Stoneware Baked Pizza

Hola, mis compadres! Long time no talk. Sorry about the gap, but after so many TV-related rants, I needed to take a break to prepare some more cooking goodness for you.

I know it's a cliche, but pizza is one of my all-time favorite foods, competing closely with ice cream and really good Indian food. I could eat pizza every day and not get tired of it as long as I got to change up the type and toppings. I just had a stroke of genius for an Indian pizza where you take a naan and put some tandoori chicken and a curry sauce on it. My wheels are spinning. That sounds amazing. But I digress...

For a more traditional, Italian style pizza, I've gotten really into making pizza at home. Partially because buying pizza, even if you get a frozen one, can be expensive. When you consider how inexpensive the ingredients are, you realize the pizza industry is a real racket.  And nothing gets my goat more than a racket. (Apparently today is talk like your grandpa day in MiloLand.)

The other weekend I made a pizza for my Dad and I, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait for a yeast dough to rise, so I found a quick bread recipe to use as my crust.

The New Who

In less than 24 hours, the identity of the next Doctor will be announced, and I could pee myself I am so excited.

After the initial grieving period I went through upon hearing of Matt Smith's departure, I began to get really excited for the Doctor's regeneration. I expect I will love the new Doctor just as I came to love all the others. So I have been dwelling on the question of, Who will the next Doctor Who be?

There are a million lists out there with odds and speculation on different actors who might be given the role. I'm guessing whoever the next Doctor is, his or her name isn't on any of those lists. The powers that be have a way of choosing someone no one had thought of and yet is perfect for the job.

But because I've been thinking about this for weeks, I have a lot of thoughts on the subjects that I'm dying to share with you. So I made a list too, except without odds because I don't understand how betting works...

The beginning of the end for Parks and Rec?

Did you hear that?

That was the sound of my heart shattering into a million tiny pieces.  It's just been confirmed that Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe will be leaving Parks and Recreation.

Don't ask me to comfort you, I have nothing left to give. I used all my cheering-up energy on myself, and so far nothing has worked. I'll be resorting to chocolate later. You can expect a chocolatey blog post in the near future.

Apparently Jones and Lowe will be in the first half of the new season, and then leave in episode 13. Somehow knowing exactly when it will happen is making it worse for me. I'm just going to be dreading that episode.  Also, knowing they are leaving takes a little of the surprise out of their upcoming storylines.

Veggie Fried Rice

I have a deep dark culinary secret. It's something I'm really ashamed of, so don't laugh when I tell you...I'm terrible at making rice.

I know, I know, it's ironic in an Alanis Morissette way that I have a cooking blog and yet I'm bad at making rice, one of the most basic things you can do in the kitchen right along with boiling an egg.  But the fact remains, I'm just not successful in the rice department. Either I undercook the rice and it turns out soggy and hard, or I overcook it and end up with a layer of charcoal in the bottom of my pan. Sometimes I manage to do both at the same time.

You might be wondering why, then, I decided to make fried rice, which involves both making regular rice and then the more difficult task of stir-frying it. Well, the answer it pretty basic: I was hungry, and the ingredients I had on hand lent themselves to fried rice.

The Emmy Nomination Blues

It all started out so well.

Emmy nominations were released on Thursday, and I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.  While overall it was a somewhat lackluster year in television, there were some really great performances and exceptional episodes along the way. When I finally had time to go to the Emmys' site, at first I thought all of my dreams had come true--that the nominations were going to reflect the best of the year. The first list that popped up was lead actress in a drama series...and at the top of the list was Vera Farmiga from Bates Motel! This is what I had been waiting for! The Emmys to break their own routines, to recognize great breakout performances. This was such a good omen! But alas, my joy was short lived. As I kept going through category after category, it became clear this year was perhaps one of the worst in terms of snubbing the deserving and rewarding the mediocre.

Awards shows all have their own cliched pitfalls, and the Emmys are no exception.  Because of the repetitive nature of the genre--TV shows can run for years-- we see the same names being nominated (and winning) over and over again.  This year, I was particularly disappointed by the nominees for comedies. But let me go back to the beginning.

Peach and Raspberry Pie

One of the great paradoxes of life is the desire to make fresh fruit pies in the middle of summer.  Berries and stone fruit are in season, so summer is the perfect time to make a pie. But the oppressive heat makes you want to do anything BUT turn on your oven. When faced with the choice of to pie or not to pie, I always choose pie. If only Hamlet had had this kind of clarity.

I'm not actually a huge peach pie fan. When a pie is made with just peaches, I find the flavor to be one-dimensional and sometimes cloyingly sweet. At the other end of the spectrum, raspberries pies are notoriously tart, even for a raspberry fiend like myself.  But when you marry the two together, ahhhhhh.....perfect harmony. The raspberries add some tartness and variety to the pie, and the peaches, when balanced with something else, seem delightfully sweet and summery.

Pies fillings are very straightforward things to make, so to challenge myself, I decided to make my crust from scratch. 

Simple Summer Mojitos

It. Is. Hot.

It is flipping hot, actually. And humid. Thank heavens for air conditioning! I honestly think if I had to live somewhere as muggy as Western PA in July without AC, I would lose my will to live. Call me dramatic if you must, but the humidity right now is seriously out of control.

I'm always astounded that air conditioning wasn't invented until the 20th century, and even after that wasn't widely used until the middle of the century. If I had been around when the distribution of electricity was implemented, the FIRST THING I would have done would have been to invent residential air conditioning... Given I was at least an engineer and probably also a genius.

Fun fact: great strides were made in the technology behind air conditioning during the construction of the Panama Canal. Workers were contracting malaria from mosquitos, but they thought it was from the heat, so they developed AC as a preventative measure. Obviously it didn't work, which was bad news for the guys with malaria, but great in the long run for us today.

I think the best relief during these hot, humid day is a nice, cold beverage.  Preferably made with rum. I made these simple mojitos for my family and they were a smashing success.