"Streusel topping, streusel topping!" exclaimed Hungry Bear as I closed the oven door, "we forgot to add the streusel topping!" Well, considering I had specifically requested the topping for the blueberry muffins, it was a big omission on our part. Luckily we remembered in time or we'd still be kicking ourselves.

We recently bought four pounds of blueberries. Almost half of them went into a blueberry kuchen that Hungry Bear can't get enough of. I made the kuchen and we devoured it in two days. With the remaining berries, she made these amazing muffins with a streusel topping.

Last August, my parents came out to visit me in San Francisco. One of our excursions was to the Serramonte Farmer's Market, our favorite farmers' market for fresh fruit. My mom was very excited when she saw the fabulous blueberry vendor. She immediately bought a couple of quarts of blueberries and made three blueberry kuchens for us and friends.

The kuchen was simple to make and it was absolutely delicious. Hungry Bear got the recipe from my mom, but sadly, we didn't make a kuchen before blueberry season ended. We thought we'd have to wait until summer before finding high quality, reasonably priced blueberries again.

A few days ago, we were trying to survive the craziness at Costco and stumbled upon big packages of fresh blueberries. Hungry Bear declared that we should buy some blueberries and make a kuchen! It turns out the blueberries are from Chile and the growing season down south is November to March. So much for eating local, as the blueberries looked too good to turn down, and we needed a blueberry fix badly!

I present to you Hungry Bear's ginormous fruit salad. On Thanksgiving, we had the latest version of her giant fruit salad with cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, kiwis, persimmons and mandarin oranges. The fruit selection is usually seasonal, but we are fortunate to get good fruit year round in San Francisco.

Similar to Hungry Bear's Chinese sticky rice, the mega fruit salad is a featured item at our holiday feasts. You maybe asking, "Is it really that big?" Yes, the fruit salad is humongous. We actually weighed it this time and the fruit came in at 20 lbs! The bowl is 6.5 inches deep and has a diameter of 14 inches. That's a lot of fruit capacity... 3.1 gallons!

Why is there so much fruit salad? I often ask this question myself. It's not like she's feeding a football team. At most, there are 15 people at our largest gatherings, with plenty of other food and desserts. The reason why there is so much fruit starts with Hungry Bear's refusal to buy half a melon because it's not as fresh. She typically begins with a whole cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon and pineapple, which is a lot of fruit. Next, to balance the flavors (sweet versus tart) and colors, a lot of berries and tropical fruit are required, which yields a 20 lb fruit salad.

Hungry Bear's love for leftovers is the ultimate reason why all dishes are bear-sized, i.e. quadrupled. On Thanksgiving, the fruit salad was a huge hit as always. It was very refreshing after a heavy meal and a great interlude before the apple, pumpkin and pecan pies. We had a ton of leftover fruit and everyone was more than happy to take some home.

Now you have the story of Hungry Bear's ginormous fruit salad!