Anatomy of a good BLT

Well, in an effort to totally forget about some of the frustrations of my day, I'm going to reminisce about the delicious dinner I made for Jason's birthday--well over a month ago. I had received my Bon Appetite magazine a few days earlier and on the cover was a BLT. I was inspired. I just had to have it.
Here's a picture of the entire meal. The thing I was most excited about was the beans, the sliced cucumber, and the arugula in the BLT were from my very own garden! And here's the close up of the BLT.
Here's what went in it to make it worthy of a birthday dinner for my sweetie:
Bread: I bought a loaf of good bakery bread. My favorite is the Le Brea brand that they sell at Jewel. I came home and sliced thin slices and toasted them lightly.
Mayonnaise: I splurged and got the real deal. Hellman's real mayonnaise. (bring out the best!)Light mayonnaise is what we're used to and it's fine, but once you taste the real thing, then you know the light stuff just isn't the real stuff.
Tomato: I bought an heirloom tomato, the best in the store. I sliced it thin, sprinkled it with salt, pepper, olive oil, and some chopped fresh basil (also from my garden).
Bacon: I bought the nicest brand and broiled it nice and crisp.
Lettuce: As I mentioned, I used Arugula from my garden. It's a sharp lettuce but goes perfect in a sandwich like this with strong flavors.
Spread: The recipe from the magazine called for some cheese spread I couldn't find, so I just bought Alouette sun dried tomato spread.

If you are inspired to make this deliciously simple dish, you won't be disappointed. The key is fresh, fresh fresh.

Speaking of dishes, I took the boys to see Ratatouille for the 2nd time yesterday! It was a rainy day and the movie was playing at the dollar theater (well, the three dollar theater around here) so we had a day time date. The film is so charming. I liked it just as much the second time, perhaps even more. Actually though, the first time was better because I was with all my family at our reunion. It was kind of special to us because: 1) we're all "foodies" 2) Ratatouille is a dish that my mom made for us growing up, and 3) at the time we saw it, my sister was going to be in Paris the very next week! It's a great movie and I highly recommend to everyone, young and old.

Bon Apetit!