Here I go again

falling off into the "Blog-muda Triangle." Sorry, as always there has been a lot going on at home, school, and with friends. The home the usual but the friend stuff is hard. I can't blog about it since it isn't happening to me.

I can find an exact date but now (or recently) it is National De-Lurking Week. I have a dilemma. How can you ask readers to de-lurk when you haven't got any readers?

For future posterity, de-lurk now please :) If not for me, then for my future readers who will say, "Boy, she sure didn't have a "following" early on, did she?" And for this cute graphic:

Very Cool

Wish I could sing like her, I'd do it daily :)

A Tease

Here are a few photos of our delicious ham. A fully illustrated guide to making it will come tomorrow.



There are PLENTY of leftovers. Any ideas?!?!

Ham I am

I'm making a ham for our New Year's Day feast. I've tried in the past. One was ok, the other was yucky. Hopefully, this year's will be different - I'm using Alton Brown's recipe!

Here it is - I'll post tomorrow with my results and photos along the way. I'll twitter today about how this goes... fingers crossed here!

City Ham

1 city style (brined) ham, hock end *Important note at the end!*
1/4 cup brown mustard
2 cups dark brown sugar
1-ounce bourbon (poured into a spritz bottle)
2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies

Heat oven to 250 degrees F.

Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly. Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If you're using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once you've made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don't worry too much about precision here.)

Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.

Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint). Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can.

Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.

Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.

*Cook's note: A city ham is basically any brined ham that's packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked "ready to cook", "partially cooked" or "ready to serve". Better city hams are also labeled "ham in natural juices".

Mission: Accomplished!

I've had the pesky "2008 Things to Do" in my sidebar since late last year. Since it isn't 2008 after the next few hours, a few things gotta change. That is one of them.

2008 Things to do

• Read, Read, Read - Done!
  
• Start Reading Workshop in my classroom Due to circumstances beyond my control, this one did not happen. I HATE it that I'm not trusted to do what I believe is educationally sound for my students. That's another post.
  
• Keep my cool when my daughters push my buttons! Better than in the past.
• Keep a reading list Done! This will be saved to a Word document for posterity. I've counted the number of titles! Are you ready? I read 155 different books this year, not including re-reads of old books. Wow!

So, all in all, this has been a successful year. My new goals for 2009 are in the sidebar now. Let's see if 2009 is as good to me as 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

As promised

Some pictures from our Christmas Feast:

Our Alton Brown Turkey -
Yes, I may have prematurely slapped on the Turkey Triangle - but a pale turkey is better than a dry, burned one! Also, Alton, can you PLEASE add the turkey triangle to the print recipe?!?! Had an argument with my husband over the necessity of the triangle. Which is what sent me to YouTube. It is worthwhile to go on YouTube and watch Good Eats episodes of Alton making the turkey. Very helpful to see him do it and then do it yourself. :) Very helpful for making pesky husbands GO AWAY too!

My Sweet Potatoes and Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Glazed Carrots
I was not pleased with the way the carrots turned out. Will try again at New Year's feast.

Our table - Yes the heathen brought his can of pop to the table instead of putting it in a glass!

Family Portrait

Erin on left, wearing red and black dress. Katy on right, wearing red dress and pink pants. Take immediately after dinner to capture the tryptophan-induced calm :)

The mess! Finally got all those dishes done - 4 days later!
And this is just PART of the mess. At least this year I got to use my fancy new kitchen. Remember that craziness?!?!?!

Time to get ready for our New Year's Ham!!!

So pretty

You can't miss the new background, eh? I just love it. And it was so easy. :) Have seen it a few places, most notably, at Aime's blog: Life With The Boys.

Not meaning to plug anyone, just can't help but be excited about my pretty new background. Yay! Everyone around here is asleep, so I can't even show it off!! Poodle!

Off to bed where I can gloat and grin in my dreams all night long.

I'll try to post the pictures of our Christmas feast tomorrow. We finally put the leftover turkey in the freezer today. Ahhhh :)