Small Clip Show

Figure 1. Lucy is susceptible to wind.
Figure 2. My baby orchid bloomed!

Five star makeover: Macaroni & Cheese - Savory & Sweet

When I saw the Five Star Foodie's challenge to make over Macaroni and Cheese, I knew this was the five star makeover for me. As you all know, I have a deep and abiding love of Mac and Cheese. I toyed with a bunch of different options, including an Indian Mac and Cheese with paneer and spices, and a pimped out Mac and Cheese with brie and cranberry chutney, but when I talked to my mom about it, I knew I was out of my depth. Her ideas were amazing. So, while she was in town last week, she and I made two different macaroni makeovers. We decided to go the savory and sweet route. The first makeover is a savory Macaroni and Cheese terrine with butternut squash and bacon. For the sweet portion, we made a dessert Macaroni and Mascarpone pudding with white chocolate and bourbon.(Credits: These recipes are my mom's and the photo credits go to some combination of me, my dad, and my sister. As we were all passing the camera around, it's hard to tell who took what.)
Both of these may sound like candidates for the Gallery of Regrettable Food, but I assure you, they were delicious. (I may even have made myself a little sick eating the leftovers the last few days.)

Savory: Layered Mac & Cheese Terrine Ingredients

• 1 box macaroni noodles (I used Barilla Elbows)
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• nutmeg to taste (ca. 1 t)
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 quart milk
• 1/2 lb aged Gruyere, shredded
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 10 oz. bacon, chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to about 400.
2. Place butternut squash cubes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Roast until tender, but don't burn.
3. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a pan. Drain grease and set bacon aside.
4. Cook pasta in generously salted water for approximately 3/4 of the suggested time. Drain and set aside.
5. Shred aged Gruyere on the largest holes on a box grater. Set aside.
6. Make a roux: Melt the stick of butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Add milk and cook over medium-low heat until sauce bubbles, thickens, and just begins to brown. Add nutmeg.
7. Add cheese and stir until melted and smooth.
8. Add pasta to cheese sauce and stir until well coated.
9. Spread a layer of mac and cheese into a loaf pan that has been lined with aluminum foil (with edges sticking out the sides) and then liberally buttered. Tamp down quite firmly.
10. Spread a layer of butternut squash cubes on top of the M&C. Press down, but do not mix with mac and cheese layer.
11. Spread another layer of mac and cheese - make sure the squash is entirely covered. Press down.
12. Create a layer of the bacon. Cover mac and cheese as completely as possible.
13. Finally, spread a final thick layer of mac and cheese. Press down as firmly as possible.
14. Bake for about 20 minutes or until top layer of mac and cheese begins to brown.
15. Allow terrine to cool for about fifteen minutes and invert onto serving platter using foil to ease the form out of the pan. Carefully remove foil from mac and cheese terrine.
    
16. Using a sawing motion and a very sharp knife, slice for serving.

**This recipe is almost certainly enough for two loaf pans. Also, a note on the aluminum foil technique - it helped, but maybe not enough to make it worth the effort. If your loaf pans are reliably non-stick, you may want to skip it. If there's any doubt about the pans being potentially sticky, do it.

Macaroni & Mascarpone Pudding with White Chocolate and Bourbon
For the Macaroni & Mascarpone

• 1 lb small elbow macaroni
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
• 2 T bourbon
• 1 T vanilla
• sugar to taste

1. Prepare 1 pound of small elbow macaroni in well-salted water and cook until "almost" al dente--remember it will cook in the oven as the dessert bakes.
2. Drain the mac very well.
3. While the macaroni is cooking--combine 8 ounces of mascarpone cheese that has been mixed with and "lightened" with 1-2 tablespoons of bourbon (or to taste) and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Add sugar to taste.
4. Combine this cheese mixture with the hot macaroni and blend well. Set aside while preparing the custard mixture.

For the Custard:

• 2 Cups of heavy cream
• 2/3 Cup of milk
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 8 ounces of high quality (containing cocoa butter) white chocolate
• 2 eggs

1. Combine cream, milk,sugar and vanilla bean in a heavy bottom pan over medium heat. Add 1 Vanilla bean that has been split and the seeds scraped.
2. When mixture is very warm (not boiling) add the white chocolate. Stir to allow the chocolate to melt.
3. Meanwhile beat 2 eggs until well blended and light in color.
4. Add a small amount (a ladle-full) of the hot cream/chocolate mixture to the beaten eggs to temper the mixture. Add another ladle-full of hot mixture slowly while beating vigorously. When the eggs are tempered and very warm, add to the remaining cream/chocolate mixture.
5. Remove the vanilla bean.

Assembly

1. Place macaroni in oven safe baking dish that has been well buttered.
2. Pour the custard mixure over the macaroni mixture and gently stir to combine.
3. Place in a 325 degree oven and bake until set and lightly browned.
4. Serve while warm with white chocolate cream sauce.

For the Sauce:

• 3/4 Cup of heavy cream
• 4 ounces of chopped white chocolate.

1. Heat the cream and reduce if you desire a thicker sauce.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and stir to melt the chocolate.
3. Spoon this warm sauce over the warm macaroni and ENJOY!

Munching on Sunshine

Yes, it's getting colder and yes, it's getting darker. I fully expect the snow to come down any minute and I fully expect to not see the sun again until April - March, if we're lucky. Last week, however, in a last-minute fit of denial, I decided to make the summeriest, most cheerful dessert I could think of: a lemon tart.

What you should know: I have a passionate love of desserts that involve lemons. On trips to southern France and the Amalfi coast in Italy, I made it a point to eat at least one, preferably two or three lemon desserts or pastries every day. There was one particular lemon tart that I ate in Nice that has stuck in my memory for lo, these many years. The tangy lemony-ness and the smooth, silky texture of the filling, the flaky, yet tender crust, the sweet note that lingered after the sour had passed - just thinking about it takes me right back.
That taste - the 7th grade poet in me would call it the taste of sunshine - is what I had a longing for. I have been sitting on a lemon tart recipe for a long time, waiting for a rainy day (I didn't intend to wait for a literal rainy day, but that's how it worked out). This one comes from a genuine Parisienne who spent a year at my lovely alma mater, and with whom one of my dearest friends and most loyal readers is still in close contact. The text of this recipe is written in somewhat eccentric English and has very little in the way of concrete instruction, but luckily my mom (my CIA-trained, kitchen-ruling mom) was on hand to help fill in the blanks, as it was the very first tart I've ever made.

The result? It was stunning. Every bite embodied that sunshiny, liquid-light, tart-yet-sweet, creamy, silky perfection I've been dreaming about since that very first day in Nice what - six years ago? (Actually, I think this tart might have been better than that tart, but nostalgia does gild that memory a bit.) No, it didn't stave off the cold, the rain, the coming three-months darkness. But it did make being alive on that one day a little more worthwhile.The Famous Fanélie's Lemon Tart
*I've adapted the recipe rather heavily and will mark my additions and changes with asterisks.

For the tart shell:

• 150 g flour
• 125 g butter
• 50 g sugar
• *dash salt

1. The original recipe called for the ingredients to be mixed by hand. *Being lazy and inclined to repetitive stress injury, I took the easy way out and used a food processor. This necessitated the addition of a couple of tablespoons of water to bring the dough together. In the future, I would not do this, as I'm afraid that step caused my crust to shrink almost beyond rescue.
2. After the dough is smooth and homogeneous, put it in the fridge for a half an hour.
3. Then, press it into a tart pan with a removable bottom.
4. Put it in the freezer for at least ten minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375.

For the lemon curd: (I've doubled this recipe, as we were afraid - and rightly so - that the original would not fill my tart shell.)

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 300 g of sugar
• the juice and zest of two lemons
• 120 g of butter
• *pinch salt

1. *The original recipe called for a pan over direct heat, but given my propensity for burning everything, my mom's suggestion to use a double-boiler (in our case, a tempered-glass bowl positioned on top of a saucepan of simmering water) sounded like a very, very good idea.
2. Melt the butter in the top bowl, very slowly.
3. When the butter is melted, keep the pan on the fire, but on low. Add the lemon juice and zest, sugar, and salt.
4. Mix the ingredients very slowly, with circular motions until the mixture is fully combined and the sugar melting.
5. Add the egg very slowly and stir constantly, but slowly.
6. Continue cooking the curd on low/medium-low heat until it thickens up and turns whitish and less transparent.
7. *While preparing the curd, remove the tart shell from the freezer and partially bake the shell (between five and ten minutes).
8. When the curd is "à point" (anyone have a good translation for this?), pour it into the pastry shell and bake the tart at 375 for about 15 minutes. The shell will hopefully brown a bit and the top of the curd may brown and begin to bubble.
9. If you can, wait until it's cooled to serve. Be very careful, and you'll get gorgeous slices of semi-transparent neon yellow on crumby, flaky, cream-colored crust.
   

Food porn

If you're into food and have a naughty sense of humor, click on this.

Fall Ruminations

Fall has a way of making me think too much - about myself, about my work, about silly things and serious things alike. Today there are many, many thoughts percolating in my head and I'm struggling to put them all into words and onto paper. I've been thinking a lot about decay this Fall and trying to square the end of the year and the coming of cold weather and dead leaves with my growing need to be positive, warm, and happy.It's always too easy to get caught up in the idea that Fall means everything decaying, drying up, dying. I had a thought the other day, though, that maybe Fall isn't completely about things coming to an end. Maybe, just maybe, Fall is just an instance of potential energy. Yes, things fall off and begin to crumble in these first colder months, but part of the shriveling dessication also exposes seeds. So many of the things that appear and litter the ground in fall are berries, nuts, seed pods - things that spend the winter burrowing and being pressed into the ground, freezing, and eventually thawing to bud and sprout and bloom. All of this decay and dropping off is necessary, then, and is actually as much a sign of fertility and regeneration and progress as any flower in Spring.
I'm hoping this Fall and Winter can be something like that for me. I've got a lot of energy that's spinning off in unproductive directions and a lot of creativity that is pooling, unused, and beginning to fester. Hopefully I can start shedding some of my post-Summer malaise and something will find its way into the ground and by Spring, something will have taken root. No, I'm not going into hibernation, but hopefully some decay will give way to productivity.

************

In other news, I went to Maine with my family yesterday. It's always such a soul-warming place to go. I love driving around in the woods and suddenly peeking through to see the ocean and decrescendos of rock giving way to waves and blue water. Here are a few first photos - many more yet to come as the result of a little film and new-lens experimentation.(And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that everyone's pictures of fall foliage and ocean horizons look exactly the same, but there was something about yesterday that made photos I just can't get enough of. Feel free to not look, but I think they're awfully pretty.)

Another notable quote

"I love wearing high heels, I love wearing silk stockings and I love wearing hot pants. In those three, I feel like a Thirties tough girl. If I didn't look in the mirror, I might just mistake myself for Rita Hayworth or Marlene Dietrich. How great is that?"
— Yoko Ono. [Daily Express] via Jezebel

That's some chutzpah. I need to find something that makes me feel like Marlene Dietrich. Of course, then I'd just be singing "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt..." und das geht gar nicht. (Tee hee.)

Just briefly...

"When I look at digital, the dark side of it for me is the physicality that's being presented alongside the Internet. I think about that movie The Matrix, and about these bodies that are human batteries that support computers. I met this guy who was creating software where you could watch Mad Men and you could chat with your friend while you're watching it, and things would pop up, and facts would pop up, and I said, 'You're a human battery. Turn the fucking thing off! You're not allowed to watch the show anymore. You're missing the idea of sitting in a dark place and having an experience. Are you just like sitting with your phone and you're kissing your girlfriend and saying, "I'm kissing my girlfriend! This is so great, we're having sex!'" EXPERIENCE THINGS!"
— Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, at the New Yorker Festival (via Jezebel)

That is all.

*emphasis mine

Feel-good food

Last week I was sick. Fevers, aches, stuffed up head, headache, no energy, etc. I won't go into details because if you're halfway smart, you really don't want to know. On Thursday, though, I started to feel a little better. Well enough, anyway, to start craving lots of good-tasting, healthy-making food. So I dragged myself off of the couch and made for the Crock Pot. Potato Soup it would be.

Now, let me explain to you, I have a long standing and pretty intense love affair with potato soup. From the Baked Potato Soup cups of O'Charley's meals past to similar, bacon-heavy potato soup at Sunday lunch at Rafferty's to my mom's lighter, more delicious version that I usually beefed up with a couple of generous handfuls of cheese and oyster crackers. I've made a number of attempts in the past to make delicious potato soup, but somehow they've always fallen a little short.

This time, though, I just threw a little of everything that we had in the house into a big steaming vat of chicken stock and let it be for a few hours. The result? Tasty enough to make me feel better. Here's what I did.

Crock-Pot Potato Soup
Ingredients

• 5-8 potatoes, depending on size
• 3 small carrots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 onions
• Bunch thyme, rosemary, couple of sage leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• Stick butter
• Pepper
• salt
• 6 c chicken broth
• Dollop Sour Cream
• Couple of glugs of half and half

Preparation

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into 1" chunks.
2. Peel and thickly slice the carrots.
3. Peel and smash garlic cloves.
4. Peel and chop the onions.
5. Place all these things with herbs (remove woody stems from herbs) and bay leaves into a Large Crock Pot. Pour chicken (or veggie) broth over the veg, cover, and cook on high for about 5 hours.
6. When potatoes and carrots are tender, fish out the bay leaves, and puree the soup in batches. I used a blender, but you can also use a food processor or one of those wand things.
7. Return soup to the crock pot, add the sour cream and half and half (basically until it's as creamy as you like).
8. Pepper and Salt GENEROUSLY to taste.
9. Serve with cheddar cheese on top and oyster crackers on the side.

Note: This soup is much much better if you either 1. cook it longer or 2. wait a day to eat it. The second day is peak, taste-wise. Of course, it's tasty when you first make it, too, but don't you DARE throw away the leftovers. Also, in the future, I think I'll cook the onions down a bit first to release some sweetness.

ALSO, if you don't have a crock pot, you can do this on the stove as well. Just keep an eye on it, that the liquid doesn't all disappear and that it doesn't burn. Otherwise, everything's the same.

Fall Break

Yesterday, Dan and I and the Little Dog took our annual Fall trip out West to Northampton and environs. We were out for a little leaf-peeping, a little escapism, and a little taste of the Autumn That I'm Having a Hard Time Getting Used To (TM).
Fig. 1. Leaves were peeped. Though I didn't get any really spectacular photos of blazing trees or impressionistic hills, I think this fall is the most spectacular I've seen in a long time. I guess that's a good reason to be thankful for the cold snaps of the last couple weeks, yes? Fall always makes me all shades of nostalgic, and never more than when I'm taking the fall drive out to Northampton. There's this one rise in the road on the Pike near Brimfield that affords an amazing sloping view down into the valley as you come over the top of it. I know I don't live out there anymore and it's likely to be some time before I live out there again, but it always feels a little bit like coming home. There's simultaneously a drop in my stomach and a bubbly feeling of excitement that never fails to make me feel choked up. The same thing happens to me after turning onto 91 North, after passing the Holyoke Mall, when it starts to look more like Northampton. The view out across South Hadley just south of Mt. Tom is another spot, as is the first view of the Connecticut river, just before Exit 18. And the whole Pioneer Valley is speckled with spots that make me catch my breath and want to cry happily, and yet out of a sense of nostalgia for lost experiences and fading, but still warm memories.
Fig 2. Cider Donuts were consumed. These were still warm when I bought them. Still warm. It was the kind of day where there was a line waiting for the donuts to come out of the kitchen. Crispy on the outside, sugar and cinnamon crackling with each bite. Little puffs of cider-y steam. Divine. If anything tastes like fall, it's these donuts. We enjoyed them with a half gallon of cider that we drank from the jug. A perfect meal, all in all.
Fig. 3. Dan ate some donuts too.
Fig. 4. We drank delicious beers at the Northampton Brewery. I had an 8 ounce (very petite) Hoover's Porter, which was one of the finest beers that has ever passed my lips. Why, oh why don't they sell it in bottles?!Fig. 5. As we hit the road back home, we made a pitstop for a strawberry shake at the Whately Diner. This was another college haunt and definitely a place I wanted to share with Dan - he's also a big diner fan. The pink neon glow and the shiny metal of the diner's exterior is frozen in time, I think. It's fabulous, but still somehow unsettling. Dan said it seemed like an X-Files episode should have been happening around us. It's true. Places that stay static while the people who inhabit them (however temporarily) are uncanny. Places that change, although we expect them to stay the same, however, moreso.

More photos here.

Sisterly nuptials, Part the first.

When a friend gets married, it's one thing. The preparations are all very exciting and the wedding itself great fun. But when one's only sister gets married -- that's something else entirely.

And so it was with my dear sister last weekend. She married a lovely, lovely man and, even though I'm not the kind who "always wanted a brother" (I was fine with just one sister, thank you very much), I'm very happy he's joined our family.

As the only sister and only bridesmaid to this particular bride, it fell to me to plan a number of fun things. First (and foremost), I helped the Bride plan the wedding. Second, I planned the Bachelorette party. Third, I planned and hosted the Bridal Shower.
So, when it came time to plan these events, I went way overboard. (At this point, it's appropriate to thank my long-suffering husband, who put up with a LOT on the bachelorette/shower weekend.) For the bachelorette party, I cooked a big hangover-prevention dinner and made some nice cocktails before the girls headed out to Cuchi Cuchi for a night on the town. (If you find yourself in Cambridge, in need of a cocktail, go there.)First: the cocktails. We're still working on a kicky name that has something to do with my sister's name or interests, but for now it's called the Mango Sunset.
Ingredients:

• Mango Juice
• Grenadine (I used homemade - recipe below)
• Tequila

Mix the tequila and mango juice, then pour grenadine down the side of the glass so that it settles at the bottom and only slowly infiltrates the mango juice, hence the Sunset.

Homemade Grenadine is EASY to make and SO much better than the processed crap. Just make a simple syrup, but use pomegranate juice instead of water. Equal parts pom juice and sugar. Bring to a boil, boil until sugar completely dissolves and syrup forms, remove from heat. Done.

Then: The Pizzas.
Unfortunately I didn't photograph the best of all the pizzas - the one for which I'm generously going to give you the recipe (which by all rights I should keep SECRET). I made three pizzas - a veggie pizza with Turkey Bolognese, a Three-Cheese Pizza (with the same Bolognese), and a Potato Pizza recreated after Number 5 at Cambridge, 1.

Potato Pizza (Yes, it sounds strange, but it is the most delicious starchy thing in the world).

Ingredients

• 4 potatoes, peeled and washed; 2 sliced thin, 2 cubed
• Dollop Sour Cream
• 2 T butter
• Fontina cheese in small slices
• Part Skim Ricotta
• Garlic
• Big bunch fresh rosemary
• Olive Oil
• Pizza Dough (I bought some from Bertucci's, because I felt lazy)

1. Cover the 2 cubed potatoes with water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Generously salt water and cook until very soft.
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to about 400. Slice the remaining two potatoes very thinly
3. Drain water from cooked cubed potatoes and mash with rough-chopped rosemary, butter, and dollop of sour cream. Set aside.
4. Roughly flatten pizza dough on a well-oiled pan (or pizza stone, if you prefer). Brush top of dough with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle finely chopped garlic over dough.
5. Place potato slices on dough.
6. Randomly drop dollops of ricotta (goat cheese would also be DELICIOUS) onto the dough. Distribute fontina slices across dough.
7. Sprinkle more rosemary over the entire pizza.
8. Bake at 400 until dough is golden brown and the cheese has begun to bubble and brown. Be sure potato slices are cooked through.

Note: Do salt very generously. The pizza will be bland with all that starch without enough salt.

RIP Irving Penn

In my efforts to get back into photography, I've started paying more attention to photographers, both Art Photographers and Fashion Photographers, not that I think there should be such a divide. Isn't it just as big an accomplishment to artistically photograph products for consumption (in this case, clothing) as it is to artistically photograph, say, a leaf?

Anyway, we'll miss you, Mr. Penn.

Down for the count

I have a big, whomping, hardcore, two-part post about my sister's wedding and associated festivities in the pipelines, but I also have a big, burly, mean head cold that is making it very difficult to think or write clearly. So, the big, whomping wedding post will have to wait.

Yesterday I felt well enough by the evening to be hungry and had just enough energy to stand up and cook myself some dinner. I knew I wanted something hearty, packed with vitamins and good things, something spicy enough that I could taste it without it scalding my poor husband's undulled taste buds, something aromatic enough to clear my sinuses, but not so smelly that its scent would still be around when my cold has subsided. It was a curry kind of night.

I'm new to curry cooking. I try to be an adventurous cook, but I'm often cowed by overly complex recipes or ingredient lists containing more than ten items. When I received a copy of Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries (if you like curry and don't own this book, buy it immediately), I read it straight through. The first part has amazing instructions on how to think about the different spices called for in curry recipes, the differences between the regional cuisines of India and the many different kinds of curries encompassed in his tome. It's a brilliant, non-condescending, informative, gentle introduction to what always struck me as a complex and intimidating cuisine. I like this book a lot. (Disclaimer: I am not Indian, I have never been to India, and, as such, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of these recipes. I can, however vouch for their deliciousness.)

The one curry I've made repeatedly from this cookbook is called Moghalai-Style Chicken (with spinach, almonds, and raisins). I made it last year for our dating anniversary. It was perfect yesterday, because we received a whole mess of beautiful spinach in our Boston Organics box. Anyway, I'm losing my train of thought (I think the cold medicine is wearing off). With no further ado:
Moghalai-Style Chicken (Kishmish Waale Murgh)
(adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer)

• 1/4 c canola oil (I was out and substituted olive oil, which wasn't as bad as I feared)
• 1 large red onion, chopped (the more the better, in my opinion)
• 1/2 c golden raisins (I like their sweetness with the caramelized onions, so I use more than this)
• 1/2 c slivered almonds (They will burn. Be careful.)
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks - last night I sliced them, which actually made them soak up more of the flavor, I think.
• 1 T Punjabi garam masala (He gives us a recipe for this elsewhere in the book, but I haven't gotten my act together to buy the spices and make it. I used Whole Foods brand. It's fine.)
• 2 t coarse kosher or sea salt (I prefer the flavor of a really coarse sea salt - if using anything else, increase the salt to taste)
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t ground turmeric
• 8 oz fresh spinach leaves, washed and chopped (We topped out at 10 oz yesterday. It shrinks so much, it wasn't overwhelming. And it's healthy too!)

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. (Don't try this in a wok. It may become a crusty burned mess, if the pan doesn't have a nice, heavy bottom. Or maybe I'm just careless.)
2. Add onion, raisins and almonds. "Cook until the onion softens and then turns dark brown with deep purple hues and the raisins turn honey-brown and look succulent, 15 to 20 minutes." (This is the kind of helpful suggestion that makes the book so great. Also, SERIOUSLY don't try to up the heat. You will burn everything. Trust me.)
3. Stir in the chicken and cook it until it sears and turns light brown.
4. Stir in spices and salt. Cook for 20-30 seconds.
5. Stir in the spinach and 1/2 c water. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through.
6. I like to serve it with brown basmati rice. Very tasty.

**Note: I decided at some point to add a big spoonful of ginger paste to this recipe. Yesterday I added two. It adds a nice aroma, but doesn't overpower the other ingredients. Try it. Maybe you'll like it? Last night I also served it with a small glass of orange-flavored airborne. An inspired pairing, if I say so myself.

Also, a question: I have a gluten-free friend coming to stay and would like to bake her something tasty. Do you have a fail-safe, non-complicated, delicious gluten-free recipe? Also, do you have a good suggestion of a low-maintenance gluten-free flour? I dig all the mixing of various flours, but I just don't need to have all of them on hand. I'd like to keep it simple. Suggestions much appreciated.