Okay, I did a quick google search and read the first thing that popped up and it makes sense ... this is from an article written by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, About.com Home Cooking (have to give credit where credit is do, not a big fan of plagiarism). Peggy says " In the United States, ham is a traditional Easter food. In the early days, meat was slaughtered in the fall. There was no refrigeration, and the fresh pork that wasn't consumed during the winter months before Lent was cured for spring. The curing process took a long time, and the first hams were ready around the time Easter rolled around. Thus, ham was a natural choice for the celebratory Easter dinner."
Well that makes sense I suppose.
Easter is my favorite holiday, I'm a Spring person and I like that Easter is the lesser of the commercial "religious" holidays. Its quite appropriate that somberness of Lent falls during the gloomy days of winter and early spring. Then when spring is in full bloom, Easter arrives in all its Glory. Since Easter is my favorite holiday and my parents are getting older, I've decided to claim Easter as "my" holiday to be celebrated at my home with my whole family.
So yesterday I decided to venture out into the craziness called purchasing the "Honey Baked Ham" to have as part of our Easter "Linner"- Not quite lunch and not quite dinner. My mom offered to come with me to sit in the car and watch my kids while I stood in line to purchase my beloved Honey Baked Ham. I had to park the car in one of the furthest spaces from the door, which means that I'll be waiting in a fairly long line and patience will need to be the standard conduct. My daughter pleaded to go with me, siting the fact that I would be standing alone and she wanted to keep me company. So how do you say "no" to that? Of course, my son then got his diaper all in a bunch over it. Grandma managed to entertain him so all was good.
So we stand in line which was already about 10 yards outside the door, thank goodness it was a sunny day as its rained everyday since God knows when, I'm almost ready to build me an ark. I like to people watch. So between the conversations my daughter was having with me and the older ladies in line complaining about how long it was taking - I was quite amused. It just makes me think that we all are children when it comes to behavior no matter what the age!
Well ... I didn't realize that picking out a ham was such a scientific and specific process. I had two questions to ask, was the ham indeed gluten free and how much do I need to feed 20 people. Simple enough. I had no idea that the girl behind the counter would undress my beloved ham so I could see it in all its glory. But that's what they do at Honey Baked Ham. So this line I'm standing in was a rather long and winding line. Up at the counter stands this cute but very particular old gentleman. He reminded me of my grandfather. So I was intrigued by his behavior. I kid you not, before it was my turn, he must have had the clerk undress 10 hams and size them up and then shake his head in disappointment (how embarrassing for these rejected hams). Of course the natives in the line were getting quite frustrated with this old man - but I found him quite entertaining. God bless the clerk that was waiting on him, because she all the while kept a pleasant look about her with a nice sweet smile. She was the ultimate in customer service!
So finally, it was my turn to approach the counter. I was nervous about wasting the clerk's time by asking my two simple questions: Is the ham gluten free, and how much do I need? I didn't want the natives to get even more restless since now two clerks were being monopolized. The clerk went to check with her manager about the gluten free status and I stood there not wanting to turn around to see the stares of frustration I might be causing. So I glanced over to the old man and yes, he was still examining more hams and rejecting them. Then I hear people behind me say, I never thought to examine my ham, I suppose I should since I am paying a hefty price for it. So here all along I thought I was the only dumb-butt, the only one who never thought to examine a ham before purchasing it. I guess it makes sense, no two pigs are the same, so no two hams would be the same.
So the clerk comes back all is good with the ham being gluten free and she proceeds to go back to the refrigerator section and pull me the right size ham for my needs. She brings a nice size half a ham on the bone that is shy of 10 lbs and undresses it. Low and behold, it was a beauty! How did that happen? How did I get so lucky to get the right ham for me right off the bat? It must be an Easter Miracle!
In all seriousness, I paid for my ham, got back to my car, and drove past the store and sure as you know it the old gentleman was still searching for his diamond ham in the rough!
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