Bacon and Eggs

It would simply be un-American of anyone not to love Saturday morning. What other day can you wake up at the hour of your choosing to make the breakfast of your choosing? Above you see my Saturday morning breakfast. Black Forest bacon, two eggs sunny side up, sauteed mushrooms and onions, and a slice Challah (homemade yesterday) which was also fried in the bacon drippings after the mushrooms and onions. This meal brings me great joy.

Candied Bacon Creme Brulee - Christmas Ed.

You've heard of it, you've dreamed of it, and above you see it. Candied Bacon Creme Brulee. This hardly believable dessert of the Gods is better than you are imagining, better than you hope, and in fact better then you remember it being. The perfect combination of sweet creamy and savory flavors placed into each bite of Candied Bacon Creme Brulee make it the best dessert in the world. Surly once, many ages ago, there was a Garden where this food grew on a tree.

Candied Bacon

Christopher Curtis is a man of many talents: a loving father, handsome husband, and purveyor of candied bacon to name a few. Above you see a taste of his handiwork, candied bacon. It has been said that bacon is like meat candy, and indeed, it is exactly that. These particualar bits of candied bacon either went into my mouth or into Chris' homemade coffee bacon iced cream, or atop his famous candied bacon creme brule. Either which way it went, it was sweet and savory delicious.

ISO 1250

35mm

f/5.0

1/80 sec.

Memphis: Build your own burger

Tuesday nights are build your own burger night at Memphis in Santa Ana. Needless to say I built a burger. [Top] Mid Rare buffalo on baby greens, tomato slices, caramelized onions, with bacon, chèvre and chermoula. The chèvre was nice, but a bit over powering, the chermoula came out quite nicely adding just the right amount of spice to compliment the buffalo without covering it up. You can imagine the rest, bacon, onions, greens etc. A very savory burger. Buffalo is a touch dry, I'll go rare next time. My friend had a southern sandwich as his custom burger, I hesitate to call it a burger though. Fried Chicken with red onion, bacon, and a fried egg, with melted aged cheddar, smothered in rich country gravy. Both came on a very nice egg burger bun. I got sweet potato fries, and he got gumbo. It was good.

ISO 300

30mm

f/4.0

1/50 sec

Canon 430ex speedlite [bounced off of the wine list]

Hamburger Club 2.0

So two weeks ago I met with my dear friends and it turns out that I am now a member of a bi-weekly (every two weeks, correct me if thats not what that means) gourmet burger club. This week we went to Slaters in Anaheim Hills. The table shared a Slaters 50/50 Peanut Butter Jealousy [top], and I had a custom Slaters 50/50 [mid and bottom] with mozzarella, baby greens, grilled onions, and anchovies (yes anchovies, and yes they are delicious). Slaters specialty 50/50 is a burger made half of ground beef and half ground bacon. These burgers are half bacon so they only come fully cooked, but the bacon content keeps the texture moist and tender. I prefer the dry aged goodness of the Crow Bar, but the price point on these was about half, so I won't complain. The bacon flavor inside the patties comes through in a salty and savory compliment to the beef, but does leave something to be wanted from the beef. Though these burgers are quite good they simply are not as juicy as I want my burgers to be, and I believe this is due to the bacon/beef mix.

The Peanut Butter and Jealousy, was a nice bite of nostalgia however. This burger is topped with peanut butter, strawberry jelly, and thick cut bacon. At first all you get in your mouth is sticky peanut butter and jelly, which tastes (at least for me) just like childhood, then the smoky thick bacon and the savory patty meat your palate with a satisfying chew. Although the top of the mouth stickiness of the peanut butter and jelly doesn't quite suit my burger needs. 

ISO 1600

17mm  27mm  21mm

f/4.0

1/50 sec

Speedlite 430ex [bounced off my hat]