I realize it's been a week or so since my last post. Not to fear; I'm still on the dole, but picking up a few gigs here and there. That said, I wanted to share a great article that came out in the Chicago Sun Times this week (there are two parts, as well as a bunch of recipes that, despite my post a few weeks ago, I wrote). It's definitely relevant to the times (I just saw an article this morning claiming the fact that 2 million jobs have been lost so far in 2009--yipes!), and it documents the fact that regardless of the rough waters, we can still come together over food and drink and have a terrific time, whether we're toasting champagne or making bread together. It was an absolute pleasure helping out with the story, and, as always should happen when cooking and eating, I learned some things along the way.
Meanwhile, remember when I said that there isn't any such thing as a really bad pizza? I mean some are not good, but it's still pizza, after all...well, to make it at home is super, super cheap, and I made a couple last week. I made about a pound of a whole wheat dough with a bit of honey in it--real quick and easy--it rose over a couple of hours and then I rolled it out into two pizza crusts. One was topped with roasted beets (foil, oil, salt and pepper and low and slow in the oven) and their sauteed greens, caramelized onions, and chopped up bits of marinated eggplant from the above story (both pizzas were brushed with the oil this eggplant marinated in). Shaved a bit of this great clothbound cheddar from Vermont I somehow ended up with after a 
recent event right on top. The other one got leftover pork rillettes from the above story, some of that great cheddar, some swiss cheese I had laying around, some mozz (not to be confused with Moz, who I'll be seeing Saturday), and a drizzle of Sriracha (why not?). Baked quick in a hot, hot oven on a terra cotta plant pot bottom did the trick and all was delicious, served with some honey for the whole wheat crust edges.And, as promised way back, more soon on a great cocktail experimenting party I attended recently...thank you for your patience!
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