Neil, we used to go to the original Leona's, but they streamlined their menu and stopped with the crabmeat-spinach pizzas I liked so much. We don't really choose restaurants so much as choose dishes we return to again and again. Ten minutes gets us to lots of good places both on Chicago's far north side and in our own little city, including the great Indian restaurants of Devon Ave. We occasionally go to a hamburger joint, Moody's, that's popular for its summer outdoor seating but has indoor tables that are so delightfully dark in winter that the fireplaces can't even light them up. For Chinese we favor Joy Yee's (spicy Korean shrimp & oyster soup is my usual pick), but we take out more often than we eat in. If we confine ourselves to whatever is within five blocks/10 minutes on foot, we have nine restaurants to choose from, not including chain stuff like Subway and Starbucks. We have places we like for gyros, pumpkin curry soup, chili and sushi, and I'm still mourning the move of the Afghani place, if for no other reason than they were willing to sell anchovy pizza by the slice. Summer gets us out more--there's a good Thai restaurant about eight blocks away that has great rooftop tables, and occasionally I really like to go out and split a "fatboy and a dozen" special--raw oysters and a big, cheap beer.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how early I can start tomatoes in Seattle if I use a tunnel cloche (PVC hoops, 3' high, covered to the ground in plastic)? I would be using from hardened-off starts and planting them directly in the ground under the cloche. In the past we found that putting some water bottles under the cloche to absorb heat from sunlight seems to help a bit. I am hoping to put the tomatoes out around May 1. Steve Solomon seems pretty gung ho about this in his book, he even talks about planting tomatoes out under a cloche, before the last frost date, but he is in the Williamette Valley, and in any case he probably has a better cloche than my jury-rigged PVC and plastic job. Granted waiting later might be a better idea, but my home-grown starts are going to be around 10 weeks old at that time, and I don't want them to stay in the pots too long. Can I get away with putting them under the cloche around May 1? Also, we do have Walls'o'water, but I am not sure how much they can extend the season compared with a full cloche.

This is something I wish I could change about myself. I do not eat fish, or shellfish. I continue to try little bits of it when it is offered. It's not so disgusting to me that I can't eat a couple bites, but it's bad enough that I can't continue eating it. Like the first bite is OK, but it gets bad after 3 bites. LOL. But I don't cook it, so my kids don't eat it either. I know it's good for me, and I feel that I miss out on a lot of tasty and nutritious meals, and fun restaurants, because I don't eat it. If I could re-train my taste buds to eat it, I would. Every once in a while I get a bug in my head to search for mild fish recipes, but lose my nerve and don't commit to buying it at the grocery. DH is even pickier than me or the kids, so he is fine with me never cooking fish. My dad is the perfect eater. I wish I learned/inherited my tastes from him rather than my mom. My dad will eat ANYTHING. I know there are a couple foods he doesn't favor, but nothing he refuses to eat. I swear, this is the truth, I have seen him eat an entire meal at a restaurant and then announce it was delicious, but not at all what he ordered. Even when he gets the wrong meal at a restaurant, he just says "great, a surprise, let's try it." He is thin, strong and healthy and looks 15 years younger than his age.

I don't go to hamburger or Mexican chain fast food places, unless I happen to be in Seattle and need food, then I treat myself to a Dick's Cheeseburger. A local chain with a loyal following. Nothing fancy, no sit down, just walk up and take to your car or home. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers and fries, real milkshakes - 3 flavors only, I think. Soft drinks. That's it. Yum. If I'm elsewhere with no time for a sit down, I will get something at Starbucks. I love their sous vide egg whites with red peppers. Low carb, low cal, low fat, very tasty. Or I might get a low fat breakfast sandwich or cold turkey or chicken sandwich. They are decent and predictable, ready made -fast. Starbucks doesn't HAVE to let anyone use their restrooms but made a corporate decision to let even non-customers use them. This came after some unfortunate episodes of what appeared to be discrimination against certain types of people who were perceived as being non-customers (probably not going to buy anything). It will be interesting to see how that plays out for them and their customers.