Goodbye, ham

I've almost finished the half ham I inherited over New Year's. Made old-fashioned split pea soup tonight--the kind where you add carrots, celery, and an onion studded with cloves. Almost forgot to add the ham bone but got it in eventually. The cloves made it smell so good when cooking. The recipe said 1/2 package would feed eight--I only looked because I needed to know proportion of water to beans. I used almost 3/4 the package; it fed three of us, with no leftovers. Made a salad, served ham salad on crackers for appetizer (said I was going to ham them to death), and the Lindt chocolate truffles I got for Christmas for dessert--got to get all that chocolate out of my house! Next time I make pea soup I'll follow my instinct--and my mom's cooking lessons--rather than the package. But it was so good, with chunks of ham and carrot floating in it. I like a thick split pea soup--sort of like the milkshake the spoon can stand it, so maybe that's why it didn't feed more. When I was a kid, my brother's favorite dish was split pea soup--he was away at boarding school, and we had to have it every time he came home. I hated it! But I think hams in those days (way back in the dark ages) were saltier. Today I love the soup, and I am loving the ham. Have had ham salad a lot. Still have some left, plus a chunk of ham. Haven't decided what to do with it yet. Maybe I'll try Jacob on cubed ham Tuesday night--better than chicken nuggets.
A nice lazy Sunday. My conscience bit me a little about not going to church, but I slept until eight, read the paper, fixed the soup, rode my bike, washed my hair, sent out a query, and it's amazing where the day goes. Today it's warm enough that Scooby spent the day outside--a relief to both of us, I'm sure. Tomorrow, back to work, so tonight I'm going to read and be lazy.
Just finished reaing Deadly Descent by Charlotte Hinger--an old friend from Western Writers of America. I'm much impressed by the way Chalrotte has transitioned from the western (now not much sought after) to the mystery--and combined her love of Kansas, its geography, and its history, with the mystery genre. The novel, her first mystery, is a real page-turner and kept me up far too late last night. I couldn't foresee the end coming--lots of red herrings--but it was a most satisfying conclusion, and I recommend it heartily. Wish I could combine history of the West with mystery, and may still work on that. Now I'm reading Murder by Marfa Lights by Denise Weeks. Must ask my neighbors, who have a home in Marfa, to read it for authenticity. Meantime, barely into it, I find it keeps my attention.

Food thoughts

My mind still seems to be on food, though I've managed to work my way through the delicious leftovers I had--the ham salad is gone (but not the ham), the chocolate chip bars are all gone but scraps, and I ate the last of the hoppin' John tonight--you know how hot things sometimes get hotter as they sit? The hoppin' John did because it burned my mouth tonight. Those Rotel tomatoes.
I made scalloped potatoes tonight for dinner tomorrow night--Jordan, Christian, Jacob and Susan are coming for Twelfth Night. I put ham and cheese and onions in between the layers of potatoes, followed a recipe carefully (from my mom's old, old, old copy of the Good Housekeeping cookbook--so old it has no spine, half the index pages are missing and so is the front cover but it's still a great reliable guide for basics and I consult it often). Well, even with the recipe it didn't work--when supposedly done, my potatoes were soupy. I turned the oven low and let them bake (and evaporate) another half hour. They seemed lots better but tomorrow, when they're the only dish plus salad, will tell the trick. And there's still a good bit of ham left. I could make more ham salad (I really like it) and a good split pea soup, but no one would eat the latter with me. I love it, my kids all hate it. We'll see.
Meanwhile I have discovered that thin-sliced deli turkey wrapped around a bit of cream cheese makes a delicious low-calorie snack, so I fixed that about 8:30 tonight, with a half glass of wine. Tripped over a rug, spilt the wine everywhere, and went to get paper towels to wipe it up. When I came back Scooby was just finishing the last of my turkey snack and was not at all impressed by the fit I threw. He looked at me as if to say, "You left it here. What's a dog supposed to do?" So now I've refilled the spilled wine glass and fixed another snack and am a bit happier.
Through all this holiday food saga I've been registering Weight Watchers points. Last week when I weighed I'd lost quite a bit and was elated, but Jay reminded me you always lose weight at altitude. In the intervening week, I've gone over points but I've earned enough activity points to balance that--I'm never quite sure how that works. I don't weigh again until Thursday morning, so meanwhile suspense.
Along that line, I had a gyro sandwich in Breckenridge--ate it without the bread--and wanted more. So Jean and I went to Chadra, the local Lebanaese/Italian place, and had Greek wraps and tomato basil soup for lunch. The soup was maybe the best I've ever had, and the gyro was much more generous than the one in Breckenridge. Again, I didn't eat the pita, just the meat, tomato and feta out of the middle. But when I looked gyro up in Weight Watchers, I nearly fainted. I guess my taste for that is squelched for a long time.
Food is on my mind also because I'm proofreading Grace & Gumption: The Cookbook--found out belatedly that proofing wasn't my responsibility, just indexing the recipes (I had thought I had to proof, index names,and index recipes). I proofed anyway because I found lots of things of concern, prime among them amounts that came through as ?. By checking I've found most of them were meant to be 1/2. I've decided also to make a list of cookbooks consulted, because there are some wonderful cookbooks mentioned--many those produced by local women's groups and probably only accessible now in the library. Cookbooks provide a wonderful record of a community, and I'm hoping that's what the G&G Cookbook will do.
Happy cooking! Wish I could find an outlet for some regular food writing. I have always said I travel on my stomach, wondering what wonderful restaurants I can eat in (though that was not true in Breckenridge).Now I'm afraid I live, not exactly for my stomach, but for my taste buds, for the delightful invention of foods I enjoy.