Bad back and the Mixology Summit

Stupid me. I have terrible back problems. I probably (ok, definitely) shouldn't be behind the bar with the problems that I have. Luckily enough for me, acupuncture has given me relief like I've never experienced before. When I leave after a session, I feel like a teenager again. Its the most amazing thing. It does, however, take some maintenance. I've found that I can go about 6 weeks in between sessions before it starts to lose its effect. This time, I've gone more like 12 weeks in between, and today I turned wrong and I'm in absolute agony. I've popped 3 aspirin, 2 cocktails and I'm starting to seriously think about taking one of my real pain pills, which are effective but leave me in a zombie-like state for a couple of days afterward.

I had big plans. I was going to show you the progress on my prosciutto. Its ready to be hung in the basement, but I won't even be picking up paperclips for a week. I was going to finish the bacon eggnog (ok, maybe not, buy my intention was there). I was going to update you on my now saffron/blood orange bitters (I think I might have hit a home run here).

Instead, I'll be lucky to finish the dinner that I have going. Roast chicken with thyme, mache salad, roasted new potatoes, steamed broccoli and a blackberry-Grand Marnier fool. Simple food for a Monday night, but tasty nonetheless.

Speaking of Grand Marnier, who else is attending next month's Mixology Summit in Vail? I'm flying in a few days early to Denver and if anyone is interested in touring Stranahan's with me, I'm more than happy to make the arrangements. Well, at least when I'm upright again. Please bear with me, I'll be back in the saddle soon enough.

Bacon... continued

So I live in a bacon obsessed town. Really. Here in Portland, we've got VooDoo Doughnuts doing a Maple Bacon doughnut (not so good, I've had it and they use cheap bacon), Le Pigeon doing a bacon cornbread dessert, and my favorite brunch place, the Screen Door, doing a praline bacon thats to die for. Last night, I threw the bacon/everclear mix (after it was strained off) in the freezer, wrapped it in saran wrap, and forgot about it until today.

When I got home today, I opened the door to the freezer, and rather than a thin layer of fat on top of the alcohol, which is what I expected, I instead found the awful mess pictured above. I thought something had gone horribly wrong, but I though to myself, "What the hell, put it through a coffee filter and see if you can salvage it", and damn if I didn't. The fat had basically almost formed veins in the liquid while it was in the freezer, and when I put it through a coffee filter, it took the fat right out, leaving me with a pale golden liquor with a very nice bacon scent.

Tomorrow, I'm going to use the bacon everclear to make my mother in law's recipe for german eggnog (for the record, I seriously have the best mother in law anyone could ever have. She's a great cook and has a wonderful sense of humor). I think the bacon will add an extra dimension to the eggnog. If not, well, I've already gone too far not to share the results with you. I should have some of the bacon everclear left over too, and I'm thinking of doing a BLT concept. Maybe bacon everclear, lettuce juice (can you juice lettuce or is it just water?) and maybe garnish it with a cherry tomato. Or maybe the bacon everclear with tomato water and lettuce juice. Its too early to think too much about it.