Baconfest and other new tastes!

It was the first week of school and with getting our schedules readjusted, we didn't get hardly any new tastes in during the week as we might.   We did get to go out to dinner with our friend Luke (Joe) Waugh as he was visiting the area.  We went to Bull and Bones in Blacksburg for dinner.  While there we ordered a sampler of their beers and tried all that were available.  Brett also had a new taste for dinner, the beef brisket sandwich.

581. Bull and Bones - All Night Light
582. Bull and Bones - Appalachia Alt
583. Bull and Bones - Sun Lit Wit
584. Bull and Bones - Maroon Effect Ale
585. Bull and Bones - St. Maeve’s Stout
586. Bull and Bones - Strick's IPA
587. Bull and Bones - Raspberry Hefeweizen
588. Bull and Bones - Beef Brisket Sandwich

Brett thinks their best beer is their stout.  The beef brisket sandwich was okay, but nothing special. The A1-based mayo wasn't as strongly flavored as Brett thought it would be.   We stopped by The Chocolate Spike afterwards and got a few pieces of chocolate.  Megan tried one of them.

589. White chocolate pomegranate truffle - This was so sweet that Megan couldn't finish it.  It made her teeth hurt.

We made burgers on the grill one night and Brett had a new beer.

590. Maine Beer Company - Lunch - We picked this up in Maine and it's very highly ranked - it's got a double 100 (overall and for style) and it's amazingly delicious, complex, and excellent.  If you can find one near you, definitely try it.

We also made some fresh pesto and had it with grilled chicken and pasta.  With that we had a nice French table wine that went very well with dinner.  

591. 2011 - Domaine Delsol Coteaux du Languedoc - Picpoul De Pinet

Saturday was Baconfest in Roanoke.  We didn't try as many things as we could, but some of the lines were so long and it was so hot and humid that we got to the point where we were so hot we couldn't eat.  There are a few things we hope they change for next year's version - hold it some other place with more space and shade, more vendors, and more savory tastes as compared to sweet ones.  A lot of the sweet items were so sweet that they overpowered the bacon.  

592. Fun Times - Bacon, Potato, and Peanut Butter candy - oh my goodness this was sweet.  
593. Fun Times - Smoked Bacon and Mushroom Risotto bite - this was a wonton stuffed with smoky bacon and mushroom risotto - this was very very good!
594. Fun Times - Bacon and scallion pizza - this was also very good, but there were a few too many scallions on this and knocked the flavors out of balance.  It was still very good.
     
     
     
     
595. Kupkakery - Bourbon Brownie - this appeared to be their regular bourbon brownie cupcake with bacon sprinkled over the top.  A bit too sweet for our tastes.
596. Kupkakery - Bacon Truffle - again, it appeared to be their regular cake truffle sprinkled with some bacon over the top of it.  Not so sweet as the bourbon brownie.
597. Bacon Bites - chocolate-covered bacon - this was not very good and had way too much chocolate relative to the bacon.
598. Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - French Toast cupcake - very sweet with powdered sugar icing
599. Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - Maple cupcake -  carrot cake, again with powdered sugar icing, good cake, but again too sweet.
600. Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - Peanut Butter with Toffee and Bacon - really very sweet and the sweetness and peanut butter overwhelm the bacon
601. Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - Pineapple - pineapple cupcake with buttercream and bacon.
602. The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Alice's chips with applewood smoked bacon - These were utterly delicious and incredibly addictive.
603. The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Spinach and bacon fritters with date chutney - This was the least favorite of the choices from this restaurant, but they were still quite good.
604. The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Jalapeno-flavored bacon naan - This was delicious and had a nice burn through the mouth and a slightly spicy finish.  It was just spicy enough to making you want continue eating it.  
605. The Elephant Walk/Taaza - White chili with turkey bacon - This was so good even though it was over 90 out.  Megan brought the leftovers in the bowl we were served home for her lunch the next day!  
606. The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Sweet hickory smoked bacon milk shake - This was only about 3 - 4 ounces, but was so cool and refreshing.  Vanilla ice cream with bacon.  We thought that making maple ice cream would have made it even better.  
607. The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Pecan smoked bacon dipped in chocolate - This version of chocolate covered bacon was much better than the other we tried.  
     
     
     
     

There were 4 other places that had savory items made with bacon, but the lines were 40 to 50 people long at each.  For sure our favorites were from The Elephant Walk and Taaza joint booth and we really really need to go eat at both places.  

Last but not least, we had pasta and meatballs for dinner along with a nice chianti.  The meatballs are chicken meatballs with mozzarella from Aidells.

608. Aidells - Italian-style meatballs with mozzarella  - Brett really liked these and Megan was fairly ambivalent about them.
609. 2006 - Castello d'Albola - Chianti Classico Riserva - this is a little past its prime, but it was still very nice with dinner.  

That's all for this week.  Now that we're back in the groove schedule-wise, we'll try to provide more regularly updates of tastes when we actually have them.