I was born in VT. Many of my mothers relatives lived there too. A couple of years ago, I was in Burlington VT visiting an uncle, and found a shop that sells cheese ends. Basically, they are bits, chunks, and all shapes and sizes of Cabot cheeses. The cost per pound was only about $2, but that was because they had several different cheddar chunks all clumped together. I bought about 8 pounds and it took a while to use it all up. I make a 'mean' mac and cheese, and use a bit of mustard powder as well as onions, and some Velveta to get it to be a bit more creamy. I mix in some no fat milk, along with a big dollop of margerine. Its mostly Cabot chedddars though, and is a real 'comfort' food. Mixed with some bits of cooked hamburg, you now have even more flavor and texture. There is a specific brand and type of pasta I use, which is a bit larger than regular elbows, and it gets cheese inside each elbow, its a 'casserole' type pasta.. Yum! An interesting thing about pepper, is that once its freshly ground and added as a meat rub and baked, the 'heat' will deminish. Tellicherry peppercorns are one of the best there is. I make an 'egg mcmuffin' with eggs, either homemade sausage patties, or slices of home made Canadian bacon. These are placed bewteen a split, toasted English muffin, with a slice of American cheese. I have a round metal ring form that I use to make the egg portion, and use both the 'Egg Beaters' product, but also add some powdered egg. It cooks up much firmer and holds up better to freezing. I use 6 inch wide FS bags and then freeze them. When I want one, its an easy thing to leave sealed, and allow it to heat in the microwave for about a minute. I flip it over and continue to thaw/heat it. The bag will expand and pop open due to steam buildup. Once that happens its usually done. The popping of the plastic bag can be heard, but doesn't seem to explode any of the contents inside the microwave. Only problem I see is that becaue of the intense heat, the muffins (which contain gluten) will firm up, making for a very chewy muffin, kind of like a bagel. If I want it to be a bit more tender, its removed from the plastic bag, and is wrapped in a paper towel and heated a bit slower, with about 40 second intervals while flipping it over a couple of times. A 1000 watt microwave is what I have, so your results may differ. Both the eggs and cheese are fine when frozen and thawed, and I even see a bit more moisture coming from the egg part, so thats a good sign.

Have a 3 lb. chuck roast in the Dutch oven with a beer & an onion. Will eventually be shredded beef for sandwiches, enchiladas, & burritos. Tonight, we're going to make Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll dough for baking tomorrow or Sunday hoping to get a jump on some Easter gifts for friends. Thank goodness for freezers. DH got some spring clean-up done this week. Good thing 'cause it's supposed to be a wash out of a weekend. Since December, seems like every week there's a coastal storm. Chance of moderate coastal flooding for 3 tide cycles so we'll be keeping our eyes on the Sound. Went to the NY neuro doctor this week. I asked blunt questions & got blunt answers. I guess that's good but I'm bummed anyway. I had to take my handicapped parking application for his signature. My last two have been four year terms. That's what I was expecting this week so I was major bummed when I looked at the form & he'd checked the "Lifetime" box. (sigh) I'm cleared to do anything that doesn't cause pain with some limits like not lifting more than 2-3 lbs. or putting both arms over my head at once. He said I'm going to have to accept that there's too much nerve damage & the neuropathy isn't going away. It interacts with the lupus. It's permanent & long-term will worsen. I asked about the steroids & he said that after watching the progress for 6 months & considering the benefits versus risk potential he sees me as a candidate for lifelong steroid useage. Again, major bummer. The steroids combined with the pain meds have brought the pain down to mostly manageable levels. So, we'll just wing it as to when to taper off & when to restart based on how I'm feeling. I have a lot of adapting to wrap my mind around. I guess I really thought I'd get better. Hoping, anyway. Now it's time to face reality, knuckle down, & relearn how to live my life. I am so grateful DH is here. In the back of my mind, I'm still believing that if I can just keep working on re-conditioning my muscles will compensate for the spinal damage & I'll be able to live a mostly normal life. I cannot tell you how much I hate having to be pushed in a transporter chair. I can't even use a wheelchair because the arm movements are just h@ll on my spine (most of my damage is in the thoracic area (between the shoulder blades). I'm ambulatory at home but can't walk around a store or even into/out of the doctor's office. TGIF everybody. I'm glad this week is over. I'm ready to start a new one. This one was bad. /tricia

Well, it depends on price point. I think the only feature that is absolutely expected across the board is to have a counter that isn't tile -- that is instead some material that is entirely smooth/solid (without grout lines) for easy cleaning. I also think people really appreciate things that look roomier than they were expecting. Americans tend to like big stuff and to associate it with luxury. So if the kitchen is bigger than you'd expect in house like that, that'll always make a good impression. I don't think the average American is particularly informed or design-minded, so they'd be looking to hear buzzwords like "granite counter tops" and "stainless steel appliances" and "custom cabinets" and "solid wood" and "new." I think it matters less if it's actually really unattractive granite that doesn't go well with the cabinet color, or if it's a crappy, unreliable dishwasher. That said, while most don't cook much and wouldn't know what a good layout was, anybody who does cook would also be on the look out for that. I am an enthusiastic baker, so how the work spaces are laid out is the first thing I notice aside from the general feel of a kitchen (calm, light, clean, etc.). I look for large swatches of uninterrupted counter, and I look at how someone else might use part of the kitchen while I'm in there too without getting in my way. I would run screaming from one of those tight u-shaped kitchens. They only accommodate a single cook. And I really dislike features that eat away at usable counterspace -- upper cabinets that come all the way to sit on the counters, split-level peninsulas/islands, appliance garages, etc.

Representatives from the company have been saying for years- “It is cosmetic”. Shards of glass coming off the liner mixed with a convection fan, is not cosmetic. ”I have never heard of it happening.” http://www.wolfblueovenchipping.com/case-information/ ”It only has affected a very small number of appliances” and yet some here have had three or more in a row that failed. “It was fixed years ago.” Last case in this forum was reported this year on an induction range. Previously Wolf has brought oven after oven during the full warranty time. They gave this person a hard time. The “M” oven was designed to make it easier to repair. It has been affected too. One tactic Wolf has used in the past is to upsell if possible when people have issues with something like the “E” oven. They get them to pay the difference to buy an M knowing it has the same issues and these fail too.. Even if they had the fix tomorrow, it would take several years to know if it really worked because some go bad after the warranty is out. This happened to me and they would not give me an estimate to repair, only that it would start at $800. I have read of repairs costing $2500. I personally have had issues with blue enamel in Dacor, Electrolux and Wolf so I would not buy blue in anything except Gaggenau.