Bacon Bits, Grillin' and Illin'

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.

This will be a shorter blog than the last few weeks. As you'll read below, I've been under the weather.

High Concepts

I was unsure of how to begin the blog this week. Craig had an interesting first line. “Hamish, the dog, dragged me into an AA meeting while looking for donuts.” That was my first choice, but I decided to save it for a new segment of 'Conversations with Craig.' There is also a mention of lederhosen, but that can't be confined to a single sentence. Surprisingly, lederhosen comes up fairly often in this part of Los Angeles. There are lots of German tourists who enjoy wearing traditional clothes while touring. But I digress. There were other lines that came up during the week. However, none suited my twisted philosophy like the slogan for Bacon Salt 'Because everything should taste like bacon.' Now, I don't believe that everything should taste like bacon. That would be really weird on fruit or ice cream. But I do love the taste of bacon. That singular flavor is one of my many reasons for avoiding vegetarianism. This product offers some tantalizing possibilities. It claims to be vegetarian and kosher somehow. I imagine that it created in a similar fashion as liquid smoke, turning the vapors into something that can be tasted and smelled. I can certainly see some useful applications in things like dry rubs. Craig was truly gleeful about the thought of such a substance. His girlfriend is a vegetarian. Thus, Bacon Salt opens all sorts of new possibilities for mayhem with her recipes. And I suppose that guilt-free bacon flavor makes about as much sense as Vodka infused with vitamins and anti-oxidants.

Month of Fun – Almost Done

Why almost? We never did the seafood extravaganza. Starting Tuesday of last week, I fell ill followed by Jon. I was only consuming soup for a few of the days. The illness sure forced me to stay off my feet for most of the week. I was reminded once again how much news broadcasts annoy me. One of the city's leading anchormen was using the word foreclosure when he should have been saying furlough. This same genius also announced that the charges against Phil Spector had been dismissed when he was about to be sentenced for murder. Meanwhile on CNN, another stellar anchor said she thought that a hung jury meant a suspect couldn't be tried again. At that point, I turned on The People's Court which makes a lot more sense. Why was I watching daytime TV, you ask. My head was too full of cotton to write. I made very little progress on business plans or anything else I was supposed to be working on last week. The other problem was extreme queasiness. I actually had a real portion of dinner only yesterday. Needless to say, this week was not a good time to take on oysters. Thus, the Seafood Extravaganza will have to be next weekend.

I did have fun last week right up to falling ill. Grilling was a lot of fun. I haven't pulled out the keg shaped grill since our first summer in this apartment. It's not easy to set up a grill in the courtyard. A pool dominated the space, and what's left is usually full of running children. Thus, I timed the cooking for the morning when most of the residents are out of the building at church or some sort of kid related activity. By the time everyone began to trickle back, the coals were cold and ready for disposal. The menu was very simple: burgers, ribs and brats. The ribs and brats were braised before I put them on the grill to finish cooking, so they didn't take very long. I did the burgers and the onions at the same time. We wrapped everything up and left it to warm in the oven until it was time to eat. And worry not, this was not purely a meat feast. We had lovely fresh corn and I made tabouleh and hummus to go along with my Mom's potato salad. That was fun! Today, I'm still eating mostly soup though I think I can handle some crepes with fresh berries for dinner. Don't be too impressed. I'm not making the crepes from scratch. I just can't seem to get that to work. Our local market has credible packaged crepes. I'm just making the filling and the sauce.

I had some fun in more lucid moments during the week. I looked into flights to Philly. I also found that I had to go to some of the city's tourism pages. There are a lot of restaurants and other points of interest that have sprung up over the years that Jon and I haven't visited. I'm hoping to have some time to take in one or two of those. And since our luggage disintegrated after our last trip to France (we had to borrow luggage to take our last trip to Philly), I've been shopping for new luggage. I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed looking at luggage. Weird, I know.

Writing Updates

There isn't much to report on any of the projects. We've been preoccupied with helping a friend with her business plan. That's been a very involved process that is is still ongoing. I'm waiting for comments on my portion of the plan, so I can refine it. I'm also waiting for Jon's comments on the Blood Oath scripts, so I can refine those. While I'm, waiting, I'm working on the cookbook and sketches. Mostly, I'm babying myself so I can face the work week. Ugh.

Next week – Updates and Conversations with Craig