Alison Arnett's Favorites

I'd always bought the best bacon I could find (or afford), reasoning that the special flavor made it worth the price. But until I read "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman , I'd never thought of making it. Ruhlman is right. It's ridiculously easy to smoke your own bacon. More importantly, home-cured bacon tastes even better than the best commercial product. Finding the main ingredient -- pork belly -- takes some investigation. I got 8 pounds of it from E. L. Blood in Groton, a pristine little slaughterhouse that sells meats in the front, for a little more than $2 a pound. (Sometimes butcher shops have pork belly; Niman Ranch also sells it online.) After the belly rested in curing salts for a week, I smoked it in a Emeril stovetop smoker (below, $99 at cooking.com ), another great find . Then the really hard part starts: resisting the urge to eat it all when it comes out of the smoker. Pork belly is at E. L. Blood, 94 W. Main St., West Groton, 978-448-6669 ; Nimanranch.com; emeril s .com.

Some of us are vertically challenged. When we sit at a restaurant bar on those newly popular, very high stools, we have a dilemma: Where to put the handbag? The floor is too far away, and if we're eating at the bar, the lap isn't big enough for bag and napkin to happily coexist. The back of the chair means the bag gets in the way and might be tempting to a wallet snatcher. Hooks under the bar -- also handy for jackets -- seem to be standard in new places. Bin 26 Enoteca on Beacon Hill has hooks under its sleek long bar. Copia in Charlestown features hooks. Even South Boston's become chic, and the renovated Amrhein's sports the hooks. Sometimes it's the little things that make customers happy. Bin 26 Enoteca, 26 Charles St., 617-723- 5939 ; Copia, 100 City Square, Charlestown, 617-242-6742; Amrhein's , 80 W. Broadway, South Boston, 617-268-6189 .

Eating more whole grains was one of my resolutions last year. No problem, I thought, since I'd been breakfasting on toasted When Pigs Fly 100 percent whole - wheat bread for more than a year. But now and then, I strayed. The Maine bread bakers put out a great six-grain loaf; those crunchy pumpkinseeds really added zip to the morning. Still, the ingredient list on the package label starts with unbleached white flour. I wasn't being completely true to my pledge. On one trip to the market, I noticed When Pigs Fly Whole Wheat 6-Grain bread ($3.99). It's delicious, toasted and spread with a little honey or peanut butter. Now the breakfast routine has the perfect blend of zip and virtue. Available at Whole Foods Markets; and Crosby's Market, 118 Washington St., Marblehead, 781-631-1741 .

Usually I gravitate to soft cheeses -- camembert, taleggio, those voluptuous, creamy types. Last spring, while researching Vermont's artisanal cheese explosion, I tasted Vermont Dandy ($21.95 a pound) from Peaked Mountain Farm in Townshend. Nutty but with a little bite, smooth-textured , and pale-colored, this is a sexy firm cheese. The taste slightly resembles a good Italian fontina, but with a more grassy tang, closer to the fields. Ann and Bob Works raise their own sheep to make this wonderful product and others. Availableat South End Formaggio, 268 Shawmut Ave., 617-350-6996 , and other cheesemongers.