Yep, brought it home two days ago. It is a Cuisinart convection oven, broiler and toaster. It is only 11 x 15 in. Before today, I have cooked a 4 lb roasting chicken and a 3 lb beef roast. Absolute perfection. It does bagels and french stuff perfectly. Today, I prepared a boneless leg of lamb. Stuffed it with garlic and covered it with fresh rosemary and pepper. Served with wild rice, small onions and partridge peas. All very good. I am waiting for it to fail at something. After all 179.95 is not considered a good price for a toaster oven. Then again the wife bought it. ;<))

Your lawn. Mine is more than 5 a. I just heard a show on NPR; it derided people for mowing a grass lawn rather than havin a natural lawn. Why would I be so environmentally irresponsible. Well, first of all, the 5 a contains a lot of nut trees and fruit trees.Second, I have to walk there. As Helen [either the face that sailed a 1000 ships or the face that sunk a 1000 ships; don't remember my Greek mythology that well] said, "life is a tick infested hell". She didn't mention chiggers. If you don't know what I am talking about, you are probably surrounded by pavement. ;<)))

Best Wishes,,,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4U7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 15, 2002

Answers

Z,

Cuisinart products are perfection in motion, IMHO. I have three of their food processors (one is nearly 30 years old!), a hand mixer, and a blender. Truly precision kitchen equipment, and built to last a lifetime! Actually $180 for a toaster oven isn't bad if it's the last one you ever buy. Personally, I couldn't live without a toaster oven. Here in the desert, it is so much more efficient than heating the whole kitchen with the oven, it's a blessing to be able to bake quickly, and then cool off quickly. Mrs Z made a smart purchase, IMHO.

As for the Helen of Troy quote, I do believe it's "the face that launched a 1000 ships". In our Helen's case, it may be the face that loved 1000 souls (human, animal and mineral)! And mow your heart out friend! Why keep the vegatation high for bug infestation? Besides you need the material for composting, doncha? Got be green ya know! Happy summer gardening, and I'm still waiting for those other pickle recipes!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), June 15, 2002.

Chiggers, the fire ant of the Midwest.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), June 15, 2002.

Z, I'm sure I've whined about chiggers before. I mow to keep the bugs backed off a bit and also to reduce fire danger during drought.

I hope my face will keep a thousand bull dozers from launching. I'm fighting to keep a neighbor from dozing everything to bare dirt on our side of the property line. Ran them off twice now, but I'm starting to alert on hay balers two miles away. Stress ...

(Will bulldozing to the bare dirt reduce the tick/chigger infestation?)

-- helen (erosion@deforestation.hatefulness), June 15, 2002.

A very god reason to mow, especially that large an area at this time of year, this year. If it dries out and someone flicks a cigarette out their car window...vvvrrrooom!!!

Colorado is burning, having a "firebreak" around your living areas is common sense, as well as probably just making you feel good by looking at how nice it looks when you view it.

Did I ever tell you the story about the riding mower I used to mow the grass(?) when stationed in Homestead? Naw I won't bore you with that *grin*

-- Cherri (whatever@who.cares), June 15, 2002.

Zen and the Art of Yardwork

Mantra----mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch........................

Breathing----slowly by diaphragm. Left nostril when mowing left; right nostril when mowing right

Practice, practice, practice----Practice brings mastery, grasshopper

Satori----the grass will come to you

-- (lars@onehand.net), June 15, 2002.

Lars, do you enjoy "onehand" magazines? LOL.

-- (roland@hatemail.com), June 16, 2002.

I'm diggin' on the idea of Zero-scaping, less mowing is better.

I'm planting half the front yard in bananna's, part in mulch, part in palms, part in cacti. The remainder on the very front will be a mock dock/pier for ornamentation and sitting on with a lil shade tree growing up the middle of the dock.

The side lot will be tomatoes(various), squash(crookneck), watermelon, peppers of many varieties, more bananna's, fruit tree's and a palm tree seedling farm. I've learned how to propogate palms from seed and plan on growing hundreds of'em for resale along with the bananna's of course.

I hate chiggers as much as I do these friggin' fire ants. I grew up with the chiggers and can honestly say that I would rather be bitten by a chigger than a fire ant. I stepped on a mound while mowing Wed and didn't notice it....at first, well, I can tell ya that they promptly got my attention and had me scrambling for the water hose to get them the hell off my legs, pronto!!! I've got the marks to prove it, it's more like connect the bloody dots...literally.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), June 16, 2002.

Why don't you guys just hire a Lawn Care Service like any self-respecting yuppie would do?

-- (lars@indy.net), June 16, 2002.

Cherri:

A very good reason to mow, especially that large an area at this time of year, this year. If it dries out and someone flicks a cigarette out their car window...vvvrrrooom!!!

After having lived much of my life in the west, I have found that the cycle can be different here. Our fire season is in Feb and March. The effects are based on the foilage growth the previous summer. Our average annual rainfall is 38 in. From my weather station and ignoring the rest of the year; May, 23 in, June (so far), 10 in. All of the stuff is really thick [we haven't been able to plant a vegetable garden because of the rain]. I will need to go out and cut this stuff down from the back 25 a. I have learned that I can't do it until after July 4. Otherwise, I frappe young quail, pheasants and rabbits. After the first week in July they can and will run.

Best Wishes,,,,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 18, 2002.

For want of a backslash the world was lost. ;<))

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 18, 2002.

Who you callin' yuppie Lars?

I can't afford to be one of them ; )

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), June 19, 2002.