Bacon!!

I can't think of many situations or experiences that aren't enhanced by the presence of bacon. So imagine my excitement when I found out we were smoking some bacon here yesterday, on New Year's Day. It's a pretty great holiday to begin with here in the Iguchi home, where you toast the first breakfast of the year with a shot of sake, and then proceed to do a whole lot of whatever it is you want for the rest of the day, be it sleep, read, eat, surf the Internet, knock snow out of the trees, or all the above. But it only increases exponentially when you add bacon, and not just any bacon, but hand-made bacon!

It's about a 5 hours process from start to finish, which begins with the stringing up of numerous bacon haunches and starting a fire inside the smoker. Once you get the heat inside the box up to a proper level, it's basically a waiting game that involves adding/removing coals to maintain the right temperature. In the meantime, we had an old guitar to strum, and varying levels of ability in several different languages to keep us busy. One would have a legitimate argument in suggesting that this experience could be heightened even further with the introduction of beer and/or Japanese sake. However, we kept it sober until the bacon was done yesterday evening. By the way all of this was taking place in the barn next to Chieko's parent's house, and I have to say that wherever I live next, I really hope it has a barn. You can do anything in freakin barn.







Twas a great way to kick off the new year.