BaconLab09

Sorry for the lack of Lott updates recently.  After returning from Costa Rica I took a ski trip to Meany Lodge with a bunch of friends.  In true Safety Third fashion I was skiing aggressively on the sun warmed crusted snow - which was a lot of fun until I hit a patch that wasn't sun warmed. My skis stopped suddenly. I didn't.  I landed on my shoulder and did some damage to my AC joint.  I'd show you the x-ray, but HIPAA let's my doctor charge $20 for a copy of it, and I didn't think you care quite that much.  So for the past couple of weeks I've been hanging out in Seattle catching up with people and rehabbing the shoulder.

This past weekend I did get a chance to head out to Leavenworth with a bunch of guys for a little tradition we call BaconLab.  We spent some time in the great outdoors doing guy stuff.  Like chopping wood.  And hiking in Icicle Canyon.

And swimming in the Wenatchee River.

Tucker's just swum to the opposite bank and back.  Arnie and I are slightly less ambitious - fully submerged is good enough - the shoulder's in rehab, remember?  We also watched some March Madness. And ate bacon.  Lots of bacon.

Mattson is the benevolent dictator of BaconLab and he'd purchased 21 pounds of various types for us for the weekend.  Jon, a rookie this year, decided we should really focus on the Lab part of BaconLab and brought 8 pounds of uncured pork belly and his smoker.  Technically we didn't smoke them long enough to be proper bacon, but they were still amazing.  Chinese Five Spice, Molasses, Brown Sugar and Savory.

Next year we're adding a meat slicer to the equipment list so we can make thinner slices appropriate for wrapping dates, asparagus, cocktail wieners, mushrooms et al. With the smoker, we also decided we should try a Bacon Explosion.  Two pounds of bacon, two pounds of sausage, dry rubbed, smoked and slathered in BBQ sauce, it's gotten a lot of hype.

And worth every last ounce of it.  Sliced and served on toasted hoagie rolls, it didn't last 15 minutes. The other main experiment were Brian's Bacon Burgers.  Hamburger and chopped up bacon, formed into patties and grilled.

Delicious, but unfortunately timed to be done simultaneously with the Bacon Explosion.  They were both late lunch on Saturday and induced a bit of a basketball coma until the Bacon Apple Pie was ready.

We finished the weekend happy and full.

But the bacon had defeated us.  Three pounds were packed home so only 21 + 8 - 3 = 26 pounds on the weekend. Plus 2 pounds sausage and 4 pounds steak.

Funny, that's still a bit shy of 42.7.

Looking forward to BaconLab10!