The other day, while waiting for my wife and my daughter on a shopping spree at a large mall ( I get malled there!) I considered purchasing a pretzel from one of those island booths in the center aisle of the mall. I chose the cinnamon one of the soft type good sized pretzel. I've always wondered about pretzels, so that same week The Herald had an artical about Prezels, and the fact that it not an ordinary snack; i.e. there is a Story behind these critters, just as there is with Lefse among the Scandinavian types. The artical was so highly illustratedwith graphics and digital technology that I read with relish about Pretzels: History, Traditions, Pretzels Come to America, Kinds, Storage, and Did You Know?, including an illustration of the Pretzel Belt in the U. S. of A. including the "Pretzel Capital of the World" Reading, PA, with Chicago and New York as runners up. According to this artical Pretzels are 2nd only to Potato Chips, but precedes Popcorn among the "salties" which is hard to believe. The article illustrates how to form the Pretzels and has recipes for "kicking up" food presentations. You'd guess that the Pretzel originated among the German bakers of old but this artical points out that about 610 A.D.or about 1400 yrs ago a baker in Southern France, or Northern Italy used some excess pieces of bread dough to try a new shape to his product. You will have to read to find out what inspired him to do so, and why he did so. It became a religious symbol. At first these twists of bread dough were referred to a pretiolas, which is a Latin word for "little rewards". Read how this new twist in the shape of a baker's imagination and creativeness crossed the Alps into what we now call Austria and Germany. Little do would we know about the approximate derivation of the Pretzel, but this artical can open our eyes to what our ancestors experienced, and we, now, take for granted unknowingly: Ref. The HERALD, Everett, WA. Date: Wed. Oct 22, 2003 Section: Food page Title: The Pretzel Knot just any ordinary snack Site: http://www.heraldnet.com/about Article: Highly informative, excellently illustrated, and interestingly presented knowledge of this food item we tend to take for granted w/o really giving it a second thought while savoring its experience gastrnomically. COMMENT: The hard pretzels are great with all those salt crystals, but those larger soft pretzels with various flavors are really hard to beat, especially in a mall (while getting malled) and waiting for those who loved ones to show up with all their sacks of "findings" as the result of "Sales" ! Carroll in Snohomish whose Palatine ancestors, the Michaels (Michels, Mikels, etc.) came to America in the 1700s probably from the Pfalz region of what is now called Germany and may have had a taste for Pretzels among he various other goodies they managed to transport among their taste buds of olde. * * * 30 * * * Ham radio operators work hard to maintain disaster communications - like the f l o o d s our part of the world are experiencing these days and nights. All done by volunteer hams who by law (FCC regs.)cannot accept any form of pay for their service. They enjoy being able to give back to the communities. * * * 30 * * *