Bacon on sheet pans ready for the oven

Trays of bacon in the kitchen mean only one thing:  Jon is here.  Yes, I don’t use a frying pan.  I blast it in the oven at 400 deg. F. (convection), turning it over once during the process.  I don’t want bacon all over the kitchen.  Use sheet pans and parchment paper – but watch out for smoke that will set off your fire alarms!

Jon, who is like a son to us, has been Matthew’s closest friend for about 10 years.  He relocated to Santa Barbara for a job a little over a year ago and wants very badly to move back to the Bay Area.  He misses his friends and all the rest of what is familiar, though he agrees that Santa Barbara is “also pretty nice.”

When Jon’s here I like to make him a big breakfast the day he leaves, and that usually includes bacon.  I got up early today so I also put together some aged cheddar corn muffins, which involves crumbling 4 ounces of cheddar into your favorite cornbread batter and baking as usual.  If you use the one on the side of a box of Albers yellow cornmeal, you can’t go wrong since it is not a sweet recipe.

I sliced a few ripe tomatoes and soft-boiled some eggs, which rounded out our big Sunday breakfast.