dgirl1

fox in sox

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:36:38 GMT

Last night M read Nora "Fox in Sox" and watching him attempt to sell her what she just wasn't buying was one of the cutest things I've witnessed in a long time. She did like the "blue goo" but sadly, not the "beetle battle". She just needs to adjust to the ways of Seuss.

thankful

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:31:09 GMT

Things I am thankful for right this minute: the truly lovely people I am lucky enough to have as my family (all of them - whether related via blood, marriage or just by chance), my baby girl kicking around in my belly, waking up happy next to someone I love every single day, an old lady kitty who keeps hanging on, loudmouthed orange cats who think they are people, our house, having a partner in crime who is both funny and sexy, a sunny day in Seattle, being able to drink bourbon again soon and eat cured meat, my gorgeous big-hearted friends near and far, a new day in the White House, Meyer lemons, and being self aware enough to know I am a very fortunate person whose life is really really good.

we take it seriously

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:11:04 GMT

m: go get the beaver
me: we already have the polar bear and the little lion snuggly thing. and i don't want to get out of bed.
m: fine, i'll go get the beaver AND the Sleep Sheep
me: ok, then get me the bunny too.

M gets back into our bed with the beaver and turns on the Sleep Sheep. Designed to help babies sleep with white noise, we try it. After 2 minutes of whale moaning and uncontrollable laughing we turn it off. But does the polar bear, beaver, bunny or tiny lion leave? No. So now along with two adults, multiple pillows and blankets, we also have a menagerie of Betty's stuffed animals. We take new parenting seriously! Sleeping with your newborns blankets, clothes and toys is supposed to calm them cause they smell like you - good for your baby. Good for us? We'll see...I'm guessing sleeping hugging a polar bear or better yet, a freaky looking beaver with buck teeth isn't going to be considered sexy. Yet.

holiday baby means...

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:42:49 GMT

No one is available to do car seat checks. Whatever. Why go take a class and get the one-sheet that says "Hey new parents you are going to totally mess up putting in your car seat which is a MASSIVE SAFTEY ISSUE so go get a free check by the hospital or fire department of your choice". Problem is they only do checks April to October. Lame. M is dialing for dollars and we aren't getting anywhere but did discover that we can "report an unbuckled child" which made me laugh. I'm going to be an excellent mother!

36+ weeks letter to Betty

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:04:33 GMT

Ah Betty, you've got a mind of your own don't you? And here we all thought you moved into birthing position, but no. You are just going to be that girl aren't you? The one who does things her own way. Like if everyone else gets born head down, you just need to be different and keep your head way up by my stomach. Your grandmother thinks you are going to be just like me cause you know, I was breech too. I believe her exact word was "payback". Although I will say I'm not super excited (in fact I'm pretty massively disappointed) that we are scheduling a c-section, I'm going to keep at you with acupuncture and some other techniques - and just maybe you'll turn. But if you are like me - well, I've been known to be stubborn. As long as you are healthy, I'm ok with however you decide to make your arrival. I believe your father said he wouldn't mind you making your debut by plane, which I don't think is going to happen. Perhaps the stork really will bring you!

At 36 moving into 37 weeks you are considered full term. Your lungs by the end of this week are developed, you are supposed to be about 6 lbs and gaining weight rapidly at an ounce a day. And supposedly you are "like a crenshaw melon in size" (who comes up with these fruit analogies??) and more than 18.5 inches long. But because you are you - good ole Dr McD thinks you are probably a bit tinier at under 5 lbs cause I've only gained 20 lbs total. This is the one time in my life I cannot gain weight! This is probably because your dad was just shy of 6 lbs when he was born, and neither I nor your Uncle E was much bigger than 6.5 lbs either. We are not a big people! Regardless of size what you are doing is shedding most of your downy hair and the waxy stuff that kept you protected during your stay in my womb.

We are ready and excited to meet you finally. So keep growing and be healthy and know that you've got a huge HUGE fan club out here in the world ready to love you.

xoxo Your mom

theory

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:13:17 GMT

Scenario #1 - Grocery Store: Checkout dude in Trader Joe's give me three "lighter" bags vs. two heavy bags and without me asking calls over other nice dude who helps me with the stuff to my car. They chat briefly with me while ringing up the groceries and pleasantly tell me how much pre-natal massage helped the checker's girlfriend, how I need to take it easy these last few weeks and read lots of good books and oh, how pleased they are that I bought low fat organic string cheese as "it is a good source of protein which you need right now and you can keep them stashed in your handbag."

Scenario #2 - Home Depot: buying a toilet for our downstairs bathroom remodel, I obviously cannot carry this item. Older HD male employee helps me in the plumbing aisle, gets a hand truck/platform thing and calls to another guy to help him get the beautiful Kohler "Santa Rosa" onto the flatbed. He asks the other guy to help me get it to my car. Second guy gives me the once over and says "Look at that Cheshire cat grin. I would do anything for you lady." I try not to smile again and ask him if once I checkout he wants me to bring the car around. Together we finally get the toilet out of the store after a mishap with the scanner gun. He is making odd small talk again about smiling. I go get the car, we decide the toilet will not fit in unless out of the box. He makes a big show of getting it out, gets it in the car and turns to me and says "I would do anything for you if you would smile for me. Anything. I'm sure that's how you got yourself this way.
I mean who wouldn't?"

Theory: After I tell M the second scenario on IM he says "Pregnant women make men weird." I think about this for a while and believe there are two camps. And probably a middle ground. The creepy I-know-you-had-sex camp and the nice overly helpful you-are-a-fragile-flower camp. I need to ponder this more...

Countdown - 35 week letter to Betty

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:48:37 GMT

Hey Betty - It is election day and we are currently at 35 weeks of pregnancy. You weigh about 5 and a quarter lbs now and have pushed my stomach and intestines up to my rib cage. Doesn't feel so good and sitting upright kinda sucks, but we've only got 5 weeks to go. I think I can handle it. Your kidneys are fully developed, lungs have only another week to go, and from here on out you should be gaining some weight. In other news, your car seat, co-sleeper and various other items are being purchased and bonus! your uncle E is coming to visit on Thursday. Hopefully I will have your room painted before you arrive.

We voted today, you & I. I'm proud that you got to be a part (although wee) in a historic election. We are currently making some chocolate salted caramels to take to a party tonight which I have dubbed "Barackaramels" as they deviate from our usual recipe by the addition of chocolate. Much like our *fingers crossed* new president.

And by the way - nice work on picking a dad. You outdid yourself here my girl. Besides hopefully giving you a kick-ass sense of direction, fine musical abilities and superior math skills, I hope you also inherit his tenderness, ability to embrace situations head-on, compassion and open-heartedness. I'm better with him around and I bet you will be too.

Much love xoxox

Your Mom

Head Down!

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:44:03 GMT

So it seems that our daughter has decided to concede to her mother's will and actually turn from breech to normal birthing position! I think she's just doing me a favor - which I appreciate as I wasn't really looking forward to a scheduled C-section. Dr McD gave us the thumb's up on healthy heartbeat, weight gain (mine and hers), belly size and hiccuping!

As babies aren't in air breathing but in fluid not breathing, hiccuping is a really good sign of lung development and general overall healthiness. With the fetal heart monitor on, we could hear her making hiccups - it was pretty cool. In two weeks we've got an ultrasound (I think) so we'll know for sure but the doc was pretty darn sure her head was down. I attribute this to my awesome acupuncturist who was the person who figured out I was pregnant, AND has now she turned the baby 'round via moxibustion. She rules.

Dr McD also helped put the fears of toxic cat litter to rest along with giving me some advice to take the childbirth and breastfeeding classes with a grain of salt. Her manta is "family health" which is a far cry from beat down I took from the hospital registration staffer yesterday who totally disregarded our pediatrician's recommendation for breast vs. bottle and signed us up for a breastfeeding class FOR FREE cause she felt I was "going down the wrong path".

Everybody's got something to say 'bout childbirth and breastfeeding and infant care. A lot of the time, I'd be happy if they kept their mouths shut.

countdown - 34 weeks & fear, anxiousness, etc.

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:17:07 GMT

Six weeks to go (more or less). Betty is about 4.75 lbs (for those who need fruit analogies "The size of a large cantaloupe") and about 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder and probably cuter. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well, she's still got another 2 weeks to go before her lungs will be fully developed.

The last few weeks have been mentally and emotionally difficult. Since the preterm labor scare/kicked off the plane home from Maui incident; I've had the flu, an insane bout of sciatica that approximated back labor, and recurring round ligament pain. Basically I'm a bit beat down. Overall, the pain and sickness stuff I could deal with - its the unknown of whether or not the baby is in distress or being hurt that is exhausting. On top of that I've had to make some hard decisions about working vs. non-working and for the first time in my adult life will not be pulling in a paycheck for a while.

Last night for instance I got some crazy bee in my bonnet about cleaning out the cat box. Basically you aren't supposed to but after talking with my vet she felt like the chances of me getting toxoplasmosis is small due to my cats having been around a long time. As I was alone during the beginning of the pregnancy and didn't even know I was pregnant, I cleaned the box as usual. Once living with M - I just continued and stepped up the vigilant hand-washing. Now why I decided to read what can happen to the baby this month I don't know. But I'm freaked. Cause its bad. I feel like I did her a disservice by not making M clean it and if something is wrong it is my fault. I woke up at 5:00 totally in a total panic about this and its not going away. So what do I do? Get tested? It is a bit overwhelming all the stuff you can worry about.

belly as cooking tool

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:26:36 GMT

Note to self, I just balanced a fine meshed strainer on the top of my belly while straining cream for butterscotch pudding. Pregnancy bonus! Belly is like an extra hand in the kitchen. Thank you Betty!

countdown - 32 weeks

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:10:27 GMT

It is hard to imagine Betty being on the outside and in the world when I'm so used to her being on the inside - and I think I understand post partum now. The thought of being unable to protect her at all times is scary, and I'm so used to her moving around and being with me that although totally excited to meet her, I'm also sad I'll be alone again in my body. I kind of enjoy being pregnant more than I thought I would. At times I forget what it is like to be a non-pregnant person although I know it will happen eventually and I will embrace the Maker's Mark wholeheartedly.

The weirdest part is being in love with someone you don't know and didn't choose!

At 32 weeks she's pretty developed and just growing. I've gained about 15 lbs total and almost 4 lbs of that is sheer baby weight at this point. She is also about 16.5 inches long. From now on, the expectation is I'll gain about a pound a week with half that going directly to her (hello, ice cream!). She should double in size (!!) as half her birth weight is coming on in the next 7-8 weeks.

my belly might be bigger than a bag of groceries

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:02:26 GMT

I'm at the point where every day tasks are becoming harder; lifting grocery bags, vacuuming the drifts of cat hair, leg shaving. You get the point.

While on vacation in Kihei, HI - I went to the store alone for a case of bottled water and laundry detergent. The cashier asked me if I wanted help out and I reluctantly said yes (I still cling to the belief that I can do everything myself which isn't true anymore). Suddenly over the loudspeaker I hear "Pregnant Lady at Checkstand 3, Pregnant Lady at Checkstand 3". It boomed throughout the store. I'm standing there thinking, "Wow, they are talking about me." Everyone in all checkstand lines has stopped what they are doing and are staring.

Out of the back comes help in the form of a wee wizened Hawaiian man who is probably pushing 80 (or just leathery from all that sun). He is teeny tiny! I think perhaps I should just haul this water out myself as he may hurt himself...but no! My grocery store prince takes the cart from me and expertly wheels it out to our fabulous rented white Mustang convertible and lifts that case of water right out of the cart as if it was a bag of cotton balls, and neatly packs it into the front seat. I take my one hit of Tide out which fits in the palm of my hand. He looks at me expectantly. I had him the Tide. He smiles, fits the Tide (again, the size of a postcard) behind the water and closes the door to the car with a flourish. I thank him, he smiles again and is off! We have just had a basically wordless transaction. I was a little bit in love with my tiny man by the time this was all over and considered asking him to drive me home. I bet he would have. Mahalo wee man!

pregnancy ain't for the weak

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:56:09 GMT

So I started a blog a few weeks ago, mostly to keep my family and M's in the loop about Betty's progress vs having to email a million people every time something comes up. M suggested using LJ and honestly I forgot I had an account.
We are at 33 weeks tomorrow so she's bigger but here's the last few entries starting with the first...

Since I got pregnant I've been meaning to write about the experience; the story of how the Littlest P came to be (I'm not talking actual conception here), the ups and downs like constant cravings for Good n' Plentys, odd scary pains, etc and progress reports on how she's doing while still hanging out in the belly.

About the name "Project Betty". As M and I have been running through names with our friends, which hasn't yielded anything reasonable yet but has been a fun game for all involved. During this process, we discovered that anything super Jewish or "old lady" (Esther, Miriam, Rose, etc.) made her sound like she lived in Florida and ate a lot of babka. Or as my friend J said, "Has a cigarette dangling from her mouth and is reaching for a mah-jongg tile." Perhaps not the best choice for a baby or little girl...Betty was our pick as her "code name" while she's still in utero. M was Cuthbert while still unborn and I have yet to ask my mom if they had a "working title" for me. Of course, now the name Betty is growing on me.

At 30 weeks, Betty is about 15.7 inches long (how she is fitting in there I don't know) and weights almost 3 lbs (according to one website - like "the head of a cabbage", to me that is a big cabbage). Her eyesight is developing and its not very keen but she can see light and dark. After she's born she'll keep her eyes closed for a good portion of the day and when she does open them she'll respond to changes in light, but will only have 20/400 vision. This means she will only be able make out stuff a few inches from her face. Crazy!

watching it grow dark in my garden

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 05:33:57 GMT

Sometimes I want more. Is this really all there is? Miss the alarm, get to work late, lie about it, work, have dinner, see a movie, get home, feed cats, more tea, reading, bed? Start again tomorrow...I'm not convinced. I feel restless and unfulfilled.

late May dinner

Wed, 30 May 2007 06:08:17 GMT

My friend Rachel decided to stop by for dinner - and since she gave me a few hours notice I spent my lunch at the Pike Place Market buying groceries; a pineapple, spring onions, lovely long French radishes, organic romaine, the last of the asparagus, fresh morels, blueberries, strawberries and a very big steak. I bought a few more random veggies and all told after spending less than $30 for everything, made it back to my office in under an hour with the makings of dinner.

Our dinner consisted of a salad composed of thinly sliced radish and spring onion with romaine dressed with a lemon olive oil vinaigrette, roasted asparagus given a slight kick by some mildly hot (Marash) pepper flakes and more lemon, a perfectly simple grilled steak just seared with smoked pepper (thank you irresistible Mister P), and salt finished with a creamy morel sauce. All very tasty but the ah ha moment was the grilled pineapple for dessert. Here's how to do it: cut a fresh pineapple into cored slices. Melt about 2 tbsp of butter. Mix some sugar (maybe 1/4 cup?) with a few pinches of both cinnamon and cardamom. When the grill is hot and oiled, dip (or rub if you waited as long as I did to do this and the butter had solidified a bit) onto both sides of the pineapple. Dip the buttered pineapple in the sugar mixture and lay it on the grill. Give it a few minutes then flip the slices over. The sugar should have carmelized. Cook for about 10 minutes until the fruit is juicy and has grill marks. Pull off the grill and eat. Delicious.

tomato soup obsession

Thu, 24 May 2007 02:41:08 GMT

I'll be the first to admit that I am obsessed with the Dahlia Lounge tomato soup. It's the only thing I want to eat when I'm sad or sick or just feeling like I need to talk to my mom. For years I've tried to get the recipe (nope) and have approximated it with a bastardization of a Marcella Hazan tomato sauce recipe slightly modified with chicken broth. It's been a good substitute but requires really good fresh tomatoes. As it is May in Seattle, well - you get the picture. My friend J finally procured the recipe and tonight as I'm just feeling a little low and completely blowing off a work party for which I will be chastised, I decided to try it. For starters, the recipe calls for canned tomatoes and cream which I wasn't expecting. But when all is said and done, with some snipped fresh chives stirred in and rosemary bread croutons floating on top (mmmm bread sauteed in butter) it is hitting the spot. The glass of wine isn't hurting either. Here's the recipe:

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 med onion sliced thin
3 smashed garlic cloves
5 cups canned whole tomatoes and their juice (3 14 oz cans)
1 cup water
2/3 cup cream (I used whole milk and added a cup instead of 2/3)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp celery seed (if you don't have this - it doesn't make a huge difference)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the oil and butter together over low heat. Add the garlic and onions and saute until soft but not brown. Add the tomatoes, cream, water, sugar and seasonings. Turn up the heat and bring to a gently boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly and puree.

the great bacon experiment - smoke 'em

Fri, 18 May 2007 04:12:01 GMT

Williams-Sonoma sells wee packets of wood chips for smoking - in a 3 pack you get hickory, mesquite and applewood. I went into the store looking for a meat slicer (no dice) or the meat grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer (nada) but ended up with the makings for part two of the bacon experiment. Once home, I had to figure out how to turn my teeny grill into a smoker. After putting the wood chips down to soak for 1/2 an hour I got on the web. A little research (just wait until I post about turning a garbage can into a smoker - I found an awesome step by step process) and a fair amount of tin foil later - voila! a makeshift smoker. I put a large piece of heavy tin foil over the cast iron grill part of the bbq. I tried putting it on the element (mine is a u-shape with little holes - not really a "burner") and experimented with putting tin cans under the foil for support as I actually wanted the meat a little further from the smoke, but the can method really didn't work. So the bacon ended up pretty close to the chips.

After that I laid the wet chips on top, put a cooling rack on top of that and turned the heat up to high. Once the chips heated up and smoke really started coming out of the sides, I put the cured pork on the rack and turned the heat down. You need to get the bacon to an internal temp of 150 so I gave it about 35 minutes then checked the meat - it was about 133. Another 20-25 minutes and it was done. The bacon was really nice - all burnished and firm. I took it off the grill, let it cool down to room temp, skinned it and cut a piece off. 2-3 minutes of frying later...so tasty!! Perhaps a tiny bit too salty but for a first try - pretty damn good. The next batch is going into the cure tonight and by the middle of next week the pancetta will be ready for hanging. Now all I need is that slicer and I'm set.

donnie darko and 4:20 on a sick day

Fri, 18 May 2007 00:18:57 GMT

I woke up at 4:20 am this morning with a fever of almost 102. I finished watching Donnie Darko for the very first time at exactly 4:20 pm. That's right. 4:20. Happenstance? I now see the appeal of Jake G - he's brooding and somewhat sexy in his delusional high school state. He's never really done it for me before (one day I'll post "The List") but he was perfect in this role. The soundtrack was fitting - and there were some surprisingly moving sequences in the film. The movie is well shot, well acted (I'm a huge Mary McDonnell fan - she rules in Battlestar Galactica) excepting the Drewbie who although super cute, just can't act. Funny enough I still find Noah Wylie a little bit hot after all this time - once he left E.R. I forgot all about him. All in all a sunny afternoon spent indoors high on codeine cough syrup, Vitamin C and grape juice.

16 Things I Hate About You

Fri, 11 May 2007 05:18:40 GMT

Not only did this ole breakup wreck some havoc on me, it also brought ruin to my yard. What used to be a two person separate yet complimentary set of tasks (more on that later) has become one woman's fight against the lawn that never stops growing, the california poppies (yes those bright orange flowers are evil weeds), the moles who continue to mock me and the damn creeping vine that has no name. After much deliberation earlier this spring I decided to give into the entropy of the yard and not mow a few areas that are total bitch to get the lawn mower to. This has turned out to be a less than perfect idea as the grass has taken over the peonies and creeped into the small patch of lettuce. Which means that after 2 hours of back breaking weeding I'm still going to have to go out there on Saturday with some medieval looking tool from the garage and hack away. No going to the gym for me this evening. And why? All for the sake of a pea patch. I refuse to pay $5.99 a pound for snow peas after I learned how easy it is to grow your own. So out in the yard I go cursing my engineeringly-minded ex (referred from now on as "JC") and his insistence on gardening and his freakish yet clever pea trellis. His idea was get a whole slew of PVC pipe, some end pieces and a bunch of twine and craft a decidedly ugly but effective environment for the peas to climb up and make a 6 foot tall canopy. I have no idea how he did it.

Instead...

I just built the most ghetto pea vine trellis on the planet out of strange black netting and sticks. Not only is my system potentially incredibly unsteady, the guy at True Value sold me the wrong size staples for my brand new staple gun so the netting is attached to the sticks (planks?)with upholstery tacks (a substitute for real nails) and packing tape. It's a seriously HOT looking piece of garden "sculpture". I'm nothing if not creative. If light wind during the night doesn't blow the whole thing down, I'll be surprised. Once the peas are stable, I'll start on the pruning. After 2 nights of waking at 3:00 a.m. to extremely scary witchy fingernail scratchy sounds on my windows I realized that the fuchsias are at fault. Damn springtime growing season! I think back longingly to the days when I only dealt with the vegetable garden & flowers and left the hardcore manual labor to someone else. Perhaps the time has come to pay someone for the service?

As for the "complimentary" tasks, well, that was just bullshit anyway. While in NYC this past weekend as my father attempted to scare the irresistible Mister P away with tales of the mafia-toned pre-wedding conversation he had bestowed upon JC, I found myself recounting the story of the 16 bullet point email. During the heyday of the divorce when everything was shiny and new, JC took it upon himself to send me a 16 bullet pointed email of reasons he thought divorce was the way to go. In order.

For kicks - here's the top 5

1. You work too much (hmmm someone has to pay the bills - but perhaps valid - but #1?)
2. You didn't pay off my student loans (did you ask? ever?)
3. You fall asleep on the couch (yes, I do - this is my personal favorite as a reason to end a marriage)
4. You like tasks that are collaborative, I like tasks that are separate but can be complimentary (Too much to say about this one)
5. I don't think your friends are smart enough (what? try talking to them instead of just being a recluse in the corner. Again a reason for divorce?)

It goes on from there. Nobody really needs to ever get a list. Now, its kind of funny but at the time it really sucked. I told my friend KZ that I was going to start this journal thing and his thought was that writing anonymously about my past life could be cathartic or really weird. Probably both. Nonetheless, here I am writing away about bacon, gardening and stupid emails. And I kind of like it.

the great bacon experiment has begun!

Thu, 10 May 2007 06:01:52 GMT

The bacon experiment has begun! A like minded porcine-obsessed friend at work hooked me up with the book “Charcuterie” and some poison (the requisite “pink salt” procured from “The Sausagemaker” – no, I’m not making this up) so I could start making my own bacon. So today, as re-entry into the Pacific Northwest after a lovely long weekend in New York City in which no cooking was done, I stopped by Uwajamaya after work and bought five pounds of fresh pork belly.

Making bacon is super easy! The is cure done by mixing 2 cups of kosher salt with 1 cup of sugar (I used ½ brown and ½ granulated white) with 5 teaspoons of the dreaded pink salt. That’s the basic recipe. I added black pepper and Szechwan peppercorns to the first batch as I’m considering tea-smoking the bacon on my wee Weber grill once the cure is completed and I wanted a little more kick. Back to the cure. Once you’ve got the dry rub all mixed down you add ¼ cup to a big plastic bag, throw the pork belly in and get it all good and coated with the stuff. Then throw the whole thing in the fridge for 7 days redistributing the dry rub and the liquid that will come off the pork as it cures until the meat is firm to the touch.

Once the bacon has cured you can use it like it is (apparently it is hard to slice so you can freeze it slightly before cutting after you rinse off the cure and pat the bacon dry) or you can hot smoke it to 150 degrees. I'm going to try that in the BBQ and if that doesn't work, build a smoker in my backyard as I found a "recipe" for one online. Good ole Alton Brown - the man can do anything including show you how to build a smoker. According to the book, if you don't have a smoker you can "dry" the bacon in low oven for about 2 hours or grill it lightly to get a smokier flavor. I have tea-smoked chicken before in an aluminum foil wok - so why not cured pork belly on the grill? I'm going to try a plain black tea like Assam with malty overtones first, then maybe a Jasmine just for fun.

All in all, this is an exciting new venture in the realm of cooking for me. Pancetta is next as it is really just a riff on bacon and if that works...well, onward and upward. There's a lot of meat out there to be cured - duck prosciutto, pork rillettes, finocchiona - the list goes on.