Pork on my mind

Mmm, I love bacon and pork. That's one reason I am glad that I don't have that dietary restriction for religious reasons :-)

My ex-husband was Jewish, but not observant. This delighted my mother, who worried that he would be unable to eat one of her specialties, baked ham with pineapple rings, brown sugar and maraschino cherries. That was actually one of the first things she asked me about him, if he could eat her ham.

Another family specialty is breaded pork chops. So both my mother and I were glad that he loved them too. You have to cook them very thoroughly in very hot oil.

We both liked bacon, and saved the bacon fat to pour over our pet dogs' dry dog food, which gave them valuable fat to combat dry skin and keep essential oils in their fur coats.

Now that I'm single and only cooking for myself, I eat at Chinese buffet a lot "my home away from home." They use bacon in their cooking quite a bit. It can be very healthy. One of my favorite choices is turnip greens with some pieces of bacon.