I like to make cakes and pies. I'm not a big cookie maker, although I love fresh baked cookies! My grandchildren don't consider it a holiday unless I make them my Mandarin Orange Salad - a recipe handed down from my mother. And New Year's doesn't start until I have pork, sauerkraut and knaddles for dinner! This tradition was also started by my mom. I always loved my mother's Poor Man's Cake, but never got the recipe. Then I bought the cookbook that the AARP chapter in Waldport published, and there it was. So now I make it every Christmas. But the recipe for ham and dumplings died with her. But I have experimented, and have come up a very close replica! I was SOOOOO happy, and so were my husband, daughter and brothers! When I was first married, I decided to make a pot of green beans like my used to make - ham, green beans, potatoes, and corn. I bought the ingredients and proceeded to make the dish. I called my mom to ask if the green beans should break apart and float to the top. She came to my house, looked into the pot and started laughing. I had bought green peas in the shell - not green beans. It was embarrassing but also funny! But at least it was still edible - and not that bad!