Livin' La Pizza Loca Pt 2

The dough came out well. Speaking with Chef A yesterday at the restaurant, he said how difficult it could be to make non-ginormous quantities of dough. I started with Peter Rheinhart's recipe, adjusting with half double 00 flour and less water, which still came out really loose, adding more and more AP flour till it wasn't total goo. When the dough was taken out to work with this evening, it had set up nicely.

3 adults, 2 kids, one vegan. In the morning I churned strawberry ice cream and chocolate soy ice cream, slowly caramelized onions, sautéed criminis with garlic, prepped a tray of mise (buffalo and cow moz, parm, pepperoni, basil, thyme, raw sauce, cooked sauce).

Haven't made a proper blended soup since c-school, and it was a revelation. Easy to make and really delicious, no recipe, just threw in what I had on hand.


Peeled and roasted hunks of butternut squash. Softened a mess of diced onions in olive oil. Sautéed slices of peeled golden delicious apple. Into boiling water went peeled carrots and a yam. All went into blender, with some of the boiling water, maple syrup, salt, grated ginger, a dash of cayenne. An hour before the guests came, soup went into one large and one small pot on the stove top. To one, I finished the soup with heavy cream, the other with soy milk.

For garnishes, I roasted and steamed three multicolored peppers, then diced them together for a smokey relish. Took a head of parsley and blended it to smooth with a small amount of olive oil and a heavy dash of salt. I had no squeeze bottle on hand so the spooning of the parsley oil was a bit sloppy. Regardless, this mildly sweet soup was an excellent opening round. I stamped 2" rounds out of one flattened dough and painted them with garlic-infused olive oil and a shake of salt for a cracker-like garlicky pizza accompaniment for the soup.

After popping out a round of kid-made pies, whipped off the adult pies. I ran my oven at 500 instead of 550, and for convenience's sake used parchment under all the pies to get them in and out of the oven easier. (Right now I have a folding metal peel that just sucks, doesn't hold lubricating flour very well, need to get a short-handled wooden peel.) The temp, the paper, and perhaps the dough didn't lend itself to good browning. Next time, I'm gonna go hotter, lose the paper and perhaps add either a dash of sugar, honey, or milk to the dough, in a quest to find the ideal dough for the oven I have. Cow margarita, buffalo margarita, mushroom & cherry tomato, and a few variations, nothing that crazy.


For dessert, in addition to the ice creams, I balled some extra pizza dough into little nuggets and dropped them into about 400 degree peanut oil. Took a few minutes, but they browned nicely, not greasy at all, and puffy and steamy in the middle. Finished with powdered sugar, they were mildly sweet, yet had that certain yeasty tang that makes pizza dough pizza.

ADDENDA:
Probably the trickiest part of the night was having 2 non-English speaking kids assemble pizzas. Fortunately, the dough wasn't too loose and they got the concept of stretching pretty ably. I've never actually sat in front of my oven and watched the pizzas cook, but sitting with them was a mini-revelation, watching the yeast rise the dough in the first minute, the cheese melting into pools, then finally just bubbling away and browning.


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, bagel and cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, spinach pumpkin ravioli, chocolate bar, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 Ravioli is a bit disappointing, I rolled the dough a bit too thick, so it came out a bit too tough. The pumpkin filling is pretty good though, the balsamic reduction plays well against the pumpkin and marscapone.

DINNER: 6:30pm, butternut squash soup, various homemade pizza slices, vanilla ice cream with deep fried pizza dough balls with powdered sugar, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Livin' La Pizza Loca Pt 1.

Monday night is a slowish night at the restaurant. I came in at 3 for a 5 opening, and I popped out a round of tiramisu, assisted on a balsamic reduction for topping the night's special pie (a butternut squash creation) and blended a load of basil and parsley into olive oil to create a basil pesto of sorts for another special pie.

Early in the evening I was sent across to the sister restaurant (which is closed Mondays) to slice some prosciutto and some spicy salami. I haven't spent much time on the slicer -- I think the amount time spent warning me about the slicer is greater than the time I've ever spent on one. Oddly enough, the owner was poking around the restaurant and gave me a tutorial on the slicer, ending up doing 4/5 of the slicing I needed to do. Then he showed me how to clean it properly, ending up pretty much cleaning it himself.

The rest of the night was mostly stretching dough, finishing pies, plating and boxing, cutting bread, and just ebbing and flowing with the personalities in the shop. A customer came in, a regular, in which everyone nick named 'the penis', as he has an oddly bell-shaped head and acted overly ingratiating and needs a lot of attention. I wonder if I've ever been given a nickname by the staff at any restaurant?

ADDENDA:
I spent the morning prepping whatever could be done in advance for dinner tomorrow night, when the HVS will swoop down with a small crowd of her family in town from Israel. I made some triple chocolate soy ice cream, a batch of creme anglais (which will become vanilla and strawberry ice cream), and a batch of pizza dough. The dough will be used for pizzas, garlic bread (to go with some squash soup), and some sort of deep fried pizza balls with powdered sugar to go with the ice creams.

It's a bit weird spending my morning making dough, letting it rise, then scaling and balling it at home...then going to work and doing the same thing. Living la pizza loca!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted onion bagel with homemade hummus, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 5:30pm, 2 slices, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, small portion of spaghetti with meatball, root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11:30pm, quart of water

EVENING TASTING: 11:45pm, spoonful of vanilla ice cream

Slamming Dough

Everyone was feeling excited/nervous/edgy for tomorrow, the first day of opening early to serve brunch. That meant there was extra to do this morning, prepping for the additional egg dishes and French toast (using focaccia!), revising the menu up to the last minute, and Chef R working with the backroom kitchen staff to pump out rounds of brunchy salads and French toasts to the staff.

So it was down to C and me to make two huge rounds of dough -- for today and tomorrow, when we will be serving the whole menu, as well as a few brunch pies -- the carbonara has a raw egg dropped on it half way through the cooking.

We banged out a flourless chocolate cake, then Chef R sent me to the supermarket to pick up a cartload of groceries -- usually a list of 6 items would be a small handful, but when it's 10 pounds of potatoes, 4 pounds of brussel sprouts, 4 dozen eggs etc, it adds up.

We scaled and balled dough, which seemed to last forever, but I did notice that I'm getting faster without losing precision. Not a lot faster, but it's the upward trend we're looking for. C was over the moon because we were pretty much done with out prep, and focaccias and slice-pies coming out of the oven before 5, a rare event it seems in the restaurant and even more unusual because of the large amounts a Friday requires. I guess my presence is appreciated.

From service to close, the night flew by. I finished & plated/boxed pies for a while, but spent most of the time slamming dough, enjoying my increasing familiarity with how dough feels and acts, particularly according to temperature -- the warmer the dough is, the gooier and looser it gets, making it much quicker to stretch, but much easier to get too thin and tear.

Chef R pointed out different flaws I was producing in the dough throughout the night, but at the end she complimented me, saying that I was a huge help and felt I was 'clicking' in well. I've had so many horrendously horrible managers in jobs with tons of layers of management -- who would have thought such a good one would appear where there is almost no level of dedicated management?

ADDENDA:
Ate weirdly at the restaurant, but that's because odd food presented itself. Up until now, I was in the non-anchovies camp. I got over any strong negative feelings in c-school, where fish like anchovies and fish paste were discovered to be miraculous flavor enhancers that could make a dish. (Anyone who won't eat anything with anchovies in it, despite them being finely blended or diced, is an IDIOT.) I sampled a pie with the traditional strips of anchovies and it's very strong fishy/salty flavor was....not bad. I had a second little slice and enjoyed the fishy flavor more, the salty blast a little less. Interesting.

BREAKFAST: 8am, whole wheat English muffin with homemade hummus, water, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 11am, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, black cherry soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 3 pieces of french toast, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Chef R was experimenting with the new brunch menu, giving it out to the staff.

LUNCH: 5pm, 2 square slices, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
So much better than frozen!

PM WATERING: 7pm, quart

PM SNACK: 9pm. 2 small slices of sardine pie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pie sent back from customer, divvied among us workers.

PM WATERING: 9:15pm, quart

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, small square of ricotta cheesecake, ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Exploration in the Freezer Case

I've been eating a lot of high-end pizza lately due to my time in the restaurant. How amazing it would be to eat that kind of pizza in the convenience at home, without the expense and time of delivery. Obviously, I'm not the first person to think these things. Today at the market while finally restocking my kitchen, it occurred to me that I hadn't really bought any frozen convenience food in quite a while. It used to be a good 1/3 of everything I got -- frozen White Castle burgers, burritos, breaded fish and chicken, Asiany snackie things, the whole gamut. But the main contender was always the frozen pizza.

And they all kind of sucked. But even pretty crappy pizza isn't THAT bad. So in the name of having some comfort food around the house for B while I spend some late nights at work, I went through the frozen pizza aisle and selected a handful of brands, from the Wholefoods house brand up to a chi-chi Wolfgang Puck number. Over the next few weeks I'll give them a try and critique them here.

ADDENDA:
Used up the last of the pancake mix in the freezer, which I made pre-c-school. Tasted pretty good, I mixed it minimally, came out the lightest and fluffiest yet....but misses that certain pancakey flavor we achieved in class. Next time I make the mix, gonna riff on the school recipe.

AM SNACK: 7am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pancakes and bacon, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 5:45pm, veggie burger and a little salad with fries, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, vegan apple crumble cheesecake, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 9:30pm, quart

5 Hour Rush (Stupid, Stupid Scale)

Today in the restaurant, I started out making the tiramisu, a sweet dish I never made in school, but again, followed the recipe given. Made me think how the ingredients included Italian ladyfinger cookies and instant espresso -- if we were real high falutin', they'd be made properly on premises. Since it was Friday, we had to make two batches of pizza dough, each one 24 kg. The picture above is one batch mixing in the Hobart mixer -- that's my food on the lower left. Big dough, yo. Chef R criticized me a few times for sloppiness with the flour, and I was glad -- she's not a pushover, she's paying attention, and most importantly, she gives a shiz about the details.

I met C, who also does pizza at the restaurant, a graduate of my c-school. The three of us portioned and balled the dough, got the square pies for slices in the oven, stretched and baked the focaccia. At 5pm sharp, customers started coming in and it didn't really let up till 10:30.

Toward the end, I was in the back kitchen with the crew prepping some mise for tomorrow -- a couple of gallons of cherry tomatoes fell under my knife, then family dinner with the front-of-house peeps and the owner's wife -- a good, friendly vibe, everyone energized by the five hour rush, relieved it was over.

Down the street, this outdated billboard:


Hot Bird was the previous restaurant in the space of the pizzeria's sister restaurant. How fickle and churning the restaurant scene is.
ADDENDA:
Went to the doc this morning for a check up. On the positive side, my blood pressure was a shocking 119/84 -- I had him measure it twice. Part of my original motivation for c-school was health reasons. If I were to get control of the issues that were my father's main health problem, I had to 'watch what I eat'. Watch, sure, I watched all sorts of crap in large quantities fly down my throat. If I were going to stop eating out so much and cook more....

On the negative side I weighed in at 225. When I got home 30 minutes later, I was back to 219. Perhaps time for a new scale.

BRUNCH: 10am, large green salad, millet and sausage, homemade vanilla ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, 1 slice pizza, black cherry soda, .75 bowl

DINNER: 11pm, rigatoni with mushroom, small slice of lemon cake, water, 2 bowl

EVENING WATERING: 12:15pm, quart o' tap

Down On Curly's Farm

I was invited this past weekend to cook in the kitchen of a semi-dilapidated old house in the middle of woods of Western Massachusetts, where my nutritionist Ilsa is attempting to start up a working farm on a small piece of dirt owned by our friend Curly, who inherited a huge tract of land along with a house.

Curly's (not her real name) farm is a small plot of cleared land next to a 40's era house on a small road at the edge of a 200 acre forested piece of land. She grew up there, when her dad owned 4,000 acres and sold timber. The land behind the property is now owned by the government, never to be developed, and the land behind that is state-protected watershed.

I arrived on Friday night and scoped the kitchen -- not clean, not orderly, water damage ravaged the floor and walls, and just piles of odd non-functional equipment. The basement is haunted with rotting classic bicycles in the root cellar. Eight different kinds of juicers, various uni-taskers, and the fabulous Pot-O-Plenty. This 70s device was some sort of pressure-cooker/deep-fryer, with dishes listed on its front with the appropriate setting. Meat fondue, Swiss steak, chop suey, steamed pudding, it's all at your fingertips with the pot-o-plenty!!

After the first night of a deliciously quiet and dark sleep, the first thing I noticed in the kitchen was the window in front of the sink and work space the overlooked into....deep forest. At home in my apartment on the Lower East Side, I face a stone back splash and cabinets, and need a radio to keep me focused. Here, the silence in kitchen work was balanced by a majestic window, what a fine accompaniment.

Curly and I hopped in the car and made the hour trip to Amherst, where we hit up a great farmers market (fresh local ginger! sexy butternut squash!) and a Wholefoods. After riding in a car for an hour to get groceries, it dawned on me that this was it -- whatever we picked up now was going to have to last us through Monday, no quick walks to the local marts, no Freshdirect.com for next day delivery. At the same time, whatever I chose to purchase was being paid for by all of us -- I can't just go buy stuff just to have it on hand: buy it, use it, don't leave anything over that can't sit on a shelf for a few months.

Here is a run down of the menu that emerged over the weekend.

Saturday:
Lunch: simple Asian vegetable stir fry with rice noodles. We picked up a wok, and I brought mirin and sesame oil up with me. Got amazing bok choy from the farmer's market, and the local ginger flavored the oil marvelously. The flavors came out pleasingly balanced, just like in class.

Dinner: Seared chicken breasts and seared sea scallops, butternut squash risotto, green salad with mustard vinaigrette. Excellent old cast iron skillet, perfect for browning chicken boobs (which I dissembled off a chicken rib cage for better freshness and cheaper food cost). Risotto was a bit of work (recipe at end of this entry for those who want it!), but it was a nice, rich show-offy dish.

Sunday:
Brunch: buttermilk pancakes from scratch, buckwheat pancakes from mix, oven-fried bacon, cider, fruit. Minimally stirring, leaving the lumps in, made the buttermilk pancakes surprisingly soft and pillowy, was really happy with that.

Afternoon snack: Quinoa salad. Using the grain that was on hand, used up some random veg and chicken stock. Easy to make a large quantity with minimal effort.

Dinner: Pizza & Apple Pie. The pizza was a bit of a challenge. The dough I made Saturday, with double 00 flour I brought up with me. The electric oven got to around 500, but I had no cookie sheets, so I improvised with various upside down pans coated in foil. The first pizzas I made how I made at home, but they had a hard time being so thin with so little heat, and were quite pale and flibbidy-flobbidy despite the top browning. The second round I made tall & thicker and greased the foil with olive oil. The oil crisped the bottom of the pie, and the additional thickness held the snap better -- not great but not embarrassing. Like sex & chocolate, even when it's not that great, homemade pizza ain't that bad.

The apple pie, the apple pie, not sure where to begin. A real pie is a tedious thing to make, a frustratingly elusive thing to make well. The few pies I've attempted in the past have been soggy, leaden affairs, causing the ghosts of plenty of county fair pie-competitors to weep. Despite finding more than 30 pie and muffin tins, 20 bundt and loaf pans, multiple rolling pins and various tarte shapes and cookie cutters, according to Curly her mom was not a woman into the whole county fair competitive scene -- she just really liked to bake. Wandering the detritus of her baking life, I couldn't help but feel like a guest in this deceased woman's home -- a home made warm and personable and loved by her love of this tricky and very American art. And nothing is more American (or New England) than Apple Pie.

(According to the Yankee Magazine Cookbook laying around the house, the definition of a 'Yankee' from a Southerner's perspective is a Northerner. The Northerner's definition of a Yankee is a New Englander. A New Englander's definition of a Yankee is a Vermonter. And a Vermonter's definition of a Yankee is a Vermonter who eats apple pie for breakfast. But I digress...)

So I chose what I would think would of been one of Curlymom's favorite pie tins, and first thing was making the dough. Flour, salt, rub in the cold butter till it's like corn meal with pea-sized pebbles. Add some egg and water till it comes together, ball, flatten into two discs, chill for a few hours. Cook down sliced apples with sugar and spices and butter, chill that too. Roll out dough, place delicately into pan. Fill with innards, top with second round, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Polk holes. Chill the whole thing for another 30 minutes. Bake for an hour, turning down the heat gradually as it browns. Hope for the best.

I can't say if this was the best tasting pie, but it certainly was a sturdy, attractive example of pie-kind:

I think the kitchen really helped me in this case: it was a bit cold, and it helped the butter against my warm hands, ended in a much more tender, flaky crust. The apples (Jonah Golds) from the farmer's market held up and kept their shape despite being soft and pillowy, and the bottom crust was like pizza -- crisp on the bottom, doughy in the middle and melding just so into the syrup on top. The top layer was a golden dome of crunchy, browned deliciousness that just kissed the apples beneath. Curlymom was looking over my shoulder, helping me out making a proper pie for the first time, happy to get some fresh pie to daughter and friends.

MONDAY: Lunch: Pasta with roasted garlic tomato sauce, sauteed string beans and mushrooms with garlic. Dry pasta laying around, most of a can of crushed tomatoes from last night's pizza, I peeled a spare tomato and added it in. Since there was bags and bags of garlic lying around (spare from what was being planted), I roasted a bunch and added it to a simple tomato sauce.

Dinner: TVP, left over Quinoa Salad, left over risotto. Textured vegetable protein laying about, so I made vegetable stock with all the remainders and scraps of veg in the fridge to give some flavor to this rather drab 1970s hippy protein substitute.

It was nice running away in a kitchen with and without recipes, looking in the fridge and pantry and figuring out what I could produce. It was fun on the ride back, scarfing crapalicous donuts with my nutritionist (I guess this is my equivalent of smoking a joint with your drug counselor). Now that I did it once, I want to go back with a more solid idea of what I'm going to cook, then just improvise like a jazz saxophonist when I only have some of puzzle pieces.

ADDENDA:
On some of my spare time, when I wasn't sweating over pie, I took a wander into the woods behind the house. Yes, it was peaceful.

To the reader who requested the recipe for the butternut squash risotto, here goes:

First step, take yer squash, cut off the skin with a knife. Cut into long quarters, scoop out all the seeds and strings from the center of the gourd. Lay on some foil, douse with olive oil and salt so it's covered, wrap in foil, stick in 350 degree oven for an hour or so till it's fragrant and soft. Cool, then process to a smooth mush, either by hand, a masher or a food processor.

Soften some finely diced onion in olive oil till translucent, then throw in the arborio rice. Once rice is translucent, toss in 1/4 cup or so of wine/vermouth/flavorful booze, cook off the alcohol till the pan is dry. Low flame. Now ladle in one ladle of simmering chicken stock (or any other kind of stock), adding more when it's almost absorbed. CONSTANTLY STIR, this brings out the starch and makes it creamy. 1 cup o' rice to 8 cups of stock -- when it's toothsome and tender, yer done. If you run out of liquid, soldier on with hot water. Once it's tender enough, add your mix-ins. Grated parm, marscapone rocks, go crazy. This is where you add the mushed butternut. Mix so it's even, taste, add more cheeses or salt to taste. Rock on. Serve quickly, it turns from creamy to gluey pretty quickly.

To bring back to life. Mix in more stock or water, heat on stove while stirring till the consistency and temp is right. Don't stop stirring!

Achey Breaky Stomach (Latkes-a-Poppin')

This evening I went back to c-school for the first time since graduation to take a continuing ed class: contemporary Italian pizza. Similar to the 'make pizza at home' class I took a few weeks ago, this one focused on making more authentic pies -- double 00 Italian flour in the crust, some traditional (sautéed artichokes), others less so (bottarga: pressed & grated roe) toppings -- and a cavalcade of Italian cheeses. At the previous class, I had to request buffalo mozzarella; today the class was already equipped with a bucket of it, as well as stracchino, caciocavallo, robiola, and some others that were a pleasure to taste.

My pastry chef, Chef G, taught the class; it was nice to slip into her groove for a night. The class was mostly setting the mise, and it was fun carmelizing a bucket of onions with A, blogger for one of the premiere foodie sites in the city (and unrepentant Jersey girl). I got in a minimally topped margarita before everyone else, in hopes of taking advantage of a hotter oven, but soon enough a flood of all sorts of pies followed, and my pie took a sold 15 minutes, getting too crisp yet underbrowned. When I put it out, I turned around to get basil, and Chef G basically yelled, "WHOSE IS THIS? WHERE IS THE BASIL?" I should have had it in hand, I should have known better; for a second I was back in in the culinary program. Need that hot-out-of-the-oven heat to wilt the basil properly.

I spent the next hour basically grazing the pies, as there were a lot of topping combinations, hoping to be inspired. A had a fondness for ricotta, something I've regarded as a calzone stuffing, not a pizza topping. However, her pie matched it with a green pesto and zucchini. The zucchini had a lightness that complemented the ricotta's fluffiness, and the sharp saltiness of the pesto drew them together nicely. One guy did some sort of sardine pie, he swore it was only mildly fishy, but it tasted like a chum-bucket to me. A few people did arugula pies, but nobody finished these with any sort of dressing, they looked a bit drab, but I quibble.

Toward the end of class, some butter cookies were put out, and before I could blink, the chocolate ones were gone. Damn, I wanted chocolate. Craving was the mother of invention as I scoped out a bag of it, along with a carton of almond paste. I took a hunk of the paste, dissolved it in some water, thickened it with a little flour. Stretched a dough, coated it in olive oil to protect it from the wet almond sauce, then topped it with a sprinkling of dark chocolate pieces.

Good idea, poor execution. The almond wasn't intense enough -- it kept the dough pleasantly pliable on top, cradling the chocolate, but the almond flavor was just a mild tickle in the nose -- it needed to stand up and greet the chocolate. I think this could be a really good dessert pie, maybe even in a deep-fried mini-calzone kind of way, but I have to figure out the almond paste issue. Hmmmmm.

ADDENDA:
Woke up with a pudding hangover, with all the dark dark chocolate keeping me up all night, and now blocking my desire for breakfast. B requested I make latkes for the family (for you goyim, it's the day of atonement, Yom Kippur), so I got the rotating grater going and got 6 pounds of organic potatoes processed into 2 Spanish onions, salted, then pressed in a colander to get as much moisture out as possible. After sitting a while, I poured off the liquid and scraped up all the delicious potato starch back into the mix. Into the pile went more salt, pepper, 6 whole eggs, a half cup of matzoh meal, and a large handful of finely sliced chives.

Fried off a few to taste, adjusted seasoning, shared a few with B, and soon found the latkes did not appreciate day-old pudding as a neighbor. To atone for this sin, I went to yoga, burped and gurgled, and sent in a portabello sandwich as a peace keeper. Things ran late at my momma-in-law's, as I took the nuclear option (antacid) and promptly napped for an hour, so I left B to fry up the latkes while I went back downtown to participate in pizza class.

BREAKFAST: 11am, 2 test latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
I got puddin' stomach.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, grilled portabello sandwich with small side salad, bowl of dahl, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 3/5
Burped my way through yoga, snarfed some vegan food after, didn't do any favors to my stomach.

PM DRUGGING: 4pm, 2 antacids
Pudding, latkes and portabellos, not happy mixing in my stomach.

DINNER: 8-9:30pm, nibbles of 15 or so different pizzas, a handful of buttercookies, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Must be the mind-body connection, felt good being surrounded by pizza.

Professional Pizza (Ballin')

Today was an intense day. Even though I did one trail (one-day in a restaurant where I literally trailed the chef), today wasn't a trail -- it was the first day of my externship: time to put the feet to the fire, so to speak. The (unpaid) work is for credit toward completing my culinary degree. In theory, there will be a job there for me after my apprenticeship. And that job will be Pizza Cook. Chef de la pizza? Pizzaoilo? Assistant Pizza Chef?

The point of culinary school is not to turn the student into a celebrity chef, or even a chef. It is to teach a standardized set of skills, theory, and techniques so that when you go to a joint and say, "Gimme a job, I gots me a culinary degree yo," they'll have a reasonable expectation of what you can do. I felt that in full effect at the restaurant (which for purposes of anonymity, I'll call "Prospect Heights Fine Pizza" or PHF here).

I arrived at 1pm to meet the head chef/manager of the kitchen, let's call her Chef R. Got on my comfy chef shoes from school, put on my cycling cap (with sweatband lining it.) Without much pomp and circumstance, we got straight to it. She pulled out a chart with the formula for the dough, the foundation of any pizzeria. Without giving too much away, the dough is a 50/50 mix of Italian double 00 and organic high-gluten bread flour -- not the stuff of a run-of-the-mill slice joint. After seeing how much dough is left over from yesterday, it's calculated how much dough is needed for the day, and how much new dough is needed -- the mix is 10-20 percent old dough, to give a certain depth to the flavor of the dough. With the extra old dough, foccacia is made.

The flours, salt, and fresh yeast are placed in a Hobart floor mixer after the liquids are put in the bottom (warm water, olive oil, a bit of whole milk). Chef R stood with me, telling me the signs to look for when the dough is ready to come up, and warned me that if I'm going to walk away to turn off the machine (as it can go from perfect to overmixed in a matter of seconds). About half way through, we chucked in the right proportion of the old dough. It took both of us to unload the dough into a carton and bring to the front kitchen that is open to the dining room, where the 'za is made.

The dough had to rest and relax for a minimum of an hour. While R took care of ordering and administrative stuff, she set me up to make flourless chocolate hazelnut cake. Unlike all the warnings in c-school, I was given a recipe and enough space to get the task done relatively comfortably. This is where my c-school training helped. Separating 16 eggs was no problem, setting up and getting the robocoup ditto, zeroing out the scale whatevah, whipping eggwhites to stiff-peaks got it, beating in one step, folding in another, understood. No silly questions, into the oven, cleaned the station, good impression (hopefully) made.

Then we got ballin'. For the 26 kilos of dough we made, we had to portion out different sized for the slice pies, the individual pies and the kiddie pies. Once portioned, they had to be rolled in a circle in cupped hands to make perfectly even and round spheres. I've been shown this technique in class, in the pizza tutorials I've taken, and taken a crack at it home, and still hadn't got it. This time, under the pressure of wanting to be taken seriously as a professional, I got it on my second try. That's for the best, as I did it about 200 more times right after!

I sat in the backyard and ate a few slices as service began around 5pm. Talk among the staff expected a heavy night -- tonight was the 2nd presidential debate, and judging from the vice-presidential debate, everyone wants pizza to accompany the enlightened discussion of the issues (snort). As the night rolled on, my main task was to stretch the dough as the orders came in. Following Chef R's lead and technique, I avoided thickened edges and tried to make the dough perfectly even and round all the way through. First slap the dough down, then stretch with one hand while holding it down with another, then pick it up and use the knuckles-going-round/tossing method to achieve the final size while detecting and reacting to thin and thick spots. The first few came out wrong -- I've been aiming to go from thin in the middle to thick at the crust for such a long time -- but this technique was different and, I daresay, more elegant. Chef R comforted me, saying it takes some practice to get some feel. Midway through the night, she was tossing compliments my way for my dough stretching.

So I would stretch, Chef R would top with the various combinations on the menu and slide them into the oven, I would prep the boxes or plates, pull the pies when they got appropriately charred, slice them, finish certain pies with post-oven ingredients (like basil on the Margarita, arugula, and cherry tomatoes with salt and olive oil on the tricolore), and either call out 'order up' for in-house or place them on a rack with the ticket for delivery.

Chef R & I got into a rhythm, dancing around each other clumsily and getting the pizzas out. The night stayed quiet, but there was an uptick around 8pm for delivery, but the deluge never came. The owner visited and joked that this was because of the bad luck the new guy brought, ahhh thanks. Despite it being 'slow', tickets ganged up on the board and I lost track of how many doughs needed to be stretched, what was in the oven, what needed to come out and be finished, plates or boxes....I was quietly in the weeds, due to my lack of inexperience. I just poked my head in the oven, stretched more dough and looked for cues from Chef R, who was clear and comfortable and probably didn't even notice I was lost. I soon picked it up again and before I knew it, my 10 hour shift was over.

Chef R made pies for whoever wanted one, clean up was relatively straightforward and easy, and best of all, unlike friggin' c-school, this place hires someone to wash the dishes. Chef R asked me how it was, I could only come up with the words, "whole lotta fun." Due to jury duty, school obligations, and going away this weekend, I'm not starting my externship formally until next week, but I'm looking forward to getting in there and getting my hands dirty on more pie.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic cornflakes with good milk, banana, 1.25 bowls, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, slice of yellow cake with chocolate frosting, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the way to the restaurant, feeling nervous, didn't want to get there too early, stopped by a nice bakery.

LUNCH: 5:15pm, 2 square pizza slices, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Eaten standing in the industrial but pleasant backyard of the brownstone the restaurant is in.

DINNER: 10:15pm, diavolo pizza, root beer, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Fresh moz, thin peperoni, some hot pepper flakes, hit the spot after rubbin' n' slappin' dough all evening.

EVENING WATERING: 11:30pm, quart of water
Winding down slowly.

Last Stab at Homemade Pizza as a Civilian

ADDENDA:
Good day. Freelanced in the morning, shot out to Brooklyn for lunch with a friend, swung by Wholefoods for ingredients and then home to attempt pizza from real scratch, including the dough. Tried not to think about it too much today, but starting c-school tomorrow is the elephant in the room of my mind.

BREAKFAST: 10am, homemade power bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up early to get to the office early, stomach felt a bit tight, not quite nauseous but food was the last thing I wanted.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, 2 fried fish tacos with yellow rice, black beans, chips and pico de gallo, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Lunch out in Fort Greene with Yana. Whenever we get together we seem to eat too much, and greatly enjoy it, too.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, large slice of red velvet cake, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Around the corner to the Cake Man Raven.

DINNER: 8pm, half a small homemade pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
Nervous about tomorrow. Feel a little on edge. I made dough from scratch from this recipe, which after resting to room temperature became very liquidy and unworkable. The first pie wouldn't come off the peel even with lots of semolina flour and folded into a burning mess. The second pie made it in, and looked awfully pretty.

The flavor of the crust was definitely up there, but due to it's liquidy nature, I poured it onto the peel more than rolled it. It wasn't very thin and kind of had an unpleasantly thick gummy layer between the crisp bottom and the sauce. Next time I attempt this, I will use a little less water and get the kind of yeast the recipe calls for.

I Browned Almost 9 Pounds of Meat This Evening.

ADDENDA:
At yesterday's meeting, Ilsa yelled at me a bit for not restricting my calories enough, and for not eating enough vegetables. -sigh- I guess some childhood habits are harder to break than others.

I spent a good part of the evening browning 2 pieces / 8lbs of bottom round and making the marinade for sauer braten, which I will be contributing to a friend's Passover this weekend.

Went to a basics yoga class today after putting some hours in at the office. Did a shoulder stand (off the wall) for the first time, actually seeing (a very tiny bit of) progress there.

Culinary starts in less than a week. I'm excited/nervous/curious. Slowly putting together the new blog TBD....

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, good yogurt with honey vanilla raw nuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Milk spoiled, this was my only option. I like how short a shelf-life my unhomogenized organic milk has - it tastes fresher when it's fresh, and when it's bad, you know it right away.

LUNCH #1: 12:15pm, 2 samosas, pumpkin noodles, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Midtown vegan lunch with the HVS.

LUNCH #2: 4:30pm, 1 large piece salad pizza, 1 large piece fresh moz pizza, orange soda, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Went to Pie on 4th Ave (pizza by the inch) after yoga, just didn't want anything too healthy!

DINNER: 8pm, 1 pork chop, stir fried broccoli & mushrooms, chocolate soy ice cream, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Pork chop on the bone only marinated for an hour, only browned it for 3 minutes on each side then went for it - it's rareness would of scared most people, but it was SO juicy and delicious and simply porky. Stir fried the veg fast and hot in the wok with salt and sesame oil, and it came out crunchy and flavorful. No sauces, just the flavors of the main ingredients.

Hope avoiding a pasta/rice/potato and having a large serving of broc & mushroom will please Ilsa! :)

Don't Go to Remedy Diner, It Sucks!

ADDENDA:
Slept like a brick last night, solid 11 hours of sleep, first full sleep in a week, feel good. Before eating, hopped on the scale, and the scale says 232, huh. Looking forward to getting a bit more active this week, a bike ride, a yoga class, hopefully an interview or two, some kissin' on my B, some good cookin', some good eatin'...

BP 11:15am: 136/101
Not happy with that number. Got to watch this closely for the next few days.

BRUNCH: Noon, left over clam pie, grape soda, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
The pie reheated excellently in the oven, really made me appreciate how I could never make this at home for two reasons - one, the clams, despite being a day old, still tasted fresher than anything out of a can. Two, the coal-char on the bottom of the pie gives a certain mildly bitter taste to the crusty part of the crust that is such a great contrast to the sweeter chewier parts.

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, baby spinach salad with oo&v, roasted cashews, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7:15pm, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Trying to hold out for when I meet up with B later this eve.

DINNER: 8:45pm, small green salad, 1 piece of whole wheat bread, sauted shrimp in wine sauce over yellow rice and peas, vegan peanutbutter cheesecake, water, 2.5 bowls
Me and B went to a new spot in our hood, Remedy Diner on Houston, and man, did it suck. Beside the cheesy decor and the bad service, the food was kind of badly cooked and came out of the kitchen not as described on the menu. And expensive to boot! We scooted over to Atlas for vegan treats to make up for the lackluster meal, which I now regret because I got a thumping headache from the sugar. Gonna drink some water...

EVENING WATERING: 10:15pm, 24 oz still

A Day Trip to New Haven for Clam Pie

ADDENDA:
Woke up still in the thrall of brownie-ness, which pretty much lasted mildly and pleasantly through to the afternoon. Went with B and 5 others to Frank Pepe's in New Haven for clam pizza, was a whole mess of fun. I abstained, but the others sampled my brownies and agreed soon enough that they were quite magical.

First day I felt 100%, glad I didn't have to cancel all my birthday festivities.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic raisin bran with good milk. .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:15am, small piece of calzone, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:45am, large chocolate chip cookie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:15pm, large amount of clam pie and assorted cheesy/meaty slices, 1 pint beer, water, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5

PM WATERING: 4:30pm, 20 oz still

DINNER: 7:30pm, homemade almond ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fried Chicken, Cheese Steaks, Pizzas, ice cream....and Brownies

ADDENDA:
Well enough to take the bus to Union Square for the farmers market and Wholefoods, then go to deep Brooklyn in the afternoon for lunch. Hopefully next week will be a bit more productive.

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:15am, boca burger on sprouted whole wheat with pickles, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, a few spoonfuls of chocolate soy ice cream batter, .25 bowls, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, a few bites of fried chicken, fried shrimp, fried fish, cheese steak, fries, macaroni and cheese, bread roll, coleslaw, sweet potato pie, grape soda, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
For reasons I can not reveal yet, I went deep into South Slope to a non-descript fried chicken joint, bought up a selection of stuff off the menu, and brought it home and tasted everything. All was quite gross, even the chicken was dry - how can a fried food be dry?! Sweet potato pie was surprisingly mild and vaguely cinnimony, and $21 bought enough food to feed 4 people well.

Thought I ate 1 bowl, but the heaviness in my stomach feels like 2. Not the food I should be indulging in so soon after an illness...

DINNER: 8pm, 2/3 of a magical brownie, spinach salad, homemade pizza, homemade chocolate soy ice cream, 1 glass presecco, seltzer, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5
Made pizza for a couple of B's friends, shared a singular brownie with 2 others. Dinner was great, pizza even better than before, and before desert everything went a bit berrrdoing. Had to lie down, should of had 1/4 to 1/2 brownie, fo sho....

Got up a few times during the night feeling berrrdoing, fortunately not the least bit hungry...

Anita Gofradump

ADDENDA:
Surprising to say I didn't really leave the house again today, I'm on my way to becoming like the woman who sat on the toilet for 2 years. I got on the bike around 10:30 to go to Wholefoods and less than a block out felt weak, sweaty, wobbly and increasingly tired. I was to cook a vegan pie for the HVS's birthday today and totally blew it, and was gonna test run magical brownies, which will have to wait.

Maybe got 4 hours total of sleep last night, replacing Nyquil with ice cream, probably not the smartest move I've ever made. I do know whenever the first night of no sleep-meds happens, it's rough. Getting ansy, really want to get out of the house and do things and see people. I think Betsy is a little nervous I've been sick because I may be depressed, I think it's on the edge of being the other way round if I don't feel significantly better tomorrow.

AM SNACK: 4am, wholewheat pretzel with peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, 1 apple, .5 cups, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30p, whole wheat pasta from a box with homemade tomato sauce, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
My pasta is so superior, sniff sniff. Gotta figure out a whole wheat recipe, though.

PM WATERING: 2pmish, 50+ oz of tap
Rereading the blog, I wonder if I'm not drinking enough water.

DINNER: 7:30pm, half a mushroom and onion pizza from Isabellas, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

ADDENDA II:
After spending a week on the couch, I found myself doing things like searching 'pizza' on Youtube. This classic Bart Simpson gag at a pizza place was the only vid to make me laugh out loud:

Emilabar

ADDENDA:
Made these yesterday afternoon, adjusting a recipe that was passed on by Ilsa. I replaced the dried fruits with chopped almonds, organic brown rice crispies, shredded dried apples and dark chocolate chips, and added a shot of almond extract. It's ok, but could be a lot better. The three eggs in the recipe make it overly spongy, I'd like it denser. The rice crispies lost their crispness, not sure how to overcome that. The dried apple bits are too large, gotta chop them finer. The recipe calls for peanut butter, that's a nice note, should up the amount, goes well with the almond extract. Maybe experiment with other extracts on the next batch. Regardless, this should be a good bike-food this season...

I've eaten Cliffbars on the bike for the last 8 or 9 years, I could see a refined recipe taking over. Hmmm, what should I name them? Dude named his bar after his father, Cliff. Emilbars? Emilabar? Emilobar? Sounds a little bit like one of those meal-replacement bricks....

Got home around 5pm, feeling much more tired from the casual ride than I should, so I skipped yoga. Spent some time going through the earlier portions of this blog, tagging things to make them searchable. Noticed I got into my yogurt habit around the time I did a week-long desert-fast, wonder how that's related.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, boca burger on toasted sprouted wheat with ketchup and red onion, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10am, half a homemade powerbar, hunger 4/5

AM DRUGGING: 11:30am, 500mg Vitamin C
Got a headache, feeling tired and achy. Got 6 hours, disturbed several times by Betsy's repeated alarm. Inner ear a little achy, may be an infection starting.

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, 2 brownies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Quick snack before a casual bike ride. Needed to finish them.

LUNCH: 3:30pm, sausage and veg pizza, half a small cup of rich hot chocolate, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Took B's cuz and a few of her friends on a bike tour of the tip of Manhattan, then over to Brooklyn Heights with a stop at Grimaldi's. Took a quick walk over to Jacques Torres. Really nice.

PM SNACK: 8pm, 3 halves of small chocolate bunnies, .25 bowls, hunger 2/5
Snacked on a few bits from Jacques Torres with my B. One was white, one was milk and the third dark. Nice contrast, underlines that dark is the yummiest.

DINNER: 9pm, baby carrots with a little ranch, 1 homemade power bar, .75 bowls, hunger 3/5

EVENING SNACK: 1am, small superhippy bread cheese sandwich, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
To help get to sleep.

Dinnerfest I: Pizza Nite

ADDENDA:
Woke up late, bathed and whipped up lunch, then went to a yoga basics class, hit the farmers market, cleaned the house and prepped for Dinnerfest. Four friends came over, none know each other, but I knew all were quality peeps and was a great vibe, emails were exchanged and all the fod presented was eated, with 2nd all around. With the left over ingredients, made calzones for peeps to take home.

LUNCH: Noon, shrimp in a stock and sherry reduction with mushroom brown rice, 1 bowl,, seltzer, hunger 4/5
After making it and eating some, realized that I had made about 3 bowls worth of rice, but was content at less than 1.

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 1 mutzu apple, chunk of raw milk onion edammer cheese, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to the farmers market after yoga, didn't buy much other than this snack. Damn, that apple was crisp and fresh!

PM SNACK: 6pm, veggie booty, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Spent the last hour cleanings the house, something Betsy somehow doubted I would do before having guests, like I was some uber-slob before she moved in. Hrumph!

DINNER: 8:30pm, spinach salad with olive oil & balsamic & roasted cashews, various pizza slices, small cup of homemade vanilla ice cream, 2 glasses red wine, 1 beer, seltzer, 2.5 bowls
The first night of Dinnerfest went swimmingly, but I must admit, it did feel a little bit like a punt - I've done the pizza thing for 5-6 people before. Still, I did this nice appetizer salad - baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumber minus the seeds, balsamic and olive oil, and some crushed freshly roasted cashews in butter and fresh thyme, really yummy.

I discovered with the pizzas that if I role it out to a 6" disc then let it rest until I need it, the dough becomes VERY loose and barely needs to be rolled, it can by stretched by hand! And tossed, I imagine.

Valentine's Day is for (Chocolate) Lovers

ADDENDA:
Had insomnia again last night, was up till 2. Was it because of the not-small, not-large portion of (high quality) sweets I ate in the afternoon? I think it may be partly that, partly a lack of employment, he he.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, raw cashews, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 2:15pm, half a pizza at Patsy's, hunger 4/5
Spent the afternoon with Marc, my friend Ellen's new fiance from Helsinki. He's a chef, and just spent the last couple of days on a try out for Daniel Boloud. Interesting talking to him about his experiences.

PM DRINK: 4:45pm, 1.5 pints of Newcastle at Fraunces Tavern
With Marc & Ellen.

DINNER: braised wheat gruten, curry rice vermicelli, spicy stringbeans, spinach dumplings, sticky rice, 8 pieces of fancy chocolate, some soy icecream, water, hunger 4/5
Ordered in vegan food with my B.

Feel Better Soon, HVS!

ADDENDA:
This GuS soda stuff has something to it. It's made with cane-sugar, not corn syrup, and it's lightly sweetened, which allows the actual flavor of the intended taste to speak loudly. Today in the news, a lot of noise was made about this study - it suggests that people who eat a lot of artificial sweetener gain more weight than people who consume normal sugar because it encourages them to eat more.

I must say that consuming normal sugar, whether in a baked good or a soda , is always more satisfying 15-20 minutes after eating than an artificial, which keeps me wanting sugar after consuming...

The Meeting of the HVS with featured honored guest Ilsa was to take place tonight, but must be delayed due to the illness of the chapter high-commander.....

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, 2 pieces whole wheat sprouted toast with shmear of spicey homemade hummus, 1 GuS soda, hunger 4/5
Freezer-fishing for breakfast, will shop later today. Soda gave a nice tweak to start the day off, though after having one last night too, I shall not make this a habit.

AM WATERING: 11am, 12 oz bottle

AM WATERING: noon, 3 pints tap

LUNCH: 1pm, huge-ass buritto with beef & pork, small handfull of chips, water, hunger 4.5/5
Spent the morning in a classic NYC scenario - rented a U-Haul truck with a friend then moved a California King bed and mattress from a high-rise on the UES (service elevator) to a 4-story walk up in Park Slope. All the smaller bits and headboard were no problem. The matress took some work on one particular steep bend in the staircase, but with a lot of shoulder and creative bending, we got it up. The base, however, was one solid piece and just would not fit. When I left around 4pm, my friend was still waiting on the carpenter to come and cut it in half.

On the way back from returning the truck, Erikka took me to lunch at a California-style buritto place. I was quite starving but I was still shocked when it arrived - it was almost as big as my head!! I set in to it thinking I would be proud to write in this blog that I left a good half of it over, but it went down easy. I felt satisfied but not painfully full or sleepy after. However, it's now almost 6pm and I still feel quite full, he.

DINNER: 8pm, homemade pizza with bufalla, mushrooms and onions, homemade chocolate soy icecream and store-bought chocolate babka, water, hunger 4/5
The two pizzas I made for me and B were the best yet. I think partly it's because of the bit extra balsamic I added to the raw tomato sauce made it a lot brighter in a surprising way, and partly because after watching a dorky TV show on making pizza, I let the dough rest for about 5 minutes after kneading a little before rolling out, made it nice and thin.

Got the right ratio of sauce to crust, where the crust was super thin but still had three visible layers - the bottom, which is brown and crispy, the middle, which looks like nice leavened bread with lots of little air pockets, and the top which is a little mushy and cratered where the sauce and it's olive oil makes a nice pillowy pad for all the toppings. All that an a tenth of an inch!

The soy icecream also got a little closer to perfection. I used unsweetened baking chocolate and upped the amount of maple syrup a little. Upped the vanilla and cocoa powder, and added a dash of cinamon. Blended for an extra few minutes at liquify, then left in the fridge for the first time (about 20 minutes). The final result was chocolatier, smoother and more ice-creamy than before.

Betsy claimed she was having just one small ramekin of icecream and a small piece of babka, bu after finishing she ran back to the kitchen and started spooning ice cream into her mouth straight from the machine. When I stopped her, she grabbed the babka and ran across the apartment, threatening to throw the babka out the window if she didn't get more ice cream. I was able to talk her off the ledge with a little bit more ice cream and a couple bites of babka. Both items are now safely under lock and key in the mini-freezer... if B wasn't so darn cute, I'd say she was a bit dangerous when it came to desert!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

ADDENDA:
The last two days I haven't really done anything other than stay inside, watch TV and cook a little. I guess that's depression, which I've allowed myself. Today, off to London and Amsterdam, back next Wednesday night. Give myself a day to recover, then....just do something. I don't know how long it'll take to decide what I want to do next/get a Jay-Oh-Be, but I've mourned long enough.

My internet access will be limited, but I'll take notes and fill y'all in when I get back. My friend Tania's home and town in Gillingham, Kent, has served as a 2nd home for many years, me dropping in 2+ times a year from college until I met B and my parents started passing. All sorts of food rituals....

BREAKFAST: 10am, good pancakes and good bacon, water, hunger 4/5
Experimented with whipped egg whites, the pancakes were nicely fluffy, definitely closer to an ideal.

LUNCH: 3pm, 2 homemade pizzas, fancy lemonade, hunger 4/5
Made dough from scratch again, used 1/4 less water. Dough was stiff, but pliable and workable. Didn't rise much in the oven, gotta get a new recipe. A little too cracker-like, not pizza-like enough. Had an old bottle of lemonade in the fridge, made with cane sugar, drank half of it.

PM WATERING: 5pm, 2 pints water

x

A Cookie for What Ails Me

ADDENDA:
When I was food shopping yesterday, I finished collecting my list and decided to find something that would cheer me up. I walked over to the cookie section and found Walker's Scottish Shortbread - I used to wolf this easily-digestible high-calorie fatty cookie when I was travelling cross country by bike, a lot of positive associations with it. However, something to eat while sitting on the couch....eh. I looked at the nutritional information, and noticed it had four ingredients - butter, flour, sugar, salt....hmmmm....I HAVE all those ingredients at home..... it might be more depressing to just buy a box of cookies to snarf, but if I were to snarf cookies that I made myself...

Found a simple recipe online which called for brown sugar, and left out the salt (I thought if I were to snarf a pile of cookies, at least keeping them salt-free would give me some defense against Ilsa's wrath!) After getting to bed around 3:30am, woke at 10:30 feeling ok. After vegetating in front of the TV, started working with the ingredients. Organic whole wheat pastry flour, organic unrefined brown sugar, organic butter. The recipe calls to cream the butter and sugar, had to look that up and wait for the butter to get to the right temperature - three ingredients or not, this is not brain dead work! Mixed in the flour by hand, worked the dough and felt the heat of my hands softening it a bit much, so I rolled it out on my stone counter with my cold metal roller, cut it up onto a baking dish and into the oven.

Twenty minutes later, I had a nice warm pile of comfort while I watched TV all afternoon. Hmmm, I think I may get out of the house tomorrow. Usually eating a bunch of heavy fatty cookies while doing nothing is self-reinforcing depression, but making shortbread cookies for the first time really lifted my spirits. I may cook some more later...

BRUNCH: 1pm, a pile of homemade shortbread cookies, hunger 4/5

PM WATERING: 3pm, 2 pints of tap water

DINNER 1:6pm, half a fully homemade pizza, hunger 4/5
Made dough from scratch following a recipe on line. Unfortunately, I think it meant a DRY measure of water, which would of been about half. After rising 30 minutes, the dough was very liquidy and unworkable. So without rolling or kneading, I poured a portion onto a cookie sheet and put it into the oven. Once it solidified a bit, I took it out, topped it, and put directly on a pizza stone in the oven.

It looked pretty, but taste wise....there was a notable lack of chew - the bite was a bit crumbly. The flavor of the crust was spot-on, but no gluten was developed, making the mouthfeel a bit crumbly and dry. I also used plain fresh cow's milk mozz because no bufalla was available - nt nearly as silky or flavorful.

I shared it with B then attempted a 2nd pie, but it disintegrated in the transfer from untopped to topped. I ended up still hungry...

DINNER 2: 8:15pm, shrimp in garlic sauce with black beans and yellow rice, pint water, hunger 4/5
Ordered in from a local Spanish joint. Big portion. I guess the real usefulness of delivery is to cover when your cooking fails!