Depending on your perspective, "healthy bacon" is either (a) made from turkey or tempeh; or (b) an oxymoron.

If you love real bacon, a poultry or soy-based substitute just doesn't cut it. Sure, you can top your cheeseburger with turkey bacon, but what's the advantage? Most turkey bacon is actually higher in cholesterol than real bacon.

Wild boar is naturally leaner and lower in cholesterol than pork, but it's pricey, too; a 7 ounce package of D'Artagnan's wild boar bacon costs around $7. My idea of healthy bacon is Wellshire Farm's dry-rubbed, center cut bacon, which has 40% less fat than conventional bacon.

Our cookbook collection numbers in the hundreds, yet we don’t own even one Irish cookbook. Is Irish cuisine an oxymoron?

Having once lived in Dublin, I can attest to the fact that the food was fairly forgettable; what I remember most were the Sunday dinners with my Irish boyfriend’s family, where his mother would serve up potatoes cooked six different ways. Well, OK, maybe only two or three. Whatever. It was a lot of potatoes.