AND I just saw the fattest chipmunk I have ever seen. Scampering (or waddling) between the raised beds. The raised beds all have hardware cloth bottoms, but this is our kitchen garden, it is about 12 ft across the front, the other three sides are brick foundation. Which usually makes for great growing conditions. I have taken the electric fence down and the cats are having a field day. (but banished to the basement so they don't yak up vole parts on my bed again) They are old but not that feeble. They just wait and wait, you think they are asleep and then a paw goes down a hole and comes up with something. I think two plants are a total loss, but the rest seem to be surviving. I will try putting the hardware cloth down about a foot. I will be adding amendments and re tilling over the winter. They are forecasting heavy rains today and tomorrow, the squash have just had it.

I've always called my grater a saber but I think it's a microplane. It's just a great grater. It does grating cheese,lemon zest, ginger, nut meg, fingers ...everything. I don't do the foot thing and I don't think I will suggest it to my DH. Honestly I used to hate grating cheese and was absolutely shameless in what I would do to con someone else into doing it but I really like doing it now. I swear I am not now and never have been employed by the makers of that thing......Tache

So many good recipes here! If we make it again I'll try them. I didn't have a chance to check in before making it this morning. I started at 6:15 and at 8:15 after showering (oven turned off after baking at 350, not broiling, and burner for cider turned off) I was running to pour the cider in the 5 gal Igloo and get the pans in the cooler. But we made it - drove up to Springfield and found they'd pushed start to 11AM instead of 10. So it sat longer than expected but was still warm and the cider was so hot we had to add cold cider in. I did have a little problem with the sauce - I made a double batch (for 2 lbs of pasta) at a time, poured it in with about 1 lb diced ham (decided that was enough) and yes 1/2 package of peas. Then put the pan (which still had cheese sauce in it) back on burner to add more cheese sauce (I had almost 1C from last night) and more cheese, I didn't think I needed more roux. Burner was off but sauce burnt to bottom so I only poured a little over the 2nd pan before I realized, put 2nd lb of pasta in with just lots of shredded cheese, melted a stick of butter and some milk in the MW and poured over, mixed in, stuck in oven, mixed some more then topped with more cheese. Guess which one they went for first? But they said it was all good, they were going back for the ham & pea version even before the plain was gone. I think teenagers will eat anything (of course DD wouldn't touch it). I think we ate 3/4 of it (so 3 lbs of pasta) and there were 23 kids and 4 adults counting the bus driver (who said she didn't like peas but liked this and took the leftovers home). Next time I'm not going to get so involved making the sauce - I'll melt butter, milk and cheese together and if it's not thick enough I'll add roux but I'd definitely add more cheese, less milk and flour than CI calls for (I used less than 3 quarts b/c I wasted some in the burnt sauce, so 1/2 gal was probably enough for 4 lbs of pasta, but I used 3 sticks of butter, 2 in the roux and 1 in the last pan). The cayenne wasn't noticeable and I did heavily salt the water, and put about 1 tsp of salt in the first cheese sauce but none in the 2nd pan (butter/milk) and I don't think they missed it. I forgot to bring salt and pepper but I've got some plastic shakers I'll throw in the box with cups and flatware so we have it with us.

Steak-Umms -- do they still make those? Aren't those like the tv dinner version of cheesesteak sandwiches? I'm getting a strange feeling in my stomach just thinking about them. Anyway, wikipedia has some interesting info. on philly cheesesteak sandwiches and maybe you'll get some ideas/suggestions from there on how to make your perfect sandwich. I think a lot of preferences are regional and what you get used to. I would take note not to forget about the bread; it may be more important than you think. Check the "cheesecakes elsewhere" section near the end for some extra tips. And one other note, if you decide to slice the meat yourself, it may be easy to slice it thinner if the meat is colder/frozen. Here is a link that might be useful: Philly Cheesesteak