Blog challenge: Manly Valentine's Day gifts

My dear friend and fellow blogger Autumn and I have decided to set a monthly challenge for ourselves. It will change every month and you'll get two solutions to a single problem.


Blog challenge for the month of February? Manly Valentine's Day presents. We both have significant others that are more Barney Stinson and less Ted Mosby, so a touchy-feely holiday like Valentine's Day can be ridiculously challenging.

My solution? Bacon roses. Yes, you read that right: Now you can give your significant other edible roses in something other than chocolate. (If you're an observant Jew, Muslim, or vegetarian, I'm sure you can use the same system and replace the bacon with fake bacon from Morningstar or Smart Bacon. Adjust oven temperatures appropriately.) Even better? This project is absurdly easy. Really. The entire thing took half an hour (excluding cooking time) and I never once felt it was complicated.

Smiles are a guaranteed result!

My roommate helped me out and made her own bouquet to give her beau. I love having help in the kitchen, and she loved the solution to her own Valentine's Day quandary.

To get started, you'll need a pack of bacon, barbeque skewers, toothpicks, paper towels, parchment paper, a baking sheet, paper and scissors, a vase, and green gardening tape. I used plain bacon; my roommate used smoked bacon and both worked well.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the strips of bacon into little rosebuds. They look best if you roll on a slight diagonal, so the edge always shows. This makes them into a bacon spiral and gives them their rosebud appearance.

Stick a toothpick through the side of the rosebud and set it down on its bottom, squishing it down a little bit so they become a bit squat. Do this to as many slices of bacon as you want.

Pop these in the oven for about 30 minutes. In the mean time, prep your barbeque skewers by covering them in gardening tape and attaching paper leaves if you want.

I left a little less than an inch on the pointy end of the skewers because I wasn't sure it was a good idea to put the garden tape into the bacon. I free-handed some leaves and taped them to a few of the skewers. I also made some of the skewers shorter than others to give the bouquet a bit of variety.

The bacon was done when I pulled it out of the oven. I let it cool a bit so I didn't burn my fingers.

Ew.

From here, everything was simple. I pulled the toothpick out of the rose, patted some of the grease off with a paper towel, and stuck the skewer in the middle. I had to finagle some skewering to make sure the bacon stayed on top of the skewer, but most were problem-free.

When I was done I placed the roses in a vase and tied a ribbon around it, then delivered it to my boyfriend, who was pretty delighted with the entire thing. So now my kitchen smells like bacon, his house smells like bacon, and everyone's happy.

Om nom nom.

I seriously cannot recommend this enough. It's super duper simple and it's very easy to make it look good. Aaaaaand it's absolutely adorable and yet somehow, manly.

Oh, and Autumn? Game on!

Christmas, please!

This is the fourth straight year in a row that "more college" is at the top of my Christmas wish list. Now that my brother's in college, he's asking for the same thing. But education isn't the only thing on our lists, because you're simply un-American if you don't want some material goods!

My brother sent my parents a hilarious list, along with reasons why he wants them. Here are a few selections (and yes, I have his permission, no matter how weird he thinks I am):

• Rain pants. In the old days, when it was raining I could go riding, go back home, and change.  This dynamic changed dramatically with my entry into college.  Now my bike rides frequently end at my place of employment, where there is both a lack of clothes to change into and a negative opinion of employee wearing wet clothing.  Quality is of little importance, as more than likely any pants will have a short life and replacement is likely.
• Backpack. I have a multitude of containers for the purpose of carrying items from one place to another.  However, as is the case with most things, I don't have the one I want.  I'm not too terribly sure which one I want anyways but I can present two that seem sufficient.
• Chrome Midway Shoe. I tend to prefer the color green when I choose clothing and this doesn't change when it comes to footwear.  I enjoy a green shoe and would like to continue the habit of wearing them. These shoes are incredibly durable, comfortable, and awesome.  Also, they're green.

My list? I already know I'm getting an iPod Touch — I'm splitting the cost with my parents because I need one for my internship. (Also, the new ones have a camera on them, and the quality is much better than my cell phone camera — look forward to decent-quality pictures on the blog soon!) After all that expensive stuff, all I really want is a new large liquid measure for baking, and a multitude of socks. I love warm, tall socks that keep my entire leg warm, not just my feet.

I need these in my life.

Even if we know we're not getting a lot (other than college, which is a helluva gift), the most important thing is that we all try so hard to come up with something. Some people think it's a copout to say "it's the thought that counts," but I really think it is — even if you're giving socks or a backpack, a gift becomes a tangible way of showing you're thinking of someone.

One last note: Does anyone have any suggestions on what to get a dad for Christmas? Every year I wrack my brain trying to come up with something for my dad and every year I'm stumped. Last year he got truffles (which went over extremely well. Pro-tip: Use cayenne pepper instead of salt). This year he might just get a hug and some beer unless I'm struck by brilliance.