Getting Corny

Michael Symon is the man.

For those of you who only know him from "Iron Chef America," it should be made clear that the Cleveland chef was cooking amazing food long before his Food Network days. I grew up in Cleveland myself—proudly, I might add—and I can truly say I have eaten some of the best food of my life at his restaurants. When I go back to visit my parents, I (easily) convince them to hit up one of his places for some beef cheek pierogis, cheesy polenta or a double-cut pork chop.

So when I turned on the Cooking Channel (Scripps Networks' newest venture) and discovered Symon making sweet corn ice cream with caramel-candied bacon and popcorn, I had to give it a go. (Side note: Those close to me know that I'll typically try any food once. They also know that for some reason, I'm not a huge fan of two things: watermelon and creamed corn. I'll eat them, but I'd rather not.) Sweet corn ice cream sounded closely related to creamed corn, but I was willing to give it a try since it was one of Symon's recipes.

I'm so glad I went for it. I omitted the popcorn, but I didn't lose the bacon. Everything is better with bacon. It could make an old shoe taste good.

That has me thinking: What about watermelon and bacon?