The Black Ice, continued, and Bacon

So today we awoke to even colder temperatures--it was 0 Celsius today--and learned a vital lesson about pouring water on the windshield for de-icing: turn the car on before pouring the water so it doesn't just refreeze. That lesson learned, we made it down the hill with no problems. There was, however, a frightening accident on the Glanmire road before the Dunkettle Roundabout. It was. .. The Black Ice. . .
For about 1 second when we got out rental car I wondered why it came with so many air bags. After seeing the aftermath of The Black Ice Glanmire wreck of 2007, I know why. This teeny-tiny car was hit from behind by a slightly bigger car and it was all carnage. Just awful! Of course, both vehicles involved were smaller than a Honda Civic. Actually, they both might have fit into a Civic's trunk. Still, very frightening, especially if there were children in the back seat (most likely not in car seats, as is popular here (despite it being highly illegal)).
As the news goes in Cork, we turned on the radio and immediately heard the report of the wreck--big news in our "small" town. Lots of people were "texting" in reports of The Black Ice throughout the city and surrounding area (within a 50 mile radius). Good to know, except when you hear that the road you just traveled on while drinking coffee and defrosting ice is described as "lethal" and "treacherous". Perhaps it's that gift of gab that makes a mountain out of a molehill. . .our "deadly" road was the driest I'd seen all morning!

So on to my second title topic: bacon. John and I love bacon. We enjoy bacon so much, and it's so widely known, that our neighbors gave us a pound of bacon last Christmas as a gift. No, it was not a gag gift. It was serious, and seriously tasty! Yum! You have to get the Boar's Head stuff from the butcher at Kroger--it's usually cheaper than the prepackaged stuff and . . .yum. . .so good.
Well, on Sunday I was craving macaroni and cheese (no Kraft in a box here, remember) so as I was dutifully reading the Chronicle online, I saw this article: Bacon Makes Life Sizzle. For us, it really does, but most importantly, there was a recipe at the end of the article for mac and cheese with bacon. Yum! While rather lengthy and involved, I felt up to the recipe's challenge and booked it to the grocery store. Several hours later, the mac came out of the oven and was beautiful. I totally recommend this recipe to all who love bacon and cheese. Wow, I love cheese. The only problem is that this is one of those recipes that you cook and cook and by the time you're done cooking, you just don't feel like eating it, really. Yeah. that was this one. Sigh. Oh well, John sure is enjoying it. Tastes like hard work and bacon grease to me. Not that that is bad; I was just a little tired of it in the end. ..

My last note is for the knitters out there. . .Here is a website for our local "spinners" Tivoli Spinners. If you want to know what kinds of yarn are out here in Ireland, here is your chance. I am pretty excited by the whole "Irish yarn" stuff if you have not yet deduced this. . . so check it out!

So that's about all this morning. No snow yet today, but I'm sure it's a possibility. Looks like a clear, sunny day and that means one thing: COLD! Stay warm and dry, people!