"What's your favorite potato salad?"

— The goddess

DEAR FOOD GODDESS: E-mail the Food Goddess Related: • More on food and drink • Restaurant reviews and search More Food Goddess columns Here are readers' favorite potato salad recipes  Chicken salad, fruit salad recipes from Rich's  Here's how to tell when blue-veined cheeses go bad  Everyone has opinion on potato salad  Pavlova a wonderful light dessert for warm weather  Here are readers' favorite potato salad recipes  Chicken salad, fruit salad recipes from Rich's  Here's how to tell when blue-veined cheeses go bad  Everyone has opinion on potato salad  Pavlova a wonderful light dessert for warm weather

As far as the goddess is concerned, once Memorial Day hits, it's picnic season. And when it comes to portable food, there's nothing that says summer like potato salad. The goddess got a tickle reading a recent discussion on the Feeding Frenzy blog part of EveningEdge.com, a new dinner planning Web site from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

It was obvious from that discussion that when it comes to potato salad, everyone has their favorite way of preparing it. Comments ran from when to peel (before or after cooking, or not at all) to which type of potato to employ (baby red, the classic russet or the newly in vogue fingerlings) and of course, what else to include in it. The goddess never realized there were so many strong opinions on how to put a personal touch on the dish. Here are what some of the contributors had to say. (Readers choose the names they use when posting on the blog.)

"Becky" writes: "I use red potatoes, peel before cooking. As my mother did, I kinda mash them (sorta like a lumpy mash potato). Has to be Blue Plate mayo for me, though. Depends on where I'm taking this dish as to any spices that are added to it. I also serve it at room temp. Yummy!"

"Lovelyliz" has a different favorite. She says: "I love German potato salad served warm or even room temperature. You don't have to worry about mayo spoiling in the heat. Unfortunately, in my picnic circle of friends and family, no one else shares my passion. Unless I want to eat it for days, I have to stick with the traditional mayo-based potato salad with egg."

"Fredia" picks her ingredients with authority: "Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise, celery, onions, bell pepper and boiled egg chopped finely. Sweet relish, salt pepper to taste. Sometimes I add spicy brown mustard. If you don't have Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise, don't waste your time. Just make mashed potatoes!"

What is your favorite way to make this classic summer side dish? Write in and let the goddess know. Make sure to include your full name and town so we can print your comments.

Recipe swap

The goddess received two interesting related requests. One, from Annette Furse of Tucker, is for a green kiwi cake batter with a cream cheese frosting. The other, from Shirley Magee of Riverdale, is for a cake with a green filling originally from a "Cooking School" cookbook.

Stephanie Babbitt of Atlanta is looking for a dish her great-grandmother used to prepare during the Depression that she called "bullet." It featured ground meat, fruit preserves or apples, flour, molasses, an egg, some spices and basically whatever tidbits of leftovers were around that needed using up. Do any readers who were "war-era babies" know of this type of recipe?