Where Bacon and Bakin' Meet

My OG* Neal is not a fan of sweets. He is, however, a voracious bacon lover. These facts have become legend around the workplace, so we recently killed time waiting for a meeting by tossing around the idea of bacon desserts with a couple of our fellow worker bees.

Out of this came the preliminary recipe for bacon/maple cheesecake. The more I thought about it, the more I mentally worked out the concept. I became obsessed. Then I made one. It didn't really work out as well as I had hoped.

I learned some lessons; I'd make a few changes if I tried it again, but mostly I was just disappointed and disillusioned with the whole idea. Luckily I used the leftover ingredients to create something wonderful, easy, and delicious, which I would definitely make again. Not wanting to be a failure, I offer the world:


Bacon Dumplings

You need:
     1/2 cup candied bacon** (chopped into very small pieces)
     4oz (half pkg) softened cream cheese
     Pie crust dough
     Mixture of equal parts egg whites + pure maple syrup

Mix together bacon and cream cheese in a bowl
Roll out pie dough and cut into squares, about 2" by 2"
Place a spoonful of bacon/cheese mix in the center of each dough square, and fold up the sides so the filling is completely covered
Place dumplings seam-side down on a parchment lined baking sheet
Brush all exposed areas of the dumpling with egg/syrup mixture
Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes
Serve warm or room temperature

There are so many variations that could be made: savory version using plain cooked bacon and no syrup; Italian-inspired with garlic and a little fresh basil... so many ideas. I love these little snacks. I wish I had some right now!

It's so nice that something good came out of the sad cheesecake. And now everyone knows what appetizers I'll be bringing to their parties! If I was ever invited to parties. I mean. Um.

Nevermind.


*Original Gay
**There are lots of methods to create candied bacon, the link is just one. It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as the end product is cooked bacon coated with caramelized sugar

The Starting Line... 2011

I don't have much to say about 2011 yet. So far the year has been good to me, starting out with friends, fun and no hangover.

I like this trend; let's see if it continues...

Happy New Year!

End of the Line... for 2010

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I figure if I'm not hell-bent on changing something in, say, mid-September, why would I bother to do it on January 1st? I wouldn't.

I'm also not one for looking back and reflecting on the past year. I probably did once, when I was a young, fresh-faced lass still imagining that a new calendar meant some sort of tangible change. Now I do no more than make a snap judgment of I suppose the year was pretty good or That totally sucked, and move on.

This year, that snap judgment was just a shrug and Enh, it was the same as every other year. Nothing of note.

Which is clearly not true. Since I love me a good list, I'm going to use a list to shake off the apathy and make some effort at memorializing 2010. So here it is...


Ten Random Things I Did in 2010 that Turned Out to Be Pretty Awesome

1. Joined Twitter, and became addicted to it
2. Drank the Rainbow
3. Traveled to more than 20 cities in 8 countries, including 6 different US States
4. Did almost all of my traveling solo
5. Tried authentic Texas barbecue and discovered that BBQ sauce neutralizes the pure evil of pickles
6. Started this blog, and attracted upwards of 2 readers
7. Continued not joining Facebook
8. Cooked a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner for my Seattle family
9. Started watching Jersey Shore
10. Acquired some new besties

I could also do an opposite list: stuff that sucked in 2010, but that's just the kind of thinking that gets me all bitter and negative in the first place. So I'm not going to write those things down... at least not until tomorrow.

Home for the Holidays

It's always an ordeal going to see my family for their gatherings. They're good people, they try to entertain me, and they're even amusing in the weirdest ways. Take this example...

My grandfather has macular degeneration and has lost probably 80% of his eyesight, so everyone does their best to help him still be able to do the things he loves -- albeit blindly. A few weeks ago, my mom showed up to find Grandpa's clothes stained with blood, his hands and arms clumsily wrapped in gauze bandages. When she asked what had happened, he explained that he was fine, he'd just been trying to filet a fish and maybe cut himself once or twice.

My grandmother's response was that he must have sliced his digits because of the poor state of his cutlery. Her solution? She bought him a fancy electric knife for Christmas.

As the entire family started chatting in hushed tones to determine who'd take Grandpa to the emergency room on his first use of this new Finger Removal System, he exclaimed, "Oh! This is great! I'm gonna chop up everything in the countryside!"

Needless to say chop up everything in the countryside became the callback joke of choice for my cousin and I all night, while the cool aunts took over the meals, banning mayonnaise "salads" and allowing mimosas at brunch for the first time. Unfortunately, the weekend was otherwise as usual. The aged told stories of their health problems, and everyone attempted to give me guilt for only showing up once a year and not wanting to take home kitschy family heirlooms that I have nowhere to display or store.

No matter how things change in a family, they're always the same. I may be related to those folks, but I can't relate to them. It makes me appreciate my chosen relations here in Seattle, my logical family (rather than biological), as Armistead Maupin put it. But when it comes down to it, I suppose I'm lucky to have both; not everyone does.

So this year, I am thankful for, and wish all good things to, all of my family members... no matter how I acquired them!

Back in Seattle

After 16 hours of dealing with shuttles, planes, and airports, it's the little things that make me happy. Like landing at Gate A6, which is far and away the best place to pull into SeaTac Airport. When you walk off the plane, the exit is maybe 30 yards directly to your left. It dumps you out right next to a rarely busy set of bathrooms, and the escalators to baggage claim. It's even at the end of the building that allows a quick pop out to the smoking section, if you are so inclined. It seriously limited my hassle factor when arriving back in Seattle last night.

Beyond that, however, I was not thrilled to be back. Seattle seems even more small and empty, more unlike a city, than it already did.

If only I had done more with my last day in New York. I know it's the city that never sleeps, but I'm too old for that shit stuff. Every night we were out late, every morning we got up in the actual am hours, and all day was spent walking blocks and blocks. I just got worn out. In the early part of the day before Steve left, he and I had a great brunch at Smith's, grabbed a shake at the Shake Shack, took a look at Grand Central Station, and wandered through a street market. After he left, I headed up to Morningside Heights to take a look around, planning to head back to down to the Lower East Side afterward and visit Jesse's favorite NY hangout.

With the subway nonsense going on that day, though, it took almost an hour to go the 60 blocks from Rockefeller to Central Park North. I spent a bit of time wandering around the Morningside Heights area -- which reminds me of Seattle, but the things I like about Seattle, such as pretty old buildings and tree-lined streets -- and by the time I was on my way back downtown, it was dinnertime, I was tired, and my knees hurt. All I wanted was a lamb rice and to put my feet up for a minute.

I grabbed my takeaway dinner and stopped in at the hotel, just to take my shoes off and check the football score, promising myself I'd go back out again. I didn't move, and 3 hours later I was in bed for the night.

The next morning left me no time to do anything but catch my airport shuttle, so that was my goodbye to New York. The city may have beaten me with exhaustion this time, but I loved every minute of it. I'll be back...

The Gayborhood... and other points West

For my second full day in New York, we did so many things (again) that it seemed like 2 or 3 days. It's no wonder that now, on my last day, I'm in love with the city, but all I want to do is nap.

Steve had a ticket for another Broadway show at 2pm, so we planned to get up early (despite our late night of drinking) and head to the Upper West Side for a Gray's Papaya hot dog. However, unbeknownst to us, some idiot took a flying leap in front of an A train, closing that track and making all the other lines run in unusual ways. Add to that my less-than-expert ability to read the subway map, and we ended up stuck on an express train heading 50 blocks further north than we wanted to go. Because we had also overslept, we didn't have time to correct the error. Steve headed straight back downtown to the theatre, while I made the trek to Gray's Papaya alone.

After the long ordeal to get there, I only spent 5 minutes at Gray's Papaya. It was cheap. It was a good hot dog. But -- and I believe saying this automatically issues a warrant for my arrest in New York state -- it wasn't go-30-blocks-out-of-my-way good. Since it was really more of a snack than a meal, I decided to take a stroll down Central Park West and stop at whatever little lunch spot caught my fancy. Nothing did, and before I knew it, I was back in Midtown eating a street gyro. I checked out the New York Public Library, Bryant Park, and Rockefeller Center, then met back up with Steve at the hotel to regroup for our Big Gay Night Out.

We were so totally sick of tourists that we decided to wait for dinner until we got the hell out of Times Square, and hopped the 1 down to the Financial District to visit the World Trade Center site. There's not much of anything to see there, and it kind of looks like any other construction site. To me that seems like a good thing, because it means something productive is finally coming out of the rubble, without forgetting the tragedy that happened there. We popped quickly into a store front displaying all of the plans for the memorial, then got on our way down to the West Village.

Sadly, when we emerged on Christopher Street, there wasn't much to eat within our price range, so we settled for a strange (but not terrible) little pizza and pita diner, then headed to the landmark of gay history known as the Stonewall Inn.

We actually quite liked the Stonewall, in spite of the tourists and $7.50 bottled Blue Moons. It was just a laid back divey bar, with a pool table in the middle and sports on TV. We couldn't afford to stay, and our tradition is bar hopping, so we moved down the street to a little place called Pieces. Again, it was very much befitting our preference in public houses, and bottled beers were only $5. Unfortunately, there was a sewage smell permeating the place, which was battling, but not covered up by, the Glade candles set up 3 feet apart all over the bar. We threw back our beers and left.

The rest of our night was happily spent in the upper section of the Duplex. It was busy with midrange prices, relaxed and a lot of fun. Our bartender Poppi reminded me a lot of my friend Julie in Seattle, both in looks and attitude. She gave us a free drink and asked us to come back and see her when she was less busy and could "do some shots with us." Jay joined us briefly, we drank and laughed a lot, and we stayed there until almost 2am (including the extra "fall back" hour).

After a subway ride and a stop at the Halal cart, we were back at the hotel ready for bed. We also spent the last part of our night laying out all of our requirements to move here. Yeah, it was that good.

NYC Tourist Attractions

I didn't have anything planned for my first full day in New York, so I let Steve take the reins and lead me to all the classic NYC tourist locations.

We started off in Central Park, not far from our hotel, which is kind of an amazing place. One of Steve's main reasons for coming here was to photograph the Bethesda Fountain angel, so that was priority number one. After that, he took several more cute snaps of the squirrels in the park, and I marvelled at the feeling of being so far out into nature, while Manhattan was still visible beyond the trees.

After the park, we took the subway down and caught the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, grabbing a couple of pizza slices along the way. We didn't stay long at either place. The Ellis Island museum was somewhat fascinating, but our exhaustion and aching feet made sitting on a wooden bench more appealing than wandering through all the various exhibits. This was the same reason we came back to the hotel afterward, rather than trying to do more exploring.


Our final big plan for the day was seeing Promises Promises, literally on Broadway. On the way there, we stopped in at the Stage Deli for sandwiches piled high with cured meat, then popped across the street to Lindy's for some thick wedges of their famous cheesecake. I'm not a big fan of musicals, but Steve chose this show knowing that a good performance can suck me in regardless. And it worked. Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth were both amazing, as was the rest of the cast. The show was funny and engaging, and I'm glad I saw it.

We left the theatre looking for a place to have a couple of post-show drinks, but nothing seemed to draw us in. Just before giving up and going to Applebees, we finally spotted an Irish pub (Emmett O'Something's) with a sign indicating pumpkin ale on draught. We started out tired, thinking we'd leave after one or two beers. Instead, the more we drank, the more we perked up, enjoying the live Irish music and spoon-playing of our recently relocated Boston bartender, Sean. After 4 beers, it was 2am. Since we didn't feel a need to take advantage of the 4:00 close time at the bar, a few blocks walk and a quick stop at the Halal cart took us back to the hotel, and bed.

The day was long, but felt even longer. While it was full of famous New York landmarks, it was taxing and still didn't really feel like we saw the true city. Luckily I have 2 more days for that.