Ohmygosh! Am I an adult? I’m 26. Almost 27. In other words, dangerously close to 30. And I’m married. I guess that makes me an adult?

But I don’t know. I don’t know how it happens. It all just kind of sneaks up on you. One minute you are riding down water slides, screaming like a baby, the next you are having an honest, frank discussion about purchasing a home with your significant other and making considerations like how many bedrooms do we need because we’re probably going to start popping out babies in the not so distant future. Oh wait, that was actually my weekend.

My Carrot and I had a pizza date night with a bottle of wine, a few home brews, and talk of real estate. The whole point of the date was to not to spend time together. It was to make sure we both sat down in one place for more than 15 minutes so we could assess our finances and see what kind of place we could afford. How romantic, right?! (I don’t know. It kind of was).

Ah! Is that when you really know you are sliding into adulthood!? When talking about buying a home sounds fun instead of terrifying!?

But then I took a million pictures, played on Instagram, tried to make ice cream without an ice cream maker (ala Wisconsin From Scratch), made the yummiest ever burgers with bacon onion jam and called it all work. Maybe being a millennial adult is just way more fun than being an adult used to be.

In other news, I was invited to join Wisconsin Whisk, a collaborative group of Wisconsin-based food bloggers, and you guys I could. not. be. prouder. The Madison food blogging community reached out to me with open arms and I’m so excited to meet, work with and learn from all these spectacular bloggers! These folks are wildly creative and I’m already inspired by them. I’ll be drinking this yummy cocktail just as soon as I am fully recovered from a very inebriated bachelorette party weekend.

Happy adulthood. Happy Tuesday!
-Leek

BACON ONION JAM

Takes 50 minutes
Makes enough for 4 sandwiches or burgers

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 pieces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 red onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons water

Heat a large saute pan or skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil, allow to warm and add bacon. Cook for 5 minutes until it has begun to render it’s fat, but has not browned. Add sliced onions, salt and a good amount of pepper. Cook for 15 minutes until onions have released their liquid and begun to soften. You will need to watch them and stir at least every couple minutes. Add balsamic, honey and brown sugar. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook for 15 minutes, again, stirring every couple minutes. Add water and cook until reduced.
Serve on a burger (pretzel roll required). On pizza. On a very fancy BLT. Try to resist eating them straight of the pan with a fork.