Hippity Hoppity

I got really nervous last night.

We were planning next week's menu and discussing "the game plan" relative to various Holy Week services and The Spouse said, "And we need to call Don & Joe's to order the ham". Then he stopped, looked at me very seriously and said, "Or do we want to do something different this year?"

Had he lost his mind? No ham at Easter?

There is a far amount of flexibility in our party menus. Why, Christmas is a different culinary theme every year. But some things are sacred. Leg of Lamb at Carnevale, Ham at Easter. And besides that, how would we make split pea soup at Pentecost if we didn't have a ham bone?

The Spouse's glazed ham is one of the reasons people keep accepting our Easter invitations. It is, for some, their raison d'etre. If we didn't have ham then the molasses biscuits would be demoted from Ambrosial Complement to lowly Starch Unit. We can fool around with side dishes, experiment with desserts (two this year? one lemon, one chocolate?). We can anguish once again over the semi-eternal puzzle of what wine goes with ham. (Really dry pinks and/or champagne in my opinion, but it always comes up). But there must be ham.

I will order it today.