Q: this is a dumb question but I have to ask. I saw your column in the Elyria Chronicle (Ohio) for the first time and see you answer questions about food all over the States and the world.

I graduated from Sandusky High School (Ohio) in the late ’70s and they had the most delicious pizza burgers on earth. we could even buy them at a discount if the cooks had burned them. they were awesome! I can never find the recipe. any chance you can help?

Thanks, Bill

A: first, there is no such thing as a dumb question! you are not alone in having great taste memories of school cafeteria food. I have tried in vain to have a burger taste as good as the ones at my school in Southern New Jersey in the 1960s, and the hoagies on fresh Italian buns were better than anything Subway ever imagined!

so, we’re hoping there is a kindly cafeteria lady from Sandusky who can clue us in on the secret to the pizza burgers. in the meantime, I combed through a lot of recipes looking for what would make a good imitation. the famed M Street Bar & Grill in Washington, D.C., for example, features the Barack Obama Pizza Burger — made with homemade roasted garlic butter on the ciabatta bun, champagne vinegar, Angus beef, mozzarella, marinara sauce and chopped fresh basil. my guess is that the high school ingredients were a lot more mundane. try these!

Q: I look forward to reading your column, to see what recipes sound so good I have to try them. I have a request and I hope that you can fill it. while I lived in Brooklyn I would take my family to a Chinese restaurant called Richard Yees on Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay. they made the most delicious appetizers. one was Crabmeat Balls and the other was Shrimp Patties. I have looked in every recipe book I could get my hands on but am unable to find these recipes. These are the signature dishes that his father Joe Yees put out more that 50 years ago. I believe he had them printed in one of the magazines, Women’s Day or Family Circle. If any of your readers has come across these recipes I would appreciate a copy.

Sandy Thomson, Byron, Ga.

A: Alas, there no longer is a telephone listing for Richard Yee’s, and I was unable to find any published recipes in various databases I checked. perhaps a reader will be able to help. Shrimp toasts and crab balls are from an era when Chinese restaurants were less common, and often served dishes designed for less sophisticated palates. I did find a recipe for shrimp toasts in the classic 1972 The Chinese Cookbook by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee (Random House); as just an example of how far we’ve come, cilantro is listed as an exotic ingredient available only in Chinese markets or by mail order. the book should be in your public library. this recipe for crab balls is better than any I’ve ever tasted in a restaurant, and is from a friend who learned to make them while stationed in the Navy in Thailand.

Q: I’ve lost the recipe for a small lemon cake you baked in a loaf pan. this was just the right size for seniors and singles. I thought I was done with baking and gave everything away when I moved from my home in Miami to senior housing, but now I realize that was a mistake and I’m starting over again. Will you help?

Judy C. Powell

A: I don’t know what I’d do without this simple recipe, which I make often. so I’m glad to share. Sometimes I make an orange rather than lemon cake — just swap the juice measurements, but increase the grated rind to 1 tablespoon since orange juice doesn’t have the punch of lemon.