Fire at the Taco Bell

Since your birth in 2005, you've brought joy to lonely trips in the car
Occasionally causing great distress.

Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito, always two at a time
Two at a time, I thanked you for nourishment at a discount price

But now we must part ways
20 grams of fat is way too much
$1.29 is just too much

Don't try calling

RED GREEN WHITE

A new pizza party menu to honor Italian pizza

RED PIZZA - tomato pie, no cheese

WHITE PIZZA - goat cheese, mozzarella, olive oil, wild mushrooms, shallots

GREEN PIZZA - pesto, mozzarella, tomato slices

Wild Mushroom - Shallot - Goat CheesePizza

Bread Experiment #2

3.5 cups bread flour
1 cup water
1 cup active sourdough culture
2 tsp fine sea salt

Combine Ingredients and knead.
Proof for 5 hours
Punch down and form a ball
Proof for 3 more hours

Preheat oven with stone to 450 degrees bake for 15 minutes
spray the oven with cold water every 5 minutes (humidity in the oven helps form a crust)
reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 45 minutes

Let cool for a half hour.




This one definitely had the best form. The dough was firm, easy to shape and rose much higher than the previous one. I had used all-purpose flour on my first attempt, and my culture was more active this time.
Flavor-wise, this one was fairly bland compared to the first one, which had a deliciously strong sourdough flavor.

Homemade Bread experiment 1

How Peter Thiel foresaw the economic crisis

41 year old Peter Thiel:
hedge fund manager
venture capitalist
PayPal co-founder and CEO
global macro hedge fund president
early investor in the popular social-networking site Facebook


Apparently he foresaw the economic crisis.

Paul Krugman... super smart

Prionailurus viverrinus

The Fishing Cat

"A species can't be declared nearly extinct
until it has been declared totally cute"

Prionailurus viverrinus (Fishing Cat) has been declared endangered by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature.
And it has just been declared totally cute.

Neopolitan Pizza on the Grill

Is a bad idea:

1. You'll burn the house down.
2. You'll break your pizza stone.
3. You'll burn the pizza.

It's a good idea:

1. You just might make a great pizza that you can't make in the oven.

Pizza on the Grill

In late June I thought I had a major pizza-making breakthrough. I began cooking Pizza on the grill. My initial results were quite good. I fumbled around following several different recipes that called for grilling the dough first and then adding toppings. this ended up being far too dry, and definitely not the type of pizza I'm trying to make.

I then began identifying the keys to a successful pizza on the grill.

1. Get the coals as hot as possible. I mean really friggin' hot.
-Use a crap-ton of coals and keep the lid closed for 15-20 minutes before sliding the pizza on. If cooking multiple pizzas, have coals started on a chimney on the side and toss them on top in between pizzas.

-Open the lid just enough to slide the pizza in, and then close immediately .

I don't have the kind of thermometer that can measure the actual heat in my cheap-o grill. i'm holding out till I allow myself to buy the Electronic Specialties ESIEST 65 - Laser Guided Infrared Thermometer. I'm sure the temperature isn't nearly as hot as my goal of 800 degrees, but it has to be hotter than the 500 degree oven I had been using.

A poem about yeast

- At a pizza party
- We danced in the kitchen
- Saccharomyces-the most sensual fungus

- Sporulating feelings divide and grow
- Fermenting our love into eternity
- First in the bowl, then in the dough
- The aerated dough softens and rises
- Yeast eats sugar, producing CO2 bubbles (France 1966)

Thoughts on Presidential Dynasties from a Slice of Pizza

I wish I made this.

Mt. Pizza, the glorious place where kings dine.
Mt. Pizza, the mysteries will leave you lost
till eternity finds you with cheese in your beard.
Only the true and able can venture on your greasy slopes;
only the pure taste and know of real pizza hope.

EU declares Pizza Napoletana a "Regional Specialty"

The EU, in an effort to ensure the survival of regional producers in the global marketplace, protects certain local products by recognizing them as a "Regional Specialty". Recently, Pizza Napoletana has been labeled a regional specialty, protecting the local producers and it's originators of Naples.

Pizza Napoletana, often called Pizza Margherita is said to be named after Queen Margherita, who in 1889 requested a pizza with the colors of the national flag; a red tomato base, white mozzarella, and green basil.

The European Union’s Committee of the Regions enforces the designation of "Regional Specialty" by inspecting anyone within the EU who sells pizza called Pizza Napoletana to ensure it meets the standards defined by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana.

• The diameter must be no more than 35 cm (14 inches) in diameter and no thicker than 1/3 of a centimeter at its center
• The tomato base must be made from the San Marzano variety of tomatoes
• San Marzano = from the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius
• The olive oil used must be extra virgin
• The cheese topping is buffalo mozzarella
• All ingredients must be from the Campania region
• The oven must be wood-fired, and the pizza must cook in less than two minutes
  

Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana offers certification training ($1,300 for 3 days, $2,200 for 1 week).

The European Union’s Committee of the Regions is dedicated to promoting local products regional markets. Regional marketing helps rural areas by "enabling a link to be forged between the product and a region's landscape and culture" and "protecting (regional products) sometimes means that a culinary heritage, contributing to regional identity, can preserved".


How to make Pizza Napoletana