Sunday, Road Trip

I awoke at 5:30 AM Sunday morning. I reheated yesterday's coffee and drank two cups while I posted the rather lengthy Blog for Saturday. Then I took out that Christmas ham and dissected it. I put what I considered two meal's worth in quart Zip-lock freezer bags. I had one bag marked Ham Bits for any of the extra meat when I trimmed off the fat (that will go into the freezer for soups). The actual trimmed fat I saved in another bowl and when I was done, I threw it out for the birds.

When I got down to the bone, I wrapped that in aluminum foil and put it in a gallon-sized Zip-lock freezer bag for soup, another day. So, now I have five bags of trimmed ham. I plan on running three of these (along with more frozen soup) out to my Mom's this morning. Since I had the ham out anyway, I fried some of it and one of my last two eggs for my breakfast (I need the other for tonight's dinner). I finished cleaning up at 9:30 AM, so I shaved and then showered. I packed the frozen soup and the ham into my Christmas present (the Igloo ice chest) from Jeremy's family.

I was on the road by 10:30 AM. It's supposed to be a warm day here (maybe 38 degrees F.) and already, the snow alongside the expressway was melting. So, naturally, it kept getting sprayed on my windshield from the vehicles in front of me. I was using my wipers and the windshield washers almost constantly.

I got to Mom's around 11:15 AM. Cora put the frozen soups and two of the ham packages in the freezer while Mom and I visited. I got caught up on all the family news and a couple book recommendations. I left about 12:30 PM.

On the way home, I stopped by my friend B___'s, who I haven't seen since before Christmas. I turned down the offer of lunch (still full from my late breakfast) but did have an excellent cup of coffee. I left there about 2:00 PM and started the long trek home. I got home just before 3:30 PM.

I changed clothes and started the last load of laundry for this weekend. I went outside and adjusted the bird feeder that somebody (my guess was a squirrel) got all jacked around. Back inside, I had a couple of the leftover Turkey, Bacon, Radicchio and Blue Cheese sandwiches.

My legs were tired, so I decided to lay down for a bit and watch the taped cooking shows from this morning. Around 6:00 PM, I got up to hang up my shirts and pants and started to make the oven-roasted asparagus for Sunday dinner.

I snapped one to find out the perfect spot to cut the stems. Then I minced three cloves of garlic. I drizzled the asparagus with extra virgin olive oil, added some kosher salt and the garlic and tossed it about. Then I spread it out on a half-sheet tray. I took some of the ham and wrapped it in tinfoil and put it on the same half-sheet tray. I set the oven to 400 degrees F. and waited for it to preheat.

When the pre-heated buzzer went off, I put the tray into the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. When that went off, I reset it for five more minutes and started to fry my egg. I cooked it over-easy (with a perfect flip to turn it over, I might add).

When the timer went off the second time, I pulled out the tray and set it on the stovetop to cool. After a bit, I opened the tinfoil and plated the ham. Next came a generous helping of the roasted asparagus, topped by the fried egg.

When I was ready to eat, I took my fork and broke the yolk, thus creating a rich, warm sauce for the asparagus. Dinner was excellent, BTW!

My first Sunday show wasn't on this week, but I watched the next two (snacking on some of those Buffalo Chicken Cheese Balls) and then went to bed exactly at 11:00 PM.

Before I did, I checked my email and found I had one from my brother Carl, complaining how he, too, had taken some soup over to my Mother's, only to find I had beaten him to it! However, he "claims" his soup (and I quote) "homemade Pea soup loaded with ham, carrots, celery and onions" was better than mine... I don't know, Bro, I'd have to taste it to believe it...