Celebrate with Bacon!

Did you have a good 4th of July? That was a while ago, I know, but I've been busy having a nervous breakdown! I'm worried about being in charge at preschool, so I am having nightmares and mini panic attacks. Going up north was a nice change. Paul was in China the week before the 4th, so we were happy to have him back. I was looking forward to trying "Bacon Turtles" that I saw on a website. It's basically a bacon cheeseburger with hot dog appendages.






You try to weave the bacon so it looks like a turtle shell. Frankly, it looked better when they did it, take a look here. I think they used more bacon than I did. Next time I will put the cheese inside the burger (like a juicy Lucy) because much of it melted and slid off. So sad. A waste of cheese!








The directions said to bake them, so the bacon wouldn't overcook before the meat was done. It was too hot in the (un-airconditioned) cabin to use the stove so we cooked them in a foil pan on the grill. It worked just fine. I made homemade buns and they were delicious! The hot dogs are an odd texture addition, but not bad.

I saw on another site a recipe for bacon vodka. Hmmm.... I may have to try it!




On the 4th, we went into Duluth for the day. They had a little carnival by Canal Park. The boys rode on some rides, and I pet a lemur. Yes! A real lemur! I paid three dollars and got a bit of chopped banana to feed them. I laughed when I got into the enclosure, because all the lemurs were asleep in a pile in the back of their cage. They were also stuffed to the gills on other people's bananas, so they weren't interested in mine. Luckily, the baby lemur was still awake, and I was able to pet him. I would show you a picture, but they wanted another $5 for a photo, whether you used your camera or theirs. I'm too cheap. In case you wonder, petting a lemur is very much like petting a wiggly cat.
Paul's brother Tim came with us. We listened to music in the park while we waited for Nate and Nick to be done with the rides.











We went to Paul and Tim's cousin's house for dinner. Dave and Teri have bought the old weather station in Duluth and are doing extensive renovations. This is the view from the roof, where there will be a garden someday. They were having a pig roast, with many guests. This is the kind of party I like, with flocks of kids and dogs swooping in and out, the ability to have a nice long chats with nice people, and good food!





Here I am with Nate and Nick on the roof. Yes, they are taller than last week! They just keep growing! Nick has an entirely new voice going on now. I did actually curl my hair before I went, but it was humid, so my hair went completely limp. Grrr!








We all watched the fireworks from Dave and Teri's yard. Fabulous! We couldn't hear the explosions, which was weird, but nice, I thought.

The food at the party was terrific. Dave cooked a pig, they had hot German potato salad and everybody brought a dish to share. Hot German potato salad is so good, it has bacon in it, too, so it was a very bacony weekend. Here is my favorite recipe for Hot German Potato Salad. (I got it from a hot German!)



Hot German Potato Salad

5 lbs red potatoes
1 lb bacon
2 onions, chopped
2 cups water
1 cup flour
1 2/3 cups white vinegar
1 2/3 cups sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook, peel and slice potatoes. Cook bacon until crisp, cool, crumble and set aside. Cook onions in bacon fat until transparent. Scoop them out and let them rest with the bacon. Mix 2 cups water and one cup flour until smooth and cook it in the hot bacon fat until it gets thick. (It's German Roux!) While it's cooking, mix vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil. Once the roux is thick, add the vinegar mixture a bit at a time, stirring to keep it smooth. Add the bacon and onions and simmer until thickened. Mix with cooked potatoes and add salt and pepper.