is that bacon in your popcorn, or are you just happy to see me?

i've had this article bookmarked for quite a while now, and yet i kept blowing it off.

but no more.

after doing a little poking around via google, looking for more precise measurements, i came across this recipe. i totally giggled at "kevin bacon popcorn." and i liked the idea of candied bacon - "pig candy," i've also heard it called. so i pulled out the ingredients:

spread the bacon out on my pan, and sprinkled it liberally with brown sugar.

about 15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees, and it was done.

i plucked them off of the pan and put them on a paper towel and then drained the bacon grease into my little measuring cup to see how much i ended up with.

just under 1/4 cup, which was okay since this was an experiment anyway. i didn't want to have a crapload of the stuff in case it turned out tasting like butt.

note: when you're making candied bacon, do NOT try to blot it with a paper towel like my dumb ass did. duh - the melted brown sugar was sticky! oy. i ended up with bits of paper towel stuck to some of the bacon.

i picked off as much as i could and then chopped it up. a little extra fiber can't hurt, right?

i poured the bacon fat into my big pot, waited a few minutes for it to heat up, and then tossed a "test kernel" in to see if it was hot enough. sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

i tossed the rest of the popcorn in, put the lid on, and shook the shit outta the pan to keep the popcorn from sticking to the bottom of the pan and/or burning. we all know nothing sucks more than burnt popcorn. and pretty soon (it was much faster than microwave popcorn, i might add), i had a happy little batch of this:

i shook some salt on top, added the chopped candied bacon, and mixed it all up.

and the verdict? well, it wasn't exactly slap-yer-mama good. i'm thinking that my bacon wasn't fancy enough to give off a super duper bacontastic flavor in the rendered fat. the candied bacon itself was pretty tasty, but the popcorn was pretty blah. not exciting and not very bacon-y. so the whole thing wasn't bad, but not necessarily something i'll make again. there are lots of other fun foods i can baconize. stovetop popcorn, though, was pretty good. it was crispier than microwave popcorn, and i'll try some other fun popcorn recipes i found online.

the bean, having gone to toys 'r us with MIL, is starting to show signs of being a little hostess. look, she made me tea!

she was pretty darn proud of herself, too.

but she has her father's ADD. "here's some tea, mo - "

"hey! mouse!"

that's my girl.