Category: Random

Buffet o’ Bacon 3

Last night I had the Buffet o’ Blog staff over for a regular team outing (where we played video games and discussed funny stuff — how meetings should go!).  As has happened before, this meeting turned into a Buffet o’ Bacon.  It was kinda like an Iron Chef episode, where 3 contestants brought an original dish based around bacon.  (At these impromptu cooking sessions, the theme is always bacon.  Not that I’m complaining!)

First on the menu was bacon-wrapped smokies covered with barbecue sauce and grilled, and served on a stick.

smokies, bacon, & BBQ, on a stick

That one used turkey bacon, which works better for grilling and is a lot healthier.  The taste was really good.  You just have to make sure the bacon is cooked to the point of getting slightly crispy, or it’ll be easier to notice it’s turkey bacon.

The second item we sampled was bacon-wrapped cream-cheese-filled jalapenos.   We removed the seeds so they wouldn’t be too spicy (for some).  These were also delicious, although I’d like to experiment with different types of cheese.  Cooking them on a rack is essential (as I will explain in further detail on the next item).  They were also served on a stick (well, a toothpick).

bacon-wrapped cheese-filled jalapenos

Third on our list was the most ambitious creation, and the one that slightly concerned me.  It consisted of club crackers topped with shredded cheese, then bacon-wrapped and cooked for two hours at 250 degrees.  Here’s a picture of them during preparation.

bacon-wrapped club crackers, with cheese, in preparation

Notice there was no rack used to elevate the food above the inevitable bacon grease.  Supposedly it wasn’t necessary according to the recipe, that the crackers wouldn’t absorb all the grease.  I was concerned because we’ve been down this road before.  /* flashback */ At the initial Buffet o’ Bacon, there were some bacon-wrapped croissants, and the bread absorbed almost all the bacon grease during cooking.  The consistency of the croissants was like butter at room temperature, and it was deemed the “gut-bomb”.  (Read the second comment on our initial Buffet o’ Bacon for an explanation.)  /* end flashback */ So how did it turn out?  Let’s have a look:

bacon-wrapped club crackers, with cheese

What’s missing from this picture is the grease that was drained before I got in there with the camera.  Supposedly there was a pool of grease.  And if it isn’t evident in the picture, the crackers were saturated with grease, along with the cheese, and the bacon was quite greasy also.  Someone looked at the recipe to see where they went wrong, and they noticed the last line of the recipe said to cook it on a rack over a pan.  Obviously that line was never read, and the excuse was used that the picture included with the recipe didn’t have a rack in it.

We each tried a couple of them, and you could tell there was a lot of potential there, if not for the extreme load of grease.  The rest were discarded, for the sake of healthiness.   Hopefully a lesson was learned from this, because it’s really sad to throw away bacon and cheese.  (Should we have a moment of silence?)

If you want to read about our previous bacon research sessions, the link to part one is above, and here’s part two.  There are other food-related experiments and discussions — too many to list — but you can search for them if you want.

For those of you who live nearby and would like to participate in one of these in the future, there has been talk of hosting one on a Saturday afternoon and making a party out of it.  Stay tuned to this blog for further details.

being fat burns calories

In our recent post on how exercising may not make you thin, the (self-proclaimed) “Important Doctor” mentioned that muscles burn calories even while you’re not working out, including while you sleep.  And that’s true.  But there’s a lesser known fact that goes along with this — fat also burns calories while resting.  I’m not making this up!  Check it out:

The muscle-fat relationship is often misunderstood. According to calculations published in the journal Obesity Research by a Columbia University team in 2001, a pound of muscle burns approximately six calories a day in a resting body, compared with the two calories that a pound of fat burns.

So while muscles will burn more calories than fat, at least fat does burn some calories, even while resting.  So if you apply some basic arithmetic principles, you can deduce that the more fat you have, the more calories you are burning while resting.   You heard it here first!

public approval rating going down

Here at Buffet o’ Blog we usually don’t dabble in politics, unless it’s funny or satire / irony.  Today we have an editorial by chief important political correspondent, T. Wayne Ledbetter, Esq.  Can you find the humor in this, or at least write something funny in response to it?

In the past few weeks, several U.S. Senators have been holding town hall meetings to discuss the national health care plan, and they’ve been met with some major opposition.   Some citizens are quite angry about the idea of a socialism-style health care system, along with the massive cost that will be passed along to future generations.

President Barack Obama is keeping track of all this public opposition, and thus the public’s approval rating is going down in his eyes.  Surely Obama sits at his Oval Office desk and sighs all the time at how many people just don’t like his plans.  He must be wondering why the average Joe isn’t interested in socialism, when it’s for our own good.  “The American people don’t know what they want,” he probably mutters to himself, ever determined to force his plans upon the unsuspecting masses.

It may seem like Obama’s plans will all be passed without question, with the Democrats having a majority in Congress and the economy is a debacle (so people want change), but his future plans are not guaranteed yet.   If the Senators continue to meet with the American public and thus hear what people really think, they run the risk of getting back in touch with reality and realizing what their constituents actually expect.  And if enough people make their opinions heard, the Senators will be forced to take notice, because what is most important to them is remaining in power.  If they fear losing a significant number of votes and thus losing their seat, they will do what is necessary.

The current administration is aware of this danger to their radical plans, so they’ve begun to label the opposition in generalized, stereotyped, derogatory groups, like “right-wing extremists”.  They must isolate any public dissension to crazy people.  They have even asked for people to call the White House with the names of people who speak out against Obama’s socialistic vision.  They must not let this moment slip away, for American is at a crossroads created by a perfect storm of economic distress, an unwinnable war, rumors of man-made global warming and the need to go “green”, and discontent of “politics as usual” by the American people.  This crossroads offers the perfect chance to push through extreme legislation, as we have seen with the stimulus package and the omnibus bill and bailouts, which were rushed so fast through Congress that most of our representatives never had time to even read it!

Obama knows the current stakes, and he realizes he must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take control of America’s future, and he must act quickly.  If the great unwashed masses realize he is pushing for European-style socialism, his plans will fail.  He must make these changes under the guise of making everything better, and he must proceed with great haste.  With the public’s approval rating going down (in his eyes), time is running out.  Some of the mainstream media are even beginning to criticize him — even beyond FOX News.  Obama sits in his comfy executive chair, perplexed, wondering how mainstream reporters can question his grandiose plans.  Isn’t dissent of the President unpatriotic?  How could anyone be critical (beyond those crazy right-wing extremists, who only want to save the foundation our country was built on)?

Obama - PerceptionDuring a moment of brief reflection, perhaps Obama gives pause to his plans of changing America, and he begins to wonder if former President George W. Bush ever felt this discombobulated.  But those thoughts are fleeting, because he reckons the situation was irreconcilably different.  The media was obviously justified in hating Bush, in denigrating everything about him, in exaggerating the blame that should be cast upon him.  It was patriotic for the far-left media to hate on Bush, because he was… conservative.  There was nothing historic and momentous about his presidency.  He was too experienced, and his election wasn’t anything unique, and he didn’t take America in all these new radical directions.  His tenure in Washington was boring, except for all the humor and satire created about him.  But Obama, he’s historic, and he has a huge vision of change (even if nobody knew what the change would be during the campaign, it was change, so it must be good).  And Obama has the support of most of the mainstream media, so he must be doing things right.  Right?

As I wrap up this long piece of political satire, it is now up to you to ponder what was said, to see if you can determine what was satire and what is actually happening.  Was I just rambling incoherently, or did I actually have any thought-provoking points to make?   Was there any political humor in there, or was it depressing?  The end result is up to you.   I ramble, you decide.   🙂

dancing to Mii music on Wii

The music on the Mii channel on the Nintendo Wii has an unusual groove to it, and apparently it prompts some people to dance.  In the following video, the instructor of a recent Boogiezone University workshop danced to it for his students.

It’s too bad the Miis (characters / avatars) on the Wii don’t dance to it.  However, in Wii Fit you can see your Miis dancing (and you get to dance along, too), albeit it’s more of a step up / step down routine, but you can creatively add to it.

BTW, who knew there was a Boogiezone University?  Can you get a degree in getting your groove on?  I’m glad I didn’t have to take a dance class in college, or I might’ve lost my scholarships…