Bacon

There are always eggs in my fridge. If you have bacon left over from the weekend, and some nice greens, you can throw together this light, elegant dinner in no time. "As with many classic French salads, there are a few hotly disputed versions in circulation," writes cookbook author Trish Deseine, describing her recipe for Frisee au Lardons (Bacon and Poached Egg Salad). But in her mind, "eggs and croutons don't seem to cohabit well, and I always prefer mopping up the egg yolk with a fluffy baguette to chasing it around with fried cubes.

South Philly's Io E Tu on Ninth Street had an unnamed appetizer that regulars requested by citing two main ingredients: "shrimp and bacon. " When Giovanni and Concetta Varallo closed Io E Tu to concentrate on their Ristorante Pesto on Broad Street a year and a half ago, the dish migrated west. It's still not on the menu, but it's available if you ask - shrimp wrapped in bacon, which in turn is wrapped in a crescent dough. Not the healthiest of offerings, but it has the homespun charm of a Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe.

Temptation seizes diners the minute they walk into the Robin's Nest in Mount Holly. Glass cases just inside the door burst with cookies, crumb cakes, cheesecakes and tortes. Forget about calories, and indulge. Dessert by pastry chef Sarah Walton is a can't-pass specialty at this Burlington County institution. Every so often, the Discreet Diner likes to check in on South Jersey's culinary warhorses. The Robin's Nest, which has been around for more than 20 years, tops the list. While I've recently enjoyed the restaurant's expert catering at events around the county, I had never taken advantage of Sunday brunch, which friends and neighbors had frequently recommended.

Roger Bacon, 80, a physicist who received a Franklin Institute science award in 2004, died of leukemia Saturday at his home in Oberlin, Ohio. Mr. Bacon, who held a doctorate from what is now Case Western Reserve University and spent most of his career at Union Carbide Co. in Cleveland, was given the institute's Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering. The institute, at the time, said his research on graphite fibers had "transformed the field of material science and led to new ways of producing composite materials.

Everyone agreed yesterday that the late urban planner Ed Bacon would have loved it: official commemoration of his career at one of his proudest creations, LOVE Park in Center City. To anyone who knew him, one other thing was equally clear: Had Ed Bacon been in attendance, he would have used the occasion to buttonhole Mayor Street and other officials one more time to try to persuade them to let skateboarders back in the park. "With LOVE Park, his first-born, I don't think anybody - including Ed Bacon - had any premonition that this would become the skateboard capital of the East Coast," State Rep. Mark B. Cohen, a Philadelphia Democrat and son of the late City Councilman David Cohen, told the crowd of about 100 gathered at the northwest corner of 15th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

Give peanut butter a pass and bank on bacon if you want to avoid getting skunked. That was one of several lessons learned this week by 74-year-old Harry Sanford, whose dogged efforts to rid his Berwyn residence of an uninvited houseguest finally succeeded yesterday. The culprit: a baby black-and-white fur ball who burrowed through a garden and under the home's vinyl siding during Sanford's two-week Shore vacation. Sanford made the discovery on Tuesday when he got home, opened his basement door, and quickly backpedaled.

Turkey bacon - the substitute for the unsubstitutable - has long been the object of malicious and irrational attacks. Foremost among them: "It doesn't taste like bacon. " But the truth is, our hopes are too high and disappointment is inevitable when we expect a turkey to taste like a pig. A slice of turkey bacon sends off mixed signals: By length and width, it reminds us of its pork counterpart. But, if anything, the manufacturing process - of cured and smoked turkey bacon - at least makes it a closer cousin to Canadian bacon.

A TREND CAN be defined two ways, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. It can mean "to follow a general course," or to "veer in a new direction. " Both meanings will apply when it comes to the local restaurant scene this coming year, where chefs are both staying the course with tested ingredients and venturing into new territory to tantalize diners' taste buds. We polled some of the smartest chefs and restaurateurs in town to find out the Top 10 trends you'll be seeing at restaurants in 2006.