<< so there I was, cautiously peeling away shreds of lovely beef from a 3-lb mountain.>> Place frozen meat in a sink of cold water, the way restaurants do as required by FDA and it thaws so quickly and is workable, and it doesn't change the color or texture as can happen in a microwave. Mary-Anne "It is never too late to be what you might have been" - George Eliot (1819 -1880)