Stormy Sunday...

Sunday, early morning (about 3:00 AM) I got up to go to the bathroom. I noticed a decided "sheen" to the snow, so put on my robe and walked out on the front porch. Yes, indeed, it was the dreaded freezing rain.

I woke up at 7:00 AM and finally got out of bed at a little after 8:00 AM (I was just so warm and snug). I was going to make an omelet, but discovered I had NO mushrooms left, just some "a few days too old" scallions. Finding no inspiration there, I settled on black coffee.

Temperature is now above freezing and my roofs are all dripping. However, there is still a bit of fog in the air and it looks nasty out there. I started the last two loads of laundry, and took stock. The kitchen still needs cleaning up from yesterday, the floors are a real mess, so I decide that, since I am stuck here, its "time to clean!"

So, I took the roast out of the slow cooker (still on "warm") and sliced it up. I put that in the big Tupperware bowl first, then the juices, and then the carrots, onions and potatoes. Over the coming week, this will make several great meals as is or, cut up and fried into my personal favorite, roast beef hash. I washed what I had to (the inside of the slow cooker, the metal colander and my chef's knives) and put the rest into the dishwasher.

I noticed the bird feeder was almost empty, so I put on my leather coat (on top of my t-shirt and shorts) and go outside. I just hope to God nobody is looking, lol! I refilled the feeder, plus the squirrel feeder (these poor souls have been through a rough night!)

Then I put the kitchen chairs, the rolling cart and the trash receptacle in the living room and sweep the kitchen floor. I used the vacuum cleaner on my two walk off rugs downstairs and then swept it, too. I also swept out the two bathrooms. Then I mixed up the Pine-Sol Orange and hot water and washed the downstairs bath and the downstairs floor. I took a break and called Jake to discuss Christmas dinner. In honor of my brother George (who had one every Holiday) we have settled on a roast goose for the main dish. After that, I tried to call my brother Carl, to make sure Mom got her chicken noodle soup, but only got his voicemail.

I dumped the dirty water and refilled my bucket with Pine-Sol and hot water and washed the kitchen floor and the main bathroom floors. While they were all drying, I tried calling Luanne. The main number was busy (for over an hour!) so I thought maybe the storm had knocked out some lines. But I tried the upstairs number and got through, so I left a message, asking her to call me and I'd call her back (with my VOIP, its free for me).

Back to work! I folded the first batch of clothes from the dryer (I pulled them out, switched loads, and then started the floor mopping). While I was in the bedroom, the phone rang. I answered the phone in the bedroom, but no one was there, and it was still ringing. Huh? I went into the living room, but Luanne had already left a message and hung up. I called her back and we exchanged stories. Her good news? She just sold 18 of her meat goats to someplace in Pennsylvania and they loaded and shipped them yesterday! I filled her in on my Mom's condition and how things were going around here. All and all we talked about an hour, too.

So, now its time to tend to Sunday dinner (I don't want to eat at 11:00 PM again!) So, I drained the cranberry juice from the ham, and using my Shun paring knife, cut a cross-wise pattern in the thin, white, outer fat (if you remember, I cut off the excess fat). At each intersection I placed a whole clove. Then I made up my glaze and basting sauce from a � cup of pure maple sugar (Grade A, dark amber), a tablespoon of ground mustard and a teaspoon of cinnamon. During our conversation, I had told Lu of tonight's dinner, and she suggested Dijon mustard. I admit I was tempted, but I went with my gut feeling on this (there is no recipe here). I think the sweet and tangy glaze will pair up well with the tart cranberry marinade.

So, I covered a cake pan with tin foil (for easy clean-up), put the ham in and doused it with the glaze. It went into a 325 degree F. oven for 1 � hours (at 45 minutes, I re-applied the glaze).

Now onto the side dishes! I peeled and cut up a rutabagas into 1-inch cubes and set that to boil with salted water. Next I peeled 8 russet potatoes (with my new Oxo Potato peeler I bought after using Jake's on Thanksgiving. I just had a y-shaped peeler, which works GREAT on, say carrots or parsnips, but scary on potatoes (you are always nicking you fingers with it). I cut those up into manageable cubes and put them on to boil as well. Meanwhile, I warmed up a stick of butter in the microwave, added a cup of heavy cream and finally tossed in some frozen chives (from my garden last year) and warmed everything up.

Rutabagas were done, so I left them in the water. Potatoes followed, but I drained them, added my butter/cream/chive mixture as needed and mashed them up to a perfect consistency. The remainder of the butter/cream/chive mix went down the drain...

The Redford Police Association called during this and so I pledged $25 to help with their "missing children" drive. They get me every year for something. It's like that guy in the Meijers last week, people always ask me for a handout. Now, a lot of people will say, "You shouldn't give them money, they just use it for tobacco and booze!" Like, I wasn't going to?

Anyway, its 7:08 PM and the ham is out and resting and I am typing this so I don't forget what happened. I cut all the ham off the bone (I need the bone to make some soup for my Mom). I sliced some up, put on a good amount of mashed potatoes and rutabagas, added some salt, pepper and butter and went in to watch my Sunday night shows.

And, how did the cheap ham taste? Very good, actually. Although the cranberry taste was not prominent, it was there and did balance nicely with the maple syrup (and, you didn't really taste maple syrup enough to recognize it unless you were eating the outside of the ham). So, I think my homemade recipe for brightening up a cheap ham is a keeper!