The story week before last about a homesick Las Vegan 'ono for Zippy's chili brought response. Several readers wrote to say you can get Zippy's in Las Vegas — in the coffee shop at the California Hotel, naturally.

An e-mailer named David said Walgreens in Henderson, Nev., has frozen Zippy's chili and Portuguese bean soup. "They also brought in a lot of Hawaiian products — won ton chips from Hilo, Enjoy snacks, saimin, fishcake, Hawaiian Sun juice, etc."

Michael and Paige Schultz e-mailed to say they use a service called Hawaiian Food Online, which sells Zippy's chili and other Island foodstuffs and ships them throughout the Mainland: http://shop.hawaiianfoodonline.com/main.sc.

Reader Patsy Murakami reminded me that I had written about bamboo rice three years ago, but never followed up. It wasn't readily available here, though I'd encountered it through a local chef. Bamboo rice is marketed here by Golden Basin International as Green Rice and it's a short-grain rice infused with bamboo leaf extract, which is widely believed to have positive health effects. It's a lovely celadon shade and has a subtly sweet vegetal flavor. Find out more at www.goldenbasin.com; e-mail info@goldenbasin.com or call 226-2258.

Got an e-mail the other day from a former Islander who misses sour lemons and lemon peel. You don't see those gallon jars of lemons and limes on the roofs of people's carports as often as you used to — another sign of Island traditions being lost. But if you happen to have a lime tree in your life, try this recipe when the hot weather returns.

It was sent to me by Niki Miller, a friend of the late Ah Quon McElrath. Miller thought it might be interesting for people to note that, in addition to her political and social activism, McElrath, who died in December and whose life was celebrated in a memorial service last week, did get busy in the kitchen. This is her recipe for "Limes a la Chinois," Chinese preserved limes.

I'm passing it along just as it was written — no capitals, little punctuation, deliberate misspellings.

LIMES A LA CHINOIS

"scrub limes with a vegetable brush then use rock salt and scrub off the rest of the crud, such as aphids, white blemishes, etc. if this is done carefully, it will prevent mildewing.

"then wash everything off thoroughly; dry with a towel and sprinkle with more salt — amount depends on how salty you want the finished product.

"dry in sun for two days, meanwhile, shaking the limes from time to time to shake off excess salt. best done in a sieve-like contraption (. . . a tray with chicken wire on bottom). cover the limes with cheesecloth (between shaking).

"after two days, put in quart jars (or smaller ones, if you're thinking of giving them away for xmas presents); leave in sun in the morning and take in at p.m. don't leave jars out when it's raining."

McElrath doesn't specify how long to age the limes but my informants suggest 4 to 6 months. Also, they suggest adding more salt in layers between the limes.

When the juices released by the limes fill the jar about one-third or one-half full, the limes are done.

Send recipes and queries to Wanda A. Adams, Food Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.

For more information about our 150th anniversary cookbook, call 535-8189 (message phone; your call will be returned). You can order the cookbook online.