Waking this morning to another day of torrential rain I snuggled back down under the covers,well after all,I only had the breakfast to make, the gammon to cook and a grocery delivery due in the early afternoon.
Cooking whole a gammon is really quite easy, especially if you use a meat thermometer to cut out the guess work. I was mulling over the days tasks when heard the purr of he stair lift coming up the stairs! This is a very uncommon event these days,we had the downstairs lavatory installed Pa only comes upstairs once a day in the evening for a shower......why was he on his way up.....what did he want...it boded no good I felt sure!
I was right of course, On the Saturday morning before Christmas he came to announce that there was a problem with the kitchen electrics. Shocked wide awake And with a sinking heart I questioned him as to the problem.
It seemed that late last night the fuses had blown in the kitchen,he made it sound as if we had no power down there,he waffled on about trip switches and refused to answer my questions. Gibbering by now I informed my son of the potential disaster and he went to investigate and I dressed quickly while Pa did his Private Frazer routine “We're all doomed,doomed I tell ye!”
My son returned with the welcome news that only the washing machine was not working,to be truthful this news would normally cause me much concern but at this time of the year it is the cooker which takes precedence.
Pa had made it sound as if the entire kitchen electrical system had blown when in fact it was just one fuse and all that was needed was to reset the trip switches,I was very relieved.......and very annoyed. It is so like Pa to exaggerate a simple problem in to a ,major catastrophe,my mother has a similar tendency and it can be bloody annoying at times.
We telephoned the repair man and I made pancakes for breakfast before preparing the vegetables and onion sauce. then parcelled up the gammon ready to cook.,things in the kitchen were tricky as the washing machine was leaking soapy water ,I put down an absorbent cloth and carried on regardless.
The repairman came and in spite of all the water pronounced that the machine was functioning normally,he told us we needed to get a new one then left. So what had caused the machine to fuse? We did not know,was it likely to happen again,we could not tell. Nervously I returned to my cooking.
The piece of gammon was huge and took over six hours to cook twenty minutes per pound plus twenty minutes,half an hour before the end of cooking I took the gammon from the oven,skinned it, leaving the fat in place ,sprinkled brown crystal sugar over the fat then scored on a diamond pattern before returning it to the oven for thirty minutes.
We sat down to eat with good appetites and enjoyed our feast,the gammon barely looked touched though we had eaten or fill, there was plenty left for other meals. .The left over mashed potato will make potato cakes for breakfast tomorrow and the vegetables will be added to a soup or a frittata, a favourite super dish.
As we ate our pudding of icedcream we were very glad that the end of the world had been delayed, we would have hated to miss out on our good dinner!
Both cats insisted upon a share of the meal and each had a small plate of trimmings which went down well.
I am sorry to say that I have had a fall last night which has left me with a painful shoulder,wrenched as I attempted to save myself. Hauling great chunks of meat about has done nothing to alleviate the symptoms but I hope that by tomorrow it will be better.
We played dominoes this afternoon which is always good fun, I usually win the most games but today my son beat me ,which of course made him very pleased with himself and I shall probably never hear the last of it...hey ho!
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