(Leslie here... addicted as always) Wonderpets... I found a link on the 'Bed Bath and Beyond' website to a mortar and pestle set that's identical to the one I use. It's made of marble, and costs only 13 bucks. Here's the URL to that link... http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=10177863 BUT...they have another set, made of granite, which I think would work even better for eggshells.(Wider diameter, made of bulkier material, more spendy though) See... http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16041807 (I really like that one) Whatever you do, make sure you get one that is hefty and has some serious weight to it. As thin as eggshells appear to be, it takes a surprising amount of force to beat them into actual dust after grinding them into tiny bits. Trust me, you want the heaviest and most durable material you can find. Natural stone works perfectly for this. I can give you more tips on the fine art of pulverizing eggshells if you want. I squish them up in my hands first. Toss a few in the bowl, (don't fill it too full because you want them to be somewhat vulnerable to the hardness of the stone. Too many acts almost like a mattress) and start by grinding them into small bits. (This is like a rolling motion; you're just rubbing the surface of one stone against another stone, with egg shells in between.) Once I get them into smaller pieces, I continually shake the bowl back and forth horizontally across the counter; this brings the larger pieces up to the surface; the dusty stuff stays towards the bottom, acts as a buffer, (mattress) and allows you REALLY smack the bigger chunks HARD, without having to worry about striking stone against bare stone. Eggshells have no choice but to disintegrate upon sharp impact like this. (Yes, at this point, I basically hit them as I would with a hammer... so the 'mattress layer' protects the stone from any damage.) I probably wouldn't try this with ceramic material, definitely not glass... and I'm afraid metal might actually dent up from repetitive abuse of this nature. The marble one I use tolerates these beatings beautifully, with no ill effects whatsoever. I only wish the bowl was a little bigger, and also... fatter, heavier stone would just speed the process, and require less effort from whomever is doing the actual pulverizing. Oh and Laura... you have me pegged. I'm up to my ears in 'experiments' around here. Of those eight piles, I've managed to keep 4 in the 125-150 degree range for almost two weeks now. They are melting amazingly fast... My plan is to 'process' the contents of four cold piles through the hot piles as they go down; adding greens, and minding my ratios as I go. AND no bad smells or anything! Truly, I having a blast with this forum and all my compost-related adventures!!! I've just finished sculpting a decent sized hole in the ground to use as a fire pit... because I feel convinced I can fill this hole with sand, line it with rocks, and and use it to make some version of 'bio-char'. I have buckets of experimental 'bug juice' brewing... molasses tea. I've been prowling around the national forest too, in search of indigenous bacteria. (People dump huge piles of yard wast out there too, which I've been more than happy to scoop up while I'm there.) I built a very cool sifting table, which so far... I've been using to sift old, partially decomposed wood/bark mulch, but soon will use it to sift compost also. I've got one empty wire cage left, before I would need to cut into a new roll to make more. I've sworn to my boyfriend that I wouldn't keep more than these 9 bins going at once... but... you know how that goes. Found a source for free Alpaca poo yesterday... might be worth cutting into that new roll after all. :) Leslie in CO

Hmmm. I only get error message from that link. But, instead of an Australian insect, how about considering a US resident -- various common names are flower fly, hover fly, and syrphid fly. Here's an account that includes an image of an egg alongside an aphid and various cast skins. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/NE/syrphid_flies.html Here is a link that might be useful: syrphid fly -- at UC

1. âÂÂI put about an inch of water in the bottom of the pressure cooker, put the rack and steamer basket in and added 6 eggs.â - Note: eggs are above water. The eggs are being pressure steamed. 2. âÂÂBrought to high pressure, cooked for 5 1/2 minutes, â -- As pressure builds up, interior temperature rises above boiling point from 212F to 250 F. 3. âÂÂbrought pressure down naturally, â - Since the eggsâ temperature is at 250 F, water in eggs will continue to be boil away until they reach below 212F. The eggs will be dryer and smaller than if you boil them at room temperature. Also the egg white will be firmer. 4. âÂÂemptied the pot, put the eggs back in the dry hot pot and shook the pot vigorously till the eggs were cracked all over.â - This also help delaminate the membrane from the white. 5. âÂÂ-----. I then put the cracked eggs in an icebath for 10 minutes. The shells peeled off in one piece stuck to the membrane and didn't take a single spot of white with.â - The smaller egg has more air space, and air shrinks in ice cold water, sucking in water along the way, and the layer of water between the membrane and egg white serves as lubricant which makes the peeling very easy. Completely understandable. dcarch

make an angelfood cake to put that ice cream with. Real, home made angel food cake is nothing...NOTHING like a mix or the bought stuff....and it takes about 12 whites to make a cake! Angel food cake...Swan's Down Flour box 1 1/2 cups sifted flour ( sift first, then measure) 1/2 c. sifted sugar sift together 3 times 1 1/2 cups egg white at room temp 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar Beat until soft peaks form....add 1 1/3 cups of sifted sugar a little at a time and beat until stiff peaks form, Add 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp almond extract, beat to blend. Fold in the combined flour and sugar 1/4 of the amount at a time. Pour into an ungreased tube pan ( it must be a pan that has never been greased and used for rolls or something else, or the grease in the cracks of the pan will not allow the cake to "climb the pan") Place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven and bake 40 to 50 minutes. Better to over bake than under bake. Linda C