Just checked, NASA's refueling the shuttle starting at 6:45 local time for a launch at 4:14 AM. If there would have been a way other than the 'thumb' I would be there. A day late isn't bad. kathyjane, umpty years ago I bought my sweetie one of those home Bunn coffee makers. Wonderful gadget. With my lifetime habit of getting up at Oh-dark-thirty, she had a cuppa to go along with bed-head! Somewhere along the way, maybe 15 years or so ago, the spreader got lost. It's the little doo-dad that threads into the water delivery tube for those w/o a Bunn. I called the company and asked for a replacement, got a very lovely gal (shoot me, I like gals!) who asked for my address. She Federal Expressed a replacement, no charge. I feel guilty. The above was maybe a dozen or so years ago. I was shoveling the good stuff out of a old compost pile and a small brown thing was in it. The spreader. Coffee grounds, all vege stuff, always went into the various compost piles. One of us had an accident! Probably me. I'm good at that type of stuff. Here is a link that might be useful: NASA TV

For my coffee pot, I use 'Brew Rite'. I back flush my espresso machine with a product called 'Clean Express' every 10 days or so. Before we installed a whole house water softener, I used a water softener called BLU. Made for espresso machines, the filter hooked onto the water tube. My espresso machine was expensive (Quick Mill Andreja Premium) and I get it serviced at the same places coffee houses get their machines serviced. Just replaced the water pump after 6 years. The water tubes can be replaced. Mine did the same thing about a year ago and the repair was not expensive. I buy my cleaning supplies from the people who service it.

The best lasagna I've ever made was in the Nesco using regular noodles. Diluted the sauce with a bit of water (or was it beer?), had plenty of sauce and of course the Nesco keeps it moist. In the oven, cover the noodles with sauce, cover the pan with foil (tightly sealed) and bake it. Several people I know and have read who've used the no-boil don't like the texture. Never tried them, probably never will. But my lasagna is generally quite expensive. But really, it feeds a lot of people, or a few people a lot of times and hey, good is good, you need to treat yourself right on occasion. When I'm going to cook elsewhere I usually bring cookware, utensils and definitely spices. I never assume anything. And I had the reverse experience cooking at my brother's place and a friend's cabin, both of which had cheap gas stoves while I was used to a pretty good electric stove. My old stove had two ovens, the top one had just one ordinary dial while the bottom one had the temperature separate, but the knob was a choice of preheat and bake, and I think there was another option or two but I can't remember what it was right now. I replaced it just short of a year ago. The worst part of it was the corningware top on it. Awful. Prewash dishes? Often! Especially at my dad's. My sister an I would occasionally go over when he was away and do some cleaning. One vivid memory was cleaning the stove. Reminder to people with gas stoves with pilot lights: Aerosol Dow Bathroom Cleaner, now known as "Scrubbing Bubbles" *likes* pilot lights. Very much. Whoa, very very much. I have grown back my eyebrows. But it was a sight to behold. Flames reminded me of campfires I used to build... Oh, I think I remember at least one of the other positions - timed bake. It didn't have a self cleaning so that wasn't it. I didn't use the bigger oven very often so I don't really remember it much. But I do have to wonder, since you were traveling to the land of where yur bruther's yur cuzin! uh, didn't you pick up some roadkill along the way to cook up fer the kinfolk? And BTW, I've owned and used microwaves of that vintage. I usually liked using them. Hope she likes the Bunn coffeemaker. When I tried to show my dad how to use the Norelco coffeemaker I had given my mother years before, (pour water in here, insert filter & put some coffee in here and flip this switch), his response? Oh... that's too much fussing... I don't tink I'll be using dat'n. So he occasionally used a little stovetop percolator. Or had an excuse to go out "for coffee". Argh! And I can't believe you didn't ask for the pie recipe! Don't you know you're supposed to *share*?

Yawn...! I dropped like a tired dog last night! No, we don't "charge" but we do expect a donation to "the kitchen committee". We are looking to do some kitchen updating. When I talk with the family, I try to remind them what a meal like we serve might cost if they had to buy it from someone who charged for their labor! And I also suggest that it's the generosity of some that allows us to provide the service without charge for those for whom it would be a hardship to have another fee to pay. Around here, every church handles the gathering after the service in a different manner. Some churches always order in premade sandwiches and chips and stuff at a cost of from $5 to $7.50 per person...not per person that comes but per person that you think may come. So if you are thinking you many have as many as 100 for Aunt Bessie's funeral, you better order sandwiches for that many and if 50 come, you have 50 sandwiches left over! Some churches do as we do and some ask for potluck donations. But the best funeral lunch I ever had was after the funeral for my son in law;s grand mother, a dear Italian lady from the South side of Des Moines and a very Italian Catholic parish. Afterward we all went to the hall and the Italian cooks brought out steaming trays of manicotti and baked ziti and wonderful Italian salad and good bread and Italian pastrys for dessert! Yes, it's a ministry, it's what I do, I cook. I don't teach Sunday school, I don't do well visiting sick people in the hospital, I don't go to disaster areas to help rebuilding...so I cook! It gives me great satisfaction to see silent subdued people come into the dining room after a funeral and gradually see them relax and see the sense of relief come over them and see them begin to laugh and remember. Many times I have sat in the kitchen, almost all cleaned up, waiting for the family to leave. And in the process of doing this, I have sized up quite a few recipes to feed a gang! And I know how to put on a good meal for a crowd for only $1.00 to $1.50 per person, provided the cookies are donated! Linda C