When a message begins "I am hoping for a miracle," I know what to expect: a request for a recipe from a restaurant long gone. But this is the season of miracles, so I close every year with a list of these long-shot requests, and sometimes we get lucky.

If you have any of these recipes, please get in touch. Contact information is at the end. Anyone who can come up with a recipe gets a cookbook.

Our hope springs eternal.

» Lena Conrad was the last person to send me a hoping-for-a-miracle note. She yearns for the light and fluffy shrimp tempura sold at Hamada Okazuya in Waipahu. "About 20 years ago my husband and I stood in line every day at 5 a.m. just to get a piece. My husband would place his order, then I would do mine, just so the people behind me wouldn’t give us the evil eye for buying up the shrimp tempura." Every day? That must have been some shrimp.

» Reeni Ho wants to make the curry stew served at Kanda Lunch Wagon at Kewalo Basin in the 1980s. She’s tried many times to duplicate the formula, but, "I am sad; every time I try to make it and wait for my husband to take that first bite of stew … and every time he says, ‘It’s OK but not like that lunch wagon!’"

» Dwain Uyeda seeks the recipe for the Portuguese sausage manapua from Carol’s Bake Shop’s in Moiliili. "I used to buy them by the dozen in plastic bags and would freeze them and take them to family in Las Vegas."

» Flamingo Restaurant on Kapiolani Boulevard served a dish called Short Ribs in Spanish Sauce. "Bobbie" has been searching for the recipe for years.

» Cindy Comilla misses the butter rolls sold at the Fort Shafter Coffee Shop at King Street and Gulick Avenue.

» The old Fishmonger’s Restaurant at Ala Moana Center served a Chinese black bean sauce that could be ordered with various dishes. An anonymous emailer says she and her husband ordered it with tofu and vegetables.

» Rich Oniate misses the margaritas poured at Senor Popo’s on Nimitz Highway near Lagoon Drive.

» Cyrus Won yearns for the fried rice at Columbia Inn in Kaimuki. "Would you have the recipe or know how they made it so tender and tasty?"

School lunch favorites

My biggest category of unfilled requests has to be for school cafeteria dishes dating as far back as the 1950s. So nostalgic and so hard to find. The latest:

» "Waipahu Elementary once served this little croquette-like patty for breakfast. I remember it having luncheon meat, diced or shredded orange cheese and egg pieces," wrote Jennifer Liem.

» Fawn Miller writes for a friend who attended Liholiho Elementary School between 1949 and 1955 "when Mrs. Aoki was the cafeteria manager." They are looking for the school’s recipe for Hungarian goulash.

So how about it? It’s Christmas Eve; someone out there, deliver us a miracle.

Write "By Request," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.