brunch, baconizing, brother wan's birthday

instead of going to church like a good girl, i responded with a ridiculously enthusiastic "yes, i'm in!" to an e-mail inviting me to brunch with the monkey, amber, and some of my favorite OC girls.

we met here:

of course, i got a late start, and being the furthest east, i was the last to arrive. i plopped down in the open seat, waved my hellos all around, and ordered a vanilla latte - apparently, the drink of the day as almost everyone else was sipping one as well.

as is typical, i was the one at the table that got screwed as the orders were placed. the server started taking orders, starting with the monkey, seated directly across from me. then, for some odd reason, he did a crazy zigzag, ending with rachael's order - and then as i opened my piehole to give him mine, he took off. it was so bizarre - it was as if i were invisible. i suppose that next to the glamorous OC ladies, i was. he eventually returned, full of apologies, and i gave him my crepe order. sheesh.

as if that weren't bad enough, as we chatted and giggled, we realized that each and every single individual seated at the table next to us was totally maddogging us. the grumpy-looking matriarchal figure at the head glared at us and tossed out a "shush!" and we're all pretty sure we heard a "are they leaving soon?" too. muahahahahaha - our GTGs aren't complete until we thoroughly piss off a fellow diner, or five.

here's a couple of the breakfast crepes. so yum - but i can easily make these at home. you know i'll give it a shot.

not having realized that our crepes would be appetizer-sized, we ordered a few dessert crepes to share. the first was mine and the monkey's - dulce de leche. we both agreed that we liked it best. the second one was some chocolate/banana deal. i carefully picked around the gross fruit chunks, took a bite, and thought it was a'ight.

the third crepe was named after this lovely lady, albeit spelled incorrectly: the "clare."

group shot!

the monkey had just gotten her hairs cut the previous day. i love it and think it's adorable on her, although she's still unconvinced. i also think it's going to confuse our online friends even more, because they mix us up constantly as it is.

later that evening, i finally tackled that vosges bacon bar. i realize it isn't halloween, which would explain that scary ass mask i have on, but it WAS later and i'd already washed my face and stuff. try to muffle the horrified screams, okay?

i came to the conclusion that while it was actually quite delicious, i preferred the chocolate-covered bacon i'd sampled at the OC fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago. and i can totally DIY that! as always, i'll report back on that venture.

yesterday was brother wan's birthday. having booked up his entire weekend, he opted to push the family celebration to monday, which actually worked out well since that was his actual birthdate. the hub had acquired some baseball tickets for him (complete with parking pass), and so i made a card to present them in.

our deal is: i make the card, the hub gets to write in it. heh.

brother wan isn't a cake or pie fan, so instead we stuck his candles into a mound of homemade ice cream.

i'd been eyeing this recipe for bacon toffee for a couple of weeks now. since i'd finally polished off the last of the bacon caramels over the weekend, i decided it was time to give it a try. the recipe says it's the easiest candy recipe ever, so i figured even i couldn't fuck it up. i cooked up the bacon and gathered the few ingredients together.

not wanting to bust out my macgyver skillz again, i'd used a coupon at michael's and bought a proper candy thermometer.

now, y'all know i'm good at following a recipe. i really am! 95% of the time, the recipes i test out come out really well. bacon toffee, sadly, fell into that other 5%. i could tell that something was wrong as the mixture bubbled and thickened, not turning into that beautiful toffee color that the picture showed. and the texture was all wrong - it wasn't smooth and shiny. it was crumbly and just weird. so sad.

thinking that i'd just made a simple mistake, i waited till after dinner and then gave it a second try.

and came out with the exact. same. results.

i give up. as delicious as that toffee looks and sounds, i obviously suck at candymaking. the bacon caramels had to have been a fluke, because they turned out perfectly. seriously, what happened with this fucking toffee is a damn tragedy. such a waste of perfectly good bacon. dammit.

maybe i just needed to bust out my macgyver-like contraption again. perhaps that was the magic wand. ah, hell.

i'm totally gonna end up trying this again, i just know it.