, drop me an email and we can get together for more of this addictive kind of fun. We talked so much and had such a great time they had to kick us out - very politely of course - but then we had already been there for THREE hours!! Where did that time go? Good thing Peppi wasn't working that day - that was a very long lunch hour. I had the best girlfriend lunch ever. Most of my girlfiends are salad nibblers and forget about dessert. Peppi and I shared a delicious lunch and between the two of us we finished most of it. When we were emailing back and forth to set it all up she said something to me that just struck a chord..."Never trust a skinny cook". I'm framing it for my kitchen - it just made me feel so warm and good. Of course I can't let that be an excuse not to get to a healthier weight but it is a lovely thought :) Next time, and i know there wil definitely be one, we will take pictures and maybe I'll get brave enough to put a picture of myself on the internet. I had to run, barely made it home before the bus, but I did. Peppi did you run into the Viking shop? Just wondering if that's where you picked up that cool (hot) pepper de-seeder?

Well he did act like a young Don Knots but he looked more like a young and of course chubby Dom DeLouise! Thank you everyone for your compliments you are all being so nice. It is nice when KT people can get together. We're spending the week at our place in northeast PA so it was only a 30 or so mile drive to met Susan at a restaurant. My husband and I had been cutting logs into rounds for 2 days so I told him I wanted a fun day. The kids come up tonight so tomorrow it's back to firewood duty - we rented a hydraulic log splitter and we're planning on getting 2 or 3 cords of wood split and stacked for the winter. I feel like the productive country mouse from the children's fable.

Tuna casserole is one of those dishes that requires NO recipe! Just ad lib - all you need is cooked pasta, tuna, seasonings, any veggies of your choice and a cream sauce. And some sort of topping - grated cheese, crushed saltines or potato chips, fried onions. Bake until hot and bubbly. This is my adult daughter's favorite dinner and she requests it specifically whenever she comes to visit. When she was little, I used to make it with a packaged macaroni and cheese (like Kraft or Velveeta) and add some sour cream. Quick, very easy and suited to a child's taste buds. Now I get a little more sophisticated and use rotini or spiral pasta (have also used shells and orecchiette), bechamel and real cheese. Sometimes I add mushrooms .And when making for her, always peas....but only canned peas :-)