Friday Five: National Bacon Week

This week is National Bacon Week in Australia. I know; thrilling stuff, right? I'm sure everyone will be streaking to the butcher's in the middle of town to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the porcine quota of food product. Enough.

Now I love bacon, but there are a plethora of products that prove that I am not the craziest bacon fiend out there. From underwear to lampshades, scented candles to toothpaste, earrings to artwork, milkshakes to cocktails; there is something for everyone - as long as they like bacon.

If you are desperate you can get bacon gumballs, bacon chocolate bars, bacon cupcakes, bacon lollipops, and bacon ice-cream. I don't really like the combination of sweet and savoury so none of these offerings appeal to me, although I do think the bacon mayonnaise and bacon popcorn would be worth a try.

Loving bacon to death

Another combination that could work is bacon and beer. Somewhere in Maryland there is a beer and bacon music festival. It's a crazy place. Smoky beers have a delicious distinctive taste, which I happen to like, so surely smoky bacon beer could be a winner. Rogue have a beer called Voodoo Doughnut which is described as a bacon maple ale. And there's that sweet thing again; that, and the fact that it's pretty expensive. Meanwhile, here are five fabulous bacon-related culinary creations I do like:

5 Great Bacon Foodstuffs:

1. Smoky bacon crisps: quite simply snacktastic
2. Bacon and egg - full English breakfast: breakfast of champions!
3. Spaghetti carbonara: the favourite Italian dish of Him Outdoors
4. Bacon-wrapped, gin-soaked apricots: my dish of choice when told to 'bring a plate' (you have to put something on it in this country) - very simple and only three ingredients. Guess what they are!
5. Bacon and potato salad: kind of healthy (because it's a salad) and kind of not (because it's got lashings of mayonnaise.And bacon)

Gin-soaked, bacon-wrapped apricots