When I was a little girl, living in the Bellevue Apartments in Collingswood, New Jersey, we were pretty much surrounded by concrete.  The only hints of nature were the Looses' much-abused teeny, tiny tree, the Melecinskis' honeysuckle bush, and Harleigh Cemetary.  Mom taught us how to sip nectar from the honeysuckle plant and took us for long walks through Harleigh, looking for Walt Whitman's tomb....which we never found. But we received warnings from stern neighbors when we so much as leaned against  the Looses' sapling.   So there was not a lot of interest in the natural world most of the time.  When it snowed, however, in those early years, my mother often did a magical thing for us.  She made ice cream from snow.  She would put a medium-sized sauce pan out on the back step.  When it was full, she would bring it in and quickly add a bit of sugar, a teaspoon of vanila, and a little milk.  We would eat it right away.  It was slushy, but good.  It was so exciting to get ice cream from the sky in this way and gave us a connection with the outdoors that was unusual for us. Now, I know we can't do this today because of air pollution, but does anybody have a good idea for making ice cream at home without elaborate appliances?
      Now here is my youngest granddaughter, Lily, doing something special inside with snow.  She is making a snowman. Her mom gave her some food coloring and soon It was all green.   

The Infamous Organic Ham Incident

Awhile ago, Mimi had a sudden interest in organic foods.  It was coming up to Thanksgiving, when she suggested to Judy that this year they celebrate the holiday with an organic ham.  Mimi went right to Whole Foods and bought a very expensive and large "Organic Fresh Ham."  Not knowing too much about cooking in general, such as the importance of the ham being cured/ not fresh if you plan to cook it later in the week--  but feeling very confident about the word "organic",  Mimi happily bought this giant fresh ham and put it into Judy's spare basement refridgerator a week before Thanksgiving.  Judy, who knows a lot about ham, did not see the ham that Mimi bought, and assumed the ham must be cured.  I mean, who buys fresh ham?  A week ahead of time?  Without freezing it or something?  Right??   So, the night before Thanksgiving, Judy pops down to the spare fridge and opens it.  Judy describes this experience as extremely smelly, and the scent of the rotted fresh ham is still burned into her brain to this day.  Judy, wanted so much to support Mimi's enthusiasm of her organic journey, and did not want her to be disappointed.  So Judy called every supermarket in the tri-state area, including John's Friendly market (who mostly sells things like chef boyardee... Judy includes this in the story to emphasize how many places she called)  in pursuit of a new organic ham, preferably cured.   She also called her entire family, except Mimi, to see if anyone could help her find this now legendary myth of a ham.  But, alas, it was the day before Thanksgiving, and as you can imagine, that was a bit of a tall order for that time.  THis is where things really go awry.  Judy decided, Hey, I'll buy a regular ol ham, and not tell Mimi.  But Judy is a very sweet and gentle soul who could not contain the enormity of this complete lie all on her own.  So,  as guests arrived to the meal and asked her "How did it go with the ham?"  SHe ended up sharing that indeed, the ham was not organic, and please do not tell Mimi.  Mimi, who was never alerted of the dibacle by her family of liars, proudly announced to everyone that the ham this evening was ORGANIC and DOESNT IT SMELL LIKE THE BEST HAM IN THE WHOLE WORLD????  Everyone kindly humored Mimi, agreeing that yes, this ham was spectacular.  Judy remembers sitting down next to Jesse Kafka who leaned over to Judy and stated with gravity "I know."  So to recap, everyone, except Mimi, at this dinner knew that this ham was not organic and said nothing to prevent her from going on and on and on about this ham.  

Later that evening after everyone went home, Mimi recounted the events of the evening, and noticed that Amy was being a tad too smiley whenever "organic ham" came up in the review.  The enormity of this sutation hit Mimi, who called Judy and asked-- "Sooooooo Mom.  Was that ham really organic?"  Judy burst into laughter.  

Mimi has since lost complete trust in her entire family, especially when offered portions of organic ham.  Amy Yoder McGloughlin has tried to gain trust regarding this matter, but Mimi is wiser from this experience and refutes any suggestion that her offerings are indeed EVER organic.   

Moral of the story-  Just telllllll Mimi when its not an organic ham, alright?  SHeeeeeesh

From Mimi