I first read Ruth Stout many years ago and decided when I got out of the city and had a garden,that's the way I would do it. For my first organic graden in MO I had an acre,unfenced and got a lot of spoiled hay bales,the square kind with the string around them. The ground had not been tilled and I soon saw that tearing these bales into shreds was going to be really hard and long work. So being an experiemental psychologist(and impatient)I broke them off into "books"about a foot thick and layed them on the ground edge to edge. This was in the late fall. It rained and snowed on them all winter. In the spring I put my hands in the middle of each and kind of pulled a hole into it and dug down some with a tool and put in my peppers and tomato seedlings that I had started in containers. Potatos I put in by laying them on the top of the ground and covering them back klup again. The butternut and acorn squash I did the same and just put in the seeds instead. Same with peas and green beans. The lettuce I planted in a low very wet place by scratching the surface and putting seeds in along with marigold seeds. I forget how I did the Swiss chard and okra,but I think I did them in July with seeds. I never bothered watering,but it rained a lot that year. Once in awhile I would carry milk gallons of water to water young seedlings,but it was a longish walk and I didn't do it very often nor did they look thirsty to me very often. I had a huge yield. One big pickup truck full of squash. Dozens of canned tomatoes and 6 gallons of dried tomatoes. We ate every thing else. Oh I did dry a lot of peppers and bagged potatos and bartered them with the local health food store. But back to the no tilling part. Putting the mulch on in "bbok" form is the key. Once any weeds started to come up where the edges met,that edge got another "book" laid on it. (Oh I put corn seed between the tomatoes so the vines could be tied to the stalks.)If you put on "loose"mulch then you have weed problems. But the thickness of the pressed mulch suffocates the weeds. Also if you are tired of cutting grass plant dutch clover in the fall or late winter all over your yard. A hundred pounds will do a good sized yard. Then let the rains do the job on it. It comes up ahead of the grass(weeds here)and tends to inhibit the growth of the weeds. The flowers make your yard smell like perfume all the time and your dogs and cats(I did it for my German Shepard Josephine) love to lie in it. It grows about 10 inches at the most so you don't have to cut. If you have a drought you will have to water as the clover likes lots of water. The bees are happy too. Just DON'T CUT IT because that will allow the weeds to grow and crowd it out. Then you can start to think of little islands of flowers or whatever you want to plant in the clover. Read The One-Straw Revolution(somebody please reprint this book)and you will get more ideas like this.

toni, I have copied recipes from here & the Cooking & Recipe forums. Here are some that get really good remarks. Lil Smokies & variations: 1) In Sweet & Sour Sauce 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 Tbsp corn starch 1 can (13&1/4 oz) pineapple chunks 1/3 cup vinegar 1 Tbsp soy sauce 1 small green pepper, coarsely chopped Mix brown sugar and cornstarch in skillet. Stir in pineapple (with syrup), vinegar and soy sauce. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Cover; simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until sauce thickens to your desired thickness. Stir in green pepper. Cover and simmer for about two more minutes. This is the perfect (according to family & friends) S&S Sauce and can be used for egg rolls, meatballs, chicken, shrimp, fried won-tons, egg foo yung - whatever... angelaid 2) Popped it into a fry pan with 1/2 a bottle of BBQ sauce and a 1/2 a wine glass of Chablis lindac 3) Bourbon Sausages 3 lb Lil Smokies 1 cup dark brown sugar 12 ounce bottle Heinz Chili Sauce 12 ounces bourbon Bake smokies for 30 minutes at 350 (to eliminate some grease). While smokies are cooking, mix sugar, chili sauce, bourbon in sauce pan. Cook until sauce is reduced and thick. Add smokies to sauce and stir to coat. Serve immediately in chafing dish or can be made ahead and warmed before serving. Mustangs 4) with grape jelly and bbq sauce. glenda_al 5) with grape jelly, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Put into a large pot over low heat and stir until melted and mixed well. Add meat and simmer over low heat, turning meat up from the bottom to the top so that all pieces are covered, until cooked through. nonnie_ga 6) wrap them in a 1/2 slice of bacon, then roll in brown sugar and bake them. angier_2007 ========================= Ham & Asparagus Roll-ups 12 appetizer servings 24 fresh asparagus spears 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (4 ounce) package crumbled blue cheese 2 Tbsp mayonnaise 1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives 12 slices bread, crusts trimmed off 12 slices thinly sliced deli ham 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted paprika Garnishes: green onions, curl red bell peppers Arrange asparagus in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 4 to 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from steamer, and cool on paper towels. Stir together cream cheese and next 3 ingredients. Roll each bread slice with a rolling pin to flatten. Spread 1 side of each slice with 2 Tbsp cream cheese mixture; top each with 1 ham slice. Place 2 asparagus spears, tips pointed toward opposite ends, on one end of each bread slice; roll up, and place, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet. Brush with butter; sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately. Garnish, if desired. Note: Freeze unbaked rollups up to 1 month in an airtight container. Thaw in refrigerator, and bake as directed. dlynn & Southern Living ============================= Mystery Rolls from 1977 and Beyond 2 sticks butter 4 to 6 oz crumbled blue cheese 2 cans flaky biscuits Combine butter and cheese on baking pan. Place into 350 oven for a couple of minutes, or until butter is melted. Remove from oven and stir. Cut biscuits into fourths, then toss in butter mixture. Bake on same pan for 8 to 12 minutes, or until golden. Eat warm. Pioneer Woman ============================= SPINACH BALLS Mix together: 1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Mix 1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted & well-drained 3 eggs (beaten) 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese 1/2 stick margarine (melted) 1 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp. thyme Form into balls and freeze. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. Kjacja

Europe has always had been the leader in Modern design starting as far back as 1920s. If you consider the Art deco look as the precursor to Modern design, then they were the leader in that too! Many lasting infleunces in modern design came from Europe in the past century. Modern design has been much more accepted in Europe for many decades. For some reason, Americans do not readily accept modern design as much as the Europeans do. This is starting to change with the younger set (20 to 30 something crowd....) Stream lined modern design was always "popular" with NAm architects and people that would afford to have their homes built with architects. Unfortunately, there are aspects of construction that becomes more expensive, as you stream line the design more and more. As an example, in order to have cabinets with crown, you have to be more exact with the hanging of the cabinets and lining up of the doors etc. I jusy hung a large mirror with our framing in my powder room. It shows 1/4 of gap where the wall is not perfect. If I had hung the mirror with a frame, no one would have noticed that 1/4 gap! This is just one example of why good workmanship is absolutely essential with modern design. When you stream line design more and more, it becomes too expensive for most people to afford or the design looks terrible because things do not look straight or well done! Most Europeans also do not buy "nicer" houses that someone else has built. If they can afford to own a nicer house, they tend to build new homes or remodel. There is not as much of "nicer" tract homes in Europe. Therefore, more houses get built with architects and designers rather than by builders which is the norm in NAm. This allows them to spend the money to hire architects and "good craftman" that can deliever the well-done product, which good modern design demands. Current readily available internet has exposed more people to modern design and they are getting caught on with everyone. Unless you execute the modern design well, they can look "cheap" due to bad execution... Labor is much more expensive in Northern Europe. Therefore, a typical house/kitchen would cost considerably more in Europe to build and remodel. This maybe why certain products are not used as much, cost factor, not necessarily the look factor... Each country and region has different esthetics. For example, the West and the East coasts of USA has somewhat different esthetic. Europeans have their own esthetic. I happen to really like modern euro esthetic. They are hard to emulate because they are not readily available in the USA. Here are some ways to get that look in my research. Hafele, Blum and Richelieu have alot of "stuff" that you can add to your cabinets to make them look and function euro inside the cabinets. Pull outs, corner cabs etc. Ikea actually does a nice job of integrating alot of this at a reduced cost. I would not consider Euro design better, merely different. For example, many Euro desighers would consider our pro ranges gaudy in looks. I have cooked on Euro gas burners. I much prefer to "wok" it on my pro range with lots of oomph even though they are not as sleek in looks! Euro pro range equivalent would be Bertazzoni or Britania which do not look that different from the NAm models.

Rupes, After you tested the lemon juice on the sealer did you try to remove it? I'm wondering if it'll be permanent or if it can be dealt with. When our honed AB counters were first installed we had quite a few "stains.". For example, grease splatters. I could not get them out. They have since disappeared...whether they were absorbed into the stone or what, I don't know. I do periodically use the Method cleaner so I'm wondering if that helped. What I do now to clean the counters is use hot water and a tiny bit of dish soap, then use the Method cleaner every few days or so, with a microfiber cloth. I haven't seen anything on our counters like what you showed with the test above, even though our marble counter has etched quite a bit. I've heard the Cambria Black is less prone to fingerprints,etc., if that's an option for you.