Perpetual Ruminations

Wednesday

Good intentions don't cary us very far, and that's pretty clear with the amount of work I managed to do on my newest story for the 52 Week Challenge. I had the best of intentions, but didn't get much of anything done with the story. I'm planning on giving it another go today, and am going to start right after I finish this entry and let the dogs out.

Even though I didn't get anything done on my story yesterday, I had a real good day. That's two in a row, and with today going equally as well, I'm up to three in a row. In fact, it was because of the good day I was having that I didn't get to the story yesterday. I had so much energy the last few days I find it difficult to sit long enough to write much.

For instance, yesterday I was ready to start on my story, fed the dogs and made sure I had all the little things done so I could get lost in my writing, and I do get quite lost when I write, when I decided to use some of my new found energy to surprise my wife by having the dishes all done up before she returned home from work. One more thing to get done before starting on that story.

By the time I finished up the few dishes that were dirty, I had decided that I should make her dinner; her favorite dinner. She's been a real trooper through all the medical tests and procedures, and very patient with me being so tired and unable to do much to help out around her, so it seemed a nice way to tell her, "Thank you for all your support and help."

Feeling a bit creative, I decided to prepare the ham a bit differently than we normally do. Besides, I was still planning on writing and didn't want to burn it or dry it out when I got lost in my writing. The answer was the big slow-cooker. Of course, it wasn't a real big ham, not with just the two of us to eat, but even a small picnic ham wouldn't quite fit into the slow cooker. With a little work, I had the shank end cut off, wrapped and in the fridge waiting to be made into a pot of bean soup. The ham now fit fine, and a little water and seasoning were added.

Then, I had a thought, why not add some onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to the pot? It would season the ham well, and with a lean ham, they should be very tasty as well. Another of her favorite dishes is scalloped corn, but this would have to wait for her to get home, since I didn't have everything on hand to make it. All that left was to get the potatoes ready to cook up, put them in cold water, and then turn the heat on so they would be done shortly after she got home.

I had to improvise some on the scalloped corn, since it required some baking time, but being in a creative mood, I soon had a recipe I could use on the stove; not quite the same, but close and faster. I still needed to wait for her to bring home a few items to finish it off, so it would be one of the last things to cook. Of course, by now, I had more dirty dishes piled up and quite a mess going on the counter -- a sign of good cooking I'm told.

After a short break and some time looking into some character names, I returned and cleaned up my mess, the dirty dishes, and checked on the ham. It was looking good, smelling better, and making me very hungry, so I warmed up some left over chili for lunch. Not a lot, just a small cup of chili to hold me off until dinner. Now, it was going into afternoon and not a lot of time to spend writing, and the dogs were being a bit pesty, wanting more attention than normal, so I took them out for some playtime. It's kind of amazing having so much energy when I'm used to just being tired all the time, and I was enjoying myself.

When we came in, it was time to get the potatoes heating, remove the vegitables from the slow cooker, and then remove the ham and transfer it to the oven for the final cooking. It was well cooked by now, but cooked in liquid. Some time uncovered in the oven would dry up the outside a bit, and give it a nice crispy skin, while hopefully not drying the inside out.

Once in the oven, it was time to skim the juices and remove the fat. I didn't have time enough to cool the juice or it would have been easier to just lift the layer of fat from the top, but with a little time I skimmed it off, similar to skimming cream from fresh milk. Now, the savory juices would make a nice gravy for the potatoes, so into another pan they went to heat back up. By now, Rhonda was home and i could also try out my faster version of scalloped corn.

Dinner was ready shortly after she got home, giving her time to change and visit a little while I finished up. It was a big hit, and everything turned out great, even the improvised corn. It wasn't quite as rich as the regular version we make, but since we are trying to lose some weight, it was fine. the best part of the dinner, however, was something Rhonda supplied, her beautiful smile. I may not have gotten any writing done, but I enjoyed my day, I brought her a big smile, and we had a grand dinner.

In fact, the ham cooked up so nice, and tasted so good, we may have just found a new way to prepare hams all the time. the vegitables, cooked in the ham broth also tasted very good and if the slow cooker crock had been a bit bigger, I could have also added the potatoes. Perhaps next time, instead of the slow cooker, we will prepare it the same, toss in some potatoes, and just cook the whole works in the big roaster, in the oven.

Now, since I didn't get to it yesterday, time to write a story...