The USDA standards are established principally for the home food preserver. Many recipes are not USDA-approved but are still tested and safe. Lots of labs have that capacity. For example, Oregon State has a small entrepreneurship program which supports new purveyors of small-yield bottled food products and offers lab facilities for the testing to assure products are safe for sale. However, they would still have to be safe when processed and meet FDA plus any state regulations. Basically it comes down to the credentials of the person(s) who wrote the book and what they have done to assure food safety according to the criteria Dave indicated. One of the problems I have with many recipes/books is that the author(s) may have credentials but not necessarily credentials appropriate to home food processing. So Rick Fields, for example, does sell commercial pickles and relishes. However, he has available to him processing equipment not available to the average home preserver. Without his assurance of specific testing and safety in the home environment who knows how suitable the recipe is? I might add that in the home environment developers of canning recipes need to be sure they fall within a certain margin of error because there's more individual variation when you have many cooks using different product. In a commercial environment there's much more consistency. So Beverly Alfeld, for example, in her pickling book never goes above 4.3 pH, even though the limit for higher-acid BWB is 4.6 pH. She believes that leeway is important. Basically, I operate with a do not assume stance. My default position with any doubtful recipe is it isn't safe without very specific assurances, not merely the generic statement emailed by Williams-Sonoma. Carol

You have a knife that you love. Give it a wooden cutting board big enough to be easy to work on, a steel or sharpener to keep its edge, and a nice block or magnetic strip to store it in/on. Then keep cooking and check your spreadsheet as you feel the need of something here or there. You have a minimalist heart, so I would avoid something big, expensive, and only intermittently useful like a food processor. I've cooked for forty years without one, happily. Likewise, a Vitamix is overkill unless you often make drinks or smoothies that require finely crushing ice cubes. But you'll take my immersion blender from my cold, dead fingers! If it has a whisk and chopping attachment, it can: whip egg whites, make whipped cream, make hummus, nut butters, pesto, chopped liver, and puree soups. SO much easier to get out, use, clean, and store than a stand blender! Things I use a lot from W-S that have lasted well and been well worth the $: the set of three mesh footed colanders with handles, waffle-weave white towels for drying (15 years and still going!), an OXO digital scale (not discounted anywhere, so might as well get it from W-S), and a 3-qt All-Clad saucepan with the handled steamer insert (which turns out to be perfect for making couscous the traditional way as well as steaming veg). A big silicon spoonula is about my favorite utensil -- much more heat resistant than rubber spatulas, cuts way down on cleaning needed for bowls and pots, cuts way down on waste when transferring from one vessel to another. Big-ticket items that are super versatile: Dutch oven, wide shallow two-handled braiser (which can be used, lidless, to roast and bake, in addition to one-pot prep of things like short ribs and braised chicken w/veg). This is a nice braiser: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/all-clad-tri-ply-stainless-steel-braiser-with-rack/ that will be easier to handle than an enameled cast iron one, but those have the advantage of being attractive enough to use for serving. Have fun!

My husband's experience in warehouse work was that it is highly controlled by computer systems. The problem is, the way it is supposed to work and the way the computers are working is not necessarily in sync with the real conditions on the ground. And there's no middle person who can adjust the two to each other. So there was the way it was supposed to work, they way they were trained to do it, and then the way it was actually happening on the ground, which was often way out of whack. No middle management to problem-solve Since folks were still being held to the time standards, they just had to improvise and do whatever it took to meet the time quota, there was no one to tell them what to do if the computer was wrong. Which of course meant misfiling things, moving stuff, and pulling whatever looked "good enough." Which of course got things way MORE out of whack as time went on. Employees were treated like cogs in a wheel, and no one to oil them. If they broke, the attitude was that there was always another cog in waiting. The staff turnover there was massive. Every day my husband went into work and watched people quit and do the happy dance on the way out. So that bunged up the system even further, the chronic staff shortages just ended up stressing out people who stayed on even more . . . Hubs got called back to his professional job so one day he was the guy doing the happy dance . . . As to the constant staff turnover due to the unpleasant working conditions, I don't know if this was due to the local management or is an overall problem or a little of both. But that's why I'm not surprised that as more and more companies go to a warehousing model, more and more glitches will appear in a system that already wasn't very robust. I worked in a sporting goods warehouse as a summer job in college, and we spent quite a bit of time making sure things stayed organized and adjusting and readjusting the use of space. But hey, that warehouse was small and closed down long ago . . . This happens in a lot of organizations that switch to depending primarily on machines and computers, without accounting for the staff or time to keep them running smoothly and jibing with real time events. AI can only take you so far. It's often way oversold. There is gads of research on how poorly technology is managed, I had to delve into it for my master's thesis on the use of technology in education, same scenario. The fact that Amazon has no real people and customer service department speaks volumes. My latest is they are not crediting returns . . . which you had to return because they mis-filled your order . . . . which is why I have downgraded my Amazon usage. I still to ordering from companies that take customer service seriously. Amazon is a mosh pit and one should not be surprised otherwise. As for Pottery Barn, well they look high end, but I suspect it's just on the surface. I used to save photos from their catalogs as decorating inspiration, but never was going to mail order home decorating stuff. Who knows how long I can live on hand me downs and flea market finds and stuff I just run across sometimes randomly. I got a fabulous wool Persian rug at some random sale day a a random Macy's and I didn't even know the store sold rugs. I was just out window shopping with a friend . . .ironically easier than sometimes the hours I spend online searching for some very specific item I want to buy, from the vast morass of the Internet . . .

Hello All, I'm considering purchasing this sectional, but there aren't any reviews on it on WS' website, or anywhere really. The price is $10k USD with custom fabric, so looking to gather any info I can on its comfort etc. because it's special order and can't be returned. There also aren't any local shops carrying it. Further, the WS phone folks didn't have much knowledge of the item and said I'd have to figure out a store that had it stocked to call in and ask an associate. The only thing I could find is Rolling Stone claimed it was a top 10 "online" couch earlier this year. Not sure whether that's legit, or if they are just trying to get referral $, as the review is extremely scant. Link to Sectional I want to know if it'll be comfortable or if I should rule it out, and I have some data/random notes which could assist, even without reviews: My main concern with the Berkshire: the back height is 30 inches and depth is 40". The CB Lotus, similarly sized with 29"H, 40" D, caused my neck immediate straining from a lack of upper back support as soon as I sat in it. Conversely, the the Lounge from Crate and Barrel is 37" H, 46" D and it's SUPER comfortable, The Lugano sectional from Restoration hardware is 32" H, 46" D and I didn't have that neck straining feeling at all. Also super comfortable.