I send my husband to work every day with a lunch in a small cooler with blue ice packs and he often brings home leftovers, still nicely chilled...and here in the CA central valley, where Summer temps often get into the triple digits his cooler is in his hot car for at least a solid 8 hours. If your ice does melt, don't forget that just about every convenience store, grocery store or liquor store on your route sells bagged ice. I love cold grilled chicken for picnics. I always try to think of things that will suit any special dietary needs when I'm attending a party, and most people can eat grilled chicken whereas many try to avoid fried. (Not that I don't LOVE fried, myself! :D ) Something that is almost always lacking at pot-luck type affairs is vegetables. For a veggie fiend like me, this is a problem. Generally, somebody or other brings a green salad and sometimes someone brings a veggie & dip tray, but often these can be insipid stuff. I love to bring a grilled vegetable medley, which is quite tasty served cold, drizzled with a bit of olive oil & sprinkled with a bit of Parmesan and fresh herbs. Lightly poached (just enough to take the raw off without losing the crunch) broccoli & cauliflower are very nice in a slightly sweet vinaigrette with a few toasted and crushed nuts. Here are a couple of my recipes for salads that go over well at potlucks and are fine either cold or room temp: Asian Noodle Salad Dressing: 1/2 c soy sauce 1/2 c sesame oil (Asian brand, not Indian...it should be dark in color and smell strongly of sesame) 1/4 c balsamic vinegar 1/4 c sugar salt to taste 1 T Asian chili sauce or red pepper oil One bunch green onions-finely sliced...should be 6-8 onions) 4 T cilantro, chopped. One pkg fresh Chinese egg noodles (about 14 oz) You can use a variety of vegetables, meats, or seafood in this salad. I adore it with grilled vegetables like eggplant, asparagus, peppers & yellow squash, but blanched vegetables work very well too, like julienne carrots, bean sprouts, snow peas (slivered), cabbage and broccoli. I like to toss in some raw slices of mushroom, radish & cherry tomatoes. It's a great salad for using up leftover meats, or I like to quickly poach a couple handfuls of shrimp. Really, you can just have fun. Anyway, in the morning, you cook the noodles, toss them in half the dressing and put them in the fridge. Then, just before dinner, you toss in all your vegetables & meats, and then add the rest of the dressing to taste. Generally, I've put so much stuff in the salad that I just use it all. Serve it cold or room temp, and it should serve 4 as a main dish or 6 as a side. Mixed Grain Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash A mixture of grainstry to use at least 3 kinds, of different colors. I use varying combinations of basmati rice, long grain brown rice*, barley, bulgar (tabuleh), quinoa, wild rice, millet, and sometimes, to lighten the texture, I add couscous. Onions, celery, carrots-chopped Green peas (frozen are fineif you have fresh, blanch them first) Roasted butternut squash cubes** Cranberry vinaigrette*** Chopped parsley & green onions Chopped, toasted nuts (I like pecans or hazelnuts) Cook grain selections separately, according to directions, but remember that they will absorb dressing and soften, so a bit al dente is better than over cooked. Saute onions, celery, carrots until tender, but not too soft. Toss with grains, parsley, green onions and vinaigrette. Gently fold butternut squash cubes in. *Short grain rices are too sticky for this dish, in my opinion. **Roasted butternut squash. Peel squash. Cut into ½ inch cubes. toss in olive oil and roast in the oven, checking frequently until just cooked, but not mushy. If it doesnt brown at all, pass under a broiler after cooking just to brown the edges a bit. ***Cranberry vinaigrette. Make a basic vinaigrette with olive oil, red wine or champagne vinegar, garlic & onion powders, salt & pepper. Put the vinaigrette in a blender with about 3/4 Tablespoon dried cranberries per cup vinaigrette, and puree until smooth. Then, add about a quarter cup of dried cranberries for every cup vinaigrette, and pulse blender until cranberries are chopped, but not pureed. Let vinaigrette sit over night. Before tossing the grain salad in the dressing, taste the vinaigrette for sweetness and add a bit of sugar if need be. It shouldnt be too tart or too sweet. Sprinkle the toasted chopped nuts on top and garnish with sprigs of parsley, green onion tassels or carrot curls and a few whole dried cranberries.

Hi there, from a fellow Minnesotan! I like the idea of three bean salad, and you could easily put that together in a hotel room and the day before! How about picking up a cold shrimp cocktail from the supermarket deli? Or a pound cake and some strawberries for dessert? Here ae a couple more ideas to add to your list of considerations: White Corn Salad 2c frozen shoepeg white corn 3/4c chopped roma tomato 1/2 c chopped cucumber 2T chopped green bell pepper 3T white wine vinegar 1-1/2 tsp olive oil 1 tsp Dijon mustard tsp salt 1/8 tsp ground black pepper 1 clove garlic, minced Combine vegetables in bowl, toss. Combine remaining ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. Pour over corn mixture and toss well. Serves 4 From Cooking Light magazine, date unknown Make the orzo for this one before leaving home and just kkep it chilled in a zip lock bag. Greek Orzo Salad 1c uncooked orzo 2c chopped cucumber 1\-1/2c cherry tomatoes, quartered 1c feta cheese,crumbled 1/2c chopped onion 1/2c chopped fresh parsley 1/2c chopped black olives 2tsp salt 1/4tsp pepper Dressing: 1/3c extra virgin olive oil 1/3c lemon juice 1tsp minced garlic ½ tsp salt 1/4tsp pepper Cook orzo, cool, place in bowl with prepared vegetables. Toss with dressing and chill If you can keep the fruit cold, you could make this in your hotel room, too. Super easy! Sunny Fruit Fiesta 1 cantaloupe, halved and seeded ½ honeydew, seeded 1/4c sugar 1/4c fresh lime juice 2T fresh lemon juice 1T orange-flavored liqueur (optional) 1-1/2 tsp grated lime zest 1c fresh sliced strawberries 1c black or red seedless grapes Using a melon ballr scoop cantaloupe and honeydew into balls, set aside. or just cut fruit into bite size chunks In large glass or ceramic bowl, combine sugar, lime juice, lemon juice liqueur and lime zest. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Add fruit and toss gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour to blend flavors, stirring once or twice. Spoon the fruit mixture into serving bowls or hollowed out melon halves, dividing evenly. Serves 6. **For a tropical version, substitute kiwi slices, papaya or pineapple chunks, or mango cubes. Add a little grated fresh ginger, and maybe a dash of coconut extract. Linda

marys1000 - thanks for the reply even if you can't answer my specific question. I guess we all have the same problem with bones etc. due to the disappearance of small pork butcher/smokehouses. Seems that a "butcher" mostly doesn't exist anymore. Also, as you say, butchering has mostly moved from supermarkets to industry centers. I'm in Connecticut, but I know more about northern New Jersey where they long ago created local ordinances requiring stainless steel walls, ceilings, and specific floors for small local meat processors and smokehouses. These were probably good ideas, but also somewhat aimed at eliminating smoke houses. That's when my pork butcher had to shut down. I'm surprised and disappointed though, that you're in the midwest and the heart of hog country (isn't it?) and even there, you don't have a pork butcher. For soup I've gone to smoked pork hocks, which oddly, are still in local supermarkets. Don't you have these? In Radburn, New Jersey there is still one great place, the Swiss Pork Store, which still has a smokehouse license and still makes everything: hams, bacon, hot dogs, German sausage types, the works. They have fabulous smoked pork butts, big ones. Only problem is, I'm no longer close enough to go very often - used to go every Saturday. Another problem is that you don't see any younger people behind the counter, so who knows about their future. I agree about standard brands sausages.

I agree, Louise, I want beef rare. Really rare. gyr, you won't get any flack here either. I often pour a can of Coke or Dr. Pepper over a ham, and then glaze it during the last hour, some of my family likes the really sweet and crunchy outside edges. meyati, I also don't feel that good beef needs any "help", other than salt and pepper. My own ham was nice and moist, with a crunchy outside layer of brown sugar and mustard. I like pineapple but The Princess does not, so I didn't use that. We are having a LOT of leftovers, including some in today's bean soup. dcarch, I'm not a huge fan of ham either, it's definitely something I can take or leave, but the family loves the stuff. My ham wasn't cheaper, though. I bought a whole hog locally for $1.29 a pound, and that included packaging. Since packaging is usually about 50 cents a pound, that made my pig 79 cents a pound, based on hanging weight. However, anything I wanted smoked was an additional 99 cents a pound, so ham costs me nearly $1 a pound more than fresh pork does. Same with bacon. Annie