Reader Exchange

Get your sour oranges or be left with sour grapes

There's no doubt about it: Florida and citrus fruit are virtually synonymous during the winter. Already this season, appeals for calamondins and lemons have been made to this column by cooks eager to turn them into preserves. So, if those fruits are being boiled, sugared and "put up," can sour oranges be far behind?

Certainly not. Right on cue, Florence King of Gulfport announces the time is ripe for cooks interested in "wild" sour orange concoctions to rally round her tree; the fruit is ripe and bursting with the tartness perfect in marmalades and sour orange pie. Please call (727) 323-3246 to put the squeeze on Florence's crop.

Sharon Coe-Babbitt of Clearwater obviously enjoys baking, though whether her repertory includes sour orange pie we cannot say. She is hoping to find two Recipes That Got Away. You know, those recipes that zip into our lives from unexpected places, then inexplicably fade into the ether when we move or let somebody borrow our recipe file.

Sharon is eager to renew acquaintance with recipes she first saw during the '70s and '80s on Bisquick boxes. The first, Impossible Rum Pie, magically makes its own crust and includes among its ingredients a can of Borden's egg nog, rum extract or alcohol and, reasonably enough, Bisquick. The second recipe is for a coffee cake.

Sharon has checked with General Mills' e-mail, but the folks there were unable to locate these recipes. So it appears that her best hope now is to locate another reader who also cut them from the backs of the boxes. Please call (727) 538-4896 if you can help.

William Henderson of Tampa is looking for black hemp to finish a macrame project he's doing for a class he's taking at the University of South Florida. He has tried craft shops, but can't find hemp in black. If you know of a source to buy it or have some you don't need, please call William at (813) 932-3714.

The cooler weather seems to have stoked the zeal of knitters, and Debbie Costa of Brooksville joins the ranks of readers seeking yarn stashes. She needs yarn in all colors, which she turns into blankets for children in hospitals and elderly folks in nursing homes.

Knitting is only one of Debbie's accomplishments, apparently. She wants to start sewing quilts, also to be given away, and she is looking for a sewing machine its owner no longer needs to aid in this endeavor. Debbie may be reached by phoning (352) 797-9310 or e-mailing debils1963@aol.com.

Another reader, perhaps also inspired to be creative by the comfortable temperatures, wants to borrow the equipment -- cloth cutter, hook and frame -- to get started making hooked rugs. Please call (727) 785-2262 and leave a message.

We've had several requests for sheet music, the most recent from Molly Sanger, whose 15-year-old grandson plays the piano. He would love to have more sheet music, preferably classical. If you have some you are ready to part with, please call Molly at (727) 577-6563.

Harriet DeStefano, stumped by a fragment of verse circulating through her memory, turns to our readers with the hope that someone can supply the rest of the lines. "The clock of time is wound but once/Its hours . . ." and that's where Harriet's recall runs down. Her daughter tried unsuccessfully to track down the source, but Harriet is quite sure that somebody reading these words has her answer. If so, please call (727) 372-7982.

Charlotte French needs a manual for a 1992 Mitsubishi mini van. If you own one, she may have or copy, please call (727) 733-9124 or e-mail c-french1@juno.com.

And while we're doing an instruction alert for a car manual, let's include another. Mary Baker's "new" 1997 Toyota Avalon XL came to her without an owner's manual, an omission Mary hopes our readers will remedy. Please call her at (727) 733-0830.

Sandra Wolff's mother made about a dozen albums of picture postcards she collected in her travels around the United States and through Europe. Sandra wonders if a school, nursing home or other group might be able to use them. Sandra's number is (727) 785-0253.

Lucyann McDonald of Pinellas Park is gearing up for a USO show at her Moose Lodge on May 17, and she needs our help to get the show on the road. She is looking for a song titled Ten Cents a Dance. If you have the record, or can make her a copy, or know where a record may be obtained, please call Lucyann at (727) 547-2669.

A book could be written about all the uses for those plastic bags the newspaper arrives in. We ought to know: Enough people have written over the years to ask for them. So, you folks who save these bags but still never have enough, here's the deal. A reader has a bunch to unload. Want 'em? E-mail jellybean2338@microd.com.

Helen Frankfort of Largo has been unable to locate a top-of-the-stove potato baker. Please call (727) 538-1996 if you have one you don't use or know where she can find one.

Thank-you notes

"When you printed my request for a movie projector, I received so many calls from so many nice people, I was able to find a projector in no time," writes Ethel Woods of Dunedin, another reader convinced that the readers of this column can locate almost anything.

Ray Purcell of Port Richey "wishes to thank all the people who responded to my request for my need of a movie projector. I had dozens of calls from St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, New Port Richey, Hudson, Spring Hill and other areas. I chose the one closest to me."

- Send requests to Reader Exchange, Newsfeatures, the Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg 33731 or e-mail cole@sptimes.com . Requests will be accepted only by mail or e-mail; no phoned requests, please. This is an exchange column, so we will not run items that are for sale. Readers must agree to publication of phone numbers (please include the area code).

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