My DH and I have been to the longest yard sale on Hwy 127 from Kentucky to Alabama several times. But its HOT!! We always come back with our jeep full of treasures though. Lol. Has anyone been to the Hwy 80 sale from East Texas to Vicksburg, Mississippi in October? That might be a lot cooler shopping weather. My DH says he's getting too old for the heat!! Lol. Janet

Thanks for those great ideas, Mariann and Vic! We always boil it, which is probably most convenient, as I usually do two dozen or more at a time. But, if we just want one or a few, the microwave way sounds so easy!! And we have talked about doing it on the grill too, but haven't, so I really appreciate the detailed instructions on that!! My kids will eat so much corn!! Lily, my three year old, eats 3 to 4 ears when we have it. And Dylan and William each ate about 7 ears Monday night, I think! We had some left after dinner, and after they did dishes, they asked if they could eat some more. I said, sure, eat as much as you want, just leave some for Dad when he gets home. They each sat down and ate 4-5 more (as they had only had 3 with supper.) You can believe they were both up in the bathroom FIRST THING the next morning!! : ) I froze about 35 lbs. of whole kernal corn over the last two days, and Dave is going to pick more tonight. He was going to last night, but realized I have to can beans and freeze a load of broccoli and cauliflower today, so I think he gave me a bit of a reprieve! Thank goodness! Thursday is market day, so I'll be baking until I go there, but I'll plan on freezing corn again on Friday! I DO love seeing all these things pile up in the freezer and on my pantry shelves, knowing how much food we are stocking for winter!!! Becki

I have a Rhode Island cookbook, which I like because it is filled with seafood recipes, and it was sent to me by Lori in a swap. It made me want to visit RI. My favorite U.S. regions for food are Louisiana and New England, and NE only for the seafood. I like regional Texan food but don't feel the need for a cookbook, since I grew up there. Most American food is not that interesting to me - it's generally not spicy enough for me and uses way too much dairy. I prefer recipes that do not rely on salt and black pepper for flavor. There are so many other more interesting ways to season food, and therefore I generally collect cookbooks from other cuisines, particularly ones that don't use dairy products and emphasize seafood instead. I grew up about 180 miles from the coast, but after the age of 18, I've almost always lived within 30 miles of the coast, and since 23 I've mostly lived within 4 miles of the coast, except for the 3-1/2 years I lived in Austin, when I went back to university for my second degree. I like coastal food. Lars

I have several cookbooks. I had a bookcase added to the new kitchen at the end of the cabinet run. I especially like the ones from smaller towns, church, Jr league, garden clubs etc. My absolute favorite most used one is from my very small home town Catholic Church, from many years ago. I know every person that contributed recipes for it, many are gone now. My family had their recipes in it. My copy is well worn. They did a re issue of it just a few years ago and I definitely got another one. There's one from the Lake Charles, Louisiana Jr League called Pirates pantry, which I believe is still available, that I use often. Cracker Barrel has some very good ones in their store area. Local and rural community types. I have one that was my mother's mother's cookbook and then mom's and I ended up with it. It has a lot of writing in it and notes. I am so happy to know that it survived the flood!