Deviled Ham!

We read Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, a young adult book in which the story is set almost entirely in a cemetery, for this month's book club meeting. Naturally, our food for the evening is funeral themed. I have the book Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hayes. It is a humorous look at death and funerals in the south, and it also includes recipes for acceptable and even obligatory fare for the proper southern after-funeral events. I am making these finger sandwiches:

Instructions for absolutely heart attack-inducing fare, as are most of the recipes in the book. 

But this Deviled Ham and Cheese Spread recipe reminded me of my fondness for deviled ham sandwiches, and my children's absolute hatred for deviled ham sandwiches. The problem was that I didn't know they hated the stuff until years after they were out of school and I was no longer packing their lunches.

The school they attended in Sarasota, Florida did not have a cafeteria and as a result, students brought their own lunches and ate outdoors on a wooden stage, or they walked to the grade school's cafeteria across the street. Most of the students chose the outdoor/bring your own lunch option, hence my daughters' deviled ham sandwiches. 

HOWEVER, I did not know that a proper deviled ham sandwich included cream cheese and pimiento cheese. No wonder they hated the sandwiches and (as I learned years later) tried unsuccessfully to trade them for something better. 

Doesn't this look yummy?

Actually, it IS!!! I've been munching on it while I make the sandwiches, and Glory Be! there is some left over. Mine, all mine.

These I'll share:

And yes, they are on a silver tray.

It's funeral food. Show some respect.

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(I'm curious.  How is Deviled Ham in a can a "limited edition"? The stuff has been around forever.)