A good breakfast snack for the days when you start drinking early.
I guess that makes it a brunch snack.
Whatever.

1 pound Medjool dates (about 30), pitted
1 pound bacon (about 15 slices), cut in half
30 Pecans (pieces work just as well as whole nuts though.)
3 wooden skewers, soaked in water for an hour

Replace the pits with pecans, wrap each date in bacon and slide ten on each skewer. Grill 3-5 minutes on each side until bacon is crispy.

Tip: remove pits with a chopstick. Most are easy enough to remove just by sliding the point in at one end, lining up with the tip of the pit and pushing out the other side. Tougher ones require stabbing a hole in both ends with the point and then pushing the pit out with the blunt end of the stick. Either way, it’s much less sticky and slow than doing it by hand.

I’ve was never a fan of the bloody mary until I had a pre-brunch bloody at Finnegan’s Wake while waiting for a table to open up at Zazie. I’m not quite sure what the old man put in my drink, but I now love the occasional (very well made) bloody mary.

As temperatures in San Francisco have reached week-long record highs, and my apartment is ecologically AC-free, the only thing that’s putting me comfortably to sleep is an ice-cold bloody mary. My off-color recipe follows:

1 ounce firewater
1 ounce good vodka
4 ounces V-8
1 dash Pickapeppa sauce
2 teaspoons meyer lemon juice
pinch very coarsely cracked pepper
pinch celery salt
3 cubes ice, cracked
Celery stalk or dill pickle spear for stirring

Pairs nicely with a tall can of PBR.

I’ve been out of the kitchen for a while, but I want to jot down a few ideas before I lose them.
OK, so there are only two items on the menu right now, but I’ll keep working on it. It would probably be easier if the dishes weren’t inspired by their quirky names.

Tako Taco
Tako is the Japanese word for octopus.
Taco is the Mexican word for taco.
Right now I’m picturing either a tangy octopus salad (Tako salad?) or breaded fried slices all wrapped up in a tortilla with avocado, shredded veg, spicy sauce and a squirt of lime juice.

Hiro-jito
Shiso is one of the primary aromatics in Japanese cuisine and a relative of mint.
Mojito is Cuban cocktail made with rum, soda, sugar, lime juice, and mint.
Hirohito was the 124th Emperor of Japan.
Enough said.

I’m also thinking of a high-class street food. Offal Falafel anyone?