Why we perpetrate crimes against nature

OK, so, here's the thing. We are a bunch of college instructors who, during the school year, are continuously swamped with student assignments. Without some sort of marking-free outlet, we would go mad. We generally set aside Saturday mornings as an assignment-free zone -- and, in the fall and the spring, we can spend these Saturday mornings wandering around the local farmer's market and eating things. (Cut us some slack -- this is a very small town. Also, it's quite a nice market.) Alas, however, our breakfast bratwurst-and-mocha tradition is thwarted when the market closes for the winter.

This year, we were particularly lamenting the loss of the mouth-watering bacon bread sold by a local German baker. As we held forth on our withdrawl symptoms (at some length), a tolerant colleague chipped in, "You know, my father used to put bacon in pancakes."

"Saturday," I said immediately. "My place, 10am."

They were delicious. And... what else, we wondered, could we combine with bacon? (How else, we wondered, could we avoid those stacks of looming assignments?)

Bacon Saturdays has been born. Think of it as an iron chef winter.

We are not the first people to combine strange things with bacon. We're certain we will not be the last. But we're having fun, and we'll let you know all the things we try out -- including the disasters. Because we're pretty sure there will be some spectacular disasters.

Enjoy! Or, you know, cringe. Whichever.