Bar Bites: A Man of the Month Cookbook (Man of the Month 13)
Page 5
1 teaspoon horseradish 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Fill pint glass with ice. In a separate glass, stir all ingredients together until blended. Pour over ice and garnish with Candied Bacon. (Click here for recipe.)
CANDIED BACON
1/2 cup dark brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 cup honey
12 slices bacon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Mix together sugar, honey, and cayenne pepper. Place bacon on the parchment paper and baste top side with sugar mixture. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, flip bacon and baste other side. Return to oven for an additional 10 minutes.
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ALL I NEED: REECE & JENNA
Slice of Life
Jenna walked through the doorway of The Fix on Sixth, paused, then released a long, slow sigh.
Walked?
She hadn't walked through that doorway. She'd left the art of walking behind weeks ago.
No, today Jenna was waddling. With the occasional lapse into teetering thrown in for good measure.
"It's worth it, though," she whispered, her hand rubbing her huge belly. "Even if you are the reason I can't see my ankles."
She was rewarded with a solid kick, and she jumped, then laughed out loud. Nearby, a hipster couple exchanged a beware the crazy pregnant woman glance.
She ignored them, then hurried in a waddling sort of way toward Amanda, who was sitting at the bar chatting with Eric Shay, a wickedly hot bartender who'd somehow managed to avoid being an entrant in the Man of the Month calendar contest.
"Hey, Jenna," he called. "What's your pleasure? Sparkling Pineapple or Bloody Mary with Candied Bacon?"
Amanda's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "She can't drink! She's pregnant! Or are you trying to get her drunk enough that she'll let us roll her across the room like a bowling ball?"
"You're a hoot," Jenna said, scowling at the bar stool. No way could she get her almost thirty-seven weeks pregnant tush up that high.
"That's me." Amanda winked at Eric. "Providing nightly entertainment to the masses."
"Nightly?" Eric shot back. "I'm pretty sure the only one you're entertaining after dark is Derek."
"Zing!" Jenna teased. Amanda, however, just smiled happily. After years of remaining stubbornly single, she was now firmly rooted in the land of coupledom.
"What about you?" Amanda's attention focused on Eric. "Anything cooking in your relationship repertoire?"
Jenna thrust out a foot, kicking Amanda's shin. For months, Jenna had been trying to push Eric closer to Tiffany Russell, a waitress who Jenna happened to know had a crush on the bartender. But matchmaking was a delicate game, and in this case it was made trickier by the fact that Tiffany used to date Eric's older brother. Any and all relationship maneuvers required chess-like planning and careful deliberation, and Amanda had all the subtlety and finesse of a sledgehammer.
A red flush crept up Eric's neck. "Nothing really." He cleared his throat, then looked straight at Jenna. "Go with the Bloody Mary. I don't have any pineapples prepped."
"Throw in some extra candied bacon, and you've got a deal."
"You got it."
The Bloody Mary recipe was unique to The Fix, and it was excellent even without vodka. But what really made the drink rock was the candied bacon garnish that Tyree, owner and chef, had created. It was like a little strip of heaven in your mouth, washed down with a splash of ambrosia.
"Go have a seat," Eric ordered, nodding at a table. "I'll bring it out to you."
"And that's why we keep you around," she teased, making him laugh. Technically, Jenna was one of four owners of The Fix, along with the original owner, Tyree, her best friend Brent, and her other best friend-turned-husband, Reece.