[regarding a Recipe on the PHC "Post the Host" website]

When the Norwegian’s came over the sea to settle in the New Continent, did they not bring a set of kitchen scales? Where did American’s get this ‘cup’ measurement from – its would appear fraught with dangers; what if one family used the word ‘cup’ to refer to all tea/coffee retaining porcelain-based tableware? As is the case in this household- right now I’m sipping Earl Grey from what is obviously a mug (a tall one at that), yet I picked off the cup shelf- if I were making toffee think of the trouble I’d be in!

I mentioned the Scandinavians specifically because I feel the early explorers and emigrants from Southern Europe and Britian were in an understandable hurry to get to the New World and I’ll forgive them for not packing correctly- if you’ve ever had an Italian Salad you’ll know how little precision has to do with their cooking, its all about passion (and Olive Oil… mostly Olive Oil). No doubt it was an Italian – Columbus himself? – famished after a long day’s discovering, hungry for a really good feed, who grabbed the first ‘cup’ off the shelf in the buzz of excitement that is always present in a kitchen (or Galley Mess) where Italian men meet flavoursome ingredients in a hurry.

Hmm, talking of flavoursome ingredients – what are “Graham Cracker Crumbs”. A passable UK equivalent?

Its been three years since Billy and I chanced apon PHC, during “News from Lake Wobegone”. G.K. was talking about cherry tomatoes being flown in on their own airliner seats to preserve freshness, while someone in the village – a Peterson, just guessing – had been visited by a bear and her lazy husband had done little to frighten the fierce creature away. there was snow in Lake Wobegone that week, lots of snow out there on there on the prairie .