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Even canned pumpkin is not always pure pumpkin. Sometimes there's other varieties of squash in it. Just substitute your favorite squash. Delicata makes really good pie.

mashed potatoes

pulled pork with homemade buns

salted black beans, a bottle of rennet

It's more of a coffeecake (sciaciatta), but you've given me some ideas. If I bake it tonight I may refresh it in the oven before I leave for work. It's being served at 9 am. Or I may reduce the yeast and let it rise overnight and bake it while I'm getting ready in the morning. Rest assured, I would NEVER microwave it!

If you don't like doing it in person, you can send a nice e-mail, if possible. We were being treated to dinner once, and the seafood dish didn't have half the things in it that it was supposed to. I didn't want to complain in front of our hosts, so the next day I wrote an e-mail to the restaurant. I received a prompt apology and a gift certificate for another visit.

Don't forget about Gale Gand and Jacques Torres

Our favorite soup is butternut squash with spicy kielbasa, wild rice and finished with some cream.

I has received cookbooks as gifts, but I think the first one I really bought for myself was Julia Child's The Way To Cook. It was quite an investment for me at the time. I still use the Pate Brisee recipe for a savory spinach pie I make and I used to wow people with the chocolate mousse in my early days of cooking.

I was really puzzled this summer when I used my carbon steel wok over coals in a campfire because I thought I'd be getting the heat I wasn't able to get on the stove. Now I know that the problem was the heat retention of the steel.

I found one of these pans at a garage sale a few years ago. Homemade ones are easy and great.

Making zucchini bread with cucumbers

Almond flavored white cake with almond/vanilla flavored buttercream