(Week 36) Sweat and Bacon, This is the New Thanksgiving

Aww, hazel nuts!  This blog post stands as evidence that I am holidays behind.  I’d like to let myself off the hook since Mr. and I ran another half marathon, Mr. started a new job, we traveled to Georgia, California, and Michigan, and we moved across the country in the last month, but you didn’t stop by to hear excuses, your here to eat and eat you shall.  I hope that you saved a little room for dessert.

Thanksgiving has been a rather interesting holiday for Mr. and I the past few years.  We’ve celebrated at a church down South with rich creole flavors while doing Hurricane Katrina clean-up.  Another year was spent as newly weds and I had to produce my first thanksgiving for the in-laws, at our place.  And last year’s festivities took place in rural Argentina where everything had to be cooked from scratch.  Mr. and I peeled potatoes outside with dull knives while my mom and niece broke walnuts on the large rock in the front yard.  It was about as close as we’ll ever to come to paying homage to our pioneer ancestors.  Mind you, we did not have to hunt down our own meat, but given the chance I think my nephew would have loved the opportunity!

This year was unique in its own right.  It was just me, Mr., and Mr’s Sister and Brother.  The morning started out with the Atlanta Half Marathon, a very hilly 13.1.  The race started from a new location and the logistics were just shy of nonexistent.  At 6:30am we entered a traffic jam to exit the highway.  At 7:10 we were still in it.  The race had a 7:30am start time.  We noticed a few people jump from the passenger seats of their car in an attempt to walk the last mile to the race.  Once we determined this was the only option to possibly make the race, we followed suit.  As we sped-walked the shoulder of the highway, our pack continued to grow with other spandex-ed individuals.  By that point it was all part of the adventure.  We made the starting line less than five minutes before the gun went off for our wave.

The weather was amazing, the hills however were more than we had realized we signed up for!  By the time we crossed the finish line it was time to start thinking about replenishing some of those calories.  (I fully recommend this type of activity to help maintain a guilt-free Thanksgiving:)

Because it was just the four of us, everyone chipped in to help cook, set the table, pour the wine, clean-up…all the important things.  Mr’s Sister had sent me a recipe a few months back for candied bacon.  The entertaining aspect of this was that she works in health and public policy and is usually a very conscience eater in terms of where it comes from and what’s in it.  I guess we all have our weaknesses and her’s was bacon with a sugar crisp coating.  I was more intrigued by the idea that bacon was now a dessert food.  In honor of equal representation to food types, cooking methods, bacon, and sugar, the recipe came to fruition.  The bacon sizzled, spat, and crystallized right before out eyes.  We served it warm, on top of vanilla ice cream, as the grand finale to another unique Thanksgiving.

Though we do not promote fat covered with diabetes, we do promote a ridiculous and tasty treat in moderation.  Just make sure you enjoy the candied bacon after a long run otherwise your likely to be chased by a pack of wild dogs when your sweat smells like bacon.  Happy Holidays!

Recipes and Ratings:

Candied Bacon:  B+, This treat is intense.  Very tasty, but best eaten in small quantities.  At first we hadn’t cooked the bacon long enough, the taste was good but the texture was off.  Make sure the bacon cooks fully so that the sugar can melt and crystallize.   Just eye ball it.  When and doubt, sample the goods during the coking process and keep cooking until it reaches a crisp texture.  I can image this bacon has a wealth of possibilities…crumbled candied bacon atop cupcakes??  The list goes on….