Bacon for dessert!

I took a small, happy gang – the boys, their visiting cousin, Mija, and her little sister – to Marini’s for ice cream last Friday night before the GLOW fire art festival started.

Marini’s is a great candy store – they’ve been making saltwater taffy on the Boardwalk for almost a hundred years. The shop is lined with lights and mirrors, all color and candy and energy. Stuffed animals and jellybean dispensers, Pez dispensers and crunchy pale necklaces, homemade fudge and saltwater taffy. Caramel apples. Even espresso and creamy cappuccino if you prefer your kick from caffeine. It’s one of those places where you smile just walking in the door.

Even a candy shop needs a secret to long-term success. Marini’s doesn’t just have great old-fashioned salt water taffy – I’m certain they’ve been in business since 1915 because they evolve to meet currents tastes and trends. Witness their newest creation: (drum roll on the desk, please . . . ) the Bacon Sensation Sundae. Can you even imagine such a thing? Featuring Vegan’s Nightmare Ice Cream – chocolate covered bacon strips mixed with maple ice cream – and topped with bacon, bacon, and more bacon. Mmm . . . bacon.

If you ever have one, be sure to and let me know how it tastes. (And while you’re in Santa Cruz, look me up, I’ll meet you to document it!) I appreciate the idea but it sounds as good to me as bacon lip gloss or bacon frosting. We got all sugared up on chocolate cub ice cream and mochas and then went to watch people play with fire. It was pretty cool – I don’t often enough see looks of pure delight and amazement on the kids’ faces.

What’s the craziest bacon dish you’ve ever seen? Leave a comment and let me know!

If you really love your bacon, you may enjoy these poems, all finalists in last year’s Chicago Baconfest competition, in honor of National Poetry Month.