Greetings, Sshrivastava! I just checked both default settings; "Rinse Process" is set to NO and "Automatic Load Control" is set to ON. I believe there's a typo in the Service Manual regarding the Auto Load Control; it says in boldface "OFF: Not Activated" but it should say "ON: Activated". However, if some machines were in fact delivered with it set to OFF by default then it may have been a programming glitch at the factory. It makes sense to me for detergent test facilities setting this to OFF since it would then be much easier for them to control the water/detergent/fabric/soilage ratios because the machine then assumes a full load no matter what. Oh, I did in fact find the "Rinse Process" submenu item in the Service Manual; setting this to ON then causes the machine to gauge rinse effectiveness via the NTC thermistor (R30); I'm gonna leave this set to NO since I don't see any reason for it, given my current wash parameters.

I know it is somewhat starchy too, but halved, baked acorn squash would be good. Bake upside down till the last 20 minutes, and fill the cavity with butter, brown sugar, salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon and return to the oven. Acorn squash are so nice in the fall. How about an easy apple crisp for dessert with a scoop of ice cream on the side?

Pillog, that kugel sounds great! I will be saving this for another occasion... Anyhow, I'm still working up the food for the upcoming weekend, which is THIS coming weekend. Below, the food for Friday night, Saturday morning and lunch, and Sunday morning is set. In the following post I'll put what I have for apps and dinner but I still need help for dessert, and to decide between a couple vegetarian options: ****** FRIDAY PM (One lactose-free, one no-cooked seafood person, but fish sauce okay if it doesn’t overtly announce itself in the food… He LOVES raw fish, but won’t be doing that!) -- 5-6 people, the sixth if she makes it that night would be gluten-free. I am tree-nut free, excepting coconut. (I MISS pistachios and pine nuts… the rest I never cared about!) Appetizers: Veggie platter with choice of dips (chive cheese spread – from a local dairy; hummus, baba ganoush – from an excellent Lebanese grocery). Pick up items Thursday afternoon. Quality gluten-free chips (TJ’s) with peach salsa. Dinner: Hot and Sour Soup: Adapted from Russ Crandall’s “Paleo Takeout: Restaurant Favorites without the Junk.” Will use homemade poultry soup base (made a couple months ago), gluten free. Recipe uses arrowroot to thicken. However will add some tofu cubes, not Paleo. To make early Friday, add egg just prior to serving. Veggie & beef stir fry. Visit local Asian market Thursday for Asian-specific veggies (CHINESE broccoli instead of western…. Etc.) California sushi rice, in rice cooker. Dessert: Keeping simple. Thinking fresh strawberries with option of cream, coconut cream or a dash of sugar on top – or, nothing on top! Some dark chocolate nibbles for those who do have sweet tooths – nothing fancy. (Maybe chocolate dustings available for those berries!) SATURDAY BREAKFAST – same crowd as previous night: Omelets to order – plain, cheese, veggie. (A local guy sells eggs 2.50 per dozen, can’t beat that!) Home made pork sausages patties (local ground pork; I’ll form the patties Friday, cook in the morning). Available if wanted: Rolled oats for oatmeal; cold Kashi brand cinnamon oat cereal. Grapes and other fresh fruit. SATURDAY LUNCH – make your own sandwiches/lettuce wraps. A variety of cold cuts, lettuce suitable for making wraps, condiments (mustard, mayo that sort of thing), peanut butter. I’ll make a vegan potato salad Friday (roasted mixed potato, red onion, cabbage, apple, seasonings, no mayo). Bread from local bakery on way to house. Other people will trickle in during the afternoon. And will include at least one vegetarian – who does eat dairy and limited eggs. A no-legume, absolutely no seafood serious allergy person. No vegans. One no rice. HOUSE BLESSING: White wine or peach juice, GF oatmeal cookies made with banana. (make Friday) SATURDAY DINNER - see next post! SUNDAY BREAKFAST: Uttapam pancakes (these are savory vegan with lentils and rice, seasoned with onion, tomato, and curry leaves – pick up curry leaves Thursday pm!!! Will supply optional butter/ghee; or real maple syrup, for those who must have sweet…) Soak Friday, grind Saturday and make batter. Scrambled eggs, not to order. Available if wanted: Rolled oats for oatmeal; cold Kashi brand cinnamon oat cereal. Grapes and other fresh fruit. Supplying: coffee, tea, sugar & Splenda for coffee/tea, whole milk, coconut milk, (if I find it) Lactaid milk – my friend can use this in his coffee. SodaStream for seltzer. Wine, champagne, rum. A couple of juices as mixers or whatever.

We had our dinner today. The ham was the best part, Elery smoked it about 10 hours, after 36 hours in brine, then half was served with a pineapple sauce and half without. We had baked beans, broccoli/cauliflower salad, green beans with bacon, whole wheat/butternut squash rolls, and Nancync's gluten free brioche, which came out very well: The coconut cake was decorated with Peeps and filled with coconut cream, then frosted with a coconut/cream cheese frosting: The kids were busy eating the chocolate that they found inside the Easter eggs, so they didn't want any other dessert. We got out the special Easter deviled egg plate and Mother's old Easter tablecloth from the 50s, we use it every year. We also had blueberry crisp and chocolate cream pie, but no one ate dessert except the Princess, who had this piece of cake. Everyone else ate too much ham! The only fail, and there's always one, were those blasted potatoes. Even though I don't like cheese and the Princess doesn't like sauced anything, I made au gratin. Found a recipe that called for heavy cream, gouda cheese, butter, garlic. Gotta be good, right? Two hours at 350 and the potatoes were still hard. Cranked the oven up to 450 for half an hour, still hard. Put them in the microwave for 15 minutes, the microwave overheated and died and those potatoes were still hard. We gave up on the potatoes, even with $15 worth of gouda and cream, and ate everything else. The girls split up the potatoes and took them home, they are going to try to cook them some more. Ugh, I didn't even want to look at them again and was going to compost them, but the girls couldn't pass up all that cheese, LOL. And so Elery and I took a trip into town and bought a new microwave after everyone went home. Annie