Bacon links

Today, someone forwarded me this link. Can't say I'm eager to try them, especially at $2.50 a pop.

Also, while writing yesterday's post, I came across this, a site dedicated to providing a new bacon recipe every day.

Strangely delicious

For lunch I had a bacon and orange marmalade sandwich.

Recipe pilfered from here. In my rush to consume, I forgot to take a picture, so check out theirs.

Next time, I'll use more bacon and less marmalade. My sandwich came out too sweet. That's probably because I was using Bonne Maman marmalade, which isn't the best I've had, but was the best I could get in a pinch. (This is the best marmalade I've had.)

Nevertheless, I still managed to produce a sandwich that paired the bacon's salty smoke with the marmalade's sweet bitterness. Using pumpernickel is an interesting choice. The caraway gives the sandwich heft and complexity it wouldn't otherwise have and I think choosing it over rye provides a nice aesthetic.

I have high hopes for the next one. I might have it tomorrow. Or in an hour.

An ode

Right now, I'm nearly out of groceries. This was the case yesterday too. I'm still putting off shopping until the weekend, but I traipsed down to the corner store yesterday for one item.

Half and half.

Half and half is how I know I absolutely need coffee. In an utterly stuck-with-it-and-can't-live-without-it way.

Now, I can go without having coffee in the house. There's a cafe a few blocks away that serves a perfectly acceptable americano. For a good one, I can take a five-minute drive.

But I work from home, and if there's coffee in the house, I would prefer to drink it.

Right now, I have a bag of unexceptional Community Reserve. Tomorrow, I'll get a bag of real coffee from Orleans Coffee Exchange.

Everything about this coffee makes my heart sing. From the Sulawesi's buttery foam to the Harrar's blueberry finish. I'm already excited.

How to make friends and influence people

This weekend, I went to a two-day party in Jackson, Miss. It was sort of a reunion with the college pals. As it was a party, I thought it might be nice to imbibe spirits.

I remembered how, when I was in college, most of us couldn't afford more than Milwaukee's Best, probably the worst beer ever made. To this day, the thought of drinking it makes me gag and I generally drink either High Life or PBR, so I'm hardly a snob. (Yes, someone will suggest otherwise in comments. They are silly and wrong. Pay them no attention.)

Since I have a job these days - not a great one, but good enough so that I can afford a bottle of booze - I headed over to the liquor store. Unlike my fair city, Mississippi law forces its citizens to purchase liquor in designated areas, the puritans. It's also the home of one of my favorite blue laws - no alcohol sales the day before an election. Presumably, legislators feared the people would drink too much and forget to vote.

I headed to Kat's on Fortification Street, where I found a few bottles of Pyrat rum tucked away on the top shelf in fancy over-sized packaging. Score! The retailer explained they were leftover from the holiday season and they don't usually carry Pyrat. It's a good thing I made him open it for me too. The faux-pirate's chest might have looked nice, but he had a devil of a time getting it out of all that styrofoam.

If you've never had Pyrat, you're missing a delightful rum. It's dark and sweet and smooth, with hints of vanilla and grapes. Easily my favorite, ever since my buddy George poured me a glass a few years ago. Usually, Pyrat sells for about $35 for a 750 ml bottle, but these were only $22. I considered buying one that night and one to take home, but my job isn't that good.

As you can imagine, 750 ml is a lot of rum and there was only one of me. But it was a pretty big party and the guy with the bottle of booze is everyone's friend, right? Unsurprisingly, that bottle didn't last the night.

Now, if you're the guy waltzing around with a bottle of good rum on Friday, how do you follow that up on Saturday?

My answer: Patron.