The "Nine Lives" Show at the Tortoise Gallery

I had so much fun at the opening of Nine Lives at the Tortoise Gallery! The gallery was packed with friends, art lovers and the wonderful people of Miami County.

Nancy Sims-West, owner of the Tortoise, had the gallery looking magical! She directed the hanging of the show and it was perfect, as was her own appearance. She topped off her black dress with a gorgeous necklace by Johnson County jewelry artist, Nancy Forbis.

The wine was from Somerset Ridge, the home of the Somerset Ridge Painters. The food was created by the painters! The painting behind the table is by JoAnne Carlton.

As I said, the food was prepared by the nine of us, and there was plenty of it! I made ham salad and it seems to have made several people very happy. I was asked for the secret to a perfect ham salad….and the answer was good ham, good mayonnaise, good dill pickles.


Here is a “sort of” recipe….ham salad is one of those things you just do, but I will try.

This is for Kristin and Matthew:

2 pounds baked ham, cubed, I use Farmland Foods
1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 whole (2 halves) dill pickle, coarsely chopped. I use Claussen’s Kosher Dill Halves
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
½ to ¾ cup mayonnaise, I use Hellmann’s
Place the cubed ham in the food processor and pulse to chop, being careful to not over chop it, You don’t want ham paste! Pour ham into a large bowl. Place bowl of food processor back on its base, and put in the chopped onion, pickle and celery. Process to medium chop. (The size of the ham, onion, celery and pickle pieces is up to you. If you are making it for sandwiches, you may want it a finer chop. For a plated salad, larger bites are nicer. Mine was for spreading on crackers so I made it a medium fine chop.)
Put chopped onion mixture into large bowl with ham. Toss to mix well before adding mayonnaise. When adding mayonnaise, stir gently to blend well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Your ham will determine how much salt you need. Adjust the amount of mayonnaise for your taste.
See? You didn’t need a recipe! It is just plain old home cooking!
Ada Koch’s Oatmeal Cookies were another big hit….and once again, good old home cooking! I will see if I can get her recipe for you. Stay tuned!

It was such a treat to meet Majo’s mother, Ana Herrera, who came from Louisiana for this event. Okay, so she came to visit Majo and Shawn, but I think her timing was perfect!

Majo with her mother, Ana Herrera

To close, I want to thank Jim and Inge, Jerry and Jodie, for coming to the show….aren’t old friends great? Jerry and Jodie had just returned from a trip to Scotland, landing back in Kansas City about 20 hours earlier! Now that is friendship! By the way, they agree with me on the subject of the traditional food of Scotland….pretty boring!

I wish I could have gotten photos of the crowd, but at 4' 11", I don't do well with a camera. You would be looking at pictures of people's backsides! So, I took most of the photographs before the doors opened at 6PM.

left:  Floral...right: Alsace Autumn
my paintings

For those of you who could not make the opening celebration, the show will hang at the Tortoise for the next 4 weeks. If you are coming down to Paola to see it, let me know and I will meet you….we can do lunch at Molly’s!