Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them — every day begin the task anew.
St. Francis de Sales
Happy Birthday Colleen, Chaz, and Alan!
Tags: Quoting
Two bits of deliciousness for you this morning, pizza and cake. I read an article on pizza in one of the fancy food magazines. It was rather long and somewhat interesting and highlighted a small town back east that has two very famous pizza joints that have been there a terribly long time. I guess there is quite an either/or dichotomy going on. You aren’t, apparently, allowed to like the pizza at both places. I have to say that I abhor (strong word, I know) rules like this. I don’t like being told whether or not I should have certain feelings. This is not up to other people. It is up to me. Anyway, as I was reading, I had this rather cinematic a-ha moment. She and Him was playing in the background and I swear Zooey Deschanel hit a high note when I read this sentence: Let the pizza dough rise for twenty-four hours.
I don’t know how many of you make your own thin crust pizza and wondered why it just isn’t as good as those places in the article, or for the hubster and I, Lombardi’s in Manhattan, and Grimaldi’s at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. I am savvy in the kitchen, but ever since taking a bite of that gooey, chewy deliciousness on an idyllic summer day, I was pretty stumped. The crust never tasted as good as theirs, never had that wonderful texture. Then that sentence jumped off the page, and I had it. The secret wasn’t in the yeast or the flour or the water. It was all about time. Give it time. So, the day before you want your pizza, make your favorite dough. Punch it down the next morning and let it rise again, until the oven is smoking hot (we put ours at 500) and your ingredients are ready. Then wait for the magic moment when you slide that bad boy out of the oven and you take your first bite. Heaven.
Though we didn’t follow our pizza with dessert – we were too full of cheese for that, I am following my thoughts on it with this delicious upside down cake. There is a restaurant in town, which shall remain nameless, that actually has the gall to put instant butterscotch pudding as the brown sugar and butter layer. Words cannot describe the horror of my first bite. This is not cake; it is a travesty. This recipe is the real deal, and, to be honest, it is probably easier and cheaper than buying that instant stuff, seriously. You can make it with pineapple, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, or apples. It’s really hard to go wrong.
Fruity Upside Down Cake
adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, 75th Anniversary Edition
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
Enough fruit to cover the bottom of the pan – I used two sliced nectarines and three maraschino cherries
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, grated with the small holes of a cheese grater
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Melt two tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar in a small saucepan. Add the water and stir until combined. Pour into an ungreased 8″ square pan. Carefully arrange your fruit in a pretty pattern over the syrup.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add the milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir until combined. Spoon the batter over the fruit in the prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for five minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen, and invert onto a plate. This is best served warm.
Enjoy!
p.s.
When I called the hubster down to have some cake, he said, “Wow! That’s pretty. Did you take a picture?” This coming from the guy who likes to tease, “Um can I eat, or do I have to wait for the camera?”
Tags: Cooking and Baking, Recipes
Can’t you just hear the Jackson Five? A-B-C, as simple as 1-2-3, do-re-mi, 1-2-3, baby you and me girl!
I’d like to start with a shout out to our fabulous neighborhood newspaper, The Southeast Examiner. It’s a neat publication of, as you would imagine, all things local. It’s always worthy of an afternoon. One of my favorite sections has listings of fun activities in the area. Without it, we would not be here today, or, for that matter, out at that fine square dance, for both were found there. I also scored a 10% off coupon for one of our favorite wine shops Mt. Tabor Fine Wine, getting a delicious Toro Albala 1982 PX Sherry. We had a glass at Genoa (a phenomenal meal in celebration of our 17th(!) wedding anniversary a few weeks back) and liked it so much that a bottle had to be procured. Unlike any other sherry I’ve tried, it’s very dark, starts out tasting like a port but finishes like a sherry. Delicious.
Anyhoo, to today’s topic. Last Sunday, when the weather was utterly fine, unlike the steady drizzle of today (good for pulling weeds and spreading bark mulch, however), we got up early and rode our bicycles to the Viking Pancake Breakfast. It’s been listed in the Examiner for ages but this was our first time giving it a try. It’s located in the basement of the Norse Hall (no surprise there, I hope), a fine building erected in the late 1920’s.
It’s kitschy and lovely and filled with sweet people of all ages noshing on crepe-like pancakes with berry compote, the breakfast links of my childhood, fresh strawberries and cantaloupe, orange juice, and a bottomless cup of coffee or tea, if you so choose, all for $6. We loved every bite and moment. One of the highlights was the cute gentleman serving coffee and telling joke after joke about a funny couple named Helga and Olaf. We’ll definitely be back and maybe upstairs, too. They also have dances! Square dances sometimes. Yippee!
After all of that eating and drinking, and because it was so lovely out, we took full advantage of the weather, riding south on the Esplanade and Springwater trail to Sellwood, then back north, and home. It really could not have been a finer day.
Happy Father’s Day!
Happy Birthday Bridget!
Tags: Portland
Well, actually, I should say that I prefer his films of this era, because I still think he’s pretty terrific as a person. He seems like a good guy: affable, likable, decent, and any time I’ve seen him on Ellen he’s been game for pretty much anything. As a matter of fact, he’s probably the best celebrity I’ve seen play Humdinger, so there. I’m just not crazy about the movies he’s made lately.
It all started with his breakout role in Swingers, and Trent, of course. He’s ballsy, a natty dresser with a cool car (a 1964 Mercury Comet), and the best cheerleader of a friend any fella could ask for. He’s got so many great lines that, at least for me, never get old:
” Baby, you’re so money and you don’t even know it!”
“You take yourself out of the game; you start talking about puppy dogs and ice cream, and of course it’s going to end up on the friendship tip.”
“I don’t want you to be the guy in the PG-13 movie everyone’s *really* hoping makes it happen.”
Then, in what I consider his best year of film, he played what I now realize is kind of the serial killer version of Trent in Clay Pigeons. He’s Lester Long (the name does have a killer ring to it), a guy’s best friend, with an edge, though he’s decked out in western wear gear this time (come square dancing!).
In A Cool Dry Place, he’s divorced and raising his son in a small Kansas town when life gets complicated by a new romance, a life changing job offer, and the return of his ex wife.
Return to Paradise pairs him with Joaquin Phoenix again (he’s the Clay of Clay Pigeons), in a rather sad tale of good times gone bad. A trio of men meet in Malaysia, do a lot of partying and drugs, before two return home. Unfortunately, they leave their drugs and the third, played by Phoenix, is accused of drug trafficking as a result. Two years go by and they are contacted and asked to go to jail in order to prevent the third from being hung for his “crime.” It’s a beautiful tale, one that asks some pretty interesting questions, too.
So Vince, since I know you read my wildly popular blog, how about some more 1998? It would make this fan very happy!
Tags: Movies
Never get so fascinated by the extraordinary that you forget the ordinary.
Magdalen Nabb
Tags: Quoting
