The bacon explosion

Here’s a heart-stopping recipe that has taken off in a big way.

Bacon wrapped around pork sausage wrapped around more bacon, in one big roll. Cooked on a smoker, then coated with barbecue sauce.

Photo by Don Ipock for The New York Times

The recipe was created last December by Jason Day and Aaron Chronister, and is posted on their website  BBQAddicts.com. It is also now in the New York Times.

Youtube had multiple videos of people trying to make this thing, with various degrees of success [search on bacon explosion for a laugh]. Some people are “making it their own” by adding cheese and other accoutrements.

The first one to make this, let me know. I do not have a smoker, sigh.

 

Where’s our wine?

We Husband orders a lot of wine from Carolina Wine Company in Raleigh.

I mean, cases of the stuff, much of it futures, which means CWC cuts a deal with the maker of the wine, which is not ready yet, we purchase it, and when it comes in, we haul ourselves down there and pick it up.

All of this worked out okay – until now.

It appears Carolina Wine has gone awol.

First, there were like 5 email messages a day advertising wine – we used to get 1 or 2 a day.

Then there was an email that their phone system, web site, & point of sales system have gone out, they are working on fixing it, and will be back in a week.

It has been more than a week and now there are rumblings that they have gone missing.

The owner, Chrish Peel, is unreachable, the website is down, the store shut, and the restaurant he co-owns, Enoteca Vin, has suddenly closed. A friend of mine has tried to reach his home phone, there is no answer there either.

And we, like many others, have paid orders pending, which I doubt we will ever get. Not the wine, not the money back. And this is not chump change, this is lots of money.

Grumble.

[There are lots of others not happy with this - it is all the talk on Robert Parker's site.]

Happy year of the Ox 牛

The year of the ox is associated with hard work, prosperity, and new beginnings.

Also this is a good time for intellectual endeavors and it is an auspicious time for the arts.

All good things.

Cowherd's Lullaby -Year of the Ox

So long

Sorry I have not been around in a while, it has been a rough week.

Last Friday, my aunt passed away. She lived to 91, a nice old age, but it is still hard to lose her.

We went up to NYC for the funeral. My father, her younger brother, was not well enough to travel from Florida, so I asked him if he wanted me to write something for him that I could read at the service. His memories, his thoughts? He did, and I did.

My aunt believed that family is more important than anything else. I learned that from her. She was a wise woman, the second woman to graduate from Hunter College with a social work degree.

Everytime I crossed the GW bridge, I looked up the Hudson river and could make out her building. She used to sit on her terrace over the Hudson and watch the boats go by. I don’t think I will ever stop doing that.

When I asked my father how he feels about losing his sister, he said that he does not feel like he’s lost her, he feels like she is still around.

He can only say “so long” – he can never say “goodbye.”

So long.

Carrying history

There is a lot of Obamabelia around, and now there is the Obama tote.

It is printed with the New York Times first page headline announcing Obama’s election victory.

It is on sale tomorrow (1/17) at The Market NYC, and can also be purchased online from Elefants + Donkees.

You’ll see

I predict that this guy will win American Idol season 8.

 

His name is Scott MacIntyre and he is blind. And he can sing. And play the piano.

[They removed the original video I posted from youtube, so here is a new one]

Here’s the one they removed – in case it miraculously comes back…

Doggy Bag

I saw this at Conrans in New York City.

[Poor dog, I chopped off her ear.]

“Marry Me”

I love this short. It is from the TropFest film festival in Australia.

It is called “Marry Me” and is about a young girl who wants to marry a young boy [who has a mullet, lol]. It is simple, sweet, yet speaks volumes. The ending is great.

Wait

Last week I blogged in anticipation of seeing Clay Aiken at the Spamalot stage door and finally getting my Playbill signed. Oops.

Here’s what happened.

[warning - there may be a curse word (or 2) in here...]

Three nights in NYC

Sunday night in NYC, we went to dinner with friends at Sip Sak, a Turkish restaurant, and then we went to the Spamalot stage door to get my Playbill signed by Clay Aiken[oops.] It was not what we expected. I will be posting about that soon – Oops 2. [There may be video, if I can get it working.]

Monday night, we went to the 2nd Ave. Deli [best pastrami in town], and then to Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland. Monday nights are open mike night, where a mix of accomplished Broadway stars and new people wanting exposure get up and entertain. You go there, you never know who will show up. The atmosphere is straight out of the old movies, a nightclub with small tables around the stage, with drinks/food service.

Paul Shaeffer, from the David Letterman show, was there and played piano impromptu, to accompany this really good guy singer from England who sang “The Birth of the Blues.” [I have video of that too, see note above.]

So was Miss New York, who will be competing in the Miss America pageant in a few weeks and was there to practice her performance for the talent portion of the competition. She was pretty good.

Also, this guy who was a writer on Seinfeld and Cheers got up and “sang” a funny song he wrote.

Tuesday night we went to the Met to see La Boheme. It was beautiful, and the scenery was fantastic. We had dinner reservations there too, but cancelled them because we were late getting out of the doctor’s office, and it was supposed to snow and ice that night, so we decided to cancel and not wear our “fine” clothes and my new shoes in a slushy mess while waiting for cabs that are hard to get in slushy messes.