Icky Weather?

Yesterday was a sad reminder that winter in New England does not leave in March; the weather was gross, and cold and rainy. So what were a southern boy and a sick-of-being-cold New England girl to do? COOK! I have exclaimed in the past that cold weather is perfect for knitting (and it is) but it is also super for getting your kitchen windows steamy with pot after pot of warm deliciousness.

Sauteed mussels with fresh cilantro

Doing our grocery shopping at Whole Foods, Rick saw a 2lb bag of mussels for $5, pretty hard to resist so I had to improvise a mussel dish but it could not have been easier. I sauteed some garlic in the pan with butter, once they were a pale golden color I threw in the mussels and quickly covered them with veggie broth. After 3-5 minutes they had all given up the good fight and were ready to be devoured. I'm not embarrassed to say that once we had eaten all of the mussels we quickly moved on to the broth slurping it up, YUM!

My take on Bananas foster

Our second course was homemade chili with corn bread, it however was not very photogenic. So on to the third course. I'm a huge fan of sauteed fruit for dessert and bananas have always been the best. I roasted some walnuts in the pan, then added butter, mixed it with some brown sugar to make a caramel like glaze, then once I had the pan really hot I toss in the sliced banana. I like to add some vanilla to really get it sizzling and then I just keep tossing in the pan to get everything evenly coated in sugary goodness and get the bananas nice and soft with a caramelized exterior. This dish is great on its own and feels utterly divine when put on top of vanilla ice cream, or just as decadent (but much healthier) when placed on top of fresh Greek yogurt as shown here.

Best Indian dish ever: Chana Masala

If mussels, chili, corn bread, and roast bananas weren't enough, I decided it would be a great time to make some chana masala to put on cous cous for lunch later in the week. I've been craving Indian food lately and this has always been a favorite dish of mine. Plus, nothing sends away the winter blues like the smells of fresh cilantro, fresh ginger, and a whole heap of garam masala.

Baked salmon with sauteed kale and twice baked potatoes with feta.

Rick and I have been on even more of a cooking streak lately and are constantly discovering new recipes and ingredients that we love. Thanks to Nigella Lawson we can now cook salmon that is consistently delicious (I have a phobia of cooking seafood since it never used to turn out well). This dish just made me feel like such a grown up. Sure I may freak out when I do my taxes all by myself and I have to fight the urge to call my Mom for help, and sometimes I can't understand if the letter from my grad school means I owe them money or they owe me money, but in the kitchen I can cook and eat like an adult!

...oh and one more thing, HAPPY EASTER!!

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza! (Part II)

Now we have the fun part... THE DECORATING!!! Along with a number of sprinkles and small gel frosting, I made two glazes, one in green and one in white. Some of the women in my program at school were kind enough to join me for the holiday festivities and it was a wonderful afternoon of cookie eating (and decorating, but also a lot of eating).

Marta and I model some of our cookies. Not to brag, but I'm kind of like an elf when it comes to Christmas (must come with the ears) so I take to cookie decorating like a penguin in the snow. Marta however struggled with her creativity at first, creating what has lovingly been called "the green monster." After a few cookies though everyone was pumping out Martha Stewart worthy masterpieces in cookie form and we were able to pay more attention to the important task of analyzing the subtext of the Christmas movies (this is what grad school is all about people). More baking to come as the season progresses!!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza! (Part I)

I threw my Second Annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Party last weekend. As with the first year, I supply the cookies, decorations, cocoa, and claymation Christmas movies, and my guests bring the creativity!

Lucy was the first casualty of the night with a face-full of flour, I think she'll recover though she may never forgive me.

I meant to prep the dough in advance but the night before the party I fell asleep and then woke up in a panic at midnight saying "I MUST MAKE COOKIES!!" Rick as a dutiful boyfriend helped me whip out a couple batches worth of my signature cookies.

Once I had a great assortment cooled and put away it was time for dishes and then back to sleep. More on the decorating party to come...

Season's Greetings!

So in the spirit of the holiday season, and in keeping with my goal to work more on documenting my many adventures in the kitchen at home, I bring you Gingerbread Houses! A seasonal favorite, we take the making of gingerbread houses very seriously in my family. For a good hour there was very little discussion as everyone bowed their head over their given task. Working

with pre-made kits we all set about creating our part of the gingerbread village. Above is my mom's, let's just say it's a house of ill repute where the women of negotiable affection work. Next we see my sister's grocery store... a very cheeky grocery store. Also note that she is the only one who thought outside the box and did a house that did not follow the prescribed formula. Hooray Ali for being an individual while the rest of us were sheep.

The inside of the grocery store. I feel like using the candy to represent fruit and vegetables is somehow related to the fact that the Cookie Monster is now the produce monster and sings "cookie is a sometimes food." What is our nation coming to?

Of course, as a Library Science student, I made sure that our confectionery village was supplied with books. No one likes an illiterate gingerbread man.

The whole little village. Now we'll just have to sprinkle powdered sugar for snow and create some paths and ice rinks, also make some trees.

Happy Holidays!

Sam Adams Brewery

Rick came up to visit me this weekend so we could celebrate our two year anniversary. Since it's such a long trip for him I wanted to make sure I had some really fun things up my sleeve for us to do. Luckily someone from my history class suggested the Sam Adams brewery. The brewery is in Jamaica Plain and the tour (with a beer tasting) is free although they appreciate a donation of 2 dollars per person which is given to local Boston charities. It's a bit of a hike to get to the brewery but well worth it. Take the orange line to the Stony Brook station and take a left out of the station, from that point on the signs will lead you right to the brewery.
While waiting for our tour to start we got to sit in the beer garden and try samples of some new flavors, a blackberry and a coffee porter, and then vote for our favorite which will be coming out in stores this winter. The tour was pretty basic, an explanation of the ingredients (which were passed around so you could smell and taste them) and then our guide walked us through the brewing process.
While the information was fun and added to my beer education, we (and everyone else) clearly were most interested in the beer tasting. After being given free tasting glasses, we were taught how to sample a beer and then had the Sam Adams Lager and the Octoberfest. After finishing our beers we were encouraged to visit the gift shop (we just really wanted the glasses so we skipped that) and then we headed back to the orange line.
In all it was a fun outing, be prepared for a bit of a raucous college atmosphere, but for 2 dollars each and free beer, who can complain?

Stateside Sister Adventure

Today was my sister's big dinner for her work. Part fund raiser part celebration this is the second year that she's had a hand in throwing a dinner party for 350 people. Last year she made a huge chocolate vegan sheet cake (with elaborate frosting using powdered sugar to form wave patterns and a boat). Luckily I had today off from work so I got to take part and also document some of the fun craziness that happens when you're working with recipes producing servings in the hundreds, not the dozens. So let me take you through this fun day...

6:30am- wake up to my fuzzy four legged alarm clock, (aka the dog) and go for a lousy run (Fiona has decided to try to get both of us killed today by jumping in the road, fun huh?)
8am- cleaned up and feeling better after some tea I start tackling a pre-party to do list, like loading up the mixer and some of the floral arrangements (see below) in the car and finding Christmas lights (I also managed to fit in some of my own errands like getting my watch repaired and getting the new David Sedaris book which I am very excited about before showing up for...

Noon time mass cupcake making!! Each bowl makes 30 servings, and there were 4 bowls so the first batch should have made 120 (somehow we ended up with 198, probably because the tins were small). To make the mix we went down the line with each person being responsible for an ingredient, because they were vegan if they sit out too long the baking soda and vinegar react so we had to be speedy after they were mixed and get them into the oven.
1pm- with all the batches out of the oven we had a whole mess of cupcakes cooling ready to be frosted, since the majority of the baking was sent I got to go run some more errands
3pm- Arrive back at the church with some much needed caffeine, Ali's phone charger and a treasure trove of a donation... 20 pounds of cheese!!! Do you see all that goodness back there? Better yet it's Silvery Moon Cheese from one of my favorite places
4pm- Leaving the frosting to some of the many volunteers (it's only fair since I got to have so much fun making the batter) I hung up some signs, loaded the car back up and came home to relax with my new book.
Congrats on a job well done Ali!!! I would recommend you as a party planner to anyone!

The greatest place on earth!

The "John Deere-A-Saurus"
Mama and babies, just in time for mother's day (she wasn't a fan of me taking pictures of

her little girls, didn't she know I'm not Annie Leibovitz?)

Hellooooo! Think he's related to Mister Goat from India? Maybe it's his kid brother (some puns were not meant to be resisted!)

I haven't been posting as much lately (or sleeping, cooking or running as much for that matter) because I started my new job and it's a bit of a handful. I'm working for an answering service (something I didn't even know existed before I took this job) and at first it was really overwhelming because I handle several hundred accounts, each has it's own unique protocol or strange rules, and every day comes with difficult clients (I've worked at a coffee shop though where the people are cranky and caffeine deprived, that's a whole different type of difficult). While I'm finally getting a handle on things and the job is becoming more fun (it is the ultimate in vicarious living and as a life-long people watcher this is in a way my dream job) there was a really rough patch in there and there was at least one day where I really didn't want to go to work. Luckily for me, half way through my twenty minute commute there is the ultimate in pick-me-ups... Smiling Hill Farm!!

A local family run business, Smiling hill sells all types of dairy goods (my favorite cheese is the Rosemary Waltz), including flavored milk like strawberry, chocolate, blueberry, banana, vanilla and coffee. We buy all our milk, half and half, and cream from Smiling Hill (either at the store or from the grocery store) and in addition to getting to buy local the milk comes in awesome glass bottles. Returning the bottles to the store makes a great excuse to buy lots of cheese, and (here comes the best part) get a milkshake! Their ice cream is phenomenal any way you scoop it, but my favorite form is as a super thick frappe and this has been my guilty indulgence lately (I pretend to not notice that it's made with whole milk!) So on this day when the idea of work just seemed like way to much, I decided to bribe myself with a milkshake (knowing full well it probably wouldn't even last the drive) and as an extra bonus for me, the animals had come in that day. Challenging the milkshakes for the title of greatest thing ever for cheering me up, comes baby animals, and every spring and summer Smiling Hill gets an assortment of unbelievable cute goodness for a little petting zoo. So what are you waiting for? Go to Smiling Hill and check out the yummy goodies and the adorable goodies (just remember, no matter how cute the lambs are the are NOT for eating).

A late rabbit rabbit and belated birthday?

Do you know the superstition where on the first day of the month you're supposed to say "rabbit rabbit" before you say anything else and this will bring you good luck? Well I always forget to do that, but driving home from work yesterday I had the great idea that I could do a post that had "rabbit rabbit" and that would be a similar good luck granting experience. Once I got home though the dog needed attention and plants needed to be put outside and I forgot. Guess I'm not destined to accumulate any extra luck!

While I'm on the subject of things I forget to do... here's a picture of dessert from my wonderful birthday meal a couple days ago. We went to Fore Street in Portland for an amazing dinner and even though I was stuffed I finished with a trio of creme brulees (pink peppercorn, malted chocolate espresso, and vanilla cinnamon) it was fantastic!

Messy Meringues

The mess I made in my kitchen!
The tasty finished product!

I was reading one of my favorite cooking magazines the other day (Eating Well) and ran across a recipe for meringues. In an odd mood, I decided on a whim I was going to make a batch of vanilla meringues, and while some were a little burnt most of them were delicious and were described as "yummy toasty crispy marshmallows." The next day I bought more eggs, and made a batch of chocolate cinnamon meringues (the vanilla ones remained the taste favorites). 80 meringues later I realized I might have a new baking addiction, but I was just so surprised at how easy and yummy they are (and at 8 calories each they're a pretty awesome snack!). It's okay though, I can stop making meringues any time I want to, really, I can stop.... I just don't want to!

So it wasn't just sightseeing...

While I said I did not go to Ireland to get drunk, I did try some of the many fine drinks while I was there. Guinness obviously, some with black currant in it which was good, and my favorite; Bulmer's hard cider. And yes, Guinness tastes much better in Ireland than in America!

Hot stimulating cafe?

The name here was just too good for me to ignore, however we never summoned up the courage to go in and try the food. I'm sure if we had though we would have found it to be hot and perhaps stimulating, whatever that may mean.

An adventursome dinner

I got on an early train back to Brno and just like last time (I came back early from Bratislava) I was worried about finding Tom since I would not be at the train station when I said I would be. On the train I planned it out that I would quickly check the train station, see if he was there and if not I'd head up to his office. If he wasn't in the office I was going to go to the apartment and if I still hadn't found him I would go and wait at the station. Well just like last time, I ran into Tom right at the intersection by Masyrk (I mean I ran into him in the EXACT same place as last time!) because he had been heading to the station an hour and half early in case my train came in early.

Still marvelling over the coincidence, we went back to our favorite restaurant for dinner. It was a different waitress but we managed to order to beers and two goulashes. After we'd finished, we tried to order the same dessert we'd had last time and a Slivovice for Tom. The waitress looked flummoxed and walked away saying "moment." She brought two beers over to a table next to us and I noticed the young woman there pointing over to our table with a questioning look. Soon she came over to our table and said "the waitress does not understand what you want, so you tell me." So we talked to this woman and tried to explain we wanted to order dessert, crepes, and finally after saying chocolate she understood the dessert part but very sweetly said "I do not understand crepes or ice cream. Chips? You want chips like British food?" Finally she asked "like pancake" and we said yes, but only after we had tried to tell her to just order something for us and we were sure we'd like it (she said she could not do this for us looking horrified at the idea). We ended up getting dessert, and Slivovice for Tom, and it was great. However, we wanted to pay the bill also for the woman who had helped us, but when the waitress came and I tried to ask her, she didn't understand, so she called the woman over to explain. When I told her we had appreciated her help so much and we wanted to pay their bill too she just backed away saying "No, no no no no" and explained she liked knowing some English. So having driven our waitress crazy, and made a new friend only to make a presumptuous suggestion, we figured it was time to head back home and call it a night.

Does that make us smokers?

So for those of you who do not know, the American phenomenon of paranoia about the dangers of first and second-hand smoke (this is not to say it is not a legitimate paranoia!) does not extend over into Europe. Since all restaurants in Maine have been smoke free since I was a little girl, it was a bit of a shock to my system to be in restaurants here where everyone is smoking (including the bartender). Even though Tom and I do not smoke, he keeps joking that when we're back in the U.S. we might need to say we're smokers after all the smoke we've inhaled here.

Anyways, we went in search of a restaurant last night, and decided to try the little place by our grocery store first. We walk in and find a table and after the waitress brings us beer we find out it's just a bar, no food. Tom kept asking if I had my camera so I could take a picture but thankfully I did not have my camera there with me! Since we were completely surrounded by very burly locals (there was actually a great deal of mullets as well) and five minutes in there seemed to be equal to one year of a pack a day habit we quickly drank our beers and left in search of food (and hopefully not just more bars since I didn't think I could handle a full out pub crawl).

After taking the tram down the hill we found one place where there wasn't an open table (at least five of them had pink slips on them saying they were reserved, so the place was half empty but had no seating) before we found what has to be our new favorite restaurant. We sat and ordered beer (Gambrinus, which I like more than Pilsner Urquell) and asked if there was food. The waitress brought menus but apologized there were none in English (we had strayed off the tourist path) which was fine by us because we like guessing. A man soon came to the table to take our orders, explaining that he speaks a little English and can help. I ordered biftek (steak) and was perfectly happy not to have him explain it to me since I wanted to see how it came out (which was with a little fried egg on top). Tom asked what the favorite dish was there and ended up getting a delicious goulash with little savory potato cakes. For dessert the waitress said the two options in Czech and we just picked the first one. It ended up being delicious crepes with ice cream and chocolate sauce. So the guessing game worked out perfectly and we had one of the most enjoyable meals so far!

"Children expect sweets from mother"

So my trip to Bratislava was wonderful, mostly for the reason that it was my first solo trip. While I've done a fair bit of travelling so far, I've never been really alone for any of it. So the whole time I was there I kept thinking in my head, "I'm in a foreign country, by myself." The surprise of it was kind of similar to my first time driving by myself when I got my license, I kept reaching over to the passenger seat because I couldn't believe I was really doing it all alone. I was so giddy in fact that when it started to snow outside (not little flakes like in Krakow but a big snowstorm) I just laughed and thought it made the whole trip that much better!

Not only did I do it by myself, but I decided to do it without a map. I had read the directions in the guidebook and felt fairly confident as to where I was going and how I would get there. After getting off the train and walking in what I believed to be the direction of the old town, I thought it couldn't hurt to ask, so to the next passerby I questioned; "Stefanovka Ulice ye thom, nebo ye thom" (I asked if the street I needed was to the left, or the right). The man replied in accented English, "I'm sorry, I am not from these parts." So I laughed and said "Oh, it's OK, I speak English, I just don't know where I'm going, thank you though," and then walked away leaving him looking a little perplexed. I had a pleasant walk around Bratislava, visiting the castle, looking out at the Danube, seeing the statues, almost getting locked in a bathroom (this is actually a pretty funny story, I was just turning the handle the wrong way, but I almost had a panic attack thinking I was locked in a bathroom in a foreign country and would never get out), buying delicious chocolates, eating onion soup and potato pancakes that were like little crepes, and then made my way back to the train station in the afternoon. I waited until my train came up on the board, and then went to sit and wait on the platform for twenty or so minutes. I was all settled into a bench, trying to stay warm when a woman walked my way with a great deal of luggage, having been well trained on public transportation etiquette I leapt up so she could sit. She laughed at me and gestured to the bench that we can both sit. She began to speak to me in what I later find out is Slovakian (similar to Czech, but not identical) however I told her I'm American. We found out we are going on the same train since I am going to Brno and she is going to Prague. After sitting for some time, the sign on the platform changed and did not show the information for our train. I started becoming concerned and was getting up to go look in the station when the woman points and has me sit back down as she talks to two other women standing near us and then one of them goes off to check. While we are waiting to hear what is going on I hear two men my age speaking familiar American English; "Dude, I think this is our train." "You sure it's going to Prague? Sweet." They are pointing to a train that does not in fact go to Prague but goes in the complete opposite direction, out of love for my fellow countrymen and fellow travellers, I turn and tell them that is not the train for Prague and unless they want to end up in eastern Slovakia they should not get on it. By now the lady who went to check on the train has returned and she says the train for Prague is instead leaving from platform one. I end up carrying the Slovakian woman's bags along with another woman since there was only one of her and three of the bags and when the train comes in I help her with her bags and we sit down together in a compartment where she gave me a candy bar for my help (I'm assuming that was the reason, but since she explained in Slovakian there's no way to be sure).

It turns out that the other woman in our compartment is Czech, and she speaks English. Both she and the Slovakian woman were surprised to find that they could understand each other (as I said, the languages are not identical and although they were often used interchangabley when the two countries were Czechoslovakia, younger Czechs may not understand Slovakians and vice versa) and then the Czech woman translated things into English (the multiple language conversation reminded me of earlier when I exchanged Polish money for Slovakian money in the Czech Republic). We had a rather amusing, rather fractured conversation going back and forth and both women complemented me on my Czech, which always makes me feel a little silly, because it really is mediocre and they're just being polite. After some time the Slovakian woman, who was the most bubbly Eastern European we've met so far, took out a little bag of candies and forced them upon both the Czech woman and myself (I should perhaps mention that I am 21 and the Czech woman appeared to be 25 or so while the woman from Slovakia could not have been more than 40) and the Czech woman translated that she had said to us "children expect sweets from mother." Sitting in that compartment with those two women, and carrying on what in retrospect was rather superficial conversation, I still have to consider that the highlight of the trip so far and yet another enjoyable travel experience.

I know it's wrong, but we HAD to!

Yes, Vienna has a wonderful cafe culture full of charm and ambiance. And Yes, travel should be about experiencing new and different things. And Yes, globalization is bad and harmful on many, many levels. And finally Yes, we did go and drink coffee in a Starbucks while we were in Vienna, twice in fact, and it was gooooooooood!

Springtime in Vienna

There were so many flower stalls just bursting with beautiful flowers. More amazing though was that there were actually some trees that were blooming and flowers planted in the ground already, it's the beginning of March!!
So the windows of every candy store we passed in Vienna were full of the most amazing Easter displays ever. Little marzipan sheep and chicks, some even popping out of real shells!
Like I said, the Easter displays are just too amazing. Whole crowds of people will crowd around a window to see all the delicate spring-themed confections!!

Beautiful chocolate Easter eggs. These eggs were blown out and then filled with solid chocolate and then decorated. Viennese Easter candy far surpasses the jelly beans and robins eggs sold in the United States.

Vienna

The Secession Building where the Secession movement first began (not familiar with the movement? think of the highly decorative, art noveau style of Klimt) and the building reflects the aesthetics of the movement.

The entrance to the Hofburg from Michaelerplatz. Pretty fancy, huh? But apparently not splendid enough since they had a second summer palace, Schonbrunn, just outside of the center of Vienna.
This statue of Maria Theresa sits between the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Natural History Museum. This empress was a pretty amazing lady (and she must have thought so too since there are statues and buildings dedicated to her all over Vienna) but she had sixteen children, eleven of whom survived, and she ensured peace between nations by marrying off her children strategically and creating alliances with rival nations. What is most amazing though is this woman was one of the most powerful women of her time, ruling a vast empire, and she was either pregnant or caring for small children during most of her reign.
This is the Charles Church which we were not able to go in but the outside was pretty amazing. The huge columns (only one is shown) had a series of images from Charles Borromeo's life spiraling up the side.
Here is Tom and I (while I'm not in the picture I am taking the picture, so it counts) at Naschmarkt which the Rick Steves Guide said translates roughly to Snack Market. To Tom and I it was heaven (we are both major foodies and call Whole Foods a food museum, and also Whole Paycheck). There were fish swimming in tanks, pork roasting with the most delicious aroma, gorgeous selections of produce, and beautiful cheeses, ahhh how I love open air markets!

Because Tom said I could

So Tom also said that I could post a picture of him, so here is the diligent Fulbrighter in his office in Masaryk. The university is beautiful inside with a huge swooping marble staircase and lots of natural light. There is also a cafe in the basement that has tables and big amphitheatre style seating with stairs built in. We sat down there today to enjoy cappuccinos and coconut biscuits before my solo castle adventure (the biscuits are stacked wafers with coconut cream in between then dipped in chocolate, mmmm).
After hiking up the hill to get to the castle I turn around and there is Masaryk University (see it's to the left of the brick church) so I waved and waved to Tom but he didn't wave back, he must not have seen me.

What do chocolate doughnuts and castles have in common?

Uhh, I don't know, maybe they're both filled with goodness?

So I woke up this morning with a tummy ache and went "Sacre Bleau, this cannot be, I must go to the Castle today, I MUST!" Except with a lot less drama since it was early in the morning and I hadn't had any coffee yet. I am happy to report however that the delicious doughnuts that Tom brings to the apartment every morning after his run seems to have made me feel all better. These doughnuts really are amazing, since I have to admit, I have a severe Nutella addiction, and these little fluffy pillows of deliciousness are stuffed with Nutella. It's good that I'm able to get my chocolate hazelnut fix in early in the morning since there are whole jars full of Nutella at the store and I'm working very hard at resisting them. So remember, chocolate doughnut solves all problems (except for perhaps a chocolate allergy). But about the castle visit today that the tummy ache almost foiled: Spilberk is right in the center of Old Brno on the top of the hill and was built in the 13'th century and then later transformed into a Baroque fortress. The site is also somewhat infamous however as it served as a prison after the Napoleonic wars and again by the Nazis (so I guess my earlier comment that both doughnuts and castles are filled with goodness might be incorrect). So expect pictures of the castle at some point and since Tom and I are going to Vienna tomorrow there should be some great pictures from that trip as well. And if I am not able to post for a couple days it will be because I am too busy enjoying sachertorte, strudels and soaking in the culture from the home of Mozart, Freud and the Hapsburgs!

What spells joy? B-A-C-O-N

So funny enough, about a month ago I was a vegetarian. Not really for any specific reason, mostly because I'm not good at cooking meat (and eating it raw is ill-advised) but also because after going long periods without eating it I found I didn't miss it. However, in preparation for the trip we got a Czech cook book, since Czech restaurants haven't really taken off in the U.S. and we wanted to try the cuisine. In the cook book it was a lot of meat. In the section on vegetable dishes the author even joked that they would be more aptly called "things Czechs serve with meat." So, this struck some fear into my little vegetarian heart since I did not want to live on potatoes and beer while I was here. So, I bit the bullet and started getting used to meat again so it wouldn't make me sick while I was here.

Well I'm happy to say that my States side carnivore training has paid off and I am able to eat the many delicious meat dishes served here (like steak with bacon or hot dogs). As part of this, I have been able to enjoy the piece of culinary heaven that is Czech bacon. If you want the world's most delicious bacon, you need to come here to the Czech Republic. I believe I have already extolled the virtues of the bacon when I described the delicious bacon grilled cheese sandwiches Tom and I made for dinner the other night. So, given it's supreme tastiness and ability to make a former vegetarian crave pork, I figured that bacon deserved it's very own posting!