What Santa brings the Queen of Cake for Christmas...

No, not cake - BACON! OK, well, pork-related products.

1. A country ham. We spent Christmas with Hank's family in Kentucky, and Hank's stepdad Willie had a lovely 17lb country ham all picked out for me. (We just squeeked by under the airline baggage limit with that in the suitcase...). Come by sometimes around Easter, and I'll cook it up!
   
2. A Spanish chorizo sausage in my stocking, amongst all the chocolates. I have fallen in love with Spanish chorizo (cured, so very different from fresh Mexican chorizo you find in the US). Just grill it up until it's sizzling, and eat it on a lightly toasted bun. Heaven, I say!
3. Bacon chocolate. Yup, chocolate containing bacon. (That one has taken pronunciation practice - when I verbally say "bacon chocolate" and everyone just assumes it's "baking chocolate".) This was from Annie, and I have to say it's my favorite because it's the most surprisingly wonderful thing!! It's not like chocolate + greasy bacon. It's a nice, smooth dark-ish chocolate with smoky and salty notes from the bacon, which is in very tiny bits throughout. The salt just emphasizes the chocolateyness of the whole thing.
   

Otherwise, I had a delightful 2 weeks off, and of course I did tons of baking! Last Friday during the horrible storm we had (I had gone out for an errand, and came back without finishing it because driving in it was terrifying, and I saw most of a palm tree just avalanche across the entire road, leaving a 2-foot high pile of debris right in my path) I went crazy baking bread! Total for that one day was:
- 1 loaf cornbread
- 2 loaves egg bread
- 2 batches ciabatta
This is what happens when I get trapped in houses. I start baking. It's madness!!