You'd think I'd avoid thinking of bacon for a while.

Last week, I encountered a bad bit of pancetta, a.k.a. fancy-pants Italian bacon. The stuff was probably the cause of the food-poisoning I enjoyed the following day (nothing too serious, just ruined my stupid day).

Still, I'm a red-blooded, four-square American and bacon is just what makes this nation great! Is there anything its smoky goodness can't improve? In case you needed proof, here's an unforgettable recipe for chocolate-chip cookies--with bacon!

And yes, I have already bought and cooked some proper smoked American bacon to make that cream sauce with peas and bacon recipe again. The next time I make the béchamel sauce for that dish, I may use the leftover bacon fat rather than butter...

CDs listened to today:

• Darius Milhaud: Saudades do Brasil
• Poor Rich Ones: Happy Happy Happy
• Remy Shand: The Way I Feel
• Steve Reich: Tehillim
• Sleater-Kinney: Dig Me Out
• Bill Watrous: Manhattan Wildlife Refuge
• Ingram Marshall: Hymnodic Delays
• Juraj Filas: Sonata For Trombone And Piano (At the end of the century)