As C. and his sister, Nell, wished me happy birthday in the post prior to this one, it was my birthday last week. We celebrated the night prior with a hamball supper (not dinner), coffee with cakepops, and a few hours of volunteering at Feed My Starving Children. In the hour we packed meals (chicken, veggies, soy, rice) with a larger group of volunteers, we assembled 62 boxes of food – enough to feed 37 kids for one year! It’s an incredible non-profit. We had a great time putting between 380 and 400 grams of food into plastic bags with a fun group of Mormon women.
It took me a bit of effort to find ground ham. At one meat counter I inquired, the cute meat man behind the glass kinda smirked and said, “Ground ham? That’s kind of a thing of the past …” Or western Minnesota, I told him. I finally succeeded in my quest and hamballs had we. I’m still working my way through leftovers; tomorrow I might attempt/create hamball soup …
there's no place like gnome. 
You actually made hamballs? I can't believe it! I thought anything that could be made into a ball….. well I'm still stunned that it was your birthday dinner. Yes, Dawson is definitely a thing of the past but traditions are pretty strong in this area. I hope your birthday was good. Emily said you were traveling home. How did that go? Talk later, Karen