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(Not so) Bonkers About Bacon

28/3/2014

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And here’s the news. It’s bacon flavoured.

As Taco Bell launches it’s breakfast menu this week, the world seems to have jumped on the band wagon and joined them in vamping up the appreciation for piggy strips. Taco Bell’s menu may look less than enticing, but it seems the worlds has gone even more mad for bacon than ever before. I heard BBC Radio DJ Chris Evans talking about the way he makes a bacon sandwich on his breakfast show this week. You should have heard it – you might have thought he was a Michelin Star chef! Everyone seems to have their own ‘perfect’ bacon butty recipe, be it complicated or simple, and no one else’s will ever touch it. Good grief… It’s just a hot meat sandwich.

Maybe I’m a bit biased here, as I can’t eat bread, but I don’t feel that way about other sandwich fillings. It’s the bacon which gripes me. It ain’t THAT tasty!

The madness continues in the news this week: Yesterday, The Telegraph reported bacon being found on a community litter pick. Eat it, or don’t buy it. Don’t throw it into the sea, people! 

On Wednesday, Ritz biscuits announced they’ll be making bacon flavoured crackers – what a way to ruin a classic snack! Note: There’s no actual bacon in the new cracker, just the essence of bacon using seasoning. 

Also on Wednesday, it was announced that Texas Rangers fans will be able to enjoy ‘bacon on a stick’ as a game snack. Sounds… delightful.

A ‘friend’ (kidding with the quote marks!) of mine highlighted this ‘delicious’ bacon soap and said it would make a great wedding present… 

And some nutjob from Utah, USA even used bacon in an arson attack, it was reported yesterday.  

The news is just FULL of bacon this week!

So. Where am I going with this? My blog is not a news channel... 

"Mmmmm, bacon." Sound familiar?

Honestly, the wonder of bacon is a mystery to me. Of course, I know where it comes from, and I can imagine how it’s pimped and packaged for the shelves in the shop, but the real mystery is why does everyone seem to rave about it so much? Someone I had dinner with a while back thought a bacon butty was a treat, an appropriate main course for ‘dining’ with a dinner guest who’d come from out of town… I’m not fussy, and definitely not a food snob, but it’s just bacon in a bap. Why do people become so enamored with bacon? There’s even a collective on Facebook who openly ‘heart’ the stuff.  

I disagree with all this excitement. Bacon is ugly. It’s salty and fatty. There’s a fine balance in the cooking between too crispy and too floppy. Bacon is not especially cheap or luxurious, and those white streaks in it make me feel a little ill.

Again, in the news this week, Bloomberg TV announced that bacon is cheaper in Canada than it is in the USA. I lived in Canada for a while, studying, working, including almost a year solid, and I wonder how much this cheaper variation of the sliced pork has influenced my opinion? I remember Canadian friends almost celebrating their bacon butties, but I could never understand the fascination.

The smell of it is what bacon-lovers (the general population) seem to salivate over the most. The pungent, unmistakable smell which comes from the grill pan or frying pan screams breakfast for many people, especially in the UK and the USA. It’s an ‘essential’ element to a Full English Breakfast, apparently. I always drop my bacon on my boyfriend's plate - and pinch his mushrooms!

I’ll stick to muesli, I think. I don’t care if that’s boring. Bacon reminds me of stinking hangovers accompanied by the stink of bacon coming from my student kitchen from my Uni days. Ick! You know how smell can bring back vivid memories? Well, the aggressive smell really reminds me of vodka induced headaches and a queasy stomach.

I hear bacon has been the temptation of many a would-be vegetarian. It was the reason they were “turned”. Bacon is often a glorious gateway into eating meat again for a lot of veggies.  "I'm a Veggie + Bacon." Hah! At least it’s not Veggie + Battery Chickens / Unsustainable Fish.

If you’re looking for trouble-making or day-ruining with bacon, I can find little more than a clever insult from someEEcards (love ‘em!). It's a little lower key than bacon arson!

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Check out Chow who’s introduced me to a new word: FLEXITARIAN! I’m all for a varied diet, but why BACON, of all things, to turn you from a life philosophy and choice… Personally, the "turning" would be more likely the other way. Bacon could easily turn me off meat, if that was all that was on offer. 

And what about those poor, poor people named after the streaky meat? 
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Richard Bacon: He ruined Blue Peter for me!

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Francis Bacon: Long dead and hardly my cup of tea (1626). 

Poor old Francis Bacon would probably agree with me on my crisped confusion over bacon. He famously died by contracting pneumonia while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. Was it bacon, by any chance?

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Kevin Bacon: Eurgh – when the EE adverts appear on the TV, I turn over… Although kudos for the remake of the 'Footloose' dance on 'The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon' on Monday night - that was kind of awesome. Reluctantly… "Happy 30th Birthday, Footloose".

For all you bacon freaks, I don’t apologise for this blog post. I would simply signpost you and your bacon cravings to Bacon Today, a daily bacon newspaper. Please, someone make the bacon and walnut cake – it sounds good, but I couldn’t handle a bacon cake! 

Bacon is mainly fat and protein, so I guess over the stages of human evolution we have had it playing a larger role in our diets. In times if healthier choices of eating and what seems like weekly food scares, maybe bacon could be something you could cut back on. Especially if you share a house with me. Think of how happy my nostrils would be!

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In the meantime, I’ve found the perfect place to hang out.. You might find me escaping in a certain South Natick, Massachusetts library…

Until next time, 

Lou x 

Find me on Facebook
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Born To be A Tourist

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My Writer's Bookshelf

21/3/2014

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This is my book shelf. 

I love books and just wanted to share my shelves with you this week. It's nothing special, a fiver off a car boot sale, but these shelves are special to me. 

You can see it's not all books... I don't have a lot of storage in my current place and my DVDs need somewhere to go!

I have many more books than this - my windowsill is also piling up with books I want to read in the future. My elephants are kept company by books I love. 

I try to keep the books I know I will read again, but sometimes my list of books I want to read (and therefore have a copy stored somewhere) is an even bigger pile!

The ornaments are treasures from my life. I collect elephant figurines, so there's a few here. I also have gifts from my boyfriend, a hardy plant (can't believe it's still alive!), and one of my favourite photos of me. I really feel like these three shelves reflect who I am!

I will always have a book shelf. I tried out the phenomenon of the ebook last week, and I still prefer paperbacks. Even if my living quarters get too small one day for an actual bookcase, I'll probably pile my books on top of the toilet or something - somewhere!!

What does your bookshelf look like?

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
...And on Twitter
Born To be A Tourist

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The Morning After: St Paddy's Cake

18/3/2014

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Yesterday was St Patrick's Day, the saints day for Ireland (in case you didn't know - unlikely!). I fancied a new challenge in the kitchen... A rare occurrence, so I grabbed the enthusiastic emotions and baked them into a cake. 

Guinness and Chocolate cake, to be exact. 

"Yuck, Guinness," you're probably thinking. Well, you know I like my 'odd' cakes, so had a go. 

Needless to say (from the photo), this was not my greatest triumph in baking. I managed to only put half the chocolate in that the recipe required, quite by accident, honest - it's not been eaten! The missing 50g is still in my kitchen cupboard... I don't know if this made much of an impact on the structure of the cake, but it remained decidedly soggy when I checked on it in the tin this morning. Look how lopsided a single slice is after a couple of hours in my lunchbox this morning!

To make it a bit more chocolately, I cut the cake in half when it had cooled and dabbed chocolate frosting in the middle to make a sandwich. "That should help!" I thought, triumphantly. 

So, how does it taste? Pretty 'meh', if I am honest. I understand the idea - Guinness is supposed to have a slight chocolate taste to it when it's served cold, so the brown good stuff and the black nasty stuff should mix quite nicely. However, the distinct lack of chocolate in my cake made the cake taste a bit too beer-y. Maybe it needed a bit more time in the oven too...

Never mind! I'm still enjoying my 'zumba day' piece of cake treat. Maybe a 50% reduction in chocolate will emphasise the booze in the mixture? Here's hoping!

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Have I made you hungry? Well, short of popping into my office this lunch time, if you're in the Manchester area and want to try a real, PROFESSIONAL job, I am sure Kate's Cakes will be happy to oblige! 

See you Friday for a writing themed blog. I am still writing, just!

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
...And on Twitter
Born To be A Tourist

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Method in Madness: My Writing Process

14/3/2014

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I've been tagged in a Blog Tour. This one's about how the writer in question's writing process works. Thanks to Sarah Grace Logan for tagging me!


QUESTION 1: What am I working on?

Well, this week it's a mixture of my normal writing themed blogging and travel blogging, and my monthly column for MK Pulse magazine. There's no novel happening... I have minute hopes that it will surface again... Writing blogs and articles are so much more fun!

QUESTION 2: How is my work different from others in its genre?

The blogs are personal, no question about that. They are accounts of my own writing, travelling and personal life experiences, which I hope my readers will enjoy. This makes my entries completely fresh and original. I write with a conversational kind of tone, so it's an easy, friendly read, on a wide range of subjects and issues (e.g. baking, environment, but mainly on writing).

QUESTION 3: Why do I write what I do?

First of all, the content has to be of interest to me. I have tried writing about things I don't have any passion for or interest in, and it just doesn't work as well. I write to entertain (me, mainly, but also for the 3500 ish readers I get every week), and I write to help. I enjoy the posts which spread a good, productive, outward-reaching message too (e.g. last week's post on International Womens' Day). 

QUESTION 4: How does your writing process work?

I need the idea first. Sometimes it's a photo which inspires me, another piece of writing, a charity or campaign, an especially bad/good experience, or sometimes it's something I've come across that day while driving, walking etc.

Then I sit down and just bash out the words. I know that a blank page doesn't work for most people, and brainstorming what I want to say in short bullet points brings the article or blog post together very quickly. It's also very easy to structure in that way. My English teacher at school would be proud!

When the writing's done, I edit, then I allow myself to indulge the 'fun' part. I love discovering great images to go with my writing - a photo, something I found online, or a fab infographic I've come across (my favourite).

So who's up next?

Suzie Hunt - Read Suzie's blog - Check out her *free* latest short story

Sarah Becker - Check out her blog, GET THE LOOK YOU WANT!

Di Castle - She's writing a book inspired by deafness in her family - also has a blog...

Take a look at their blogs - I know they'll appreciate it!

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
...And on Twitter
Born To be A Tourist

Image from Differentiation Station

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Buttering Up The Bridesmaids

12/3/2014

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On a recent sporty shopping errand, I found these shirts in a Sports Direct store in Northampton. 

They scream wedding at me!!!!

Completely on colour theme, I think my bridesmaids will love them! They'll be cool on the beach and made of cotton too. Even better, there's a deal if you buy two!

No bridesmaid dress shopping for us, wooo!!!

My groom-to-be took the photo so he obviously approves...

(This is a total joke). 

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
...And on Twitter
Born To Be A Tourist

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What's On, Wonderful Women?

7/3/2014

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Tomorrow is International Women's Day. Anyone not know what that's about (other than women around the world!!)?

International Women's Day is a global, annual event which inspires change  and empowers women. It covers everything from basic human rights (e.g. sex workers, access to education) to equality in finance (e.g. equal pay). The taboo of feminism is dropping from the faces of women around the world, and this is incredible to see. 

As a woman, you have a choice. This is feminism.

Bra burning is soooo 20th century!!!
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The Guardian says the campaign is 'more than just a cover story', and having surfed around to learn more, I agree.

Feminist or not, every woman should be aware of his event, and in turn, the issues their gender faces around the world and in their own country. Women's inequality and mistreatment is not just something that happens in lesser developed countries - it's here in the UK too. 

The internet and the world is buzzing about this: take a look at my pick of the crop of blogs, links and events!

Why we need International Womens' Day

My post from this time last year: Women Writers Who Inspire Me

5 Inspiring Quotes For Womens' Career Progression

Interesting BBC blog by a mother, new to raising a daughter

Blog: Who Inspires You?

10 reasons I'm a Feminist

The Ripple Effect: What's good for women is good for the world!

Check out the latest news for International Womens' Day

BBC's 100 Women event - very inspiring women share their story and contribute to the event

Still looking for more?Check out the Facebook page for the event and see what you can discover, and have a look to see if there are any events happening near to you this weekend.

Until next week, 

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
...And on Twitter
Born To be A Tourist

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    Author

    I'm a writer based in South Wales, with an unhealthy obsession with stationery and baking. I mainly blog for my own sanity, but I'm also working on a novel. Still. 

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