KITCHEN ADVENTURES: EVE BRULEE. In general, bacon makes it better. But you know what bacon does NOT make better?

My finger. When the bacon is very, very, very hot.

Am blistery now. Woe.

ANYWAY… two reports from the kitchenette.

Grilled cheese sammich: This is my most successful attempt thus far. Still didn’t turn out perfect–I can’t flip the sandwich very well, so about half a tomato slice slid out from its bread-and-cheese shelter–but man, this was yummy and satisfying.

Put a nonstick pan on the stovetop. Butter a slice of bread. Put it in the pan, butter side down. Top it with a slice of munster cheese, some tomato slices, some mushroom slices, another slice of munster, and another slice of bread–this one butter side up. Turn up the heat. Cookity cookity cookity. When the bottom slice of cheese is all melty, and the top slice is kinda droopy, flip the sandwich and cookity cookity some more, until everything is melty and delicious. Eat… and ponder the glory of butter.

Spicy honey-glazed bacon: Okay, this was a modified version of a recipe from the current Food and Wine. I’ll give you their recipe first, then mine, then what happened.

they say: Heat the oven to 375. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper [OHHHHH! Was this the problem??? Bah, I don’t want to buy parchment paper!]. Arrange 1 lb of thick-cut bacon on the sheet in a single layer. In a small skillet, combine 2 tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, and 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper [really? that little?], and cook over high heat until melted. [It gets all bubbly, so you know.] Brush the spiced honey on one side of the bacon and bake for 10 mins. Sprinkle lightly with 1 tbsp sesame seeds and bake for 5 to 10 mins longer, “depending on the thickness and fattiness of the bacon, until sizzling and browned.” Drain on paper towels and enjoy.

instead, I: made the honey glaze with a dash of curry powder, some cumin, Chinese five-spice powder, and quite a bit of cayenne. I also sauteed two large cloves of garlic in the honey glaze, cut into big chunks. I didn’t make a whole pound of bacon, so really, I think I used a lot more of everything in the glaze, proportional to the bacon I used. I don’t have a kitchen brush, so instead I just kind of hand-dipped the bacon in the glaze (…which, yes, is how I burnt myself). I used tinfoil instead of parchment paper. And because my oven always cooks stuff faster than the recipes say it should, I only cooked the bacon for eight minutes. There wasn’t any honey glaze left over, but I did top the cooked bacon with the honeyed garlic chunks. Oh, and I didn’t use sesame seeds, because really, whatever.

and then: Well, this turned out ugly. It cooked way too fast, and unevenly, so the ends of the bacon strips were blackened while the middles were still lightly cooked. Man–seriously, this looked bad. It looked like something you’d find in the bottom of an Englishman’s boot.

But it tasted so good. The sweetness and spiciness (I really think the F&W; recipe skimps on the cayenne) and the soft, honey-soaked garlic worked perfectly with the savory bacon. If it weren’t for the burnination of my poor finger, and the fear that my smoke alarm would go off, I would eat this every day. It is kind of a lot of work for a dish that is really just strips of bacon; but it is yummy.