Ham hash

Eastside Road, April 2, 2014—

I DO LIKE, said Cook, To be able to step outside and snip all the parsley I need.

It's one of the pleasures of this time of the year, a time that's come a little later than usual — enough rain has fallen that the Italian parsley that volunteers itself at the base of the cypress near the front door has sprung back up, a week or so after the first timid green leaf-buds appeared on the grapevines. Soon everything will be going full tilt and before you know it… but why think about mowing and weeding now?

Let's investigate ham hash instead. Another meal that suggested itself from a Cook's tour of the refrigerator, which — relatively small though it be — never seems to tire of volunteering another meal. The hash began with sliced onions browning in butter, releasing a scent that would bring you back from near death. Then potatoes, dried porcini mushrooms that had been reconstituted in water, a little juice left from St. Patrick's corned beef, a slice of ham chopped up, all cooked together in the black iron skillet. Chopped parsley on top.

Green salad afterward, and then a couple of tangerines. I've said it before; I'll say it again: life is good.

Cheap Barolo d'Avila