It all started when Chris Martin, my roommate and VFX compositor extraordinairre made a rockin flyer for Bacon Bowl II.  Once I saw it, I knew it had to be made a reality.

Bacon Bowl II: Electric Boogaloo

I couldn’t figure out how to do it though.  I thought about the Bacon explosion but I didn’t think I could get enough structural integrity to make it in 3D.  Come on now, Avatar in 3D has changed the game.  I couldn’t just make a trophy on a sheet pan.  It had to stand.

So, I grabbed a big hunk of ham.  IT was actually hard to find something unsliced but I found what I needed and started slicing away.

And for the ball, the only thing that goes great with ham and bacon and resembles a football to boot.  A pineapple!

And then…  Apply Bacon!  I just kept using as many toothpicks as I could to try and avoid dreaded shrinkage.

I would have smoked it, but I knew I was going to be smoking some salmon (thank you Alton Brown.  The ladies always love it!) and possibly Allan’s stuffed mushrooms, and who knows what else.  I was just never going to have room in my smoker.  Maybe that just means it’s time to step it up and get a bigger one.

A little while after throwing it in the oven, I heard a dreaded thump.  The Bacombardi had fallen over.  Time to get into grip mode and shore that thing up for the slow cook I was planning on.

And finally I had a finished product!

And here are the pics that are already all over the interwebs thanks to BBQaddicts.com and Intentional Foul.

AND, I just found out today, we made the evening news on WKRC in Cincinnati.  Check it out!

But I have to post about the Bacon Bowl II.  We did a small version for our annual Super Bowl party last year but this years was way better.  Let’s take a look…

People brought over all sorts of stuff but Bacon and chocolate were out in force.

Jared (of "Year of the Cow" fame) made straight up Bacon Chocolate

Alex Theurer made some chocolate dipped bacom with a side of bacon wrapped breadsticks

The one, the only Paul Lambiase made a bunch of chocolate covered bacon. That was all that was left by the time I got the shot.

Paul also made us a fine desert. Bacon weave apple pie with rosemary. Awesome!

I didn’t get any pictures of my breaded pork tenderloin sliders in honor of the Colts.  They just went too fast.  I also didn’t get any pictures of my bacon cheesecakes.  Seriously, if anyone has more pics, send them my way.

One of the spreads of food. I think that's Allan Holt's Muffaletta for the Saints in the bottom right. Some mini Bacon cheese corn muffins top tight.

And of course, there was the Bacon Lombardi!  But you’ll have to check out the next post to find out more about that.

Kitchen Patio

We’ve got everything we need for now.  Bad-ass grill and smoker, though I may eventually have to upgrade to a larger one.  We’ve got tomato plants, a couple varieties of peppers, basil, cilantro, chives and of course parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.  Though I need to learn more to do with sage and thyme.  My tomato plant is starting to yellow though.  Most of the fruit has ripened, so is this what’s supposed to happen?  I think my thumb is meat colored though.  It sure isn’t green.

What to do with those ripe tomatoes?  Something italian, something easy. I had just gotten off work so maybe something that requires a really short trip to Trader Joes.

Let’s see, I have ripe, delicious tomatoes, basil, bacon, of course.  Oh, and some extra virgin olive oil I picked up when Jared got the cow.  Hell, his cow fertilized my olive oil.  I even just made up a bunch of infused oils from the garden with it.

Infusions from the garden

I’ve got it.  Insalata Caprese!  Or in this case Insalata Bacaprese!

Shot off to TJ’s.  Bought some fresh Mozzarella and some Mozzarella Burrata.  Got home and started slicing.  Easy stuff.  Slice of tomato.  Slice of fresh Mozz. Some basil and topped with some drizzle of roasted garlic oil.

Oh yeah, I threw a piece of bacon inbetween the tomato and cheese.

Insalata Ba-caprese

As fine as any at even the best italian restaurants.  The bacon was just the ticket.  Added just a little smokiness and saltiness to each piece.  Delicioso!

And the path to hardened arteries begins.  Taking a lite, classic salad and Baconifying it.  What could be better?

Somehow though, in the last year or so, I have become known to my group of friends, here in LA, and elsewhere, as something of a Bacon Master.  I’ve got people who come up to me at the bar and ask me “Where’s the Bacon?” or “Why aren’t you wearing a bacon shirt?”

Is this normal, or is that just what happens when you end up owning a half-dozen bacon-related shirts, own and enjoy baconaisse or constantly subjecting your friends to internet recipes like a take on the now-infamous Bacon Explosion?

This would all be well and good.  I don’t mind being the “Bacon Guy.”  But then, my boy Jared decided to eat a cow.  And blog about it. He got me thinking.

One:  I do LOVE to cook.  Sure, I have a few other hobbies, but this one you can do all year round.  It calms me.  It puts me in my Happy Place.

Two:  Being a fairly non-practicing Jew, I spent way too much of my life not enjoying some of the finer things in life. Lobster.  Cheeseburgers.  Bacon.  I’ve known vegeterians who turned back into carnivores purely because they needed Bacon!

Three:  Wow.  Somehow Baconchef.com was available.  I paid GoDaddy and here it begins!