Jeri,

I heard somewhere that young adulthood, or late teenhood, can bring on a change in appreciation of certain foods. It's a physiological thing - don't know the explanation - but cabbage and it's relatives is one of those foods. I'm not sure but I think mushrooms are another.



Finally, I am starting to get some inkling of what was behind a rather strange series of tv ads which hit Oz a few months ago.

A bunch of old fogeys were all sitting around in a restaurant demanding that they have sprouts in their old age, and that they had the *right* to have sprouts. It was an ad for a retirement investment fund.

I think the majority of Aussies just looked at the ad and said "Wot the....???"

Sprouts seem to be available all year here so it's no big deal. And there doesn't seem to be any major interest in them at Christmas or special occasions. They are just another vegie we were told we had to eat.

I admit I like them. They are especially nice in a good, old-fashioned, slow-cooked meaty casserole because they soak up all the yummy juices and get a buttery taste.

I'll have to try them with chestnuts, or the almonds and bacon, with the olive oil, because I love all of those things anyway.

LTS, maybe you need to take a philosophical view on that bastard stealing your wreath. When I worked in a public library where I got to choose the books to buy I began to evaluate how well I had chosen by how quickly they got stolen. "Oh, I did really well this month! They're all gone and they were only on the shelves a week!"

The other thing to remember, in that case, is an apt (mis-)quote? I heard about Henry Ford when his offspring collectively sued him for his assets (don't ask me why) and in court he tapped his head and said "There is plenty more where that all came from", meaning that it was only money but he created it through his own creativity and abilities.

Helen