Sunday Dinner

Happy Easter everyone! A little late, but yesterday was very busy. Jason sang at the Saturday night service and 2 Sunday morning services up in Cambridge so we swapped houses on Saturday night with a friend who lives in Belmont, but had to sing Saturday night and Sunday morning down in Providence. It was nice to go back to Christ Church and I really love the Easter services. As I was leaving the 9 AM service on Sunday I saw the rector who married us and he gave me a kiss on the cheek and asked, "Off to more church?" I said, "Yep, I've still got a couple of more hours. But so do you." He said, "Yes, and then I'm taking a nap!"

So while Jason sang at the 11 AM service I went over to the singles ward down the street and caught up with several friends. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had talked with them since a couple of them didn't even know about my Providence job. I now have tentative dinner plans with 6 or 7 people on the days I'm working in Newton.

Jason picked me up right after he finished and we booked it down to Providence so I could start cooking. Jason took a little nap (Holy Week is busy for singers) and then tidied up the place before our guests showed up. We had 8 adults, 3 babies and a toddler. Jason said I did white people everywhere proud.

All of our friends' kids are awesome, but we get so worn out after just an evening with them. All the babies and us teaching in Primary is proving to be effective birth control. I said to Jason last night, "We're not doing that for awhile, right?" To which he replied, "Sounds good to me."

I made two hams yesterday, which was too much. But I wasn't sure if one would be enough, and at least now we have leftovers and sent leftovers home with people. I also made my famous sweet potatoes with the pecan topping. My mom actually invented them, but I've developed a reputation for them now since I make them at any opportunity.

Our guests brought spinach salad, quinoa salad, corn, cinnamon rolls, trifle (made with amazing Swedish cake that I really need the recipe for, Jessica), Jello with fruit and Italian cake. Everything was so good.

I glazed the hams with the following (measurements are for one 5-10 lb ham):
1/4 C. brown sugar
1 C. honey
2/3 C. unsalted butter
1/4 t. ground cloves

Warm all the ingredients over low heat, stirring frequently, until the butter has melted and everything is mixed together. Place the ham in a shallow baking dish lined with foil. Baste with about a third of the glaze mixture. Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes per pound, basting with the reserved glaze every 20 minutes (I turned the heat under the glaze off between bastings and then warmed briefly again before basting). After the final glaze basting, turn the heat up to 425 and bake for 8-10 minutes to harden the glaze.

The front couple pieces of ham got overglazed and a little burnt, which I'm not quite sure how to remedy. But we just peeled those off and the rest of it was fabulous.

I need to start taking pictures of the food I make.

Anyone have any good ham leftover recipes you want to share?