Penpal art + more matryoshki!

A sneak peek...

But first...

A beautiful card arrived from Ukraine the other day.

A New Year's salad + other dishes

Look at that beauty!! :) This is a salad named «мой генерал» and it comes from this YouTube video. It's like any New Year's salad you would find in Ukraine: mayonnaise, mayonnaise, and mayonnaise. I miss Ukraine the most during the holidays, so I decided to make a few things that are served there this time of year.

The salad is a variation on the popular holiday salad olivie, which D's mom makes every December. (Here's a good recipe for that salad.) I liked the layers and the look of «мой генерал», though. It was SO EASY to make. You simply layer chicken + vegetables, with a nearly-catastrophic layer of mayonnaise in between everything.

The next idea came from a Russian-language pin on Pinterest:

Hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, and (more) mayo.

When my mom saw this plate, she balked. "I know that your husband's mother would not allow that on the table!" (Remember that time we gave his mom a deadly doormat?)

Cat matryoshka

Best gift ever: a matryoshka doll with 4 little cats and a mouse! Thank you, Joyce!

Here's the core of the doll: a teeny tiny mouse, a (yellow?) persian cat, and a tuxedo cat.