Wellfleet

No kidding! I never heard of this before, and there's a whole branch of the family on my Dad's side with red hair. I'll have to remember to ask about this at the next family event.

I would totally try this! And have eaten many jello dishes that were great, even aspics. Apologies if I already told this story, but my mother used to make THE most delicious orange jello salad with carrots and celery suspended in it. Famous in our family - even my cousins would ask me at picnics "Did your Mom bring her jello salad?" So good on a hot Summer night. If it's flavorful enough, that's all that matters. I think a lot of the yucky aspics that have been described here recently were probably prepared with little or no seasoning, but with the right blends of salt, pepper, basil, dill etc I bet most Nasty Aspics could be saved.

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To quote Claree from Steel Magnolias, after Shelby finished describing the 'bleedin' armadillo" groom's cake that was going to be served at her wedding "Well, it' unusual..."

Yes, I've seen that 'Marlboro' blog. There's another one now called "Pioneer Woman Sux" I think. These people really loathe Ree. That was the first time I realized how much hate there is out there for many, if not most people, in "public life." No one is universally-adored, despite what the media would have us believe. And while I couldn't disagree with a lot of what they were saying - I mean, Ree is not a trained cook, most of "her" recipes are relatively unhealthy, and she doesn't make them her own by adapting, testing them etc - all that is definitely true. But I was really shocked by the acid hatred.

Agree about Ina and Ree. I've found that I like Ina's food and her 'keep it simple' entertaining philosophy. Her cookbooks are gorgeous and her recipes turn out well. But not everyone who can cook can "sell cooking." And Ina can't, IMO. She may be Auntie Mame when at home with Jeffrey, but she is mind-numbingly dull in front of the camera. Not an ounce of television presence. She repeats the same 6 sentences throughout every show, and giggles after every statement, hers and her guests. Plus the footage shown of her driving around East Hampton in her BMW to pricy little food shops - not necessary. Show us how to do stuff, Ina... Ree, IMO, doesn't deserve to have a cooking show. She's not a trained chef, she's not even self-taught and very experienced to the same extent as many of the other FN "stars" are. She got the offer only because her little grass roots blog took off, which a number of people in the know have attributed to the fact that the Drummond family, one of the largest land-owners in Oklahoma, paid a PR firm to promote it. It should be noted that her blog is much better than the cooking show, and much more than food and cooking - really worth the time. Ree is quite funny in the blog. Unfortunately, none of that comes across on TV with her either. Ree's recipes have apparently been gleaned from 100s of church supper cookbooks from all over Oklahoma. She hasn't even bothered to update them for the 21st century. And owing to her lack of training, maybe she doesn't know how. IMHO, the best thing Food Network ever did were Alton Brown's Good Eats, and his motorcycle and island tours - Feasting on Asphalt, Feasting on Waves. I even have the cookbook that accompanied the second one - The River Run [Mississippi]. They were entertaining, informative and reminiscent of something that PBS would do. And that has to be good.

I love that idea - going out together for an elegant lunch. Are the restaurants really busy? Or surprisingly slow? It seems like since the malls are jammed, maybe the restaurants are relatively quiet. Well, at least the ones not near a mall.

Major fan of Greek food, also Italian. IMO, these two cultures are teaching the world how to eat. To a great extent, anyway. I'm not a vegetarian and I think it would be difficult for me to become one. But if I do think that following a Mediterranean diet - MINUS the meat - would be just about the healthiest and tastiest diet humans could have.

My grandmother was a cookie-baking fool at Christmas too. She must have made 15-20 different kinds. Cutouts, those round white golfball-sized cookies with powdered sugar, icebox cookies, pressed cookies, thumbprints, the "stained glass" cookies with fruit jam or marmalade, date bars, pecan fingers, peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses - you name it. Her two sons, my Dad and his brother, had 10 kids between them and Grandma started baking the day after Thanksgiving so there'd be plenty of cookies at her house for parties. She also sent cookies home with my Dad if he happened to stop and have lunch with her between Thanksgiving an Christmas.

Are you buying better ground beef, maybe? You could be picking it up by accident. If you get the 85-90% fat content meat, instead of maybe the 75 or 80%, there'll obviously be less juiciness and less fat/more dryness when the meatloaf is done. I check labels very carefully now because of all the times I've been in a hurry and inadvertently picked up the wrong this or that. Once I grabbed albacore tuna instead of regular "chunk light" tuna. Which, BTW, had always been completely fine before. The first time I made sandwiches with the albacore I thought, "Wow, this is just delicious! Almost tastes like chicken salad - I have GOT to get more of this..." Then I notice the word "albacore" on the label and knew what I'd done. Needless to say, I was spoiled and have been buying albacore ever since - it's so good you can eat it plain, without mayo etc. An Italian friend of mine from the office told me years ago to try drizzling a little good Italian salad dressing into the albacore and that is The Bomb. Dumping the albacore along with white beans, sliced sweet red onion, cherry or grape tomatoes and Italian salad dressing into a big bowl of fresh cold Romaine or butter lettuce also makes one of the best, most nutritious salads you'll ever have.

Wow, whatever they do to those poor little Greyhound puppies to mess them up so radically is criminal - or should be. Imagine, our regular-life world is a whole new and unfamiliar experience for him. Poor guy! Sending him virtual tummy rubs and treats. And a nice warm flannel doggy-coat.

Because Americans love a comeback story, I thought they were still hanging on by a thread after Joshgate 1 - unlikely that they'd be back, but still a viable possibility. After Joshgate 2, however, I was convinced they were gone for good. And when the second generation specials were announced, I thought the same thing - what company-business-organization wants to go on record as sponsoring the continued mis-adventures of the Duggars? Do we know who these sponsors are yet?

This is how I know I was Jewish in one of my past lives - LOL. I love Jewish food!! Well, except for pickled herring...

Pennsylvania does have great potato chips. I order Charles Chips online now, but when I was a kid, there were delivery trucks that would come to your house. My dad was a sucker for a delicious, light, crisp, very lightly-salted chip and he declared Charles Chips the best. Even though they were pricier than the store brands, he'd splurge on them, so we had chips with our sandwiches on weekends! That was a treat! They came in a large round tin, like you can get for gourmet popcorn, and you just refilled the can from week to week, or whenever you ran out. We ran out every week - LOL. They also had pretzels and cookies then.

Thanks, Julia - I'll try the Lancaster caramels. If it's the same recipe, they'll be great. But when I contacted the company, back when I first couldn't find them anymore, I was told Hershey was not making caramels any longer. A year or so after that, I saw on the news that Hershey was moving its candy-making production to Mexico. But hey, it's business and things are always changing. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks again. Thanks, Almost. I'll check these out too. I know I'm nostalgic for those clear-wrapped caramels, My mother and my paternal grandmother always kept them around in the Fall and through the holidays.

Yes. I don't even look for caramels in the Fall anymore. Brach's was around when Hershey stopped making theirs but I wanted Hershey's. I thought they were the best and so buttery. Now I'm not even sure Brach's is still around. And Fanny Farmer's has been quite a while too. There used to be multiple Fanny F stores in my hometown. I loved being taken there before Easter with my grandparents - so beautifully decorated with bright spring colors - took this 5-year old's breath away.

Boy, I don't know. Honestly. Boob must really know where the bodies are buried, because for a million bucks I couldn't tell you any other reason why TLC clings to this family - as Jerry Seinfeld says, like grim death! LOL. Seriously though, it defies logic. It denies good taste and good sense.

I have no doubts that the events of the past couple days are influencing my response here, but I really have my doubts about Jill and her fragility. I was skeptical about Jill even before this but now I really do believe she's one of those girls who can turn on the tears to get what she needs or wants. Her tears, like Me-chelle's, always start suddenly and end quickly. I think that worked with Boob 20 years ago and I'm sure it works with Derick now. And let's face it, she hasn't got much else in her arsenal with which to fight. Plus it's odd that the fragility, if legitimate, wouldn't be apparent at other times too. Instead of only in interviews, which is the only place they've shown it up to now.

It sounds lame because TLC didn't go with FULL title the group came up with: Jill & Jessa Counting On ... TLC to Keep Them in Pregnancy Tests, Tater Tots and MacBooks.

On the candy front, I've never been a sweets fan. I don't even like sugar in coffee or tea. If I have calories to spend, I usually opt for the salty, savory snacks. Potato chips, popcorn, Fritos/Doritos, your basic starchy, salty junk. I LOVE Bugles. However, I am normal and do eat sweets, just not often. #1 with me is probably anything with chocolate and peanut butter. Or Three Musketeers bars. Until my Mom died, there was one in my stocking every year from the time I was about 5. Oh, and I really miss Hershey's Caramels. Couldn't find them one Fall - contacted the company - apparently they no longer make them - heartbroken. I swear, one of the worst things about getting older is seeing things you've used and loved for years suddenly disappear.

Me too. I get a little crazy when it's just me. Here's my "recipe" for Lazy Mash. Take a little net bag of new baby potatoes - you won't even need to scrub them they come so clean, just rinse them a bit. Place them in a microwavable bowl - or bowls - along with sliced shallots and a sprinkling of water. Cover and irradiate for 10 min. Remove covers and mash potatoes with a fork roughly. They'll be very "rustic" and chunky and you get the vitamins from the skins too. Mush in as much butter as you like and maybe some plain Greek yogurt. I like lots of black pepper too.

My Mom made her potato pancakes exactly the same, but thicker - about an inch I'd guess. My mouth is watering for them. Only me and my Dad liked them so we got them all, not that there were ever a lot. With 6 kids and 2 adults - and me - in the house, there weren't a lot of leftover taters around. Yum.

I just want everyone to know I will gratefully accept all leftover potato anythings from Thanksgiving. Unless the ingredients also include mushrooms, I've never met a potato recipe I didn't lust after...

Something else that is absolutely delicious frozen? Fruit smoothies. Try it with my favorite - McDonald's pineapple-mango. I buy the smalls because they are pricey and carby. Put them in the freezer, overnight at least. When you want one, take it out and leave on the counter for 20 min or so. It will mush up just enough to make it spoonable but not drippy. And it is beyond delicious. I haven't had any smoothies via a straw in YEARS.

When it's my youngest brother's year to entertain, he always deep-fries a smaller turkey outside in addition to having a big oven-roasted one in the house. The deep-fried one is served during "the cocktail hour" - along with many other nummies - while we wait for the oven bird and main meal at 3 pm. Lest we become weak... So we basically eat most of TWO turkeys in one day. Insert pig-snorting noise here. But it's worth it. Piping hot, tender, juicy deep-fried turkey is one delicious nosh.