Day 28

Just had a lovely breakfast of green tea with mint and honey, zucchini pancakes (shredded zuc, an egg, nigella seeds, and coriander), drizzled with a tart apricot jam and thin slices of duck proscuitto. Yup, the proscuitto’s done! It was an 9 day process. First I killed the duck. Then boned the breast meat with the fat. Salted for 24 hours, then left to hang in a humid, dark, 50 degree spot (we have a little unplugged frig that I kept cool with ice). The meat firmed up after 8 days, and now it’s a nice little meaty snack. I don’t think everyone would like it–it’s very ducky. Of course it isn’t as good as the duck proscuitto I had in France, but it’s close.
Now for a confession: I ate out at a restaurant yesterday. One of my business partners and I met with a group of community activists at a local restaurant. The group choose this spot–BB’s restaurant on Sacramento in South Berkeley–because it would mean we were supporting a family-operated business. How I could I say, “Er, I’m on this weird diet so I can’t actually eat here.” That would have been so rude. So there I went: fish burger and a cup of tea. Was it good? I was so distracted by the conversation I didn’t get to enjoy it. It was a tough decsion, but I think I made the right choice. Sorry if I let you down. It was a good lesson that food isn’t always eaten for pleasure or necessity, that we are social animals, who use food to cue alliances, build trust, and community.