I apologize for my delayed reply - hadn't had opportunity to log in even for email in well over a week! I'm good to go though, while they weren't posted to the thread some private contacts were made and now my beloved "Fairy Castle" has had a more than suitable replacement received. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to read my request and reply in kind! It was great to "meet" others that like and have this plant in their collections!

Well...I have recruited the help of "The dietitian!"...my friend and often co-cook, who knowas lots about amounts etc... My other side kick, the caterer, is on the gulf coast! The bread is not regulart bread but unsliced French bread....about 4 to 5 inches in diameter, and the sausages are those little smokies cocktail things, on special for super Bowl sunday! In a meeting of the minds, with The Dietitian and me, we decided that 5 eggs per pint of milk should be about right. And we figured out we wanted to use one egg per 3 slices of bread. so I will buy 6 dozen eggs and 2 gallons of milk, realizing that some kids will want "vanilla milk" instead of chocolate. And we will monitor the intake of the little smokies. We will buy canned peaches and have fresh pineapple, bananas and grapes (the grapes weren't my idea)...some fruit will be donated...like bananas and a pineapple. I have 3 "fryers" abd others to do the dishing and pouring milk etc. And I just had an email saying that about 5 choir members will come early for practise so they can eat....will I have enough? Sure I said! The baked stuff in theory sounds easier...b ut for that nunber...it's really easier to fry and slap on platters in the oven, and put the plattersd on the table as needed, than to construct 10 casseroles. BUT....I won't be buying eggs nor nmilk nor the fresh fruit until we see what the weather is!! not supposed to be bad....but the reason I am cooking this week is because there was a weather cancellation and the person who was supposed to cook, can';t...

Hi - I'm in New Hope, probably not too far from you. I'll give a few ideas here, but I'll also refer you to my website. I'm an energy consultant and have worked with quite a few people this year making the exact decisions that you're trying to make now. As noted, the oil prices are super low now, so the equations have shifted considerably. For a place like yours, a high-end, properly sized heat pump, at PECO's discounted electric rates, cost about 1/2 the cost to operate than did the oil system, even at $2/gallon oil. At $4/gallon, it was a no-brainer. The critical considerations for effective heat pump operation in our climate: - I would only consider a high efficiency, two-stage heat pump, with variable speed air handler. This is a top-of-the-line system, but there are good reasons to go this route in our climate. - Make sure your house is well insulated and properly air sealed. The tighter the house, the more effective and comfortable the heat pump will be. - Make sure that the heat pump is sized properly for the heating load. Most HVAC companies size for the cooling load. In our climate, this vastly undersizes the heating system and it will switch to expensive electric backup heat. With a two-stage heat pump, the first stage will be used to satisfy the summer cooling needs properly, the second stage will come on below 40 and, if sized properly, will allow the heat pump to satisfy all the heating needs down to below freezing. I can't overstate how important this is! There are some subtlties to this too. I worked with one client who had huge electric bills even though he had a top of the line heat pump. It turned out that when they installed it, they didn't configure it properly, so, even though the heat pump was capable of supplying heat down below freezing, they had it set to run backup heat below 40F! In our climate, 80% of the heating hours are above 35F-40F. If you can run the heat pump down to 30F, then you satisfy 91% of the season's heating. The improves to 95% if you can get it down to 25F. This might not seem significant, but if your electric heat comes on for an extra 10% of the season, it will drive up operational costs much more than 10%. You also asked about single vs. multiple units. Since you've already got two zones, I'd keep it that way. Especially with heat pumps, the delivery temperature is relatively low, so they're much more sensitive to duct losses. It will cost you more to have two systems installed, but doing a properly zoned system, tying the two zones together, will cost you a few thousand $, so I don't think it's worth the savings to end up with a compromised system. An option, if you don't switch to heat pumps, is to get an Energy Kinetics System 2000 oil boiler with hot water coils in your air handlers. You could use a single boiler and run water lines to each air handler. It would also supply your hot water for domestic use. I don't like recommending oil systems these days, but this is an option, and if you stick with oil, it may be a very good option. Unfortunately, the terms of service of this group don't allow me to mention my website because they consider that advertising. So I'm not sure how I can let you contact me directly for more personal recommendations. I'll do what I can via the forums. You can find me by googling "Ted energy audit bucks county, pa" but I don't think I can say more than that without getting thrown off the forum. I'm not looking for more business. It's just that sometimes people's needs are best met with some direct face-time so that I can tell you about the best contractors etc. in the area. Best regards, Ted

I agree on the 8 inch round pans for the coffee cake. For the casserole, butter your 8 by 11 dish very well, and pack in the frozen and well drained shredded potatoes....grate a little onion over the top...not a lot just about 2 teaspoons....enough to flavor it. Not sure what size the "packages" of hash browns are....but make the crust about 1/2 inch thick...pack the shredded potatoes in and then bake at 375 until lightly browned. That's your crust. then fill the dish with veggies of your choice...you will need 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups of veggies to fill the dish....and I would like a mixture of lightly sauteed onions, some red peppers, either roasted or from a jar, broccoli, maybe some cauliflower...both briefly blanched to soften a little...or previously frozen and drained, sliced sauteed mushrooms, maybe carrot buttons blanched, perhaps some dried or roasted tomatoes, maybe some water chesnuts. Just have enough veggies to fill the dish...I always have on hand a cam of sliced mushrooms and a bag of frozen broccoli in case I am short. toss with the shredded cheese and parsley and add all to the pan. Then mix up the eggs and milk...because you have used a potato crust you likely won't need all the 7 eggs and 3 cups of milk....more like 2 cups of milk and 5 eggs....with 2 tsps of worchestershire. Pour over the stuff in the pan////bake....and cool I think this recipe is better cooked right after making and reheated....rather than saving and baking later. Good luck!! Linda C