You know, I think our traditional Thanksgiving meal is about as close as we get to indigenous food, right? The wild turkeys were here when the first Puritans arrived. The native Americans were raising corn and squash and beans, I think, and sunflowers as well, which was a major vegetable protein source for them via the seeds which are easy to preserve. Cranberries are native in some parts of the country, and so is wild rice. So, all those ingredients are more or less indigenous American foods. Maybe one problem is that our nation is so large geographicaly, so we do have more regionalized "America food" depending on what foods are readily available in each region instead of a well-known "American" cuisine. For example, if you grew up in Boston, you might argue that lobster and Boston baked beans are true American cuisine, but if you grew up in Georgia or South Carolina, maybe you'd insist it was barbeque, baked beans, cornbread and grits. I was thinking about what kind of native food a forager would find growing naturally here in Oklahoma....there's wild game, of course, and wild blackberries and wild grapes here in southern OK, and some of you probably have wild huckleberries or currants in some eastern parts of the state that we don't have here. Here in southern OK, we have the wild prickley pears (you can make jelly from them) and native pecans and walnuts, and persimmons. There's also several kinds of wild plums, and you can fish in the Red River for catfish. Dorothy, I think I am going to grow peanuts next year so we can make our own peanut butter without all the additives. I remember having a Mr. Peanut machine when I was a little kid....you put the peanuts in his hat and turned the handle and got peanut butter (a peanut paste probably would be a better description). It was simple, so it seems like it'd be simple to make homemade peanut butter in the food processor or blender. Carol, I love all those old Southern Living recipe books...they are my kind of cooking! Another great cookbook full of old-style southern cooking is Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook, which came out at about the same time that her book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, was made into the movie of the same name. If my grandmother and southern aunts had written a cookbook of the foods they prepared their entire lives, it would have been very, very similar to Fannie Flagg's cookbook. Dawn

Apfelstrudel is a bit of work to make, and it is somewhat difficult to roll up, if you are making it for the first time. I buy mine at an Austrian strudel house in Culver City, but I've also made it. My German grandmother made German Chocolate Cake, which was a chocolate layer cake with a sort of caramel like icing and filling with pecans and coconut. I linked to a recipe below that looks similar to what she made. This cake travels well, and she frequently brought it to family gatherings in the park. It's good for a picnic. The only salad of hers I remember was potato salad, and I don't have her recipe for that either :(, but I'm sure you can find one, if that is what you want to take. We were never that big on cabbage, except for sauerkraut. Lars Here is a link that might be useful: German chocolate cake recipe.

Hmmmmm - that seems like alot of sugar to me. Here's my recipe: German Potato Salad 12 slices bacon 1/2 cup chopped onion 2 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon celery seed 1/2 cup vinegar dash of pepper 6 cups sliced cooked potatoes 4 hard cooked eggs, sliced Cook bacon till crisp; drain and crumble, reserving 1/4 cup fat. Cook onion in fat till tender. Blend in flour, sugar, salt, celery seed, and dash pepper; add vinegar and 1 cup water; cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Add bacon, potatoes and eggs; heat thoroughly, tossing occasionally. I've made this recipe for years.....its really tasty. Barb

Or just leave them in their foil until they turn the color of my toe and throw them out. :) The toe is healing nicely, thank-you, and car #1 has finally gone to the dealership. Car #2 is still being fixed. I did get to do a couple of errands after the tow, and now my other ankle is complaining about taking up the balance duties of the opposite pinky. I should cook, but I think I'm playing hooky tomorrow. ;) I was out eating a romaine-free salad tonight, but did filch some fries from my companion, who never finishes them anyway. They were way too salty, but really good. Better than usual. The too salty was probably the improvement. ;) 2Many, no apologies! That's hysterical. Well the potatoe is hysterical. The quip is smile-worthy. All good. I've often seen a hand of ginger, but that's the first foot of potato I've seen! Sherry, that rock sounds as immovable as the bathtub! "Restaurant size" potatoes is what they're called. though, as you say, many restaurants serve larger ones. Two pounds though? Wow. I can't imagine wanting to bring home an uneaten half of a potato the way I would half a chicken serving or half a sandwich. And here I thought one pound potatoes were huge!