Despite all preconceived gender stereotypes, and despite the fact that I love weddings and the colour pink, I have to admit that I’m not the most romantic person. Take this year for Valentines Day, I wrote all of you Dear Readers a post on Valentine’s Day and how we never really did anything special for it. It was only when Mr NQN later read the story that he remarked to me.

“We do nothing huh?” smirking “Don’t you remember that I proposed to you on Valentines Day?”

My hand flew over my mouth and my eyes widened. Good god he did! And it was an utterly memorable Valentines Day indeed! Luckily he has a sense of humour about it and I think he saved that one up mentally for whenever he is caught short without a gift for Valentine’s day or an anniversary.

Then cue my next fumble. I was going to be away on our anniversary this year and not only that, I didn’t tell him the proper way. I just mentioned it in passing while we were watching television. Another strike for The Good Wife (which by the way is such a fabulous show, how great was the end of Season 2?).

But Your Honour,  in defence of my Good Wife status, I did however make him bacon pâté for part of his anniversary gift. You see the poor dear is quite helpless when I go away and simply doesn’t eat the entire time (I don’t understand it either). It may not be the most fanciful anniversary present but I decided that I am a practical gal and the man needs to be fed or he will starve. And he grew up being given rocks from the garden for his birthday (one year his brother received a rusty clamp from under the house that was actually already his) and assorted strange things so I felt like he had had a lifetime to prepare for odd gifts.

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I first heard about this rather bizarre concept from the blogger Morta Di Fame (meaning literally dying to eat, a concept I can wholly understand). She linked to a recipe for Bacon Jam which was originally a product that a company called Skillet Foods makes and sends around the United States. Knowing that I’d have no chance of getting my greedy paws on a jar I simply daydreamed about it and for every day since I saw it, I’d think about it. I’d eat eggs and think “This would go so well with that Bacon Jam” and eat some slices of tomato on sourdough and think “Something is missing, I think it’s bacon jam!” and I became somewhat of a food stalker thinking about it day and night until I got my hands on some double smoked bacon and the rest as they say, is eating history.

I should add this obsessiveness to my next10 or 12 Things You Should Know About Food Bloggers. Sometimes, when we hear of a recipe, we just cannot get it out of our minds and it preoccupies our thoughts for all waking (and sometimes sleeping) hours. We suddenly won’t rest until we do this recipe. And you may know that Bacon is my Waterloo. I give up and surrender my worldly possessions to this smoked meat.

I cooked it for two hours, watching the shade go from pink to a dark, glistening brown and then pulverised it in the food processor and tasted it. It was fabulous. I’ve developed this rather annoying habit of High Fiving people (which worries me somewhat as I wonder if it goes along with speaking about yourself in the third person) and if I were anyone else around I would have High Fived them. This was good stuff indeed. I don’t know how it compares with the Skillet Foods Bacon Jam as I’ve never tried it but this is good on it’s own and doesn’t need to be an imitation.

You can do this with regular bacon but smoked or double smoked bacon is best to convey the bacon flavour but it is by all definitions delicious. if you use regular bacon the addition of liquid smoke might be a good idea to replace the smokiness. Sweetish (it is after all a jam) and spicy (although the spiciness can be adjusted to your taste)  the savoury goodness of it and the versatility meant that after 4 days, the jar of this bacony friend was depleted. During this past long weekend I asked Mr NQN what he wanted every day for breakfast and the answer was: “That Bacon Jam”.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you get obsessive about recipes or food items? If so, what food was your latest obsession?

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I have a long history with Cherry Jam. A long and sordid one if I am to be truthful. I probably shouldn’t tell you this in case you turn away in disgust but I have been known to eat it by the spoonful. And I suspect trying to qualify it by saying it’s a teaspoon rather than a tablespoonful won’t impress you much.

We never had Cherry Jam when I was growing up. It was strawberry jam or marmalade. But when I was at university and seeking a late night form of sugary sustenance, I found my friend – I like to call her Cherry Jam. I remember being hypnotised by a Monbulk ad when young where the whole fruit would drop into the jar (and holy crap! It’s on Youtube!). I still recall the distinctive music to this day and ever since then I associated whole fruit in jam as desirable.

With my favourite brand of Cherry Jam (Andrésy) at $10 a jar it is not exactly cost effective when you eat it by the spoonful. So I thought that with this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge, I’d take the chance to make my own cherry jam but add vanilla to it which I always think adds so much depth to cherry.

The resulting jam is gorgeous. Chunky with whole cherries, it’s just the way I like it. The Jamsetta makes it set well so there’s no nervousness about a non setting jam although the zest and seeds do provide quite a bit of pectin which aids in that respect. I got four lovely jars of this out of it. Which is about 4 day’s supply wouldn’t you say?

So tell me Dear Reader, which ad from childhood or adulthood made the most impact on you and why?

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