Hello again! Thanks for the hellos . . . I just got back from a bike ride. Pittsburgh has developed many bike trails and the one that works for us right now is right along the Allegheny River and goes all the way downtown, well across the river from downtown on the north side where PNC park and Heinz field are located (Pirates and Steelers, respectively). We ride up to the Carnegie Science Center and eat at the picnic benches then play in a fountain that is made out of rock steps. There are boats along the river and kayaks to rent and Segway tours so its a happening place. The G20 summit will be here in September, one reason is because we has a major recession in the 1980s when the steel mills closed and we had to change our economy. One area we've done well in is going GREEN. New businesses built up in eco-friendly ways. Things like the bike trails allow people to bike all over Pittsburgh. It's rails-to-trails because they converted a lot of old railroad tracks. Cooking - I'm going to sign up for a Raw Food class in October with a local raw food chef. I don't think I'll ever go 100% raw but I'm incorporating a little raw food in my diet every day from salads to veggies in pitas. I did a "ha ha ha" on Weight Watchers because after I lost some weight AND added a year to my life, they reduced my points to 18 per day. That was ridiculous! I was starving and miserable. Now, I just eat healthy for breakfast, lunch, and snacks and splurge on dinner here and there and let myself enjoy eating out when we go which is about twice a month. See you here - Karen

I'd like to suggest the book "Not Milk... NUT MILKS!" by Candia Lea Cole if you are interested in making your own nut milks (cost savings - and fresh always seems to be best). She has some really great "milks" in her book besides the run-of-the-mill almond milk. Along with rice, there are other grain milks you can make (spelt, wheat, oats). Use a variety of nuts and even sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds for non-dairy milks. You can also fortify your non-dairy "milk" products with things like mesquite meal, flaxmeal, chia seeds...which all have health benefits. Just two ounces of Chia seeds contain 600 mg of Calcium, compared with 120 mg for milk and they are high in other minerals (including Boron) helpful for bone health. Oat milk, although pretty tasty, great on cereal, has more protein than rice milk, but doesn't work well in cooking/baking. Rice milk doesn't work well in cooking/baking either. Hemp milk has enough protein to work fairly well in cooking. The protein content, and the type of protein, is where you may find you miss milk in cooking and baking. Milk proteins coagulate or precipate to form a solid clot or curd under certain circumstances. Some sauces may work well using a non-dairy milk substitute, some won't. To make pudding you will need to use a thickener like arrowroot, agar-agar or cornstarch. Almond Milk Pudding is actually very easy to make and you can find recipes on-line. Milk, in bread and many baked goods, is a tenderizer, adds protein and contributes to crust color, and you may miss some of those attributes, but it depends on how much milk you are substituting in any given recipe and what it contributes to the recipe. Look at the labels of the commercial non-dairy milks. Some of them are so loaded with ingredients to thicken and fortify it, and who knows what else, I'd tend to make my own. There may also be a down-side - there are many allergens associated with the nut milks, and many people who may be sensitive to avenin protein found in oats should avoid oat milk. If you are also avoiding butter, may I suggest coconut oil. It works not only in cooking and baking, but you can also use it as a bread-spread. You will find lots of recipes for using nut/seed/grain milks if you visit raw food sites, or check out vegan recipes. Sometimes it's easier to use recipes designed for those ingredients, to get accustomed to them, then start incorporating it into your favorite recipes. As a YUMMY non-dairy substitute for yogurt I have been fermenting coconut milk with real kefir grains, just like I make kefir with milk. I use coconut milk from reconstituted coconut milk powder. If you don't like the taste of coconut, this won't be a good substitute for you. Be sure to share more of your personal experiences using non-dairy milk alternatives. I, for one, would be interested in hearing your real experiences.... -Grainlady

Ann H., traditional Chanuka foods vary with the community. Jews of Eastern European descent eat latkes (but never agree on how to make them). Israelis eat fried filled doughnuts. As you see in the string, and can find on many web sites, everywhere in the world, Jews come up with something different for Chanuka. The one constant is that it should be something cooked in oil; that's the point. The idea is to commemorate the story about the oil for the menorah. lpinkmountain, if you use a mix for matzo balls, you will go to hell. JUST KIDDING! But really, I have never understood what the point is of that mix. I mean, matzo balls contain matzo meal, salt, egg, water or broth, and fat (chicken fat best if you are not a vegetarian and your cardiologist isn't looking). So what's in that mix? I think it's just matzo meal, salt, and some bouillon powder (which I don't like anyway); you still have to add the rest -- doesn't really save any time and just costs a lot more and uses more packaging. Lakeguy, here is how I (a genuine Jewish mother) make chicken soup and matzo balls. It's a very simple recipe, without even any dill or garlic, but it really doesn't need it, because the strongly developed chicken flavor holds its own, so try it this way first. Really, you can make any kind of chicken soup your family likes, but make sure to follow the two essentials about the type of chicken and the length of cooking. Try to find a kosher chicken -- the bigger, fatter, and older, the better. The taste is just much, much better. It's not that the kosher slaughtering makes a difference. But they grow them bigger, and they don't feed them chemicals (not for kosher purposes, just to broaden their market to foodies), and the soaking and salting of kashering is like brining it. If you can't find a kosher chicken in your town, then go for an organic one, I guess. Lindac taught me the money-saving tip of using a package of wings instead of a whole chicken (kosher chickens are not cheap). Gellchom's Jewish Chicken Soup (eat! eat!) 1 cut up kosher chicken, or a large package of wings, necks, etc. 2 stalks celery, NO LEAVES, scraped and cut into sticks 2 large carrots, scraped and cut into sticks one whole onion, peeled Salt and pepper Rinse the chicken and put it in your soup pot. Cover with water to about 3/4 inch from top. Bring to a good hard boil, reduce the heat, and skim. Then add the vegetables, 1-2 T salt, and some pepper. Cover and simmer a LONG time -- absolute minimum 1 1/2 hours, but I like to let it go to much longer, even to 6. If it cooks too far down, then just add some water; the taste will still be plenty rich, I promise. Remove chicken and use for something that can have seriously overcooked chicken! Discard onion (and celery, if you want, but I like it in the soup). Remove carrots and set aside. Strain soup and return carrots, celery, and maybe some of the chicken. Chill and remove some but not all of the fat before reheating. Serve with matzo balls, kreplach, noodles, or rice. Matzo balls (this is just the old recipe off the back of the Manischewitz matzo meal box, before they changed it from schmaltz to oil) 2 T schmaltz (rendered chicken fat; buy frozen in kosher market or make your own) or oil (if you must!) 2 lg eggs, slightly beaten ½ c matzo meal 1 t salt, optional 2 T water or broth (use broth if no schmaltz) Mix schmaltz and eggs. Mix matzo meal with salt and blend. Add water and mix. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes. Boil slightly salted water. Reduce heat to low, form balls (with wet hands, and note that they will enlarge as they cook), and add to soup. Cover and cook 30-40 minutes.

Just might do that! lol I may later on do more in the way of 'islands' around some of the trees and add something or other under them. Something to think about next winter. I'm leaving the center of the yard open, so when the grand kids come we can throw foot ball etc. As viewed from the deck almost directly SSE. The wife decided we should leave things so we can 'drive through' past the house in to the front yard for furniture/appliance moving etc. Front yard not so big but I had to move the lily station because after we added the bb hoop, we couldn't drive around that side of the house without running them over. You can see in the grass where it used to be. It was so root bound it hardly bloomed anyways. I'm standing in the neighbors driveway to take this pic. My yard ends several feet this side of the green ash in front of me. All this and my deer farming in the countryhas been quite enough for this year. I just finished my third week of full retirement. Well at least I got everything I wanted done for this year. Sometimes our Autumns can be quite wet so not much gets done.