Day 5: Sunday, March 5

I don’t know what brunch is like where you live, but brunch here in South Florida is an event.  People get dressed up, make plans or reservations, take limos… here’s an example at one of my favorite hangouts, Salt7, and their weekly Sunday Funday event, “The Brunch”:


 

One thing that is a brunch staple – besides mimosas and Bloody Marys – is bacon.  Brunch without bacon is like… well… anything without bacon – infinitely worse.  But I found something in my refrigerator that was somewhat close:  sausage.  So my Sunday brunch (without leaving the house) consisted of champagne from yesterday’s Veuve Clicquot event, omelets, and sausage:


Sunday is also my “cheat day” from my newly-found lifestyle of working out and eating better.  (Funny how my bacon-free Lent coincided with my “eating better”, huh? )  So I decided to take Susan to this fairly-new restaurant, 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria.  You can go pick your unlimited toppings and they fire up your pizza in a really hot oven – and your pizza is ready in two minutes.

When I got there, I saw their beer bar and thought, “Too bad I can’t drink beer, because I gave it up for Lent.”  (Yes, I gave up bacon and beer.)  Then I remembered – Sundays don’t count during Lent!  Oh glorious day!  So ended up ordering bacon on my pizza (along with Canadian bacon, since you don’t want to ignore the neighbors from the north).  Everything – for one meal – seems right in the world.

Day 2: Thursday, March 2

After a healthy fish dinner last night, I sat in my home office working all morning when the first pangs of hunger hit me.  I started thinking, “What delicious meat dish am I enjoying today before the first meat-free Friday of Lent tomorrow?”

Suddenly my dog Milo starts barking and running for the front door.  I didn’t hear a knock, but Man’s Best Friend has much better hearing than I do, so I surmised it must be a delivery person leaving something at the door.  After all, I was expecting an Amazon Prime delivery.

When I opened my door, I picked up this bundle of joy:

A package of porkHOLY COW – I mean HOLY PIG!  I then remembered my good friend Bill texted me a few days ago telling me to look up Tender Belly.  I went to the site and found that they are purveyors of such product lines as “Pork Packages” and “Amazing Bacon”.  I scrolled down their site, and found a sight to behold – a looping background of sizzling bacon.  You really need to go check this out… now.

Since Bill won’t be here ’til next weekend, I thought I’d better get this into the freezer.  When I opened the pillow-like package, I found that the contents were still frozen, kept cold by a freezer gel pack and some pretty serious insulation… and some really nice notes!

I contacted Bill, when he asked, “What did you give up for Lent this year?”  Duh.  Well, I guess we’ll have to find some creative way to enjoy this bacon when he visits next weekend.  Oh, wait… Sundays aren’t part of Lent, are they?  😉

Gallery

Fat Tuesday: Day 0

Another Lent is upon us, so we did it up right this year.  Joined by friends Danielle and Rubén, I spent a week at Mardi Gras.  New Orleans’ version of Carnival fills the city and surrounding areas with weeks of parades, parties, music, food, drink, and all sorts of excess.

 

Carnival means “farewell to the flesh”, so Fat Tuesday is the last hurrah.  It is the day to indulge yourself in pleasure, since Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a 46-day time of atonement and non-indulgence.  This is why Carnival season – and especially Fat Tuesday – is full on drinking, dancing, partying, and indulging in meats and sweets (such as King cake).

Since I give up bacon (and sometimes more) during Lent, I’ve decided to end Fat Tuesday enjoying something that pairs well with bacon – a fine bourbon.  Thanks to Larry & Christian for the bacon, Brooke & Josie for the bourbon, and Salt7 for the fantastic venue.  And last but not least, Angel’s Envy for making such a fine product.

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Best Bacon Birthday Gift

It was my birthday a couple weeks ago, and my friends Eva and Luke gave me a great birthday gift which was worthy of a blog post.

First of all, the great wrapping paper  🙂

gift1

That’s some fine wrapping… care of Tar-zhay!  (that’s Target, but fancy)

Now, I had a sneaky suspicion what might be under the wrapping paper… but boy, was I still pleased!

gift2

Now, that’s 1.5lb of Wright Applewood Smoked Bacon, 1.5lb of Pecanwood Thick Cut Bacon, a pack of Jones Cherrywood Smoked Bacon, and a pack of Farmland Thick Cut Hickory-Smoked Bacon!

A bacon-lover’s dream… thanks Eva and Luke!

Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest

March 29th was the 6th Sunday of Lent, and it was also the 2nd day of the inaugural Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest.  I was out-and-about in Delray Beach on Saturday, but since Sundays don’t count during Lent, I waited until the 2nd day of the festival to attend so I could enjoy some yummy bacon.

Since I heard the festival was a sell-out on Saturday and that they may have temporarily run out of bacon, I decided to make some for breakfast before leaving the house.  Of course, I sliced up some of the best bacon in the world, Nueske’s Applewood-Smoked Bacon – sliced it up thick, of course.  Again, thanks to Larry from Salt7 for the Nueske’s bacon!

nueskes nueskes_cooked

The festival gates opened at 1pm on Sunday, so we decided to get there a few minutes before to avoid the crowds.  Good thing we did, because there was already a line to get it – and a longer line at the ticket tables.  What do you wear to such an event?  Well, I went with a Christmas gift from my girlfriend’s brother-in-law Bobby – reminds me of the logo of the AMC television show Breaking Bad:

warren

The first things we saw after walking in are buckets of peanuts at every table (nice touch) and the Fireball Whiskey booth.  We’d be returning to that booth… several times.

peanuts fireball

Because we heard the lines at the bars were long on Saturday, we decided to knock that out first.  Specialty cocktails were $8, and bourbons were $16 and $20.

drinks bar

Next was the food.  The booths reminded me of Delray Beach’s Garlic Fest, but instead of garlic, everything had bacon.

foodbooths_1 foodbooths_2

food_1 food_2

Entrees were all $12 – I started with the bacon-wrapped sausage:

sausage

Time for another drink.  Instead of waiting in line at one of the main bars, I went to the Smoke Inn booth where they were serving up maple bacon old fashioneds.  When I got back to our table, I found that Javier just got a bacon parfait – that’s mashed potatoes and pork belly topped with gravy.  Looked good enough to eat!

maple_bacon_old_fashioned bacon_parfait

Now it was time to meet Cheryl from Nueske’s, the title sponsor of the festival.  She was attending with her friends Ann and Marjorie.  We also checked out the pig races – winner gets a small bottle of Fireball!  We decided not to wait in line to play… we just hit the Fireball booth again and paid for shots.

cheryl pig_races

All-in-all, we thought Delray Beach’s first attempt at Bacon & Bourbon Fest was a fun time.  I think all the negative comments I read after the first day came from people who were denied entry because they didn’t purchase tickets online before the event.  Everything I read about the event said to buy tickets early, and that there would be a limited amount of tickets available at the gate.  So next year, buy your tickets online everyone!

Nueske’s Bacon

This is it, everyone.  What the New York Times called the “beluga of bacon, the Rolls-Royce of rashers”… Nueske’s Bacon.  Nueske’s is a specialty meats supplier out of Wisconsin whose tagline is “The World’s Best Applewood-Smoked Meats” – that alone is enough to make your mouth water.

So, my old friend Larry, the GM at Salt7, knows all about my trials and tribulations of giving up bacon for Lent.   He also knows that Sundays don’t count during Lent (maybe because I told him), so what does he do yesterday?

He gives me a slab of Nueske’s Applewood-Smoked Bacon to take home and enjoy today, that’s what!

nueskes

This piece of uncut meat smells so sweet and savory, I almost didn’t want to slice it.  But when I did, I made sure to slice it nice and thick – thicker than you’ll ever find in any store-bought bacon.

nueskes_sliced

I noticed the difference while cooking the bacon too – higher-quality bacon does not exhibit a lot of far runoff, and doesn’t shrivel up into nothingness.  The thickness of the cut also deters curling.  What you end up with is nice meaty chunks of bacon goodness.

nueskes_cooked

So what did I do with all these amazing bacon?  I decided to top our dinners with it – that night’s being grilled chicken.  That huge piece of bacon almost covers an entire chicken breast!

nueskes_chicken

And I’ve got a lot of uncooked bacon to spare… what to do for next Sunday….

Oh – just to remind you:  Nueske’s is the title sponsor for this weekend’s Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest… don’t miss it!

Thanks again Larry and Salt7!

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Nothing says Sunday like brunch at Caffe Luna Rosa.  And every time I go to Luna Rosa, I order a side of bacon with my first drink – and it comes out within minutes.  This morning, I think we started with three orders of bacon:

Luna_Rosa_bacon

Caffe Luna Rosa’s famous applewood-smoked bacon

I love this bacon.  I actually drove up from South Beach one morning just for the bacon.  Do you know what else I love at Luna?  Their bloody marys – they come with an antipasto salad on top!

Luna_Rosa_bloody_mary

They always have some great bunch specials at Luna Rosa!  This morning, I opted for the Lobster & Filet Mignon Benedict.  I mean, I don’t know how you can say no to that!  (unless you don’t eat meat)

lobster_filet_benedict

The boys must have enjoyed their bacon appetizers, because they ordered more bacon with their meals!

chase

Thank you Missy for the wonderful brunch!

Twenty-sixth Day of Lent

My good friends Missy & Beaudon – and their sons Alex & Chase – got in town today, visiting from Longwood for the weekend.  They met me, Susan, & Meredith at my favorite happy hour spot – Salt7 – for some cocktails and apps before headed to dinner after Casey, Roger, and Katelynne got there.

Today’s choice for dinner was Racks Fish House & Oyster Bar.  I honestly have never dined there for dinner – only for a stone crab claw at the bar once.  I was impressed by the menu and the extensive bar selection.

I started with the raw bar – in the steam kettles they make a daily preparation of mussels.  Today’s preparation was in a white wine, butter, & garlic sauce with jalepenos and andouille sausage.   Very tasty – I could have used more sausage though.  After all – I gave up bacon for Lent… ha!  (Missy got the same thing but without the sausage… I asked for her sausage)

mussels

For our entree, Susan and I split the seared scallops & pork belly – now that’s more like it.  This came in a vanilla puree, mushrooms, and a truffle shallot jus.  The scallops were huge!

scallops

I washed it down with a couple IPAs, Susan had a couple glasses of pinot grigio.  Nice evening with some good friends!

3rd Sunday of Lent

Ah, Sunday – another day we can eat sweet, sweet bacon.  But have you ever imagined bacon in a healthy meal?  Well boys and girls, I’ve been on sort of a health kick, running three times a week and working out in days between.  And with the new health kick, I’ve been trying to eat better.  You many not believe it from all the posts and pictures in this blog, but I’ve got a couple health(ier) recipes up my sleeve.

One of my favorites is a Bacon Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad.  As the base, I use spinach, bacon crumbles, and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.  Then I start looking in the fridge to see what I can add to it – shrimp, for example, makes a nice protein.

Next comes the cheese.  Usually, I use gorgonzola, but feta or bleu cheese works too.

Today, I found some blackberries that were left over from National Margarita Day, so I threw some of those in along with some bleu cheese crumbles and topped with crushed peanuts.

Bacon Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad with Blackberries and Bleu Cheese

Bacon Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad with Blackberries and Bleu Cheese

Whaddya think?

Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest

from Flickr Creative Commons

from Flickr Creative Commons

Hey South Floridians!  My own city of Delray Beach – which was named 2012 Most Fun Town in America by Rand McNally & USA Today – is hosting its own bacon festival!  From the same people that bring you the Delray Beach Garlic Fest and the Wine & Seafood Festival comes the 1st Annual Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest, March 28 & 29th!  And because March 29th falls on a Sunday, all you people that gave up bacon for Lent need not worry – come and enjoy the bacon!

This event, 3 years in the making, will celebrate our most flavorful food and the quintessential American liquor.  Why bacon & bourbon?  “We just thought it would be a great hook to come up with some creative menus with bacon and bourbon,” said Nancy Stewart, executive director of the festival.

The Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest will be a little more upscale than the city’s other festivals.  No plastic cups here – bourbon will be served in glassware.  Also, there are only a limited number of tickets available.

From their website:

“We bring you a wide ranging menu of bacon and pork related dished from the sublime (Braised Pork Bellies with Tamari, Garlic, Ginger & Chili Peppers) to the insane (Bacon Ice Cream anyone?). Menu items developed by chefs exploring the boundaries of New American Cuisine and the Farm to Table movement to good old fashioned comfort foods, just like Mom used to make!”

“Completing the palate pleasing properties of bacon, we also bring to you an eclectic selection of bourbon and whiskeys. The distiller’s art and patient techniques are shared in a series of seminars and tastings. All intended to enhance your knowledge and pleasure of American made Bourbon and whiskey. Although, we may throw an Irish-made whiskey into the mix for historical purposes.”

For more info and to purchase tickets. visit http://www.delraybaconfest.com/, and check out their Facebook and Instagram pages too!