Bacon

I'm cooking bacon; I love bacon. I love smell of it as it bubbles away in the frying pan. I love the salty flavour of that hot, first bite. I love the crunch and chew of it as I pulp it from a stick of fried pork into a swallow that tastes good all the way down. My homemaker, a devout Muslim, is here today and even she admits that, while never haven actually eaten any, she loves the smell of frying bacon. I would make a very bad Muslim, or Jew.

When I cook bacon, I usually do a full package at a time. I use what I want immediately, which, at times, can amount to half of what I cook. The rest goes into my bacon container and into the freezer. That way, when I want a slice or three for a meal, or bacon bits for a salad or potatoes, I just reach into the freezer, pop the frozen sticks of bacony goodness into the microwave, and there it is, wonderful and ready to eat.

There is one cloud in the blue sky of my breakfast joy today. When I cook bacon, I don't use a spatula. I use a set of kitchen tongs. That way I can lift the bacon and turn it while keeping it from entangling in the other slices in the pan. I like good looking bacon; a spatula just clumps it all together, making it curly instead of the straight bacon that one truly sees as perfection. Unfortunately my hands are getting weaker; it is getting increasingly difficult to grab bacon with tongs.

It might seem like switching back to a spatula is the only way to go. Try it. Try using a spatula to turn bacon while seated in a wheelchair, where your line of sight is approximately even with the top of the stove, where your proximity to splattering grease is at face level, not apron level. Think about the mechanics of working across a hot, grease spitting frying pan while your mobility is limited by the wheels on which you rely. It's a rough go.

I suppose the thing I should remember, and be grateful for, is that, as of today, I can still fry bacon. I can still make bacon and eggs, with toast, ham and cheese. The only thing missing is Hollandaise Sauce. Not today. Today, bacon is enough.