Wandering the web...bacon, booze and other tasty tidbits
For a number of reasons - mostly sloth, indecision, not wanting to brave the tundra outside my door, er, I mean research - I have been wandering around the web a bit today and there is some amusing stuff out there. Things I want to eat, things I want to drink, things I want...so I thought I'd share a few.
Before we start, we should pour ourselves a drink. Something interesting. Something local. Something that includes at least one basic food group. How about Bacon Vodka? McAuliflower of Brownie Points has been doing a little meandering of her own lately, but I think she still lives close enough to be local and I am quite sure she will back me up on bacon being its own food group so I am covered, right?
More tidbits after the jump...
If the drink is inadequate to satisfy your bacon craving, check out this Bacon Cheese Baconburger topped with something that could become one of my favorite things: Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard with Smokey Bacon. Because nothing says heart attack like putting bacon mustard on your bacon cheese baconburger. The crazy person behind this also made "bacon cereal" (apparently based on the idea that dark bits and white liquid in a bowl = cereal) and the Ultimate Bacon Sandwich which may, indeed, be a true statement - in the purest, and purist, sense of the word.
I want one of these clever little travel mugs: Planetary Design Double Shot Travel French Press Mug. With that name, if you ever miss your daily stop at the local espresso shop for a double-tall-svelte-half-caf-with-a-twist you can simply repeat the name: "Planetary Design Double Shot Travel French Press Mug" "Planetary Design Double Shot Travel French Press Mug" See? That takes almost as long to say as your typical coffee order.
Another thing I covet: Blackberry balsamic vinegar - which I promise I will only use on salad, not pancakes like some people. Really. (Don't look at the white chocolate, pumpkin cheesecake with caramel while you are there - I wouldn't want to lead your new year's resolution astray.) Then again, blackberry balsamic, white chocolate, pumpkin cheesecake doesn't sound too bad...
This next one goes on the list of things I do not covet. In fact, if there is an antonym to covet, that's what I do to this. Not that I don't think it should exist. Oh no! I, who loves nothing more than getting small children chanting "marketing!" as we wander the grocery store discussing why putting a cartoon character on food makes it more expensive, love this. It's just that I am thrilled that someone other than me went out and bought the stuff so they could take the pictures. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls (especially the boys and girls), I give you: fast food, ads vs reality - comparison shots of fast food ads and the actual items purchased by some poor soul with a cast iron stomach. Sadly, the filet o fish (didn't they call this a fishwich once...or am I remembering some other planet again?) seems to come closest to looking like the photo in the ad. Not surprisingly, the fish sandwich in the ad is the least appealing of all the ads. On the real one, you can't see the fake-cheese, which is always an improvement. (American cheese food: it's what American cheese eats!)
The NY Times has a non-sarcastic article under a sarcastic headline: At last, a 20,000 cup of coffee (if you don't have an account, use ours: username: kmfriends, password: kitchenMage) Coffee gets it's very own rituals, sort of like a amped-up version of tea. Start with a 20,000 coffee maker (not espresso, just brewed coffee) and add in the perfect swirly stir. What do you get? A cup of coffee. Somehow I think I am not the targeted demographic. Especially when I consider that I once had one of those cool vacuum-bulb coffeepots - not the multi-thousand dollar kind, just a nice one that probably came from Europe because I have a cousin who would have brought an 18 year-old bride who only drank tea a very cool coffeemaker in the hope that I might see the light. I have no idea where the oh-so-cool coffeemaker ended up, but here I sit, with my cup of tea, in the dark.
But at least I have water today. Unlike two days ago, when I discovered that, apparently the dripping faucet was not enough to keep the pipes from freezing. But I hear tundras are like that. Even when they are in the middle of the temperate side of Washington state.