thanks for the suggestions guys :-) 'trader joes' sounds familiar so i'll keep an eye out for it. i'll look for sourdough, too...

good to know i don't need to worry too much about the eggs. methinks my friend was paranoid (he won't eat beef in the US 'cause he is concerned about mad cow). and he wanted to do something funny with the egg yolks we were using in australia to make a sauce (which involved heating them to a certain temperature). i phoned my biology friend and she said she hadn't heard that was an issue in australia... paranoia, i guess... good to know at any rate. i'd rather poach 'em than fry 'em...

some of the warnings scare the hell out of me because i'm not used to them. sure i'll get used to it soon enough.

:-)