Easter Ham!

Ham is not very popular in Japan.  Well, let me re-phrase that. Small chunks of ham, about the size of my fist are popular, but even for something that small, it usually costs at least $20.  Sometimes more. 

I really wanted to celebrate Easter this year.  Easter is probably my favorite holiday, after Thanksgiving, and I have missed celebrating it for the past four years.  And Nina hasn't ever celebrated it!  No Easter dress, nothing.  It's quite depressing.  So, I bought a ham online.  It was a little expensive (about $40), but it was a nice, good size.  Not the size of my fist, but a nice big, spiral cut, bone-in ham. 

This was the first time I ever made a ham.  We had ham last Christmas at my mom's and Shinsuke wanted me to cook it like she did.  In a slow-cooker with brown sugar.  Well, we don't have a slow-cooker, so I had to improvise.  I cooked it in the oven for about 3 hours.  I put some cloves in it, made a mixture of brown sugar and honey and glazed it.  Re-glazing it about every 30 minutes or so.  I had it covered in aluminum foil, but took it off for the last 30 minutes.  As you can see, the top got a little well down.  But overall, it was a success for my first ham.  Shinsuke really liked it, and as it was just the three of us eating, we got to eat ham for about a week.  You would think that I'd be sick of ham after a week of eating it every day, but surprisingly I'm not.  I can't wait to do it again.  Next year for Christmas. 

Here are two pictures of my ham!

With the flash.

Without the flash.

(With looks better I think!)

Until next time...