I haven't eaten bacon in nine years but in the past few days all anyone has been able to talk about is pig pig pig. And today swine flu struck Oregon. It's made me feverish. Bacon feverish.

Just minutes ago I stopped for lunch at Meat Cheese Bread, fully intending to deny my bacon lust and purchase a just fine mushroom sandwich. But when I opened the door, the smell of swine was thick and rich. I could almost taste it. At the counter, I slipped into some sort of delirious craze and ordered the beet, bacon and aioli sandwich. And then, just as feverishly, ate it all. The beets were sweet, the aioli smooth and the bacon an undeniably fleshy blend of delicious salt, smoke and grease.

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I don't know what happened but I need to quarantine myself at Portobello until the swine flu departs and my bacon fever breaks.