Come Saturday afternoon, some 2000+ Chicago bacon enthusiasts (including yours truly) will descend upon the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavillion to spend three hours wandering a smokey, salty, porktastic wonderland, featuring bacon-themed dishes by 50 of Chicago’s best restaurants, a bacon booze bar and exhibition hall of purveyors of all things bacon. I’m beyond excited (and [...]

Filed under: bacon, Chicago, chocolate, cooking, festivals, food, food porn, hobbies, press, restaurant

Check it out – I was interviewed by the Bacon Du Jour blog about my entry for the Chicago Baconfest cook-off. Thanks, Bacon Du Jour! The blog is running interviews of all six contestants, so it’s definitely been interesting getting a peek into the minds of my competitors. I’d be lying if I said I [...]

Tags: bacon chocolate, blog, Chicago Baconfest, cook-off, interview
Filed under: bacon, Chicago, chocolate, cooking, festivals, food

Just in case you haven’t been paying attention, I kind of have a thing for bacon. I also love cooking. So naturally, I threw my hat into the ring for this year’s Baconfest Chicago’s Amateur Cooking Contest (sponsored by Nueske’s Bacon). On the line: 2 free tickets and the chance to compete for bragging rights [...]

Tags: bacon, Baconfest Chicago 2011, cake, chili pepper, chocolate, contest, dessert, flourless, recipe, spice, torte
Filed under: bacon, Chicago, chocolate, cooking, festivals, food, food porn, recipes, teaching

Yes, that’s beer. In a deep-fried pretzel dough pocket. Excuse me while I channel Homer Simpson for a minute: “mmmm…. deep fried beer…. agghhhh….” We can thank Texas for this insanity. The Big Tex Choice Awards at the Texas State Fair gives prizes for “Most Creative” and “Best Taste” at the fair and apparently competitors [...]

Tags: beer, deep fried, food porn, snacks
Filed under: beer, cooking, festivals, food, food porn, WANT, weirdness

Attention Chicago beer-lovers: tomorrow from 3-7 in Oak Park, you’ve got a chance to taste over 75 craft beers from 25 Illinois and Midwest microbreweries at the Oak Park Micro Brew Review. The list of participating local breweries isn’t half bad – aside from mainstay Goose Island, there’s a decent showing of smaller, Midwestern breweries, [...]

Tags: beer, festival, local, microbrewery, Oak Park, organic, sustainable
Filed under: beer, Chicago, festivals, food, outdoors