April 11 Is Finally 55 Degrees

I have been cooped up since one week ago today.  Well, actually I went to the Doc on Monday and to work on Thursday.  Work was a bad idea, but I stayed home yesterday too.  I assume the strep throat is gone and the coughing is to a minimum.  Tomorrow I go to the once every two years quilt show or die.

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So I am the first one to complain about daytime TV. I did run out of "Justified" to watch, however,  I learned some very useful things:

* First of all, you can actually kill yourself by overeating. Immediately.  I learned this from a repeat CSI (one of the good ones with Grissom) and the guy's stomach exploded.  Of course, he had a rare genetic disease where the people are crazed and will eat constantly.  He got out of his humanitarian restraints -- and went out with a bang.  (Oops, sorry.)

* If I let my clutter problem go to full fledged hoarding and the junk is about a foot from the ceiling, I can be on TV. And they will bring in a shrink to fix me and a clean up crew to fix the house.

* Men apparently need to be sex ready at every minute, not just with an hour's notice to let the viagra work. That's o.k. because they have a new viagra for that.  (Most of the men I see around here have no chance so I think they should save their money.)

* That douche that I haven't been using is not strong enough to get me "really fresh."  That's o.k. because there's a new stronger one.  (Since nobody's investigating down there and I have heard of soap, I sort of dismissed this one, but I felt it my duty to inform you of this.)

* You can really get a lot done during commercials which are missing (mercifully) on Netflix!

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Most of you know I love bacon and tomatoes and a lot of other things.  In fact, I love tomatoes in any form except one: tomato juice.  I just can't drink it -- it reminds me of drinking blood.  Which is why the following recipe will, I know, appeal to a lot of you.  I'm just wondering if it would work with mango juice ...

Bacon and Habanero Infused Vodka
Adapted from Croce’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar.

6 strips of bacon
3 habanero chili peppers
2 serano chile peppers
1 liter good quality vodka (this is not exact)

Add strips of bacon to a dry, cold, large skillet.  Warm the skillet over low heat.  Cook bacon until crispy, flipping the bacon several times throughout the process.  Transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside to cool.Remove the stems from each chili pepper and slice in half lengthwise.  Add peppers (with seeds) to a large, airtight jar.  Once cooled, add bacon to the same jar.  Fill the jar with vodka to cover the bacon and peppers.  Seal the jar and let steep for 7 days in the refrigerator.*

After 7 days, strain the vodka through a cheese cloth lined fine mesh basket strainer into a clean jar or bottle.  If you see any major particles floating in the vodka, strain a second time.  Discard the bacon and peppers.  Store in the refrigerator.Make s 1 liter.

*  Letting the vodka steep with the chili peppers for 7 days will result in an extremely spicy infusion.  If you have a low heat tolerance, I would recommend steeping for a shorter period of time.  You can start tasting half way through and strain the infusion once you reach your desired heat level.  Keep in mind that this vodka will be used in a bloody mary.  You want it to be overly spicy because the tomato juice will turn down the heat level a bit.

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As I said, I'm moving slowly.  But since I haven't done any food shopping in almost two weeks, I figured it was a good time to clean the fridge.  Wow. It really needed it.  I'm happy to report that I did not actually concuss myself as I stood up and bammed into the freezer handle.  However, it did feel at the time as if I had knocked something loose in my brain.  Maybe it was just some plaque getting knocked off!

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