Bacon

Thanksgiving can be an overwhelming holiday. Even the most seasoned cooks can become agitated by the menu planning and trying to get all the details just perfect. Relax. Area farmers' markets have got you covered. Even as the growing season draws to a close, the markets' bustle increases with shoppers looking for ingredients for their Thanksgiving feast and farmers selling their last big crops of the year. The weekend before Thanksgiving is traditionally the markets' biggest weekend of the year (though many run until the week before Christmas)

Marylanders have a new food challenge. There's the Fat Boy burger at Chewy's, the colossal burrito at El Hidalgo in Elkridge and a giant milkshake at Chick and Ruth's in Annapolis. On Oct. 22, the Breakfast Shoppe in Severna Park will introduce the Category 3 Tony Chicken and Waffle 'Pann'wich - six pieces of hand-battered chicken breast, eight pieces of smoked bacon and six pieces of pepper jack cheese, all layered between two bacon-Belgian waffles and topped with scratch made gravy.

Britain 's National Pig Association has a Save Our Bacon campaign that encourages British consumers to support British pig farmers by eating British pork products. The campaign seldom draws international attention. But a Sept. 6 press release ( Worldwide pork shortage predicted ) and its Sept. 20 follow-up ( Europe's pork and bacon supply is contracting fast ) hit their marks. Reports on the bacon shortage were the talk of social media on Monday and Tuesday. "Twitter users reacted to the news in hysterics," Mashable reported, "calling it an 'aporkalypse.' In their reports, many American media quoted this first sentence of the Sept.

Even though mushrooms are available year-round, I tend to crave them most in the fall. The look, feel, smell and flavor of mushrooms evoke chilly September walks through dusky forest trails. Purveyors at area farmers' markets often sell these foraged fungi in small baskets featuring one specific style of mushroom such as a morel of a lobster mushroom, but they also offer variety baskets; that's what this recipe is based on. These baskets typically contain three to four types of mushrooms and are a steal at around $12. For this recipe, I wanted to showcase how hearty and comforting a mushroom dish could be using minimum ingredients.

Only in minor league baseball could you find an event titled “Salute to Bacon Night.” On July 13, the Norfolk Tides -  the Orioles' Triple-A team - are attempting to set the record for largest BLT ever created as part of this bacon-themed night. The sandwich is going to be more than 300 feet in length, topping the record of 224 feet and 3 inches that was set last year in Missouri. The sandwich won't go to waste, though. Slices of it will be for sale throughout the game, with all proceeds going towards the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia.

Fresh peas are very hard to find at a supermarket, but you can find them at area farmers' markets from mid-May until the end of June. Be forewarned: At the Sunday farmers' market under the Jones Falls Expressway, you have to arrive early and stand in a line as many as 50 people deep to get the peas from Woodside Greenhouse. But the line moves quickly, and your patience will be rewarded with one of the most verdant tastes of a new summer. Fresh raw peas have a sweetness that is tempered by a grassy bite, and they taste great by themselves with a glug of extra-virgin olive oil, chopped mint leaves and a pinch of sea salt.

Overcooking is what kills asparagus for most people. Memories of gray, limp and pungent spears follow wary eaters like ghosts from a nightmare. But when treated right, asparagus is a versatile and complex vegetable. Its flavor profile can switch from green and grassy to sweet and nutty just depending on how it's cooked. That's why so many chefs love to put this "grande dame of spring" on their menus. Ben Simpkins, the executive chef at Richardson Farms in White Marsh, makes an asparagus "cappuccino," in which a cup half-filled with hot asparagus soup is topped with cold asparagus foam made by shooting the cold soup through a whipped-cream gun. "I love asparagus, and this is my favorite dish," says Simpkins.

There were few laugh lines in U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's Thursday morning address to Baltimore's business community. But one of the biggest resulted from a bizarre off-script non sequitur Geithner made early in his speech. Setting: Fourth-floor conference room at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Harbor East. Three hundred of Baltimore's most influential business and political leaders are seated at round, white-clothed tables.

Actor Kevin Bacon brought his star power to a charity event Wednesday at the University of Maryland, College Park. But the cheers the actor received were not as loud as the hoots and hollers directed toward the six student groups competing for $5,000 toward their favorite causes. The competition — called the "Do Good" Challenge — is part of an effort by the school to make philanthropy more of a focus in academics and student life. The winner was The Food Recovery Network, which developed a system of collecting food from campus dining halls that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it to homeless shelters.

Bacon lovers, are you sitting down? Better yet -- are you dead? If so, your dream product is here. Today they guys who brought the world Bacon Salt, Baconnaise and most recently, Bacon Lube, unveiled their latest creation: the bacon coffin. For those who love bacon to death. "You ate bacon, you decorated your body with bacon, your car with bacon and your home with bacon," the release says. "And now, you can peacefully rest wrapped in bacon. " The coffins are painted to look just like the deceased's favorite food -- with what the company calls a "bacon and pork shading.