Perhaps you've heard the story of the young wife who always cut both ends off a ham before she cooked it. It bothered her new groom whenever she did it. One day he could take it no longer. "Please tell me, honey," he said, "why do you always cut a piece off both ends of a ham before you cook it?" "I don't know," she answered, "that's just the way my mother always did it." One day he bravely asked his new mother-in-law why she cut both ends off a ham before she cooked it. "I don't know," she answered, "but that's the way my mother always did it." Finally, he asked his wife's grandmother why she always cut both ends off a ham before she cooked it. "Oh," she said, "it's because I only had one pan to bake with, and it was too small for the whole ham."