Ah, canned fruit cocktail … When I think of home, I think of a place where there’s [quick breath] fruit cocktail overflowing.

My mamma used to make jell-O with fruit cocktail in it and served it on lettuce. She only did this on Thanksgiving day and it was offered after stuffed celery and pickles and black olives, but before all the brown dishes were ready.

Now I don’t remember making jell-O much. And I will tell you now: Yuppie moms ( and wives of Yuppies ) don’t make jell- O. Dumping a can of dead perfect, chopped, unrecognizable fruit in with it would cause pony-tails to flail at the local Starbucks. This is not me. Damn it. If my mamma worked it with jell-O salad, dagnabit, I’ll do the same same for my army. Seriously, how far apart are pita bread with hummus and clementines from jell-O salad.

Seeing as we are in France, jell-O is not abundant ( they’re more into potted cream ). I have some plain gelatin on hand, but I found this star winking at me from the British aisle. It’s not a powder, so I had to consult with my husband, who grew up in London, to see if he had any insight on the premade-jello jell-O. Fukui-San, evidently you simply disolve with hot water, then add cold water and set similar to the powdered version.

I feel a new crayon name coming on.