Congratulations to Melva Hess, our very first Kitchen Goddess! When she was considering submitting her favorite dish to our SMD blog Melva took advice from Dr.Seuss, “If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.”

I am glad she did, and below you will find two dishes that have made her family members very happy and grateful over the years. Melva is a mother of four plus two grand children. So when the family gets together "it's like Christmas, and eating is a big part of it". The breakfast dishes below have special meaning to her. Her dad use to make this dish for his men in the Navy during World War II in the Aleutian Islands. They were far from home and missed chocolate, so dad would make this syrup for them with pancakes.

We photographed this in the studio with a single light source on the left side. A diffused scrim (6' X 6'), much like a single window in a dinning or kitchen area. I place the light source slightly behind the subject. The right side is all covered with large four by eight black foam core, subtracting all fill from the right. Prop styling was done by Kristen Butler. Food styling by Jennie Kelly. Please check out her blog The Perfect Last Bite!

We, as in Kristen, Jennie and I, sampled the dishes, and have definitely decided to borrow the egg recipe for our breakfast, it is amazing!

Melva's Baked Eggs with Grand Marnier

Click on image for recipe.

Melva's French Toast with Chocolate Syrup

Click on image for recipe.