Today’s Music Monday band is one that I found while I was listing to Sirius XMU. Their name is Avi Buffalo with their first single off of Sub Pop Records “What’s In It For”. The reason this song stuck with me is because in the second verse Avi says “your lips are like two little pieces of bacon”. I can get behind a band that can make a bacon reference in a love song; that takes skills.
Below you will find a video and mp3 of the song. I suggest you listen to the mp3 first since that is the polished studio version of the song. The video is of Avi Buffalo playing the song in someone’s apartment. I thought it was neat to see him playing the lead melody and singing at the same time (I couldn’t do that).
Avi Buffalo – “What’s In It For”
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Avi Buffalo was started in Long Beach by a kid named Avi who gave up skateboarding for the guitar. He found a few local blues guys to teach him the basics and then started recording his bluesy pop songs. After a while it kind of turned into a band and they got signed by Sub Pop.
For this week’s weekend cooking Beth made (I helped a little) Bacon Chicken and Dumplings. For some reason we are on a soup kick. I think its because nothing beats a piping hot bowl of soup on a cold winter evening. This soup like the others we made is thick and sticks to your ribs. There wasn’t a lot of bacon in the recipe, but you use grease rendered out of the bacon in the soup so it makes up for that. For only using three strips of bacon there is a lot of flavor in this one.
I personally think this is the best bacon soup we made so far. Beth really like it too, but since you use the bacon grease in the soup she thinks its not the healthiest thing to eat. I guess there is some truth to that fear, the recipe say is has 458 calories and 21g of fat per serving. Since its the winter I feel we need the extra calories to stay warm so I am not that worried about it.
Bacon Chicken and Dumplings
Prep Time: 20 Min | Cook Time: 30 Min | Ready In: 50 Min
What you will need:
3 slices bacon (I would prefer more)
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – diced
3 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
3 cups half-and-half
1 1/2 cups biscuit mix
1 cup milk
How to make it:
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside; reserve bacon drippings in skillet.
Add potatoes, onion and chicken to bacon drippings and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in chicken broth; season with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir in corn, and simmer all together for 15 minutes.
Pour in half-and-half and bring to a boil; add crumbled bacon. In a medium bowl, combine biscuit mix with milk and mix well (dough should be thick). Drop tablespoon sizes of dough into boiling mixture; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, then another 10 minutes covered. (Note: Do not stir while simmering, or dumplings will break apart). Serve hot.
This recipe is from AllRecipes.com and the photo is by docswife.
For this week’s Thirsty Thursday I am pulling out three beer reviews I did back in 2008. This was when I had the time to sit down and give beer a proper review. The three beers I reviewed where, Pittsburgh’s Penn Pilsner, Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, and Yuengling Traditional Lager.
Just click on the above images to read the reviews. Do you think I should bring back my beer reviews? I never thought I was that good at so that’s why I stopped. I didn’t know enough about beer to do is right.
We started off today’s show with the Republic of Bacon’s national anthem. If you don’t know, the Republic of Bacon is a website created by the Maple Leaf Foods in Canada. Sean and I both think they really hit the mark when it comes to bacon advertising. Sadly, they didn’t pay us to say that.
Halfway through the show we got educational and talked about the national drink and national product of the USA. Your going to have to watch she see what they are. Also worth mentioning, Sean purchased a bacon press with will let us know how it works out in two weeks.
Over the weekend my inbox exploded with emails about a story that posted on Yahoo about bacon. It seems the people at Rachael Ray Magazine think they can review bacon better than I can. They’re lucky there is not a bacon blogger union, if there was I would be talking to my steward right about now.
I am going to go down their list of “top” bacon and give you my 2 cents on them. I was surprised to find out that I do agree with a few of them on the list.
Rachael Ray’s Top Bacon Picks:
BEST ORIGINAL: Ozark Trails Hickory Smoked and Peppered Bacon
I do enjoy hickory smoked and peppered bacon but I wouldn’t call the combination of the two the best original bacon. I think Sean and Dogfish Head Brewery (they used the bacon I will soon mention in their pork dinner) would agree when I say Mountain Products Smokehouse Maple-Cinnamon bacon is the best original flavor. I blew our minds when we first tried it and we still talk about it to this day.
BEST THICK-CUT: Jimmy Dean Thick Slice Premium Bacon
Any bacon lover knows Jimmy Dean’s bacon is not something to put on a best of list. Its usually a fatty flavor injected mess. Now I haven’t tried there “thick sliced” bacon but I am sure it’s just like their normal variety. I would have picked Oscar Mayer’s Applewood Super Thickcut Bacon for this category.
BEST TURKEY: Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon
This just proves that the writers at Rachael Ray Mag are NOT bacon lovers. True bacon lovers would not waste their time with turkey bacon. I guess I should be happy they didn’t put veggie bacon on the list. Veggie bacon is more offensive to me then someone calling me a vegan lover.
BEST SWEET: Beeler’s Uncured Apple-Cinnamon Bacon
Ok, I can agree with this one Ms. Ray. Beeler’s is known for making some great bacon and I am sure their Apple-Cinnamon Bacon is top notch. I am going to have to add this bacon to my must review ASAP list.
BEST ODDBALL: Mountain Products Smokehouse Chipotle Southwest Smoked Bacon
Wow! It looks like they did their homework for at least one category. Sean and I both enjoy this bacon when we had it and it was a great oddball flavor. I am impressed that they knew about Mountain Products Smokehouse, but now it opens up a lot of questions about how their Maple-Cinnamon bacon didn’t win best original. Maybe they didn’t want them to steal all the glory by winning two categories.
I would like to thank the writers at Rachael “I kinda know a little about bacon” Ray Magazine for putting some great bacon in the spot light. Next time though, please consult with an expert before you start claiming you know what the best bacon is.
