I woke up to the scent of bacon. Then I found out the word for Five Minute Friday was bacon. The connection to bacon on this day continued when I ran an errand later in the morning. I saw a bumper sticker — Fueled by Bacon.

I’ve always picked bacon over sausage. I think it’s the crunch factor. The crispy, salty goodness is hard to resist when bacon is in the house. And to bring in the topic of freedom to the discussion about bacon… it is much easier to carry bacon in your lunch. You are free to eat it by itself, throw it on a salad, add it to a sandwich, etc. How do you enjoy your bacon?

I’m pretty sure I get my love of bacon from my grandmother. When I was little, I’d go over to her house for lunch and she’d let me choose whatever I wanted. Most of the time I’d request pasta (with butter and parmesan cheese) and bacon. Or country ham. She had a special way to cook bacon that made it extra-crispy. In a sandwich grill. These seem like random details, but they were some of my favorite meals as a young child. I didn’t have to eat vegetables, although we’d occasionally have good butterbeans. A common find in the south.

The other cool thing my grandmother had was a kitchen tool that measured the pasta by fitting it in particular holes according to the serving. She let me have a serving for 2. My favorite food growing up was pasta.

Favorite foods can change. As adults, we find more freedom and joy in trying new foods. I still love bacon and enjoy it every now and then. And I think about my grandmother because bacon was constantly on her grocery list in her later years. She knew what was good…one random thing shared from one generation to the next.