Posts from — January 2009

So after my horrendous day yesterday and physical inability to get out of bed, I had a lot of email to get through today.

An effective email should have a strong subject line, maybe something like this…

“Bacon is LOVE!”

That was the actual line in a message today from one of my favorite establishments, Archie McPhee.

I joined the cult of McPhee over a decade ago after I bought some giant light bulb lamps for a party I was hosting (also picked up a pair of giant underpants just for the heck of it). Over the year’s I’ve bought the occasional rubber chicken and bizarre action figure, but what I truly appreciate about McPhee’s is there great line of bacon themed products.

In today’s email the first product featured was …

BACON WATCH
Not only does the face of the watch have our own Mr. Bacon on it, but the watchband looks like a delicious piece of bacon. It will take all your willpower to keep from gnawing it off your arm. Perfect for the meat lover!
http://www.mcphee.com/items/11925.html

Bacon watch not your speed, well how about the bacon dental floss, a bacon wallet, bacon band aids or even bacon gunballs.

Oh Archie, you truly know the way to my heart!

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday…I got a NASTY stomach virus which essentially kept me flat on my back (except when I had to run to the restroom) and sipping Gatorade.

Better now, but I don’t wish that upon anyone!

Had a meeting out of the office this afternoon, so that gave me an excuse to get away from my typical haunts around our business park.  I ended up at the Grand Traverse Pie Company on 15 Mile in Troy.  I pass by this place a lot on my way to and from work and thought I’d give it a chance.

I thought it would be like the old Baker’s Square restaurants with more of a full menu, table service, etc.  It was set up more like a Panera and featured salads, soups and sandwiches along with homemade pot pies and quiches (along with plenty of desert pies as well).

While I did not have a sandwich with bacon THIS TIME, I am intrigued by the “cherry wood smoked bacon” they tout throughout their menu.

My lunch was still quite good.  It was a tasty little turkey sandwich!  Went ahead and got a salad too as I do need to eat vegetables on occasion.

So if there is one near you, stop by.  I think you’d like it.

In the spirit of the inauguration, of hope and change…here’s a fun little application!

Enjoy!

As January 1st approached, I began to work on some content for this new site.  That meant consumption!

I eat a lot of bacon, across multiple brands (usually whatever was on-sale when I went to the grocery store). One of the first things I thought about in terms of content was to do regular “reviews” of what I bought!

So today, we kick off my “Makin’ Bacon” reviews* with Oscar Mayer Center Cut!

First the packaging.  It comes in a resealable container.  At first I thought that this was pretty handy, you wouldn’t have to cook the whole pound, just a few slices at a time.  But then I remembered, I always cook the whole package!  Why would I need to keep uncooked bacon fresh?  If you are one of those people who can resist temptation or don’t have a large family where you’d cook the whole package, you’d appreciate this.

The 16oz. package I had provided 16 slices.  They were pretty evenly sliced, but short (center cut and all).

So…in the oven!  I cook ALL bacon on two foil lined tray at 425 degrees for 12-16 minutes (I always peak to check color…if it’s really fatty bacon, it cooks a little faster).  I use two sheets so that all the bacon cooks evenly (if you just put the slices on the tray that the first batch was cooked in, the fat makes it easy to overcook).

You can see from the image above that it didn’t quite cook evenly.  This cut didn’t have as much fat on it, so you can see where the meat side didn’t cook evenly with the fatty side.

Eating a slice, it had a nice smoke flavor to it.  The fat melted nicely, but because it cooked uneven, there were little corners where it was a little chewy.  Also, given it’s size, it really doesn’t make for a “hearty, meaty breakfast accompaniment.”

It is however perfect for sandwiches.

I decided to have this batch for lunch.  You can see how well the individual slices fit on bread.  After cooling and placing in the fridge for about an hour, the bits that weren’t quite done firmed up.

Center cut is supposed to be “premium” cut and it cost a good $2 – 3.00 more than regular cut bacon.  Thing is that buying good long strips of regular cut bacon, you’d essentially double the volume of bacon and pay less.  Sure there may be more fat on the slice, but that should help it cook evenly.

Good on sandwiches, not a bad taste but had to pay more for it, it cooked unevenly and the slices were really small. Oscar Mayer Center Cut Bacon, I give you five PIGGIES EATING BACON.

* as has been stated previously, reviews are made with the understanding that I am not a chef nor do I have a sophisticated palate.  I am just a simple Midwest boy who digs on bacon.

USA!

Better Half heard this story on ABC’s coverage of the inauguration:

John F. Kennedy wanted a bacon breakfast the morning of his inaugural but was unable to as he was Catholic and it was a Friday and so alas, no meat!

I went to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum website and found this on “favorite foods”:

We can not verify that this was President John F. Kennedy’s favorite breakfast, but he did prefer orange juice, poached eggs on toast, crisp broiled bacon, marmalade, milk and coffee.

As parties come together on this day to celebrate the peaceful transition of government, can we not all agree that BACON IS GOOD?!?

OINK!

Two weeks in and the bacon nation is growing! And who do they look to for their news?  Why the unbiased reporting of “The Daily Bacon“!

I thank the TENS of you for coming by.  The comments I have received mean a lot! Here’s to cracking 100 daily views.

Today, a little corner in the Googleverse.  Tomorrow………

OINK!

I get back from that fateful trip to Wendy’s on Friday and begin to do my usual check of email when I see that I received a Facebook message from Suneil Singh (shout out!).  Suneil is the brother of my boy Sam Singh (SHOUT OUT!) who is currently 12 months into his 16 month trip around the world (check out his site at SinghAroundTheWorld.com – I built it ).

Anywho…here was Suneil’s message to me…

“Emergency – baird, we need to talk asap. holla. XXX-XXX-XXXX” (number left off to protect the innocent)

Okay, a few things here:

• Earlier that week, Sam sent me his revised insurance information.
• Sam was now traveling to South Africa
• You could count the number of times Suneil ever emailed / called me on one hand with all five fingers cut off.
• His email said “EMERGENCY”

So I start freakin’ out…is everything okay?  What happened to Sam?  Is he hurt?  What type of care do they have in whatever city he’s in? Do I have to shut down his site?  What do we tell people?

I grab the phone and dial frantically…it rings…Suneil picks up and says “Let me call you back in five.”  “Okay” I reply and we hang up.

Now I am really going into emotional overdrive…who’s he talking to?  His parents?  The hospital?  The South African consulate?

So 10 minutes pass and he calls back.

“Hey, I’ve been reading your blog and I have some ideas for you…”

Seems he was writing down a bunch of suggestions and erased his email, so in a hurry, he reached out to get a hold of me while everything was fresh in his head.

Now Suneil..I truly appreciate a long time blogger like yourself taking a interest in my little piece of the interwebs.  Your suggestions were great for future content and I’ll be adding some of them rather quickly.  BUT DUDE!!!  In hindsight, the “holla” should have tipped things to the casual…but REALLY!!!

So that – you could say – was my first bacon induced HEART ATTACK!

Weekly Deals for Detroit Area Stores – 1/19/09:*

Kroger -Private Selection Center Cut (2 for $6 / 16 oz.)

Meijer – Meijer Sliced Bacon ($1.89  – regular 16oz., center cut 12oz.)

Hiller’s – Oscar Mayer ($3.99 your choice – original & low salt 16oz., center cut & all natural 12oz.)

Busch’s – No advertised bacon deals this week.

Go Get Some!!

Need to see another store on the list…let me know!

* I don’t believe in Wal-Mart, so if you grocery shop there, you’ll have to find out about the specials your own self!

It was a very busy week this week, but I was still able to nerd out quite a bit…here’s a quick breakdown:

Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. settled dispute over the distribution rights to Watchmen, so it looks to still arrive in theaters on March 6th!

BEST EPISODE OF SMALLVILLE EVER this week as Clark met the founding members of the Legion of Super Heroes.  The ep was written by Geoff Johns and was, after 8 years, what I always hoped Smallville would be. Geoff is DC Comics’ hottest writer right now and I gladly spend a bunch of bucks each week to read his stuff.

BATMAN died this week (at least Bruce Wayne).  In a mini-series called Final Crisis, Batman took on Darkseid and was blasted by his Omega Beams.  The final panel of issue 6 of Final Crisis hearkened back to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths AND Batman: Death in the Family with a full panel shot of Superman cradling Batman’s shriveled body.

Speaking of Batman, I have been playing Lego:Batman on the PC and LOVE IT!!  I was a huge fan of the Lego: Star Wars games that came out about 2 – 3 years ago. I finished all levels today (both hero and villain) and now am going back to find all the hidden items.  Right now, I’ve completed / found 71%.

I have also been watching the new Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon on Cartoon Network and I got to tell you, I really dig it.  The art is pretty simple yet dynamic, the voice work convincing, the writing…well it is a kids cartoon.  But all in all, it’s entertaining!  What’s really cool is the shear number of characters they’ve introduced, some in a cartoon for the very first time.  Same sort of game plan as the last year of Justice League Unlimited.

The giant Lego Death Star that Better Half  got me for Christmas has been “completed”.  I am missing 3 pieces that are keeping me from calling this finished.  Ordered the spares from Lego.com.  It is real big!!  More on putting this beast together later this week.

Last but not least, watching the Ultimate Avengers animated feature tonight.  Both 1 and 2 are currently available On Demand.

Yup – I am 37 years old!!  And yes, I have had sex with a woman!