International Bacon Day!

Even though I'm a complete Luddite and can barely figure out how to set up my TiVo without taking up roughly 5 hours of their tech department's time, I have managed to figure out Twitter (it only took a few months!) and thanks to this social networking site, I found my second husband!

Ahem, I mean, The Royal Bacon Society.

Swoooon! It's a whole society based on BACON!

Happy fists!! Now if only they put this logo on a bib.

I'd so buy one. Or two... Or twelve.

For those of you who didn't know, this past Saturday, September 5th, was International Bacon Day (or what I've excitedly nicknamed "Second Christmas") and the Royal Bacon Society (located in Santa Barbara, CA) knew that this fabulous occasion needed to be celebrated.

Ergo, they bestowed upon us BACON '09!

Fellow heart attack patients, aka: "Bacon-istas."

Another piece of bacon?

Why, yes I can!

After scoring an invite/+1 (that's right - INVITE ONLY!) my friend, Lauren,

(who helped with Bacon Cupcake Day!) and I ventured out of LA

and made the trip up North. A whole 86 miles. We're bacon pioneers!

Me at the gates of heaven! I mean Bacon '09.

Upon entering, we had to label ourselves.

Which being an avid P-Touch fan, made me very happy

as I enjoy order with my pork products.

Anybody who has eaten with me in a restaurant

knows that my true answer is:

"Crispy, but not burnt."

Not RAW.

Not BURNT.

CRISPY!

(I'm fussy.)

For $10, we had unlimited access to the bacon spread!

NOM NOM NOM!

Where to start?!

(Head exploding fists!)

I'm so dainty whilst eating bacon...

ON my plate:

First up, Bacon Squares!

Bacon Squares = very good.

Basically cheesy bread with bacon on top.

How can you miss?

Next... bacon caramels?

OMG! The Bacon Caramels were DIVINE!

SINFULLY DIVINE!

I ate a billion of these.

Let's keep eating dessert...

I love the combo of bacon and chocolate together,

so they were heavenly.

Even if the bacon was chewy.

I'll let it slide. THIS TIME.

Another cookie...

The Breakfast Cookie had a lot of potential.

It had oats in it really tasted like cereal (in a good way).

Tasty, but the other cookie was better.

It had chocolate. 'Nuff said.

Next - goat cheese and bacon.

A marriage made in PorkyPig Heaven.

Can I date this dish? Seriously? Can I?

Is that weird? Sigh...

Then on the end of the table, Elvis Bars...

ELVIS BARS.

SWEET JEEBUS.

This was my FAVORITE dish of the day.

I ate about a bazillion of these.

(Note to self: Buy larger pants... update HMO...)

I talked to the guy who made them and

he said that it was a Barefoot Contessa recipe for Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

but instead of peanuts, he used bacon.

(PS - HE IS THE SMARTEST MAN EVER.)

Next up, tater tots wrapped in bacon!

Anything is good wrapped in bacon.

(That's what she said!)

There was a tasty quiche...

...And a chocolate fountain for bacon dipping.

There was also fruit.

I have no idea what that was all about.

Fruit.

How cute.

There were also a lot of "bacon flavored" candy products.

So naturally, we had to try them!

Even if they sounded scary.

For instance: Bacon... mints?

"I'm the Mikey of Bacon!

I'll eat anything!"

Tasting... thinking...

"BOOO!"

It had a kicky (horrible) aftertaste that I'm still trying to wash away.

Lauren tried a Bacon Jellybean... we didn't document this tasting,

but we did document her rating on the tasting menu:

I think that says it all...

Next up, Bacon Gumballs!

"I love trying new things!"

"I DON'T WANT TO TRY NEW THINGS ANYMORE!

MAKE IT STOP!"

"Can I mark 'death' on my menu twice?"

EPIC BOOOO!

Now, there were also BACON DRINKS.

So naturally we had to try those too.

(Because we obviously hadn't learned from the candy debacle...
Thank God we're cute...)

First up... A Bacon Bloody Mary.

And the verdict...

"Meh."

Really spicy and just odd.

Not a fave, but I applaud the effort!

Next... BACON SHOTS.

Oh yes...

You read that correctly.

"Line 'em up!"

"Okay, we'll just take two..."

Oh yeah... Awesome town is just a sip away.

Lauren: "Are we really doing this?"

Jennifer: "Of course! We didn't drive 86 miles to punk out now."

Lauren: "SWEET NIBLETS!"

Jennifer: "I WANT TO DIE, but daintily..."

Lauren: "We're idiots, aren't we?"

Jennifer: "Yes. Yes we are."

In case you can't tell (because you're blind) the Bacon Shot was BRUTAL.

It was made with a home-made bacon infused vodka

(which I don't think turned out so well) and we're both light-weight drinkers.

(Lauren's nickname for me is Weak Knees Applesauce. Don't ask...)

So I'd be interested to see how it would taste with Bakon Vokda.

But I may need to take some time to heal before venturing out on the bacon drinks again...

HOWEVER!

Despite the candy/drinks, we had a great time!

We concluded the event by losing the raffle.

But we look cute with our tickets:

"The tickets don't taste like bacon. Trust me."

Raffle prizes (that we didn't win)...

So that was Bacon '09!

I hope you enjoyed it. We did and can't wait to go back next year!

VIVA LA BACON!

WARNING:

The following images are not for the faint of heart.

It's the amount of grease accumulated making the Bacon '09 treats.

I'm not kidding.

Turn back now.

Seriously.

That is NOT a bacon candle.

(OH MAN I WISH!)

That is a VAT OF FAT.

GACK!

Sometimes... ignorance is bliss.

Regardless...

See you next year!!