Bacon!

So, in keeping with the title of this blog, I made something with bacon today! It wasn't bacon wrapped, but there was indeed bacon involved. I don't get to eat bacon all that often. Especially not real bacon with nitrites and pork and all that good tasty stuff. Despite being a good German household that eats all sorts of pork product (there was even blood pudding in the fridge a couple weeks ago...I did not partake), bacon is not in our house all that often. If ever.

Since it is "Spring Break" I am not in as great of a wide eyed panic to get my reading and writing done I have been taking the time to knit, cook real dinners and actually think about my dissertation topic (Channeling Craig Ferguson: I know!). However, I will save the waxing lyrical about representation of communism in Berlin's neighborhood architectural changes since 1990 for another day. And what a fun day that will be.

Speaking of things German and my domestic endeavors, I made spaghetti carbonara for dinner. Yes, you are currently going 'but that's not german, that's italian!' I'm aware, I'm aware. However, the first time I ever had Spaghetti Carbonara it was made by a German, in a freezing little flat somewhere in Edinburgh. It was absolutely delightful, and when I returned to Berlin I found those little Knor packets that let you make complex dishes without actually having culinary talents. So for many a meal while in Berlin, I made spaghetti Carbonara.

I have since then been lazy and just keep making the packets when I want it, mainly due to a significant fear of tempering eggs. Tempering eggs allows you to cook the eggs and include them in a sauce without the egg scrambling (think hollandaise). I figured I would just fail at this miserably and end up either either with salmonella or with scrambled eggs. Today, however, I conquered egg tempering.

(Recipe taken from The Food Network. I only had three eggs, so I added some cream to make them go further. I also used 1.5 cups cheese, well, because I love cheese)

Pictures after the cut...

 I love Bacon. 

This was very stubborn pasta. Took forever to cook.

 

Pasta in the pan with the cooked bacon and the garlic, some of the bacon grease and black pepper. Right before eggs. 

And Success!

Om nom nom. 

I made asparagus to go with it, mainly because it was on sale (99 cents per bundle!). It turned out well, but I think I should have used a bit more cheese, or perhaps not the cheap kind. It just needed a little bit more kick of parm. I am still please by my ability to not make it into scrambled eggs with bacon and pasta.

That is all for now I suppose. Time for Jeopardy and reading American Babylon by Robert Self.