from my mom's noodle

mom's way better with flowers than i am

the greenery is a sweet potato vine that strouted in a pot somewhere in her house

the red amarylis you see on the table are probably great great great grandchildren from the ones in the wagon from several years ago:

she wrapped all of the artwork in her house with gift wrap to look like presents

and added coordinating folded stars and tiny packages made from greeting cards to the walls

each gift had a different color scheme

the gift tags are her calligraphy--many saved from the past--one says "from eva" who is gone now. here is a close-up of her folded handmade stars:

this is a "martha stewart everyday from kmart expandable bamboo trellis" covered with lights on the deck outside the kitchen window

on the tiny 2 foot inside the house, are knit dolls i used to play with when i was a kid

here's my attempt at decorating:

Ham Croquettes

One of our family holiday food traditions.

From the Better Homes and Gardens Meat Cookbook, 1960.

Original recipe was deep-fried and used saltines.

Mom developed a baked version using techniques she learned

watching Cook's Illustrated on TV.

Brown the crumbs on the stovetop:

Nice close-up from my new camera.

Making the gooey white sauce.

Mixing in the ground ham.

Breading with egg white for maximum crunch.

Yuckky fingers.
Ready to bake, just 12 minutes at 375.˚

Don't forget to make more eggy white sauce as a topping.

Finis. Hope you like washing many pots and pans!

Score some S'mores

Click here to see my "five minutes" on Food Network.

I Felt Like Making S'more Pins

I used to have this Snoopy pin on my ski jacket in high school. You can see what I was thinking last November and how my idea has changed here.