Caesar Salad Wonton Cups with Bacon Candy

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

Mark Twain

I had the most fantastic, cool, horrifying, grownup, interesting, and scary conversation with HBear the other day.

During bath time a song came on the radio. I said “this has a great beat! Kinda like old slave music.”

“What is that?”

Dunh Dunh Duuuunnnnhhhhhhh

Well, we got into a whole discussion about slavery. She asked insightful and honest questions. We, as adults, just see it as how it was, always had been, and in some regards, how it still is today. But, she was hearing it for the first time. I honestly didn’t even want to talk about it.

I didn’t want to be the person that introduces her to a whole new world of prejudices. It was like telling her there is no Santa!

“People are different?” She asked incredulously!

“No Sweetie. People just look different. People are people. They need and want the same things, no matter what they look like.”

“What about girls? Remember when you said that we should be proud to vote because women didn’t vote before? Remember we went to the Heritage Park and the five C’s of women. They got us to vote. Right?”

Good memory. That was the very first house that I took her and BrookyBear into this summer at Heritage Park in Calgary. She was very close lol it was actually, The Famous Five and they were 5 Alberta women who sought to have women legally considered persons so that women could be appointed to the Senate. The 5 women were Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie Mooney McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards.

So after we talked a bit about women’s rights LOL she said “remember last week on the Amazing Race?”

HBear is a reality TV freak. She loves pretty much anything on the Food Network like Cake Wars, holiday baking, and Rachel Ray’s Kids Cook Off. Her other 3 favorites are MasterChef, Amazing Race, and So You Think You Can Dance. Last week on the Amazing Race the teams went through a museum in Poland honoring Oskar Schindler.

It is crazy how she put Slavery… Suffrage… And the Holocaust altogether. She never ceases to amaze me. Even though she just turned 7, she has such a mature way of putting things together… connecting the dots.

So, we talked a little bit about that. And THEN she says “so you know all the history stuff and Daddy knows all the science stuff. I get it, that’s why you are BOTH always right!”

Bahahahaha

Honestly if even half the next generation thinks like she does… I feel tremendous hope for ALL of our futures.

The other night, we were all cuddled up in bed watching MasterChef Jr and because I was typing HBear was in charge of the remote. That means we watched some commercials, at least the ones that caught her eye during fast forward.

She stopped at a Pillsbury cookie commercial. SBean shot up and said loudly.

“Wow! Those look AWESOME!” BAHAHA

They both get super excited watching the Mystery Box challenge and count down the last 5 seconds. LOL

SBean had a pediatrician appointment the other day. I love her pediatrician buuut it wasn’t always that way.

So this time she walked in and I was a little taken aback. She is very tall so I didn’t know if there was a baby bump under her empire waist blouse or some Holiday lbs plopped right there like a muffin. 😉 When she said she would be going on Mat leave I was happy for her and congratulated her! Then she said, “now it’s my turn. The tables will be turned, after all this time instead of just giving out advice, I will have a child and will be accepting the advice!”

I laughed. I said “Yes I remember the first time I came in and said SBean wouldn’t eat meat. You said, well you have to just make her.”

BAHAHAHA

She then said “Yes I remember, you then asked me if I had any children.”

LOL

I was laughing so hard I said “Don’t worry the best pediatrician I know is Dr. Alex Karev and he doesn’t have any kids!”

She said… “is he at the Kelowna Hospital?”

WTF?

I can understand if my pediatrician doesn’t have kids but to not have a TV for the past 12 years??????

You have to draw the line somewhere.

And it’s not like she hasn’t had time…

she doesn’t have kids!!!!

LOL

I have a few things I would like to touch on about events that have happened in the past day. First, The Golden Globes. You know how I love my Award Shows! LOL

5 things:

1. Ricky Gervais… killed it! He was hilarious and so politically incorrect, I loved it!

2. Jennifer Lopez… killed it! Loved her outfit, she really is Hollywood Glam. That color on her Latina skin, amazeballs!

3. Speaking of Latinas, Eva Longoria and America Ferrera, you know it, KILLED IT! Too freaking funny!

4. Super happy for Leo, I hope this is his Oscar year, although I will not be watching that movie, I hope he finally gets recognized because he should have for Basketball Diaries, or What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, or HELLO Titanic?!?!?! Honourable mention to Sylvester Stallone! He has had such a long career and it was a well deserved award 🙂

5. I could watch Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling… All. Day. Long.

The other thing that happened yesterday was that the world lost an incredible talent. David Bowie. There isn’t a time in my life when he wasn’t a constant. My parents loved him. I loved him.

His music, his theatrics, his artistry, his beauty and his contributions were so immense that the world must now sit back and think about everything we lost today. He did so much in his short life. The things he saw. The people he met. OMG the drugs he did lol. As his life flashed before his eyes, I think, he saw a kaleidoscope of brilliant colours and greatness and he smiled his thin lipped smile and found peace for his tortured artistic soul. At least that’s what I would like to think. 🙂

RIP Goblin King, thank you for giving us so much.

I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.

Jareth, The Goblin King

So remember Christmas? Yeah, we made a pretty decent dinner. We started off with a take on Caesar Salad. The bacon that was made to go with the Caesar salad is literally candy. OMG when I took it out of the oven the sugar had caramelized and there were strings of ooey gooey deliciousness between each strip. Be careful… it is addictive! If you are interested in serving up your salad course just a little bit differently this year, you MUST try this, it looks great and tastes even better!

Bacon Candy

Adapted from Food & Wine

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons chile powder

12 slices of thick-cut bacon

Preheat the oven to 400.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.

In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar with the chile powder.

Arrange the bacon strips on the foil and coat the tops with the chile sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until caramelized and almost crisp.

Transfer the bacon to a rack to cool completely.

The bacon candy can be made earlier in the day; store at room temperature.

Wow Us Wednesdays #256

Caesar Salad Wonton Cups

Adapted from RecipeTin Eats

12 wonton wrappers

2½ cups Romaine lettuce, shredded

1/2 ciabatta bun bread, diced finely (preferably stale)
3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, freshly grated

2 teaspoons parsley, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

Fit the wonton wrappers into each hole of a standard size muffin tin. Spray the wontons lightly with olive oil.

Bake for 7 minutes, until golden and crispy. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Place a pan on the stove, reduce heat to medium high and add butter.

Add bread and shake pan until they brown evenly.

Remove mini croutons from pan, scatter over a pinch of salt and set aside.

Make Dressing

Place lettuce in a bowl with 6 to 8 tbsp of dressing (depending on how much dressing you want to use) and toss gently to combine.

Divide the salad between the wonton cups, top with croutons, a pinch of parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley.