In October 1999, PCOM merged with the Yazoo Cotton Oil Mill and the new entity, the Plains Yazoo Cotton Oil Mill (PYCO), markets about one-third of the cotton oil produced in the United States.21 The Plains Cooperative Mill in Lubbock is the world's largest cottonseed oil mill, receiving about 1, 200 tons of seed per day from the region's gins, and churning out the makings for peanut butter, soap, and throw pillows.

NPR: Texas Cotton: 'Farmer Profits at Every Step'

You experiment with cooking braised short-ribs and bicker about throw pillows, just the way you always imagined you would one day.

NEWYORKER: Semi-Charmed Life

With some guests gathered on throw pillows around a low table, and others on bar stools at the kitchen counter, we talked of food and travel, photography and arranged marriages (a few glasses of wine among strangers often leads conversations in unexpected directions).

BBC: Would you eat in a stranger's home?