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International Bacon Day: Figs, Stuffed with Goat Cheese, Wrapped in Bacon

Today is International Bacon Day. I was informed of this by my girlfriend this morning, then immediately interrogated about our household bacon levels. My response (“one strip”) was deemed unsatisfactory, so off we went to the store to get more. At the store, I bought a half pound of bacon. Upon seeing it, my girlfriend shook her head and told me that it was insufficient bacon for International Bacon Day, so off she went to buy another pound of bacon.

While at the store, I saw figs and immediately thought of wrapping them in bacon. Well, to tell the truth, I wanted to wrap everything in bacon, but I thought of a wonderful meal I had at Gitane, hosted by the same person who cooked me a meal during her visit to San Francisco. It was quite a while ago and I had a few glasses of wine, so many of the dishes fade in my memory but I remember their bacon bon bons  somewhat well. They stuff prunes with goat cheese, wrap them in bacon, and glaze them with port. I figured I would do something similar.

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A Garden, An Oven, and Some Soup

It’s been awhile, but I come bearing excuses! In the time since my last post I’ve graduated from law school, studied for and taken the bar, moved across the bay from San Francisco to Oakland (more on that later), and become an uncle. All of which is fine and fascinating for me, but leaves my blog bare and neglected.

However, this isn’t to say I haven’t been eating. I have been, prodigiously. I just haven’t been writing about it. I may do a post with assorted pictures of meals past, but it is much more likely that I will focus on the bounties I have been given in the trans-bay move: namely, a large kitchen, an antique stove, and a new garden.

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Butternut Squash Soup


A storm is brewing in San Francisco. While walking home from work in a headwind I was able to lean forward like an extra from the Smooth Criminal video. After so many days of sunshine, the rain is coming to remind us what city we live in. Luckily, I have a defense: smooth, creamy, comforting butternut squash soup.

I won’t be taking pictures of the soup I make tonight, but as this is a simple recipe with nearly infinite permutations, I have made it many times over the past year and taken pictures several of those times. I had aspirations of blogging about it, but haven’t found the time until now. Luckily, I still have the pictures.

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Real Wasabi

Fresh wasabi

It has been a long time since I last posted.  Almost an entire year. I could make excuse after excuse about how busy I’ve been, but I won’t waste time explaining that can be spent uploading pictures.

What prompted this post was the gift of two wasabi rhizomes from Ms. Azmina of Lawyer Loves Lunch (she got them in a cooking competition and used her rhizome to make wasabi fried shrimp). I decided to make sushi. I’ll shut up and show you pictures now.

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Dark Chocolate Soufflé


I like experimentation. I rarely make a dish the same way twice. I recently described my cooking to someone as frenetic and while I originally meant that I generally flail about the kitchen, I think it describes my approach to recipes as well. If there’s a flavor I want or a texture I’m after, I’m gonna try to get there a bunch of different ways… no, not to see what’s best, just because I’d get bored otherwise.

This approach does not work well in the realm of baking. As the T-shirt says, “Baking is science for hungry people” and, unfortunately, science requires proper measurements and correct temperatures and the like. I don’t pretend that I know how to bake, so when I bake, I defer entirely to others’ expertise.

That said, even though I made a few rookie mistakes, I was not embarrassed of the soufflés, especially when topped with rich vanilla bean ice cream and served with port.

Though, to be fair, how could any combination of sugar, fat, chocolate, vanilla, and booze taste bad?

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