Lamb was an every-once-in-awhile thing when I lived in the North, but in the south it is usually absent from the stores; perhaps a few legs of lamb at Easter. I've often wondered what the history of this is; inthe South there's kind of a revulsion to the meat that must go back generations.

Meanwhile, we have more and more too-busy, rushed mommas who rely very heavily on convenience foods. And lots of professionals working in test kitchens whose job it is to make up good recipes using their company's products. Scratch cooking has becoming a gourmet hobby for the upper class and a lost art among the rest of us. Of course, lots of exceptions, growing numbers of from-scratch cooks among those interested in health.