Regular readers know that I have a special part of my heart (and my waistline) reserved for bacon. I've written about the world's best way to cook bacon, linked to bacon humor, and even had my son aspire to bacon art.

However, I haven't written much about great bacons yet. My friend Chooky describes the best of something as "the bacon of xxx" (like his posts on the "bacon of yogurt" or the "bacon of pens".) This lead me to wonder what the "bacon of bacon" is.

Since I seem to inhale any bacon in front me too quickly for a thoughtful taste test, I turned to Cooks Illustrated, my favorite food magazine ever. They're the Consumer Reports of food. They'll test a hundred variations of a recipe to get it right; they also compare brands of foods and tools and give you the low-down. Their stuff is almost always gold. (They're also known as America's Test Kitchen on TV and in some cookbooks.)

Cooks Illustrated did two taste tests for bacons, one for supermarket brands and another for premium brands. (Note, CI requires a subscription to get to this content; they have a free 14-day trial offer though.) The winner of the supermarket brand is Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon, topping stalwart brands like Boar's Head, Hormel Black Label (which I had yesterday morning and thought was lovely), Armour, and Oscar Mayer. Tasters described it as "meaty", "full-flavored", and "crispy, yet hearty".

On the premium side, Niman Ranch Dry Cured Center Cut Bacon won the day (I mentioned Niman Ranch in my post on cooking bacon.) Here's their description:

Niman Ranch Dry Cured Center Cut Bacon
Oakland, California
$8 for 12 ounces
Tasters found this bacon hearty, rich, balanced, and smoky. One taster said, "Yum . . . what bacon should be."

This is our "house bacon" whenever we can swing by Trader Joes.

One note for the organic, free-range, no-preservative crowd: CI observed in their reviews that nitrate-free bacons did not fare well. Turns out that people are used to the color and taste of nitrate in their bacon, so it doesn't taste right when the nitrates aren't there. This is consistent with a taste test we did between corned beefs a few St. Patricks' Days ago. We ordered a nitrate-free corned beef that was excellent except that everyone liked the regular supermarket one better. The nitrate-free corned beef was grey instead of the familiar red and missing the tang that we've come to associate with corned beef.

CI also noted that there is a visible variation in meat-to-fat ratio between different packages of bacon. This seems obvious since bacon is a natural product (well, it starts off natural anyway and then becomes ethereal). It's worth a few extra seconds in the store to pick your package of bacon carefully, just like you would pick out good apples.

So, go give these brands a whirl and let me know what you think. Of course, as CI notes, "Bad bacon is something of an oxymoron."

I think it's important as a parent to keep your children connected with their heritage. Food, clearly, has tons of cultural and ritual meaning, so it's an important tradition to pass down.

With this in mind, this weekend, I introduced the kids to Marshmallow Fluff, a staple food in the Midwest (I grew up in Minnesota.) For those of you unfamiliar with this gooey concoction, Wikipedia describes it as a "very sweet, spreadable, marshmallow-like confection".

Andrew (10), who loves marshmallows, hated the Fluff. I think it kind of grossed him out, like many traditional foods do. I'm sure he'll develop a taste for it as he grows up. He'll thank me for it when he's older.

Michael (7) discovered the magical combination of peanut butter and fluff (well, soynut butter in his case since he's allergic to peanuts). While he didn't love the fluffernuter sandwich I sent him to school with, he does love dipping granola bites into the mixture. Kids these days.

It's tough being a responsible parent, but I keep trying. I will probably introduce them to hotdish or Western Dressing next.

My post on the Best Way to Cook Bacon continues to generate comments and testimonials. It's a little wild, really. Sonja, one of the recent commenters, offered this bit of bacon humor. Thanks, Sonja!

via videosift.com

As usual, we had a generous Christmas with lots of great presents. One gift that I thought was particularly appropriate given my long-lasting and well-known love for bacon was The Bacon Cookbook by James Villas, former food and wine editor of Town & Country Magazine and Bon Appetit's Food Writer of the Year 2004.

It's clear that Villas shares my love of bacon in all its forms. He starts by describing the different kinds of bacon from around the world and then dives through forty+ recipes, sorted by course; he even has a few bacon desserts like Canadian Bacon Maple Custard.

Each recipe has a short description that tells a personal story, explains a little history, or otherwise introduces the dish; I love when cookbooks do this vs. just listing a pile of recipes. Each introduction sells the dish with effusive praise, e.g. "...you simply can't serve a more delectable side dish" [Lima Bean and Bacon Casserole] or "One of America's most original and sensational breakfast or lunch dishes..." [California Hangtown Fry]. The photography in the book is very nice as well. More important, the recipes seem pretty well written and straightforward, with the possible exception of having to find these exotic types of bacon (although Villas does offer web resources for getting the different kinds of bacon.)

I admit, my mouth is watering right now as I flip through the book. I'm excited to start cooking out of it.

A while back I wrote about good Chinese restaurants around Bellevue, specifically close to Microsoft and our house. There are also a few good Mexican places in Bellevue now as well. This wasn't always the case. When I first moved to Seattle in 1990, I had a hard time finding Mexican restaurants that could scratch the Mexican food itch I developed in California and Texas. While I'm no expert, there are finally a few places I like a lot.

• Guerrero's is actually a little Mexican grocery store, but in the back of the shop they have a little buffet set up. You get a plate or a styrofoam box, fill it up with lovely stuff, and pay by weight. Last time, I had a great lengua (tongue) in tomatillo sauce, amazing birra (beef) cooked crazy tender and yummy, chicken to die for, delicious beans, and fantastic nopalitos (cactus). They apparently have tortas and nice bread too. It made me happy to get a Mexican Coke to wash it down; they're sweetened with real sugar instead of corn syrup like American Coke. It makes all the difference. There are only a few tables in the place, so I've only ever had takeout. One tip, go for lunch. They don't do much dinner business, so the selection isn't very good, and the food had been out all day. The cashier actually apologized to me and told me to come back for lunch. Anyways, this is an amazing place. I highly recommend it. It's in the old K-mart shopping center off of 148th and Main. Incidentally, this little mall is home of a few of my favorite restaurants. In addition to Guerrero's, Szechuan Chef (stellar Chinese) and Tuna House (very good sushi) are there. Yum. 15015 Main Street, Suite 119, Bellevue, WA
• El Rinconsito is a little more fast food and is apparently something of a chain, but no matter, it's very good. Their menu extends beyond tacos and burritos to posole, menudo (perfect for hangovers), grilled fish, a big jug of horchata (which I've never developed a taste for, I must admit), tortas, and more. Perhaps most unique, they are open late (3:00 am, I think -- unheard of in Bellevue). It's in the strip mall near Skate King and Wimbley's. Also, the same mall as Pizza and Sandwich House, one of my other favorite Chinese places. 2255 140th Ave NE Ste A, Bellevue

Many people also seem to like La Cocina Del Puerco in downtown Bellevue. It's pretty good, but I haven't had as ethereal experiences there as I have with these other two places. Of course, I haven't been there for a while, so maybe I should give them another chance.

Anyone hungry for lunch?

As I blogged about before, instant ramen is my "secret food" -- the thing I'll eat (despite my foodie ways) when no one else is around. I love them all, but I've recently discovered the dirty secret of instant ramen: the Asian varieties are way, way better.

Specifically, what I'm talking about here are the versions meant for Asian audiences and particularly for people in Asia. Case in point: Nissan Cup Noodles (the original instant ramen in a cup) are available in Japan as well as the US. However, the Japanese version is far tastier than its American counterpart. I compared the Japanese seafood cup to the American shrimp cup (this was the closest I could get to an apples-to-apples comparison). The broth in the American version had that familiar salty ramen soup taste; by contrast, the Japanese version actually tasted like seafood. The Japanese version had slices of octopus, more veggies, and more eggs too vs. the dried shrimp and sprinkling of other stuff in the American version. Even Michael (7) tasted the difference.

   

Since this discovery, I've been buying all kinds of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese noodles at the shops around us; they're all much yummier than the stuff at Safeway and not tons more expensive. Some even have foil pouches with meat (which actually taste good, if you can get over the idea). A few include a spork or other utensil too, which makes tons of sense.

If you like instant ramen (and let's be honest, who doesn't) you should definitely give the real thing a try.

Every week when I pick up our share from The Root Connection, I stop by Minea Farms across the street for some the best apple cider I've ever had. Minea uses a 100 year old cider press to make both single variety and blended ciders. Unlike most store-bought cider, Minea's actually taste like apples rather than sugary brown water; what's more, each variety of cider tastes different, as it should. I love them all, but I especially prefer the sweeter ones like Gala and Fuji over the tarter varieties like Granny Smith. Each week they have a few different types and offer tastings so you can decide which to choose from. (Michael (7) likes the cherry-apple cider blend.)

This time of year is especially good since they are pressing recently harvested apples; earlier in the year, they sell cider frozen the previous autumn (still super damn good). In addition to cider, they have apple butter, veggies, apples, fruit leather, and other farm products, but the big draw is the cider.

Their usual hours are Wed-Sun 11am - 5pm. They're located at 13404 Woodinville-Redmond Road. Here's the sign from the road:

 

If you haven't had fresh apple cider before, you're in for a treat. If you have, well, you know what you're missing. Either way, get off your butt and go get some...

(OK, as usual, I have no idea if this really is the world's best anything, but it's pretty damn good cider.)

This seems to be the summer of s'mores for us. After having mastered the perfect basic s'more, I thought it was important to pass on this important life skill to the boys. Despite the questionable wisdom of giving Michael (6) a sharp stick with a ball of flaming napalm on the end, we've had a safe and fun time with it so far. I may start trying some gourmet modifications to the recipe, although it's hard to beat the simple, diabetic coma perfection of a s'more.

Now, I just need to start working out in earnest again to work it all off...

I just came back from a very enjoyable dinner at Canlis with the Internet Explorer Program Management leads; these are basically the people who I work with who run the group that design the next versions of IE, organize the effort to ship it, and lead the work to take care of customers after we ship. Unfortunately, Chris Wilson couldn't make it, but he was off on some amazing SCUBA diving trip, so I don't feel too bad...

As with most teams, some of us have worked together for a while; some of the group came to IE more recently. We work together pretty well, but we haven't all gone out together and just had a fun meal; we were overdue.

Canlis is an old Seattle institution; it's the "dress up" restaurant in Seattle (one of the only ones with a dress code in town). We had a fun time telling stories, getting to know each other better, and generally not talking about work for a few hours. It was also fun to see everyone dressed up a bit.

The food was lovely, of course. I started with steak tartare to die for; easily the best I've ever had. We also had a few orders of truffle fries because the only thing better than fried food is fried food with truffle oil.

Then I had the Yukon River salmon. As I had blogged about earlier, I was looking forward to a chance to try it and had it tonight -- lovely. It was grilled simply (the best way for a fantastic piece of fish) with a little couscous on the side. Yum.

We also had some very nice wines -- some of my favorites

• 1990 Pol Roger -- I love Champagne; I think it makes every event a celebration. I don't know tons about vintages and such, but I recalled that 1990 was a fantastic year for Champagne. This was my first (I think) bottle of Pol Roger. Lovely. Dry and delicious.
• 2000 Peter Michael Les Pavot - Peter Michael is one of my favorite wineries, and the Les Pavot is really great. I'm not sure I've had the 2000 before, but once it opened up it was fantastic.
• 2004 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir - This is definitely one of my favorite pinot noirs, if not my very favorite. The consensus around the table seemed to be that this one was the best wine of the night, even though it was the least expense (although still not cheap...)

On top of the great food and wine, we got to see the Duck Dodge, a sailboat race in Lake Union and a Seattle tradition. I'm not sure anyone but I cared, but I liked it so there you go.

I had a great time; it's important to me to work with people I like. Tonight was a good reminder of why I love my job.

We picked up our first bag of veggies from the Root Connection this weekend. Yippee! As I've blogged about several times before, the Root Connection is a share farm where members "subscribe" to the farm's crop. Each week we get a bag of whatever veggies are available that week plus we can take advantage of the u-cut flowers, herbs, basil, and greens. The veggies are way more flavorful than grocery store veggies both because they're much fresher and because the varieties are chosen for their flavor not shelf-life, harvestability, or good looks.

It's early in the season still so the bag was pretty light. This year, we've opted for the smaller share because we had a hard time using everything each week. This week, we got a bunch of salad turnips (yum), some bok choy, a few heads of green and red leaf lettuce, and some cabbage lettuce. We ate the turnip greens sauteed this evening. Delicious.

I love the Root Connection and am looking forward to another summer of great veggies!