I just did a search for P. pinea & ended up here..........any of you still around? I live in South Australia & have been around P.pinea all my life. We have one planted when I was a kid & it is now a big tree which dominates the skyline from a distance off. We get no nuts anymore as the cockatoos eat them all before they ripen. In about 2004-5 a friend & I gathered 10 gal of nuts from under a tree in the Adelaide plains & have been eating & germinating them ever since. I last germinated some from this hoard about 5 years ago. I am going to plant a couple of pounds of them this season to see if they'll still germinate.....will be amazing if they do as not many conifers will stay viable for that long. The nuts still taste fine & the embryo is still white & not dry & brittle....we'll see. P.pinea is an amazing species. I have grafted many species on it & all grew well. I have put P.mazimartinezii on potted plants & P.torreyana & P.sabiniana on 10' tall trees in the ground which healed smoothly & made strong sound unions. This is more amazing as P. pinea is supposed to be the most 'unrelated' species to any other pines. Here is a picture of about 2 gall of them:

Ariel, thanks and I will be trying your salsa. I have made a lot of different tomato sauce but this one is preferred by me and the family. I have the book Small Batch Preserving and is very useful especially when I had a lot of fruit in previous gardens. After the sauce is done, I just put it in the freezer and take out when I need or I give as gifts, everybody like it! Sometimes I add red peppers flakes to taste. The only thing to remember if you freeze is to let it simmer for about 15 minutes to get the consistency desired after you take it out. The red wine that I use in the recipe is a Santa Rita Merlot that is a decent drinking wine for only $5 and I get it at Publix. Let us know if you make it and how you like it. I was just thinking this morning that I am going to try to get another recipe for tomato sauce from the chef, I really like his type of cooking! If I do, I will share it here. Elizabeth, my squash and green beans were looking ratty, so before the party I took them out, the ones in the picture are some of the last. I still have them in the fridge, but they won't last too long, that is the reason that I am cooking them now. I use all kinds of tomatoes for salsa or tomato sauce, even the ugly ones, I just use the good parts, they are very forgiving.:) In a sandwich or a salad have to have the best looking ones. The cherry are the best roasted in slow oven with thyme, salt and pepper, after the chef took them out he added a little bit of hot peppers, garlic sliced so thin, and such a big amount of herbs, for a moment he left the party and went to the garden to pick herbs, I was so afraid that he might find a snake, lol. Here is another salad that I improvise today with the beans and the roasted tomatoes. Silvia Here is a link that might be useful: chunky basil tomato sauce

Thanks, Michael/Lyra! (grin) she's darned expensive and time consuming for an imaginary child, sheesh. Nope, L, no plastic containers of potato salad in the refrigerated section. I suppose I should be grateful, I did find a plastic container of that ground up bologna and pickle with mayonnaise "sandwich spread" once. The grocery store originally had a small bakery and deli, with rotisserie chickens, but apparently those items spoiled before they could be sold and became a big loss, so now I can get a cold pre-cooked chicken on the weekends, donuts only from Sara Lee and sliced lulnch meats and cheeses. They have a small "hot" section" at lunch time, usually chicken strips, corn dogs and pizza rolls. I can get canned Bush's baked beans, though, and ice cream. Two brands, either Country Fresh or Hudsonville. tricia, I never said I was a manager. I'm a Mom and a farmer and at work I'm "Angela, The Pitbull". My employees know their jobs well, so I don't delegate very much, they just do their jobs and I make sure they get paid. I spend most of my time doing legal research, drafting briefs and motions and trying to make sure the criminals get locked up, while simultaneously trying to wipe the images of their abused wives/battered children out of my brain, along with the memory of the autopsy photos and the drunk driving victims. I'm not good at delegating, I'm good at doing whatever needs to be done to help those who need it. That, and I'm good at cooking, so i do what I'm best at. At least I enjoy the cooking! Annie

Chisue - Thank you for your comments. Yes, the lakes area of Italy is beautiful. I am reading a Donna Leon mystery right now, with Inspector Brunetti. It takes place in Venice, of course, and the title is By its cover. Initially, the mystery involves the removal and theft of pages from rare books, but it looks as though "the plot will thicken" to include more crime as it progresses. Our gondola ride in Venice cost $53.00 per person and was a "gondola serenade" with an accordion player and a singer accompanying our group of about three gondolas. This was arranged through our tour and maybe the price would be different for private arrangements. Perhaps music is traditional while on a gondola, but Venice is so scenic and interesting to see that I would not have missed being without music. I am very happy that I had a chance to see this beautiful city via its waterways.