Column: Ham and Beans

I really enjoy cooking and the weekends are my favorite time to put some time and effort into creating a great meal. It's never as much fun on weekdays because after a long day I really don't want to spend much time in the kitchen.

A few weeks ago, I decided to make ham and beans and I started out early in the morning by putting some ham hocks in some stock, spices, beans, and vegetables and after a few hours, the house was really starting to smell good. I had purchased some pre-cooked ham and was going to put it in an hour before we ate dinner.

It was a Sunday and as I was cutting the ham, I...