Posts from — May 2010

Along the same lines as this shirt comes this nice looking tee from the folks at Tanga…

You better act quick, this could sell out at any time especially since it’s 1) cool and B) just $7.99 (not including S&H).  Want it?  CLICK HERE.

Thanks to FoTDB Seth (SHOUT OUT!) who bought this to my attention this morning and to his friend Amy (SHOUT OUT) for telling him to go and buy it!

A SHOUT OUT to FoTDB Bobby for letting me know about this article in the Detroit News yesterday:

It really is a nice article and great to see a food writer take a serious look at the phenomenon that has become bacon.

It also helps that we have an unabashed bacon lover Ari Weinzweig, co-owner of Zingerman’s Deli and Zingerman’s, just down the road in Ann Arbor.

Here are some highlights:

Do you suppose if bacon were called anything but bacon that we’d love it as much? Say the word to anyone other than a vegetarian and watch the response: We adore it. Quite simply, bacon is meat candy….

Chefs and home cooks are going whole hog, folding bacon into muffin and waffle batters, wrapping it around seafood and chicken livers, saving the fat to enhance stir fries and to make chocolate gravy (a Southern favorite), and dipping the crispy cooked strips in melted chocolate to really gild the swine…

Bacon also has had its share of taking it on the chin because of its high sodium, fat and calorie content. But compare that to a hot dog or hamburger or even a glazed doughnut, and bacon looks like health food.

“I look at bacon as fine wine,” Weinzweig says. “You need to have more than just one in your repertoire.”

You can read the whole article “Surrender to artisanal bacon — the latest gourmet hit” over at detnews.com.

Also – if you are in the metro Detroit area and love bacon, you do not want to miss Zingerman’s Camp Bacon!

About Camp Bacon
What : Led by Ari Weinzweig, highlights include bacon tasting, curing demonstration from three leading artisan bacon curers, cooking demo, breakfast and lunch from Zingerman’s Deli and a free signed copy of “Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon.”

When: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 19; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 20. Following the June 19 event, the Zingerman’s businesses on Plaza Drive will open their doors until 5 p.m. for a free bacon party with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the Washtenaw County 4H. There will be Bacon Apple Doughnut making at the Bakehouse and Maple-Bacon Lattes from Zingerman’s Coffee Co. Zingerman’s Creamery will be stocking a full line of great bacons for sale that day as well.

Where: Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Creamery and Coffee, 3711 Plaza Drive, Ann Arbor, 48108

Cost : $150 per person

More information or to make reservations : www.zingermanscampbacon.com. Or contact Pete Sickman-Garner, pgarner@zingermans.com or (734) 904.0644.

via The Detroit News:

I have no information about the origin of this…if it’s a real shoe? Photoshopped? Why and for what was it created?  But I appreciate it

via ObviousWinner (site is at least PG-13 kids…just an FYI)

From Torani, makers of fine beverage syrups comes:

Yes, bacon flavored syrup.  This isn’t a joke or delayed April Fools, this one is real.

From the Tonari web site: [Read more →]

Some may think that George Lucas has sold his soul when it comes to Star Wars and merchandising. Well not I.

I believe that we have entered into a golden age of nerdy Star Wars product goodness!!  The latest example:

Next time you go to pull that bacon out of the oven, why not use your Space Slug oven mitt.

Yes, it is the giant asteroid space slug that the Millennium Falcon flew into (and landed in) during The Empire Strikes Back.

Come on!  Even the most jaded of nerds has to admit that this is pretty cool. 

It’s also quite affordable, just $19.99 over at StarWarsShop.com.

via FashionablyGeek

Surfin’ through the interwebs last week and what do I find but some “tasty” tunes.

It’s a digital “mix tape” by Bay Area DJ Enki.  Check out the sweetness, it even includes a little tune that I have dubbed TDB’s official theme song

“That’s Not Beef, That’s Pork” — Atmosphere
“Ham ‘n’ Eggs” — A Tribe Called Quest
“Who’s Got the Bacon?” — Howie B
“High on the Hog” — Tony Borders
“Ham Hocks Espanol” — Jimmy Castor
“Ham Gallery” — Poets of Rhythm
“Hand for the Hog”/”Two Pigs and a Hog”/”Bacon Biscuit Blues” — John Short/Freddie Perren/Aerosmith
“Bacon Fat” — Andre Williams
“Funky Thing” — Chuck Cornish
“Pigs” — Cypress Hill
“Bacon and Eggs” — Kurupt
“Pork Soda” — Primus
“Poke Chop Sandwich” — ZZ Top
“Hoggin’ Ain’t E-Z” — Total Devastation
“Pork” — The Pharcyde
“Selling My Pork Chops” — Memphis Minnie

Wanna listen to the mix?  There is link to download over at Woo-Ha.

From Wednesday of this last week – Craig Ferguson’s interview with Scarlett Johansson as she discusses her love for good ole USA bacon…not that Canadian stuff… 

Watch the whole interview if you like – it’s enjoyable – but to get to the bacon talk, jump to 4:18.

Ah bacon…

That’s right, it’s my birthday bitches!!!  (Sorry, little sassy today!) 

Started off with some great thick cut at breakfast and opening my present to reveil a wonderful bottle of Jameson Gold Reserve from Better Half!  Bacon and Whiskey – HOO-RAY for me.  Thinking a BLT for Lunch and tonight I gots me some tickets to see Iron Man 2 so I am all good in the hood. 

Don’t worry - I haven’t forgot about you, my 10′s of readers. As is becoming “tadition”, here are some photos of great bacon / bacon related cakes!  This year, there was even a “Bacon Explosion” cake (it is a thing of beauty). 

So enjoy! 

[Read more →]

Yesterday Ernie Harwell, the long time broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, died.

This morning I cried.

Mr. Harwell’s passing has been strangely personal for me these last few hours as his death coincided with my remembrance of my grandfather’s birthday.  Many summers were spent in my grandfather’s backyard, with Ernie’s voice coming through the tiny little speakers of a small AM radio.  Through those moments with my grandfather, of which Ernie is forever linked, I grew to love baseball and the Tigers specifically.

I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Harwell years ago when I worked for the Lansing Lugnuts.  We were holding our first Lugnut Charities gala and Ernie was our featured Guest of Honor.  I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to shake his hand and, for the brief minute I had, to let him know how much I appreciated his work.  I am not an “autograph” guy, but I have his and it has been and will always be something that I cherish.

My story is not unique.  Everyone has there own Ernie story.  Each special in there own right and every one affirming not only that he was tremendous talent but what a gracious, generous and kind person he was as well. Allow me to direct you to the very personal and touching piece my friend Larry Lage wrote for USA Today.

Also I would like to share this video of Mr. Harwell’s farewell address to the fans last fall. Thank you DJ for sending.

Rest in peace Ernie.

Today, May 4th, was my grandfather’s birthday. 

On this day, every year, I will be reposting this rememberance I wrote in 2009.  Thank you for indulging me as I take time out to remember the man who profoundly shaped who I am today.

(Two Bald Dudes – circa 1998)

Ronal Willard Scites was born in West Virginia in 1921.  A true “hillbilly”, he went barefoot in the mountains.  He would tell us story after story that ended with him getting a switch across the backside, whether from a teacher or his parents.  Grandpa liked to get in trouble a little. 

He served in the Philippines during World War Two and found his way to Detroit when he returned home.  He married Betty DeRush and stayed together until her death in 1987.  They raised two daughters, Gail and Renee and lost one son at birth.

Grandpa went to work for the U.S. Postal Service and was a mailman for over 25 years.  Eventually his back, injured during the war would not allow him to continue doing the job he loved and he retired early.  That didn’t stop him though…he finally found medical relief for his back and would end up working for yet another 25 years in some respect or another.

He didn’t travel outside of the U.S. after the war, but saw plenty of this country from the driver’s seat of his Chevy Impala.  I remember many trips in the back end of his power blue boat!

When I was a child, I started calling him G.P. and that remains my name for him.  He loved that nickname and would tell all the neighborhood kids to call him that.

He bought me my first baseball glove and many summer nights were spent in his lush, green backyard playing catch!  Me trying to throw the ball as hard as I could to make his glove snap and see him shake his hand as he did a little “ouch” dance.

Grandpa was very involved in the local Masonic organizations.  He was in Masonary, Eastern Stars, Scottish Rite and Shrine.  Through him, his daughters were introduced to the Masonic fraternity through Jobs Daughters and his grandchildren through Jobs and DeMolay.

He was the first person I wanted to tell everything too…I lived to make him proud!  To see his smile meant the world to me.

To this day I have NEVER had pancakes as good as those he made!

He passed away a year and a half ago, but the hole in my heart still hasn’t closed.  I will always miss him.

He wasn’t a great man nor a perfect man, but he was an incredible role model and I can only hope that I’m even half the man, son, brother, father, grandfather he was!

Looking through some items the other day, I found this interview I did with him for a class I had at MSU.  Hearing his voice again, even with us discussing something like WWII, brought a smile across my face. I have attached it below.  Please ignore my rudimentary interviewing skills…

I love you G.P.