Plllog, It could entirely be related to location. I've lived in the sierra mountains but I was too young to be making butter decisions at that point, Phoenix where the indoor temperature has always been a cool 68 via the miracle of AC, and my current location Portland where even at it's warmest it just aint that warm. When I was 15? or 16? one of the first jobs I ever had was at a sewing/fabric store here in town. And I had the great pleasure of working closely with a newly arrived young french woman newly in the states. An avid seamstress we were talking about her newly made wool suit and I mentioned that I prefered not to own much that was complicated to launder. She surprised me by going on a mild rant about how weird "the states" were. All of us, she noted, with our prewashing of dishes so that we could not wash the dishes, cleaning laundry without water so that we didn't have to clean ourselves, First buying too much food in advance that that it was less valuable in the forms of minerals, then paying to store that food as it gradually becomes worth less, then eating only a portion of that food and throwing away the rest. She pointed to me and said "If you buy an extra yard and prewash the wool then you can wash your clothing in water YOURSELF. No chemicals, no dropping off and picking up, no nothing." I have never, ever, forgotten that conversation. And over the years I've come to agree with her. We are, in many ways, a country that simply doesn't have 800 years of yogurt making history... so when someone puts milk in a pottery jar on the counter wrapped in a sweater it's "disgusting" but we buy it by the ton if it says yoplait on the side. Myself, I really don't have left over bread. If we are going to eat a half a loaf of bread I make one and share with a neighbor. If I need to make two, then theres a half for us, the two neighbors and the people I work with. But since I stock no food and keep no left overs it means that out of that 24" fridge (which takes roughly 16 bucks a year to run, near as I can figure out) with two drawers, the bottom one is almost always empty. It works for us! I don't have kids or even pets though. A cat might keep me from leaving the butter out or giving away all the bread.

I've also made zucchini brownies and I have a recipe for zucchini bread with pineapple that I like a lot. Amanda likes me to add coconut to that one. I use the big zucchini, don't peel, do remove the seeds. I squeeze out the liquid, but the big ones often aren't that juicy. I've also been known to grate zucchini and just freeze it in a ziplock bag to use later, although I have some in the garage that are at least four days old and they are still fine, not refrigerated. My favorite use for zucchini, though, is Sol's zucchini pancakes, they're savory instead of sweet and good with a lot of things: Zucchini Pancakes ================== Sol's recipe 2 cups grated zucchini 3 eggs, lightly beaten 3 tablespoons melted butter (more for greasing the pan) 3/4 cup AP flour 1-1/2 tablespoons water 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese Black Pepper and Salt to taste * 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg Serve with: 6-1/2 ounces double cream brie Roasted tomatoes 2 tablespoons chopped chives Preheat a frying pan over medium heat. Combine all pancake ingredients in a bowl, except for the water. Mix until smooth, then add enough water to make a thin batter (you shouldn't need more than 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons). Mix until just combined. For 6-inch pancakes, add about 1/3 cup of batter to greased pan and cook 1-2 minutes per side. Serve with double cream brie (or your favorite melting cheese), roasted tomatoes and chives. *Add all the black pepper you like, but use a light hand with the salt, as parmesan provides some saltiness. I normally add 1/8 teaspoon salt, and find it's plenty. Enjoy. Pineapple Zucchini Bread 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 1 cup shredded zucchini (1 small) 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained, reserving 1 tablespoon liquid 2 eggs, slightly beaten 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans Glaze: 1/2 cup powdered sugar reserved 1 tbls pineapple liquid 1 tsp corn syrup 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bottom only of 9x5-inch loaf pan. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. With spoon, stir in zucchini, pineapple and eggs. Stir in flour, baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the salt and allspice until well blended. Fold in walnuts. Spread evenly in pan. Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool 30 minutes. In small bowl, mix all glaze ingredients until smooth; spoon over warm loaf. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Store in refrigerator. Zucchini Brownies from King Arthur Flour Brownies 8 ounces zucchini (about one 8" fresh zucchini, trimmed), cut into chunks. If you don't have a scale, 8 ounces is about 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini, lightly tamped down. 3 tablespoons butter, melted 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 3/4 cup sugar 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch processed preferred 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional; for enhanced chocolate flavor 1/2 teaspoon baking powder heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup all purpose or White Whole Wheat Flour 3/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips Frosting 3/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup heavy cream or 3 tablespoons milk Directions Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" square pan. To make the brownies: Combine the zucchini, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla in the work bowl of a food processor, and process until smooth. Add the sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, salt, and flour; process briefly, just until well combined. Add the chips, and pulse several times, to break up the chips just a bit. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the brownies for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it; you shouldn't see any sign of wet batter. Remove the brownies from the oven, and allow them to cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting: Combine the chocolate chips and milk or cream in a microwave-safe bowl or small saucepan. Heat until the milk is steaming, and the chips are soft. Remove from the heat, and stir until smooth. Spread the frosting atop the brownies. Place them in the refrigerator for an hour or so, to set; then store them at room temperature, covered, for several days. Yield: 16 brownies. Tips from our bakers If you don't have a food processor, use a blender to blend the zucchini, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth; then transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl before proceeding with the recipe There are lots of goodies to be made with zucchini, I'll have to try Martha's lemon version, I love lemon. Enjoy your zucchini. Annie

I love rye bread with cheese melted on top. If I could have a white bread sandwich I would have a grilled cheese with onion tomato and mayonnaise. I just love.the creamy mayonnaisey melty cheese flavour. I won't even spoil it for myself while I'm fantasizing about it by saying that I can't eat the white bread or mayonnaise... Sigh... my taste buds even remember the first time I had a grilled cheese with mayonnaise.

I, myself, have been having issues that made me give up my beloved whole grain, so I've been doing more with white flour and figured I'd try some starter. I used to keep five starters but that was too much. I can make a rye starter any time I want, or just transition a portion of ww to rye in a few days. Similarly, I can get a ww low hydration starter by doing the math again and giving it a few days, and can make a new unbleached from the bleached any time as well. I have my "French" low hydration "levain" starter, which is 95% unbleached and 5% whole wheat, which I can easily transition a piece of to all unbleached, normal hydration, as well, so unless I'm making white bread with a wet starter (I'm more likely to make the levain style with the French style mix), I don't really need the unbleached. So I fed it bleached, pursuant to our discussions of mucilaginous goo. :) All the starters except the rye that died are children of Wubby, my original whole wheat starter. It takes longer to transition from a totally different flour, but still only about 7 days if you don't mind a little mystery flour in there. All of these are 200g, so not very much before they're fed up for use.