Giusi wrote:

> While I thought of makng various immigrant foods for each course and saying
> "That's really American," I decided not to. I always think of pilaf as sort
> of middle-eastern, am I wrong?
>
> I, unfortunately, do not have enough pie pans for 20 people, and of course
> that is THE iconic American dessert. They don't sell our kind of pie pans
> here and I made the mistake of using a tart pan once. You can still smell
> burnt sugar sometimes.
>
> They will get one shooter each, since Italians rarely drink cocktails
> anyway--- it was just the most American drink I could think of and someone
> sent me Jello!
>
> Thanks for the input.
>
Rice is a strong American grown crop, grown in the south. I don't think
of pilaf as middle eastern when it just includes some celery, onions,
chicken stock and perhaps mixed with the peas and sauteed mushrooms. The
wild rice is an even older American grain than the white, I'm sure? I
like them mixed together.
Instead of apple pies, what about baked apples?
I'm sure there are better "American" cocktails out there. Jello shots
aren't even a very classic cocktail are they? I only know them as
something college age kids toss back for fun. Something like a mint
julep would be more so since it uses KY bourbon. And it is more grown up
tasting