Chocolate and bacon and nausea, oh my

I recently saw a photo of something that absolutely astounded me. Something beyond the realm of imagination:

Chocolate-covered bacon.

Chocolate.

Covered.

Bacon.

Oh my dear lord.

Want to see? Here's the pic, from

http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/04/breakfast_of_champions

The bacony treat itself is sold at Marini's in Santa Cruz, Calif., http://www.mariniscandies.com/, although the creation is too new to be featured on the Web site yet.

But never fear, you can make it yourself. Recipes abound on the Internet. Just search "chocolate-covered bacon." You'll see.

Also, turns out there's "Mo's Bacon Bar," a chocolate bar with ... bacon bits? Bacon flavoring? I'm not sure. http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/bacon_exotic_candy_bar/exotic_candy_bars.

If you can't get enough of this taste sensation, Vosges also sells a "Flying Chocolate Pig," a solid chocolate pig filled with smoked bacon. http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/category/flying_chocolate_pig

This got me thinking about — oddly enough — chocolate, bacon and the American tendency to weird-up its food.

Bacon seems to be an important part of the American psyche. Although many people don't eat it because of its unhealthy aspects, I know very few people who don't like it. You'd have to be a truly dedicated Vegan not to be tempted.

But if good old-fashioned bacon by itself isn't good enough for you, there are many other ways to experience its charms besides slathering it in chocolate.

There's also chicken-fried bacon. Can't you feel your arteries clogging just from reading the words? Videos and recipes abound on the Web. Here's one place to see the video: http://www.glumbert.com/media/bacon

Want more? How about the bacon martini? http://www.chow.com/stories/10128

Bacon caramel? http://www.supersizedmeals.com/food/article.php/20070318-Bacon_Caramel_Recipe

Bacon cereal? http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/09/bacon-cereal-not-a-part-of-a-balanced-breakfast/

And of course, the latest frozen treat, bacon ice cream. http://www.slashfood.com/2006/08/06/bacon-ice-cream-is-an-udder-delight/

If chocolate isn't candy-sweet enough for your bacon obsession, there's Uncle Oinker's Savory Bacon Mints, gummy bacon and bacon jellybeans too. A Web search will turn them up.

After eating all this stuff, you'll need bacon-flavored toothpicks and bacon dental floss from Archie McPhee. http://www.mcphee.com/items/11723.html and http://www.mcphee.com/items/11847.html.

OK, enough bacon already! Let's move on to chocolate. If it's good enough to cover bacon, what else can chocolate do?

To begin with, there's the tame stuff. Chocolate-covered cherries, strawberries, coffee beans, sunflower seeds. The usual suspects.

Then there was chocolate-covered potato chips and popcorn.

Now we can start veering off into the Twilight Zone with chocolate-covered Bugles. You know, Bugles, the funnel-shaped corn chip snack. Here's a how-to: http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/000778.html

The blogger mentions chocolate-covered Twizzlers, the recipe for which you can find here: http://www.handcoding.com/archives/2003/05/21/recipe-chocolate-covered-twizzlers/

We've all heard of chocolate-covered ants and crickets, I'm sure. Thanks, but no thanks. There's chocolate-covered gummy frogs (http://crafts.kaboose.com/chocolate-covered-frogs.html), but at least the frogs aren't real.

Unfortunately with chocolate-covered squid ... the squid is real. http://www.instructables.com/id/Chocolate-Covered-Squid---Valentine_s-Day-Candy-Fr/

I wondered what's new in the land of chocolate bars, and found these at Vosge's Web site http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/category/exotic_candy_bars

Black Pearl: ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate, 55% cacao

Macha: Japanese macha green tea + deep milk chocolate, 41% cacao

Oaxaca: guajillo & pasilla chillies + Tanzanian bittersweet chocolate, 75% cacao

Red Fire: Mexican ancho & chipotle chillies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate, 55% cacao

d'Oliva: dried kalamata olives + Venezuelan white chocolate, 33% cocoa butter

If you like exotic, go for it. Me, I don't even like peanut M&Ms.

"Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world's perfect food."

— Michael Levine, nutrition researcher, as quoted in The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars

"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."

— Doug Larson quotes (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris)

Mattel's new Barbie doll, coming soon, from Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Birds." (www.entertainmentearth.com)

Miscellaneous

Revisiting a past topic: A few weeks ago I wrote about the cool toys I've found in my Web wanderings. Just today I saw something VERY special: Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" Barbie doll, coming soon! http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MTL9663#top