As I have said recently, I have been doing a major clean out and I found this book of my mother's called, Joys of Jell-o from 1952. Now every time I think of Jell-o or am around Jell-o (do they still hyphenate the o?) I am reminded of a friend of mine, who we used to socialize with a lot. I loved it because she would spend hours and hours making elaborate Jell-o creations, you know the layered pans of Jell-o in seasonal colors for every occasion. She made pans with 6 or 7 colors layered together. Can you imagine the time that would take?
One time I was talking to her about her layers and layers of Jell-0, which the kids went crazy over I might add. She just laughed when I brought it up and said, "Oh yeah, we're Jell-o people." Are you kidding me? I loooved this. It still makes me chuckle. Did you know there are Jell-o people? I just like to say it.
Hey, Jell-o people, check out these treats. The page above shows some easy Jell-o options where you make the cubes days ahead and then throw the dessert together the day of your party. We've got the Crown Jewel Dessert which is shown in the mold, a pie and a spring-form pan.
This is my favorite page that contains the recipes for the Ham Salad De Luxe and the Ring-Around-the-Tuna in the picture above. Is that green tuna? I am loving the olives and chopped pimiento, too. This book is a treasure I am hanging on to. Jell-o people, I know you may be pretty jealous of my find but if you ever need a recipe for that dinner party, just give me a jingle.
Another spring cleaning story that makes me laugh is the story of my daughter's two hats. I ran across these as I was putting away the winter gear. My youngest loves her stripey stocking cap, the original hat is on the right. She wears that thing all of the time, even when it is pretty warm outside (note the naturally felted pom-pom). Well, she was crushed because she thought she lost her hat. I mean she was distraught. What's a mom to do but make her another one, hence the hat on the left. I even ordered new Manos to make this one because I didn't have great colors in my stash. I worked hard to quickly make her new hat. She was thankful, but she never liked the new hat very much.
Then one day she came running out of school wearing her old hat. I couldn't believe it. Her friend had found it in her backpack at the very bottom in a generally unused pocket. Now she has two hats, one to wear and one as a spare. From that point on she has only worn the original hat and I don't mind a bit.