We sure do miss you guys, but ...

This is what our dinners look like now:

Candlelit; with a glass of wine; and bacon in our food! No offense, but Mom says it's like being on vacation. (Who'da thunk such blasphemy could ever pass your mother's sweet lips?)

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And here is that bacon-filled dish, which I hadn't made in quite a while. Our house has never smelled so glorious as after I've fried a bunch of bacon, and then fried onion in the bacon fat. It almost qualifies as something else that brings a tear to my eye. Mom pronounced this "heavenly," which isn't unusual, but it's fully deserved in this case.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon and Dried Cherry Dressing

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated (March/April 2003) and Emeril Lagasse

Time: 20 minutes for the vegetarian version; add 15 to 20 minutes for the recipe with bacon

1 (6-ounce) package of pre-washed baby spinach
3 tablespoons (45 grams) apple-cider or red-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of fine sea salt 
8 ounces (225 grams) thick-cut bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 small (2–3 ounces) or ½ of a medium red onion, chopped into medium-sized pieces (~½ cup)
¼ cup (33 grams) dried cherries
chèvre goat cheese

    1.  Place the spinach in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, sugar, pepper, and salt.
    2.  Line a dinner plate with paper towels. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, fry the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to the paper-towel-lined plate. Leave 3 tablespoons of bacon fat in the skillet and discard the rest. One way to do this is to pour all of the bacon fat out of the skillet into your fat receptacle (I use an empty 28-ounce aluminum can that I store in the freezer and throw out once it’s full of fat—you want to avoid washing liquid fat down the drain, where it can solidify and clog the pipes) and then measure out 3 tablespoons to return to the skillet.
    3. Turn the heat down to medium, and return the skillet to the heat. Add the onion to the skillet and fry, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vinegar mixture and the dried cherries, and cook until warmed through and the cherries have plumped up a bit, about 1 minute.
    4. Immediately pour the hot dressing evenly over the spinach. Add the bacon. Using tongs, toss everything until the spinach wilts some. Divide the salad among 4 dinner bowls or plates. Crumble some chèvre over each salad. Serve promptly. Serves 4 as a salad course (or 2 as a romantic dinner).

Vegetarian variation
The recipe is just the same except you skip the bacon (obviously) and all of step 2. In step 3, substitute 3 tablespoons (40 grams) extra-virgin olive oil for the bacon fat. You can use a stainless steel skillet rather than nonstick.