Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat | Video on TED.com

This talk might be a few years old, but he brilliantly breaks down the history of food in North America.

Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat | Video on TED.com

Birke Baehr: What's wrong with our food system | Video on TED.com

The kids are alright....

Birke Baehr: What's wrong with our food system | Video on TED.com

I can cure ham!

I may have jumped the gun a little early, but after about 6 months of curing, I cut into the ham.

It's pretty salty, but the consistency is right and there is a hint of the curing spices. Best of all, I didn't get sick after eating pork that's been hanging around for half a year!

It won't win any awards, but I look forward to pulling out the meat slicer and a melon.

I'd definitely do it again, with a larger, rounder cut of meat so that the salting is more uniform. Might be worth trying to find some wild boar, blame any inconsistency on the 'gamey' flavour of god's wild creatures.

Barton Seaver: Sustainable seafood? Let's get smart | Video on TED.com

Barton Seaver: Sustainable seafood? Let's get smart | Video on TED.com

Great little talk (~9min) on the need for "restorative" seafood. Going beyond just maintaining the current situation with 'sustainable' practices, we must decrease our impact and give the oceans a chance to heal. Chalk one up for urban fish farming...

Weekday Vegetarian

My dad had sent me this TED Talk by the creator of treehugger.com on why he had become a weekday vegetarian. He has lot's a good points to make. I asked Kate if she would be interested in trying it with me once we are both back in Vancouver. She was excited! Will you try it with us?

Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat | Video on TED.com

Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat | Video on TED.com

Prosciutto and mozzarella

It has been one month since I started the process of making prosciutto ham. Well, it's not really a 'ham', it's a fatty loin roast. I'm also not allowed to call it 'prosciutto' either because it's a PDO product, protected by the EU.

Whatever I'll call it, it is certainly starting to look like delicious prosciutto. I have been taking it out on cool windy days to hang in the open air. The white you see on the bottom is the salt crystalizing out of the curing meat. The recipe I loosely followed mentioned this would happen and to brush it off as it forms. It is a much smaller piece than a whole 25 lb. leg (which is usually used) and I am worried the whole curing time will result in too much drying. I originally dropped the estimated time from 9 months in the recipe down to 6 months (180 days), but it may still be ready before that.

I've been inspired by Brendan who recently tried 3 year old dry-cured ham, "it was butter in my mouth" *drool*. Maybe it will be worth the wait...

I also got around to making mozzarella last week. We had finally made our way to Famous Foods in east van. Kate and I had so much fun walking through every aisle. It's an old-school grocer with organic produce, bulk foods and a mean meat selection. Plus specialty goods that you can't get anywhere else; like rennet and citric acid!

After we picked up a kitchen thermometer, I followed a combination of another eHow.com recipe and a YouTube video that can make cheese in 30 minutes using the stove and microwave. It was lot's of fun and everything went as planned! I got a little out of control and overworked/stretched the cheese and it came out too firm. It was fine on homemade pizza, but will now need to be perfected!

Andrea has made it before and it came out too soft, so if we combine our skills, the ideal cheese should be created... then I'll post pictures!