I felt like I just visited the Twilight Zone after reading (and viewing) your post! Very well done!! I guess I have not been to any fairs like that recently. The last one would have been the Texas state fair, and I haven't been to that since I was 16. The last festival that I went to was the Tofu Festival in Little Tokyo a couple of years ago - or maybe the African festival or Thai festival in Thai Town. I do enjoy street fairs here, however, but they do not qualify as festivals. I think the Tofu festival was the most similar to your strawberry festival, and I can understand why it was discontinued. There is only so much tofu you can eat in one afternoon. It would have been interesting to see some pictures of other attendees of the strawberry festival. For some reason, I am reminded of the Pogo episode in which Pogo goes incognito and says to Albert, "Hi! I is Strawberry Shortcut, the Baton Bombshell. Why don't you give up cigars?" Pogo was wearing a mop and a bucket on his head (as a wig and a hat), but Albert was still able to recognize him as Larceny Lil, wanted in 53 states for various crimes against nature. Have you been to Okefenokee? Lars

We begin our Friday night Racing (Sailboats) this Friday. I feed the 'crew' afterwards on the boat; I refuse to cook or even reheat, so all the food has to keep for a few hours, served in unbreakables, few utensils, and be easily covered & stowed should the weather not cooperate. I like to bring fruit, and I recall this dip was a winner. Another guy is a great cook, and he usually contributes tremendously, but I try to be prepared to feed 6 a casual dinner of finger foods, etc. Sailors are pretty relaxed people :) and our boat is the Gourmet food boat - no bags of just potato chips! Since DH's heart surgery last fall, this year will be more challenging ~ why I am going to try the Greek yogurt. I still try to make an interesting presentation, because that's just me. Piping the mixture like ruthanna described is very interesting. Thank You!

Mother was a great cook. Just plain stuff. But she did the cooking and we did the cleanup. That woman could dirty every dish in the house twice before the meal was on the table! Her pie crust was absolutely so flaky it melted in your mouth and her fried chicken would probably beat out anyone's. And the chicken gravy would have lots of little crispy bits in it. Yum! BUT she used lard for both. Needless to say, I don't cook exactly like my mom these days. She canned all our vegetables and some fruits so, of course, I don't equal in that department, either. But I can do a pretty good job making her Swiss steak, fried chicken and potato salad. I can make her sticky buns and noodles, too. Sure wish lard wasn't a no-no!

Ci-lantro, that was my favorite cake for many, many years. I used to teach 1st grade and the kids ate lunch in the classroom with me until recess time. One day the sweetest little girl gave me a piece of cake that her mother baked. I thanked her and took one bite. Then I yelled out that it was the best cake I had ever tasted. I must have been really loud and forceful, because she froze with a worried look on her face. When I finally came to my senses, I assured her that I was just so happy eating that delicious piece of cake. I begged her to ask her mother for the recipe. The next day, she came with another piece of cake for my lunch and a beautifully hand written recipe card. I always referred to the cake as "Kimberly Dickey's Chocolate Cake."