The Damn Ham

Hello and welcome to a post-Thanksgiving Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is November 30^th.

Thanksgiving was pretty mellow at our house on Thursday. With no shops open, we snuggled in for the day with the first order of business: sleeping in. Our official Thanksgiving celebration is today, so the actual holiday felt more like a regular Saturday, which means two things: laundry and cooking.

“I just want to make sure we’re on the same page about Thursday,” I said to my husband Tuesday night while parked outside of the grocery store. It was a good thing I called, because we were not on the same page. While I was envisioning a low-key day of staying out of the kitchen - stringing a series of simple  meals of peanut butter and jelly, bread and butter, salads and lentil stew together in order to work on house projects, my husband shrieked, “What?! No turkey! What about potatoes? What about a meal? What are WE going to have???!”

Our expectations out of alignment, I growled into the grocery store to pick up the items already on my list – salad, apples, and bathroom cleaner. When I got to the meat section, I stopped and looked at the hams. $1.66/lb was an unbeatable price. “You just have to throw it in the oven!” my husband had said only minutes prior during our terse conversation. And it wouldn’t be turkey, I thought.

A friend walked by and asked, “Are you analyzing the hams?”

“I’m debating whether to buy the damn ham.” I explained the situation and asked her opinion. She said, “Buy the damn ham.”

I kicked off our holiday-free day with scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. After breakfast, I threw that ham in the oven, and it baked while I cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, and packed for this weekend. A fresh salad and potatoes were easy enough to throw together, and – voila! - we had a proper, albeit low-key, Thanksgiving lunch. Lips smacked as they feasted. The three older kids sent us Snapchat pics of their feast as well, which included an entire cookie sheet of roasted broccoli. Who are these kids? I thought.

By this time, I was on a cooking roll. I whipped up some pizza dough before heading out for a walk with the hubs. Yes, there would even be a real dinner. When we returned, I announced to the kids that they would be making the pizza, (“Boo!” they said), and any way they wanted. (“Yay!” they said.) After I rolled out the dough, spread the tomato paste (MY secret ingredient alternative for pizza sauce) and sprinkled some herbs, they wasted no time dicing up leftover ham, cracking open cans of pineapple and olives to chunk and slice, and finished it off with grated cheese.

Three hot meals in one day conjured up memories of when I was a stay-at-home mom. When we went around the table sharing what we were thankful for, the Fourth Grader said, “I’m grateful that Mom cooked and pray that she’ll quit her job so she can stay home and cook more for us.”

Satiated and feeling loved, the family transitioned to watching Mark Rober YouTube videos. And even though the family felt satisfied, I couldn’t help but feel like the day wasn’t quite complete even if the kitchen was spotlessly spic-and-span.

A holiday wouldn’t be complete without some sort of dessert. With a bit of googling, I found inspiration to make a tart with dates and oatmeal crust. I cheerfully tossed raspberries, whole cranberries, and pomegranate seeds on the top and baked until hot, soft, and bubbly. I pulled out our fancy dessert dishes and topped off the treat with vanilla yogurt. My little band oohed and aahed appreciatively. “It’s too tart,” the kids said, after licking their little cups clean. “I love it,” my husband said. We wound down the day with our usual routine of prayer and watching extra episodes of our favorite TV show, The Middle.

By the time we all went to bed, I was really glad I’d bought that damn ham.