Sure, radicchio can be a little bitter when raw, but when cooked and combined with the sweetness and saltiness of balsamic vinegar and bacon in Balsamic Bacon Radicchio, it’s fantastic. Not to mention beautiful.

Overwhelmed by Great Taste

Do you ever get that feeling when you hear about, read about, see, or taste a new dish or flavor combination or cooking technique that there is just SOOOOOOOOO much great food out there? I sometimes get sad. Sad that I’ll never get to taste everything!!!

I used to have a food channel addiction. It was in HD. It was bad. Saliva-stained shirts. Late nights. Avoiding doing laundry to remedy the saliva-stained shirts. I wanted to make and eat everything. It was too much. I think it was the Paleo lifestyle that helped me break that habit. Because I started sharing my creations instead of living vicariously through the meals on TV.

I was listening to an interview on the radio today with an author of a book that’s about to be released about all the unique food artisans in this part of the country. And people kept calling in with their recommendations. So many creative things. Ingredients I’ve never heard of (what’s a “sea asparagus” and where can I get some??), combinations I’ve never imagined (pink grapefruit and rhubarb “jam-alade” and candied jalapenos), flavored vinegars, etc, etc, etc. Great ingredients, locally grown, pure, produced with care and passion. Bean-to-bar made chocolate (imported cacao beans made locally into pure dark chocolates). Oh man.

That made me think about a new shop in Vancouver with some unique cupcake flavors. No, these are not Paleo cupcakes. But again, fun ideas: “Mancakes“.

But: there’s good news… It’s true, we’ll never get to try it all, but the thing is: there will always be something else to try! Whoa. I just got a shiver. That is exciting. I mean yeah, I didn’t say anything Earth-shattering, but if you actually think about that though. There will always be more amazing food to taste, cook, experiment with… And meeting other foodies who passionate and creative and have ideas to share.

Food. Is. Fun.

I can tell you that Holley and I have played with some exotic meats that we’ve found in a few local stores, and you can look forward to us featuring some of that in the future. I’m not going to give you details on what we’ve tried specifically, but you know to look for them in the future.

This morning I was playing with eggs baked in vegetables, and flavor combinations for the future. While waiting for them to cook I thought, what ~~weird~~ unique combination could I put together to go with this? Something simple that anyone could make in minutes. Enter today’s recipe: Balsamic Bacon Radicchio. I actually have some interesting flavored vinegars that I need to play with more often, but they’re a less accessible ingredient. I highly recommend looking for a source of these vinegars, or oils, such as the Quintessential Gourmet in Seattle. Great ingredients for making a normal dish a little fancier. But you don’t have to worry about that today. Just normal balsamic vinegar. Which I don’t use often enough. I’m glad I peaked into that cupboard this morning!

Happy Easter everyone!