__debbie Russell Food

__ELLEN BURR

Steps:

• So much of American cooking has international roots, but a sense of what the cooking of indigenous Americans was like can be gleaned from Cape Cod resident Ellen Burr's harvest. "I love to gather wild edibles: bolete mushrooms, dandelion greens, sassafras leaves (to dry for file powder for gumbo). I pick lots of berries--blueberries, strawberries, shad berries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, cranberries, elderberries, rosehips, rum cherries, and English blueberries--for desserts, for freezing, for preserves, and for jellies. I also dig clams, gather oysters and mussels, go crabbing and fish for trout and perch." Although Ellen has devoted so much of her keen attention to native foods, she also turns to foods with an international heritage for inspiration, and comes up with hits like her Dotted Swiss and Spinach Quiche.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

__DEBBIE RUSSELL

Steps:

• Setting out after new recipes takes a certain amount of bravery and self-confidence--the confidence that your ideas are good ones, and the bravery to accept failures without too much embarrassment. Both Bake-Off® finalist Debbie Russell and her husband certainly don't lack bravery. "I met him in a canoe, we became engaged in a hot air balloon and we spent our honeymoon sailing and scuba diving," Debbie recalls. "My husband and I are both adventurous, daring and eat anything. I enjoy experimenting with foods on him." When these experiments result in Almond Mocha Cake, it's a good guess that Debbie's husband enjoys her experiments.From "Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off® Cookbook." Copyright 2004 General Mills. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.