Golden Valley native Cindy Pawlcyn, who's founded several California restaurants to great acclaim, reminisced about her mother's bread stuffing recipe in her latest newsletter, www.cindypawlcyn.com/cindyskitchen/index.html. The recipe is there in its entirety, and it sounds luscious, but gird yourself: The proportions call for two loaves of white bread and chopped vegetables combined with, gulp, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of butter. "It's a lot, but that is how she did it!" Pawlcyn wrote. "While writing up the recipe, I got homesick for the old house I grew up in and making it side-by-side with her. I haven't made it in years, but the recipe just flowed as though I'd made it yesterday." We sense a revived tradition.

Here's a reason to give thanks. At least two neighborhood farmers markets are reopening for special pre-Thanksgiving shopping. The Kingfield Farmers Market Holiday Market will be in business from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Vendors will be indoors at Rau + Barber, 4244 Nicollet Av. S. in Minneapolis (half a block north of the regular season market). Many of the regular vendors will be there offering local produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, jams, jellies, chocolate, cheese, and crafts.

The Midtown Thanksgiving Market will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. next Wednesday at its usual site at Lake St. and 22nd Av. S. in Minneapolis. Many of the regular vendors will be there, offering produce such as apples, squash and root vegetables, etc., bread, meat and preserved fruits, vegetables and pickles.
Feast for all

Fare for All, a cooperative food purchasing program and part of the Emergency Foodshelf Network, is offering $25 holiday packs through November. Packs include a 10- to 12-pound turkey, a pie, a loaf of bread, a couple of other frozen meat items and frozen vegetables. A December pack switches out the turkey for a family-size ham. For more information, call 763-450-3880 or 1-800-582-4291, or visit www.fareforall.org.

With Thanksgiving's countdown starting now, here's who has the answers to your questions:

For the feast in general, Cooking.com has a cornucopia of recipes; anyone for pear, prosciutto and hazelnut stuffing? Visit www.cooking.com/Recipes-and-More.

For pies: Crisco Pie Central at www.Crisco.com has troubleshooting tips and step-by-step visual instructions for making pie crusts, as well as lots of recipes. The hot line number is 1-877-367-7438.

For turkeys: The Food Network website, www.FoodNetwork.com, is chock-full of tips for all parts of the feast, from appetizers to desserts. Featured is the "World's Easiest Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe," as well as a buying guide and tips.

And then there's always the traditional hot line from the folks at Butterball; call 1-800-288-8372.

KIM ODE