1914 dietary instructions say not to eat fruits and vegetables at the same meal. If you want to have a fruit dessert, then have a meal made of rice, macaroni, or nut foods. If you want to have vegetables as the main course, then serve a squash pie or custard for dessert.

That era was big on "digestibility" and nsm into what we currently think of as nutrition - lots of white starch with very little fiber was considered FAR more nutritious than the other way around.

(At my cabin up in Canada, we have several old pasta & potato chip tins that we use for storage that proudly proclaim "98% digestible!" on the side as their main selling point.)

The Bro and SiL gave us Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (which I promptly re-named "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, ESPECIALLY TIM" [he doesn't do a lot of the cooking around here, despite the fact that he's the vegetarian]), which is this amazing 750-page book that's not just a cookbook; it has long sections on the ingredients, and how they work in different dishes, and different cooking techniques, and why (for instance) arborio rice is preferred over basmati rice in such-and-such dish.

I've got that book. I haven't looked through it much (I got it from my mom in one of her cookbook purges), but the parts that I have looked at looked pretty good. It's my usual go-to for "I bought this interesting-looking vegetable at the farmers market, and I have no idea what to do with it."

Teppy, I am glad you are starting to feel better.

TCG gave me The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman for Christmas, and I have been reading it all morning.

And she's word-of-mouth sold six copies of Jilli's book, and her mom says the change since she first read it has been like a year of therapy.

!!!

I ... that's the best thing anyone has said about my book, I think.

I have Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and I like it. There's a really great rice recipe in there. I'm blanking on the name but it's something like Rice with Herbs and Lemon it has lots of fresh herbs, butter, and lemon juice and is really tasty.

Also there's a good mix of easy and hard recipes.

Belated congratulations to the new Glam family. What a beautiful baby he is. I cant think of a better way to send off 2009 and welcome in 2010. Best wishes to all the Buffistas for a wonderful holiday season and great start to 2010. ((((( hugs Askye )))))

How I wish the packing fairy Buffistas would show up on my doorstep. Another eight boxes down (mostly dishpack size) with assorted cleaning and culling amidst the packing. Faced one of the scariest closets today and came out alive.

Fall down go boom now?

Yay Barb! Celebrate your triumph over the closet!

I'm currently 3 for 3 in sending back an airport bar's idea of a vodka gimlet. Version 2.0 is tasty, though.

Pete, do you love your ghastly Predator head?

Oh yes. It's sat in the living room and every time I catch it out of the corner of my eye it makes me smile.

And she's word-of-mouth sold six copies of Jilli's book, and her mom says the change since she first read it has been like a year of therapy.

JZ' that's so great I wish we could use it as ad copy! Any way you can re-jigger that and add it as a review of the book on Amazon? Either way, thank you for sharing.

Happy Boxing Day!

Today I need to go buy a bulb for my new leg lamp. (It's a major award!)