Bon Anniversaire Bacon & Other Bad Habits!

Logo courtesy of Simply Fabulous

Gosh, has it really been a year? And yet, simultaneously, has it only been a year?

It's hard to believe that it was over a year ago when I was making bacon toffee cookie bars in my kitchen and had the epiphany moment. I decided then, fingers covered in dough, house smelling of pork products, that I wanted to write a cookbook. But as a home cook I didn't know the first thing about writing a cookbook. I'm no chef, just some girl who likes to make food things who grew up in a household with people who like to make food things, who descended from a long line of people who like to make food things.

So I decided to write a blog to first whip both my brain and my kitchen into thinking outside of the recipe box. I woke up in the middle of the night with the thought that this all had to happen NOW, bought the URL at 2am and registered both the Blogger and Wordpress user-names. My friend Kathryn, a classically trained chef, was unemployed at the time and offered her partnership services. And thus, Bacon & Other Bad Habits was born.

Photo of Kathryn and Leah courtesy of Kokoro Photography

In the past year many things have changed. I've been trying to get into better shape and so my cooking has taken on a new approach of how to eat healthy but not give up on taste or things I like to eat. I hope I've succeeded in this. I've forced myself to branch out from standards and family favorites and figure out how to cook new ingredients and use new preparations for everyday items. I started getting my vegetables from a farm to help challenge me and introduce me to new produce.

But other things have changed too. Kathryn started teaching at a culinary school and working as a personal chef and had less time to devote to my pet project. As such, she stopped blogging in February. She is also almost eight months pregnant as I write this; a delightful new critter is about to enter her world. I am very proud of my friend and former contributor and happy that her pushing and partnership are why this blog exists to begin with. I'm equally happy that she now has a pet project of her own--a baby!

My own life is on a new adventure as well. I'm slowly moving out of my tiny 400-square-foot dollhouse (take the tour on YouTube and check out my old super awesome asymmetrical haircut. I was so rad.) and into my boyfriend's house. The kitchen is bigger, the lighting is worse. Here's hoping I become a better photographer...

Thanks for reading Bacon & Other Bad Habits. For "liking" it on Facebook. For re-tweeting the tweets. And more importantly, for telling your friends and family about the site. And for cooking the recipes and providing so much excellent feedback about what you want to see more of.

Now, if I only had time to focus on that cookbook...I suppose that's all in due time, all in due time. Happy birthday Bacon & Other Bad Habits, here's to another great year!

xo,
L.

Photo of Leah courtesy of Kokoro Photography

What's All This About Bacon & Bad Habits?

Greetings and salutations fellow foodies and wannabe foodies. Welcome to Bacon and Other Bad Habits.

As we write this, drink in one hand, bacon in the other, we're wearing matching sweaters. Seriously. While our love of food and sense of fashion may be what unites us in friendship, our backgrounds and personalities are quite different. So, just who are these bacon-lovin' bourbon-drinkin' ladies that you are welcoming into your hearts and kitchens?

Leah has loved bacon ever since she was old enough to be able to gum on its salty porky goodness. At age 7 she declared she wanted to marry bacon and was sad to find out that little girls could not actually marry inanimate objects. She likes to say she was raised by drag queens (not true--though it would explain her love of glitter) but really comes from a long line of southern sass. Leah wielded her first cast iron skillet at age 10 when her great-granny started teaching her to cook. Granny always would ask, "Leeyah, are you puttin' enuf loooove in it? Put more loooove in it." And ever since, she cannot make anything to eat without hearing her Granny's southern drawl. She makes sure to put plenty of love in as she hacks her way through whatever she's making. Leah doesn't know the "proper" way to do anything. She believes rules were made to be broken--especially in the kitchen. She spent her teenage years living as a vegetarian and even now lives some days as a vegan (minus that whole bacon thing).

Kathryn was not raised by Drag Queens, although her Dad has been seen in a kilt a time or two. She is a good Catholic girl from Long Island, but "good" is a term with many meanings. (At age 16 she could out-shotgun any guy that handed her a beer). Growing up, she has fond memories of going to Great Grandmother's 3rd floor walk-up in Brooklyn with her Grandfather and mother--four Generations cooking together. Dinner was always at the same time, with the whole family, and her mother's creativity sparked Kathryn's interest in pursuing a culinary degree. As a classically trained chef, Kathryn has cooked for 2 to 10,000 people and everything in between. Her favorite people to cook for are her husband, Mr. F, and her very spoiled cat, Mr. S. For her, being in the kitchen is on par with with the same kind of awesome as being hugged by her mom. (Yeah we went there). She still goes to church on Sundays, but as far as the beer, well, a nice bottle of wine is a good substitute.

We are excited to embark upon this adventure with you. We welcome your feedback (but only if it's positive) (kidding) (maybe not) and promise to make it fun, keep it interesting, and above all else: be creative.

xoxo,