The May/June issue of Cook's Illustrated has a set of very tasty Thai-style vegetable stir-fries. Sure, they aren't the Colonel's recipes, but I can find all the ingredients here in ethnically-challenged Vermont. And they are awfully good. They all start with the same base for the sauce: 3 T fish sauce 1 T lime juice plus 1 t grated lime zest 1 T light brown sugar 1/8 t red pepper flakes (yeah, right: substitute a minced Thai chiles to your taste) The variation we tried was a peanut sauce with broccoli and red pepper: Add to the base: 3/4 C coconut milk 1/4 C water (I forgot this one time, didn't really matter) 3 T smooth peanut butter This gets poured on the sauted vegetables, which have been done with some garlic and ginger (maybe more chiles here, too), in the pan and heated through. Serve with rice. This was an excellent side to grilled skirt steak. It was less successful with scallops added--little bay scallops got lost, larger ones might have worked better. We're going to try the red curry variation next (Add to base: 1 C coconut milk, 2 t red curry paste--probably more). This goes with cauliflower and snow peas, sauted with garlic and ginger, garnished with minced basil. I think shrimp would be a good addition, we'll see! -- Margo Thompson Asst. Professor, Art History Art Department Williams Hall University of Vermont 72 University Place Burlington, VT 05405-0168 (802) 656-0667