It Started with a Journal

Another cool knife tip that has nothing to do with chopping or maintenance: You know how, after you mince garlic, your fingers totally smell like garlic? For hours? And no amount of soap or scrubbing makes it go away? Try this: Rub your fingers on the non-blade section of your knife for a few seconds. The smell will be GONE. It's crazy. Mataio told us about it after we chopped some garlic, and I was like, "No way, that is not even a real thing." Except IT TOTALLY WORKED. So. bizarre!

The other day, Cookie Mule said to me, "Hey, do you know so and so? Apparently he makes his own bacon, and if you know him well, he'll even give you some." Well, I took this statement as a personal challenge. Make my own bacon? Of course it's occurred to me. I have all sorts of cookbooks, including Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing and The River Cottage Meat Book and Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, so the thought has definitely crossed my mind once or twice. However, like pasta, while it looks incredibly simple, I've still never done it due to the preconceived notion that it's difficult for the home cook to do. However, Cookie Mule's comment spurred me to action (and maybe I'm still feeling good about conquering pasta), and yesterday I bought myself two fatty slabs of pork belly. I made a dry cure, and in 7 days I should have myself some honest to goodness bacon. I'll let you guys know how it goes. ( Edit: The pork belly in question! )

I'm rewatching Downton Abbey S1. I started watching S2 and realized that I had no idea who most of the characters were anymore or what had happened to them the previous season. One thing that came back to me immediately upon rewatching episode 1 is how much I loathe Mary. Also, I didn't notice as much the first time how often the "downstairs" folk ask stupid questions they'd probably actually know the answer to IRL, so as to tell the audience what's going on. I did notice some of it the first time around, because I already knew the answers from a) reading Jane Austen/historical romance novels; and b) watching Gosford Park, but this time it seemed like it was every other sentence.

Country, like rap, is one of those music genres that I generally don't care for. There are exceptions to every rule, so there are some country music artists/songs that I really enjoy, but they are very few. So Lady Gaga once again proves how awesome she is (to me) that she can make me LOVE a song like You and I, a rock and roll song but with strong country influences. The first time I heard it I didn't even know it was her. I just heard this AWESOME song and was like, what/who is this?! I was as stunned as I was back when I learned that The Edge of Glory was Gaga too. Long may she reign.