elkit in wonderland

Can I Have Another Slice of Chocolate Cake?

From Miss Ginsu, who made a bacon-topped chocolate cake:

Some approached cautiously, but everyone who tried the chocolate bacon cake proclaimed enjoyment. Some went back for seconds. In the end, not a single slice went unclaimed. The boss man was pleased, and the whole thing was an enormous success. I was left wondering why bacon bits aren't a standard topping for cakes in the same way they are for salads, casseroles and omelettes.

I agree. And why the hell didn't I think of this? Maybe because I don't eat much chocolate cake. In any case, I approve wholeheartedly.

Wouldn't It Be Good

Oh. My. Gawd!! I HAVE TO try this! The Paupered Chef says in Adventures in Homemade Bacon:

I recently took a 3.4 pound pork belly, rubbed some salt and spices on it, and a week later, it emerged from my refrigerator as the most awe-inspiring bacon I've ever eaten.  I feel simultaneously triumphant and confused: why is this so good, and why was this so easy?

Via the utterly delicious Bacon Unwrapped, who is right on with her remark that "the easy to follow step-by-step instructions will leave you wanting to go out and buy a pork belly ASAP."

Grease Is The Word Is The Word Is The Word, It's Got Groove, It's Got Meaning

Did I really say that my word for 2008 was not going to be "bacon"?

The Specialists (those fine gentlemen I work with) gave me a Christmas gift: a membership in the Bacon of the Month Club.

I'm A-Ready To Cook With Fire

I know, I know, I've been remiss in my bacon blogging. And yesterday's fantastic Thanksgiving meal did not include a single shred of bacon. But I did just chop and cook a pound of bacon, and like I usually do, I drained the bacon fat into a container (usually a small yogurt container), set it on top of the fridge to cool and be refrigerated later. I use a little bit of lard to cook eggs, scrambled and over-easy, but I have mostly non-stick cookware, so I don't need to use a lot of fat, and when my lard container is full, I just throw it away. This is beginning to strike me as a bad thing. What a waste of perfectly good fat! My mother used to buy lard and cook with it, so why don't I do that? I could use it instead of butter, apparently it makes for tender baked goods in a pie crust.

So I just googled "cook with lard" and found all kinds of good hits. I'll save them here, to look at later, and I think I'll make my next apple pie with lard instead of butter.

Don't worry, I won't spring it on any unsuspecting friends of mine. I know too many people who are vegetarians. Disclosure is a good thing.

Anyhoo, here are some lardy links:

• Trans fatty acids: Why lard may be better for you than vegetable oil
• Epicurious: 38 results found for: cooking with lard
• Put Lard Back in Your Larder
• a blog named "Sugar and Lard"

Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

The bacon blogging resumes ... I had a scrumptious BLT Wednesday night at the write-in in Mountain View. The café in the Books Inc. store on Castro uses sesame oil for their salads, and I just love that. Gives it that certain je ne sais quoi. Well, actually, je sais quoi: sesame flavor!

Thursday night I made lentil soup, with sausage and bacon. Made a big huge potful, ate some of it Thursday night, and some more Friday night. What to do with the rest? Maybe I'll cook the liquid out of it, and form it into patties. Lentilburgers, or a lentil frittata ... we'll see how that comes out.

And this morning I had "eggs over dirty" - that's my version of eggs over medium, with chopped bacon on them.

The chicken I bought is defrosting on top of the fridge, where the kittens can't get to it when they get curious. I'm planning to make beer can chicken tonight; been meaning to do that for quite a while.

How Can I Help But Love You?

Holy Bat Bacon! Bacon Unwrapped, one of the most delicious blogs around, has me salivating into my keyboard with the menu for a Bacon Dinner in DC Next Week. I may steal some of those for inspiration for The MOB (The Month of Bacon, which I am observing this month.)

I know, I haven't blogged in a couple of days, but except for Saturday, when I forgot, I've had bacon every day:
Sunday at the NaNoWriMo retreat I was one of the breakfast cooks, and Rob, who knows me and my obsessions, smartly put me in charge of cooking three pounds of bacon. No, I didn't eat all of that by myself; we shared it amongst what, 12 of us? I ate two slices, I think.

Monday, after I got back home, I got to see my girlfriends for a birthday dinner. We met at Pizza Antica, and I had the waitress add pancetta to the pizza with spicy fennel sausage, roasted onion, and portobello mushroom.

And there were bacon cookies on Tuesday. I'd promised Hank to bring a few to the blogger meeting, and so I did.

We'll see what's for dinner ...

Red Red Wine, Go To My Head

So we're sitting here joking about the lack of Halloween candy and snacks and wine (we have enough to feed ourselves for another week at least, and we're only staying until Tuesday), and Trisha suggests I could add a wine reduction to my bacon. I might just do that. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Disorder In The House

I am sorry to report that I did not eat any bacon yesterday. I just plumb forgot. But I pledge to you that I will make up for it later this month, and have two meals with bacon in one day. Or three, even, with the accrued interest.

Today's bacon consumption was taken care of at breakfast - Rob and I cooked waffles and bacon, and now I am all full and lazy, and I'll be a while before I get back into my NaNoWriMo story. Not to worry though - I know I'll catch up today.

... und heute gibt's schon wieder ... Spaghetti ... Carbonara

  Farfalle Carbonara 
  Originally uploaded by elkit

The MOB (Month Of Bacon) continues blissfully. I had fantasized about a club sandwich for lunch, but then I didn't have time, so I held my antici ...
...
   ...
    ...
       ... pation. Until dinner.

The Bacon Song

There's NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, and NaBloShoeMo.
I am participating in NaNoWriMo, although I confess I have not started writing. I also think that November should be the MOB - the Month Of Bacon, wherein I eat bacon every day and live to tell the tale.

I did have bacon and eggs this morning - in my favorite fashion, "eggs over dirty", although I left off the cheese. We'll see how I progress through the month. I shall keep you posted.