B-A-C-O-N

You know when you were little, how you always wanted to make friends with people but weren’t really sure how to do it?  And then someone comes up to you and asks if you’d like to play hopscotch or come over after school and you’re just giddy that someone wanted to be your friend?  Well, that’s still me.  I have my core group of friends, and that’s pretty much all I really need, but sometimes it’s nice to expand your social horizons and branch out.  Travis and I are part of various organizations and there are people there we see every so often and chat with frequently, but for the most part, weekends and get-togethers are spent within our core group.

The point is, when Darlene asked if I wanted to go to Bacon Bingo at El Take It Easy with some other bloggers, I was pretty excited.  I got to go hang out with other people!  People whose blogs I read and Twitter with!  People who post more often than I do and have explored the food offerings of San Diego way more than I have.  I mean, I have a blog and sometimes I talk about food, but I’m probably on the fringe of being an actual food blogger.  It’s more like food/chickens/dogs/shoes/me blogging.

I stalked Darlene’s purse and loved it so much I bought it, never thinking I’d one day actually meet her.  Fortunately, she has the foresight to rotate through her purses and we have yet to show up with the same purse.  Marie gave me tons of good advice and tips before we went to New Zealand (never would have experienced the amazing cheese without her!) AND gave more more wedding planning advice once I came home from that trip engaged.  And I get a ton of leads on new places to try just by reading Mary’s blog.

Anyway.  I was excited to go.  I’d never been to El Take It Easy nor played bacon bingo and I’d be hanging out with some fun ladies.

El Take It Easy has kind of a small plates format, with everything being all sustainable and local and seasonal and whatever (you know, like The Linkery, whose people formed El Take It Easy).  It’s more expensive that you might expect, but I was also pretty full after my beef in red mole, which was only $10, so maybe it’s okay.  It’s not like spending $25 on a piece of fish and then being hungry afterwards (to be fair, we haven’t tried their new dinner menu, which is supposed to be more wallet-friendly; we have been to brunch which was kind of pricey still).  On the other hand, I did devour more than half a slice of chocolate pistachio cake at Heaven Sent, so maybe I was hungry. Marie took some nice photos of our night out.  I did not.  I left my camera on the kitchen counter at home.  I am a bad blogger (but I already told you this).

Apparently, bacon bingo was a January thing.  If you haven’t been, I’m sad for you because it was a lot of fun.  At stake was a pound of Linkery-cured bacon.  Honestly, I would have been excited if it had been a package of Costco bacon (winning bacon, any bacon, is exciting), but The Linkery makes some pretty tasty cured meats so this just upped the ante.  Jay read the numbers, his lovely assistant passed out bingo sheets and ink blotter-things, and we were focused.  Darlene won the first round… and then I won the second!  I think it’s because her bacon-luckiness rubbed off on me.  I can say that yelling “Bacon!” is way more fun than yelling “Bingo!” After that, I think the whole restaurant was suspicious of our little corner booth.  The third round was won by someone else and by that time we were done with dinner and decided to head out for dessert.  I’m surprised no one started clapping as we made our way to the exit.  But, it’s not like we were cheating or anything!  I think the universe just recognized our love of bacon and acted accordingly.

Heaven Sent Desserts has been growing on me.  Maybe it’s because we’ve had good visits recently – we met our wedding officiant there and loved her; we had cake for my birthday there and it was good cake (minus the weird frosting dollop on top); I’ve learned their cookies are worth eating.  After we all ordered, Mary and Jake had to leave, but Marie, Darlene and I stayed and chatted the night away about wedding planning, blogging, food conferences, and other things.  It was a fun (and late) night and I’m very glad Darlene pulled it all together.  I hope we get to do it more often!  Not only is it awesome to hang out with such amazing gals (and Jake), but it’s also nice to talk about blogging without feeling like a weirdo.  Not that bloggers are weirdos; that’s just how I feel sometimes.  It’s easier to tell people I raise chickens than it is to tell them I have a blog.