"The Best Ham Steak Ever"

These were the words of my love, pontificating about his own cooking talents.

My family and I are all really into the food network. My son actually likes to cook and will often try his hand at new recipes.

My love, on the other hand can usually only handle frozen pizza, or one left over recipe from his college days. He has never been the one to cook in our house.

One fateful day in May when school projects were at their peak, after work was really crazy. I had things going on with the vineyard, was on and off the phone with a winemaker, two kids with stressful projects, and a household that was dying a slow and painful death. This was on the heels of my longest day at work.

When my husband arrived home, I announced he was cooking dinner. It was already seven o clock. He looked disappointed and said he could make a quesadilla. I corrected him to explain he had to cook dinner for all of us because we had not eaten yet. The look on his face, as I started barking orders for him to get out a ham steak and some frozen veggies. I gave him instructions, while typing on my laptop about vineyard business and helping my son with his project. I also informed him after dinner he had to help our daughter with her project, while I continued to assist my son with typing.

It was one of those days that I really questioned the sanity of all we try to do. My husband surprised himself and all of us with an excellent dinner. The only trouble was we had to listen to him expound about what an awesome job he had done.

"It has a great texture, and flavor. This might be the best ham steak I have ever eaten."

He was like a judge on Iron Chef narrating the perfect balance of the meal. He was so proud of his basting combination of black pepper, brown sugar and butter.

Thanks to teamwork we all got everything done that night. The added benefit is that now my love is willing and eager to cook "the best ham steak ever" for dinner once a week or so.

I'm so glad it is summer and we all get a little rest from those crazy over scheduled nights.