Bacon!!!!!

I made bacon sandwiches for brunch today.

What I hope will turn into a great three day weekend started on a sour note. I was forced to wake up at the ungodly hour of 9:00 am PDT. What's worse is I had to wake up to the most annoying play by play voice in the world, Joel Myers.

So after UT got off to a 28-0 halftime lead I figured it was time to get a little food in my belly. My selection, two types of apple wood smoked bacon, I thought was perfect for the official start of the College Football Season. Turns out the bacon was okay. I had two types, both from my local Albertson's meat counter.

The first was simply smoked over apple. It had a mild flavor. I thought it wasn't much different than something you might find in a Farmer John's package. Rene thought it had just the right amount of smoke flavor and a really nice "meaty" taste. She felt that it didn't have the fake smoke taste of some bacon. The second was a peppered bacon. Though I have never seen peppered bacon, I figured I would pick it up and compare the taste.

The second was also smoked over apple wood. This one, however, was also peppered. Now I am not certain of this, but I think this bacon was coated with ground black pepper before smoking. You really couldn't tell by looking at it, the sliced bacon in the package was sprinkled with ground pepper. My guess is that a lot of the pepper came off during slicing. The flavor was more pronounced. Not peppery or spicy, it just seemed as though the peppering enhanced the smoke flavor.

I cooked both in their own non stick skillet on the stove top. Next time I will give the oven a try and see if there is any difference.

I had my heart set on watching Ohio State play, but ABC decided that I would rather watch Stanford vs. Oregon in a match up of Pac-10 powerhouses. I even tried to buy the game on the ESPN Game Plan, except Comcast does not want my money and does not offer the Game Plan in my area. I hate Comcast. Fortunately, my lovely wife rescued me when she decided to take a jaunt down to Bonny Doon Vineyards. They have a revolving selection of wines available for tasting, and the tasting fee is only $3.oo, although I think they waived it after we purchased almost 2 cases of wine.

After the trip to Bonny Doon, we got home in time to watch USC whoop up on the Hoggs of Arkansas. Although not the thorough ass whooping of last season, it was still a very impressive win.

Football observations:

• Why were the defending National Champions playing at such a horrible time?
• Why did Fox choose to save their HD cameras for the Utah vs. UCLA???
• Joel Meyers has the most annoying voice of any play by play commentator.
• The Longhorns looked really good today. (even though it was against the Mean Green of North Texas.
• McCoy looks like the real deal. He is no Vince Young, but who is?
• Jamal Charles will finally get a chance to show his running skills now that he is no longer in the shadow of VY.
• If Selvin Young stays healthy, Texas could have the most potent running game in College football this year.
• USC is off to a great start.
• Booty looks really good.
• The Trojans have more running backs than you can shake a stick at. I don't envy the coaches job of choosing a starter every week.
• The Trojan Tailbacks do not give up. They keep running till the whistle blows like no bodies business.
  
• Did you see the defense play? They look like they haven't lost a step.
  
• Art Shell finally got to make a decision. The Raiders cut Jeff George.
  

I will let you know how the bacon turns out in the oven, and also update the wine adventures.

Happy football day!!!!