Ham Loaf Recipe

one of our family favorites has always been ham loaf.....it has a brown sugar syrup and i usually made macaroni and cheese to go with it......
our sean patrick kelly is a true new yorker and he does have some limitations on what he will eat!.....when we talked about
ham loaf, he grimaced and said he didn't think that was for him....
after our little katie scarlett arrived and i went up with foods for the fridge and freezer, one of the items being ham loaf,
he did try it and absolutely fell in love with it!
i buy the ground ham mixture at l.d. weaver's meats at the west shore farmer's market and was there on friday morning
when i ran into a former customer, delightful gal by name of celeste......we were chatting and i was telling her about the
ham loaf.....she never had it so i sent her right over to l.d. weaver's!
i thought perhaps i would share this recipe..... it is so tasty, even our new yorker loves it!

Ham Loaf (l.d. weavers' recipe)

2 lb. ham loaf mixture
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs

form into a loaf (i usually square off my ends so all my slices are uniform and i don't have a small tapered piece)

boil together for 5 minutes:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1/4 t. dry mustard (optional)

pour this sugar syrup mixture over formed loaf pan in roasting pan or pyrex.  bake at 350* for 60-90 minutes, depending on oven.    baste often!   syrup will get bubbly and thicken.



i just made two of these loaves so i can take some up tuesday morning when i head back to new york.

katie kelly arrives

our barbara and sean had their beautiful daughter in lawrence hospital center in bronxville, new york on saturday,
august 7, 2010.....her name is Katherine Giordano Kelly....she was born at 10:42 a.m., weighing in at 9 lbs. 4 oz. and is
21 and one quarter inches long.....

we are all so overjoyed!!!.....the kelly family is doing well .....barby and sean were so cute!!! they would not lay the
baby down!...one of them was always holding her.....one would hold her and the other parent would sleep and then
they would change places!!!.....

we were all up in bronxville for the birth and i stayed til tuesday night.....then went back up that saturday and stayed til
the following tuesday......then didn't get back up til the following monday but stayed til friday.......then the whole family
came to harrisburg on friday, september 4th for labor day weekend.....sean went back to new york that monday and
barby and little katie stayed til thursday when i drove them back home.....then i stayed til monday night.......

everything with babies has changed so much!....it's a wonder my children and their generation survived!!!!...we used to
put the babies on their tummies....that's a no-no now...only on their backs.......no water at all......i am trying to
help but everything we did is no longer current so i'm learning right with them!.....

the plan is for me to be in new york three days per week taking care of this precious baby while barby
returns to work......diane (grandma kelly) is going to care for little katie on fridays and, possibly, on thursdays as well......

this is certainly what retirement should be all about!!!.......daughters getting married, daughters having babies,
spending time with grandchildren!....what bliss!!!!!

katie is engaged!

so much has been happening in our family and i have not been posting to this blog........




our katie is engaged to her ray!! he had stack rings custom made for her and they are in rose gold and absolutely beautiful and quite unique!...
they were going to wait until next summer to marry but, then, decided why wait?  so they are going to marry in
brooklyn (park slope) on december 18, 2010!....
we found a venue near them...montauk club....it's a wonderful old (1898) gentlemen's club from old brooklyn of
by-gone days.....it has a lot of character and charm....a bit of worn patina....katie and ray just love it!


it was quite educational when researching where to have the reception....katie liked the boathouse at prospect park but you must pay a fee (5,000-6,000) and use their exclusive caterer (200.00 per head) and then the liquor, floral, photographer, music and, before you can turn around, you need 45-50 thousand dollars!.....and that does
not include the gown, of course! or any of the incidentals!......


the montauk club has a very innovative chef and we attended a brunch there and i was very pleased with the quality of foods, i.e., good slab bacon, micro greens, etc.  ray and katie attended a dinner there and ray even
took photos of their plates !!! (he will fit so well into this family!) and they were also quite pleased with the quality and presentation and taste of the foods (corn and leek chowder and lobster corn risotto) which were also seasonal.


when our barbara was married in 2009 and we had gone dress shopping, we had gone to klinefeld's which was
a really awful experience!....put us in a too small room and brought out gowns that were not in our price range and were not what barbara had in mind at all!......we then went to sak's fifth avenue and had an appointment with
imo.........what a wonderful experience! she was an angel!......she really was divine!....barbara chose a couture
gown and saks re-did my headpiece and created a wonderful 1940's style for barbara.......absolutely wonderful!


so, katie made an appointment at sak's fifth avenue as well!.....and, there was "our" imo!......katie found the
gown of her dreams there as well! (this is becoming a giordano tradition!)....katie's gown is not a traditional
bridal wedding gown.....she just loves it and looks fabulous, of course!.....


so, we have the venu and we have the wedding gown.........and,  last weekend they  had fittings for ray~~~
he is having a suit custom made for him by tailors in brooklyn!


we are planning a soiree at our home on saturday, october 16th for our friends and family and ray's parents are coming up from kentucky!!!!....


we are planning a menu that will be a little bit kentucky, little bit new york and little bit harrisburg!~~~we are just
going to have fun with the foods!~


our tina will be in charge of floral and decorations for the montauk club----it is so charming, it won't require much!


so, we are in full wedding mode right now!