A Red Eye Gravy Morning

We had country ham for breakfast this morning. Of course we had grits, fried eggs and biscuits, too. We were eating at 3:30 am. Why, you ask? Because we woke up, got up, read the paper, cooked and laughed in our white paneled kitchen while the world slept. Well, everybody except the paperlady, that is.
The distant highway was silent as we sat drinking our coffee discussing the climate of the hour. A permanent topic of conversation of little interest unless our tomatoes are getting ripe we inherited the tendency to chatter about the weather from our ancestors whom it keenly concerned. Too early to open the kitchen drapes we waited patiently for the night's news on a local tv station. Meanwhile, the grits were simmering.
We cooked our ham the way people South of the Dixie Line cook it.
Try it!

Four medium/small pieces of smoked ham - sliced
1/8 cup black coffee and a dash or two of water
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Fry ham quickly in a hot iron skillet with a drop or two of grease for a couple of minutes on each side.
Remove ham from skillet and set aside.
Brown the brown sugar in the hot fat in skillet. Stir in coffee and water, cover and simmer for a little while. Pour gravy over ham.

Can't you just smell it now?