Mi esposo and I, weary of substandard pizzas, have started a fun Friday night challenge: to find the best pizza joint within a 20 minute radius of our home.
We've just had too many pizzas that were soggy, sauce-less, wearing wilted toppings, and festooned with some fake soya stand-in for cheese that we decided that if the cook (ahem...that's me) was to be given a night off for an occasional carryout pizza, it had better be a damned good pie. And if we were ever going to find a damned good pie, we had to be methodological about it.
So began The Great Friday Night Pizza Challenge.
Here are the rough outlines of the game:
-Every Friday, mi esposo and I take turns selecting a different pizza joint.
-The Pizza-Orderer of the week gets to decide the establishment as well as the toppings.
-To be deemed "good", the pizza must meet the following requirements:
1. Pizza must be well-sauced (we like a sauce-y pie).
2. The sauce must have discernible, if not powerful, flavor. (I will never order from a place again if I can taste sugar in the sauce. I think adding sugar to tomato sauce is tantamount to cheating.)
3. The crust, whether thin or thick, must never be quasi-raw, doughy, glutenous mush.
4. The pizza establishment must be a reasonable commute from our inner-ring, east side home.
5. The cheese must be actual cheese, crafted from the milk of cows, sheep, or goats.
6. The toppings must be fresh, visually appealing, and as-described on the menu.
Sounds easy, right?
Ugh. I can tell you tales of horror about hair in my pizza, puddling grease pockets on my pizza, pizza with hardly a whisper of sauce, pizza sauce so heavily sugared it could have been a dessert, pizza that was so doughy I felt bloated for days, pizza with toppings the dogs refused, and more.
The Great Friday Night Pizza Challenge has been great fun. It lets me try all kinds of pie from around the area. It encourages mi esposo, normally a NON-foodie, to slow down and analyze flavors and textures. And it lets everyone have a turn picking dinner: for example, he likes a traditional pie while I go in for the ones with "out-there" toppings and combinations. This way, everyone gets a chance, and everyone gets to give their opinion.
If we're lucky, we may unearth the best pizza this side of the Cuyahoga.
What about YOU? (We'll take suggestions!) What's your favorite pizza pie on the east side of Cleveland???
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
An Extreme Waste of Time
It started as a joke between mi esposo and me. The Learning Channel's new progam, "Extreme Couponing" had caught our attention. The show documents thrifty shoppers, armed with itemized lists and binders full of savings coupons, racking up grocery totals in the thousands, then skating out of the store only having given up a few bucks.
"Honey, I want you to be an extreme couponer," he'd say, with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yeah, right. Go take a hike," was my typical response.
I have never been much into couponing. Having been self-employed for a goodly portion of my adult life, and having been in some other businesses in which I had to manage some very tight job budgets, I think I've gotten reasonably facile with intelligent purchasing habits. Add to the equation the fact that I use old-school French techniques when I cook at home (that is, nothing is to be wasted...EVER) and you wind up with a household whose members eat a sophisticated and nutritious diet for a surprisingly low cost.
This morning, as mi esposo was heading out the door for a cup of coffee, I asked if he wouldn't mind bringing me back a Sunday New York Times. 20 minutes later, he was back with the Times...and six other regional papers!
"Oh, Jeez," my heart sank when he came through the door, "is this for coupons?"
"Yep!" He just beamed at me cheerfully.
OK, fine. I'd try the coupon experiment to see how it went. Never mind that many of the "extreme couponers" on the television show are grossly overweight. Never mind that they buy (in bulk) a bevy of products so laden with chemicals that I would shun them as a deadly poison. Never mind that the stock of items they purchase on the show makes their storage rooms look like a crowded bodega. Never mind, never mind...I'm a good sport and I had to do some grocery shopping anyway. I'd give this couponing thing a whirl.
The first strike against couponing is that it is the big, factory-styled food manufacturers that typically issue coupons. I often prefer to go with smaller-name companies because they are often lower in unhealthy fillers and frequently less expensive than the big-brand counterpart, even WITH a coupon.
The second strike against couponing is that the system is designed to make people spend more, with big savings if you buy 2 or more. I have a small household, a small kitchen, and small storage cupboards. I don't want 2 or more.
The third strike against couponing is that it made me deviate from my menu plan for the week, in order to get these "savings". As I mentioned, I believe in the French no-waste system. Before I go to the store I look to see what I already have on hand and build my menu around that, so I use up what I have in a reasonable amount of time (even dry goods are perishable, people!) and buy fewer items at the store, i.e. there's no need to buy rice for a "dirty rice" meal if I already have half a bag of it at home.
But, never mind...I'm a good sport.
I jaunted off to the grocery store with my modified list and a stack of coupons in my pocket, willing to see what would happen.
Folks, I hated the whole experience:
-It took me longer to get through the store, fumbling through coupons.
-I bought larger quantities than I need because the brands with coupons seem to come in quasi-"supersize" packages.
-It made me forget a couple key items, again, because my focus was on those darned newspaper clippings in my pocket.
-It encouraged me to buy brands that are not my first choice.
-Finally, and this is the clincher, IT MADE ME GO OVER MY PLANNED BUDGET.
Yes, I had a nice double-digit "savings" listed at the end of my receipt, but this experience was not a celebration of life, living, and the artistry of food and cookery. This was an idiot's game of being mesmerized by the pretty pictures on the side of a box issued by a factory food processor and thinking that I was beating their hand. I didn't beat them. They beat me. I spent more money, for pete's sake! And I'm a little sore about it, too.
Sore as I am, I must use my cutting honesty to get in some harsher reasons to avoid the extreme coupon life. Mi esposo and I have both noticed that a good number of these extreme couponers on television are undeniably overweight. I guess if you've just bought 75 boxes of microwave popcorn for pennies on the dollar, there's not enough of a compelling argument to keep you from overeating the contents therein. Similarly, I bristle at anything that smacks of hoarding behavior, and a larder that looks like a convenience store sure looks like hoarding to me. I even feel like it's kind of morally wrong, as in, why should I have an abundance when someone else in my community may have none at all? It really is "an embarrassment of riches". I also wonder if these extreme couponers who have figured out all the angles in order to work couponing to within an inch of its life are causing me (and you!) to pay more at the register. Do the big food manufacturers figure out a way to bury extra charges for every transaction so that Little Miss Cheapskate can get away with a zero-balance grocery bill?
The whole business of extreme couponing is an ugly waste of time to me.
Food is a beautiful, enjoyable facet of life and I'd like to make shopping for it a somewhat celebratory affair. If I take too long at the store, I want it to be because I was ogling some beautiful cheeses or comparing the varieties of ripe tomatoes, NOT because I was sifting through coupons. Good, well-planned, well-prepared, wholesome food makes me feel like I am eating like royalty. Buy One/Get One Instant Mashed Potatoes remind me how far in life I have not gotten. If I go over my planned budget, I want it to be because I indulged in something special, not because I felt obligated to stock up on plastic wrap.
It's so sad to me. Food should be joyous.
There are so many more joyful (and more healthful) ways to save at the register besides extreme couponing. Incidently, they also take less of your free time than the 30+ hours per week that the extreme couponers say they must devote to their shopping method. To save (a lot!) you could: bake your own bread, make your own pasta sauce, plant a vegetable garden in your yard, plant a fruit tree in your yard, buy larger cuts of meat and portion them out for freezing, experiment with plant-based proteins in your diet, split a farmshare with a neighbor, learn to "doctor up" your leftovers, etc. etc.
Yes, it may take you some time to learn some new cooking techniques to experience grocery savings with the above-mentioned techniques. Keep in mind that your time spent learning cooking techniques in order to be frugal are lifelong skills that give some people real pleasure. I guess I have to grant that the time spent learning strategic spreadsheet skills in order to get an almost-unusable bulk quantity of near-junk-food for mere pennies may give some people some kind of pleasure, but I guess I'm not one of those people. And they couldn't pay me enough (in coupons!) to do it their way ever again.
"Honey, I want you to be an extreme couponer," he'd say, with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yeah, right. Go take a hike," was my typical response.
I have never been much into couponing. Having been self-employed for a goodly portion of my adult life, and having been in some other businesses in which I had to manage some very tight job budgets, I think I've gotten reasonably facile with intelligent purchasing habits. Add to the equation the fact that I use old-school French techniques when I cook at home (that is, nothing is to be wasted...EVER) and you wind up with a household whose members eat a sophisticated and nutritious diet for a surprisingly low cost.
This morning, as mi esposo was heading out the door for a cup of coffee, I asked if he wouldn't mind bringing me back a Sunday New York Times. 20 minutes later, he was back with the Times...and six other regional papers!
"Oh, Jeez," my heart sank when he came through the door, "is this for coupons?"
"Yep!" He just beamed at me cheerfully.
OK, fine. I'd try the coupon experiment to see how it went. Never mind that many of the "extreme couponers" on the television show are grossly overweight. Never mind that they buy (in bulk) a bevy of products so laden with chemicals that I would shun them as a deadly poison. Never mind that the stock of items they purchase on the show makes their storage rooms look like a crowded bodega. Never mind, never mind...I'm a good sport and I had to do some grocery shopping anyway. I'd give this couponing thing a whirl.
The first strike against couponing is that it is the big, factory-styled food manufacturers that typically issue coupons. I often prefer to go with smaller-name companies because they are often lower in unhealthy fillers and frequently less expensive than the big-brand counterpart, even WITH a coupon.
The second strike against couponing is that the system is designed to make people spend more, with big savings if you buy 2 or more. I have a small household, a small kitchen, and small storage cupboards. I don't want 2 or more.
The third strike against couponing is that it made me deviate from my menu plan for the week, in order to get these "savings". As I mentioned, I believe in the French no-waste system. Before I go to the store I look to see what I already have on hand and build my menu around that, so I use up what I have in a reasonable amount of time (even dry goods are perishable, people!) and buy fewer items at the store, i.e. there's no need to buy rice for a "dirty rice" meal if I already have half a bag of it at home.
But, never mind...I'm a good sport.
I jaunted off to the grocery store with my modified list and a stack of coupons in my pocket, willing to see what would happen.
Folks, I hated the whole experience:
-It took me longer to get through the store, fumbling through coupons.
-I bought larger quantities than I need because the brands with coupons seem to come in quasi-"supersize" packages.
-It made me forget a couple key items, again, because my focus was on those darned newspaper clippings in my pocket.
-It encouraged me to buy brands that are not my first choice.
-Finally, and this is the clincher, IT MADE ME GO OVER MY PLANNED BUDGET.
Yes, I had a nice double-digit "savings" listed at the end of my receipt, but this experience was not a celebration of life, living, and the artistry of food and cookery. This was an idiot's game of being mesmerized by the pretty pictures on the side of a box issued by a factory food processor and thinking that I was beating their hand. I didn't beat them. They beat me. I spent more money, for pete's sake! And I'm a little sore about it, too.
Sore as I am, I must use my cutting honesty to get in some harsher reasons to avoid the extreme coupon life. Mi esposo and I have both noticed that a good number of these extreme couponers on television are undeniably overweight. I guess if you've just bought 75 boxes of microwave popcorn for pennies on the dollar, there's not enough of a compelling argument to keep you from overeating the contents therein. Similarly, I bristle at anything that smacks of hoarding behavior, and a larder that looks like a convenience store sure looks like hoarding to me. I even feel like it's kind of morally wrong, as in, why should I have an abundance when someone else in my community may have none at all? It really is "an embarrassment of riches". I also wonder if these extreme couponers who have figured out all the angles in order to work couponing to within an inch of its life are causing me (and you!) to pay more at the register. Do the big food manufacturers figure out a way to bury extra charges for every transaction so that Little Miss Cheapskate can get away with a zero-balance grocery bill?
The whole business of extreme couponing is an ugly waste of time to me.
Food is a beautiful, enjoyable facet of life and I'd like to make shopping for it a somewhat celebratory affair. If I take too long at the store, I want it to be because I was ogling some beautiful cheeses or comparing the varieties of ripe tomatoes, NOT because I was sifting through coupons. Good, well-planned, well-prepared, wholesome food makes me feel like I am eating like royalty. Buy One/Get One Instant Mashed Potatoes remind me how far in life I have not gotten. If I go over my planned budget, I want it to be because I indulged in something special, not because I felt obligated to stock up on plastic wrap.
It's so sad to me. Food should be joyous.
There are so many more joyful (and more healthful) ways to save at the register besides extreme couponing. Incidently, they also take less of your free time than the 30+ hours per week that the extreme couponers say they must devote to their shopping method. To save (a lot!) you could: bake your own bread, make your own pasta sauce, plant a vegetable garden in your yard, plant a fruit tree in your yard, buy larger cuts of meat and portion them out for freezing, experiment with plant-based proteins in your diet, split a farmshare with a neighbor, learn to "doctor up" your leftovers, etc. etc.
Yes, it may take you some time to learn some new cooking techniques to experience grocery savings with the above-mentioned techniques. Keep in mind that your time spent learning cooking techniques in order to be frugal are lifelong skills that give some people real pleasure. I guess I have to grant that the time spent learning strategic spreadsheet skills in order to get an almost-unusable bulk quantity of near-junk-food for mere pennies may give some people some kind of pleasure, but I guess I'm not one of those people. And they couldn't pay me enough (in coupons!) to do it their way ever again.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tahini for Calcium
I just don't like milk.
I'll admit that I'll gladly have a sip of it if there are some double-dark chocolate brownies onsite, but I really do mean that I'll have a "sip"... as in, like, a tablespoon-ful. It just doesn't appeal to me. When I was a child, my mother was nonplussed by my aversion to milk. She said I was the only kid in town who wouldn't drink the stuff. The only thing that reassured her was the fact that I actually liked leafy greens and broccoli, which do contain scant amounts of calcium.
But the stuff of sustenance for infant cows...? Not so much.
Well, here I am, a woman of a certain age (almost!) who is, on a daily basis, barraged with entreaties to take in enough calcium or ELSE! Or else risk a dowager's hump or shattering bones or a wheelchair or a nursing home or worse...all before the crow's feet are even set in my face.
But there was this bottle of tahini in my fridge, left over from a recent batch of hummus (which is about all I ever use the stuff for). I wanted a light vegetarian dinner, so I steamed some fresh vegetables, but knew I needed some more "ooomph" if I wanted to avoid raiding the cookie jar at 10pm. There were no beans. Butter or olive oil sounded too fatty. But tahini...hmmm...that could be a right nice (and hearty) dressing for my broccoli and associated veggies.
And it WAS a right nice dressing! Don't read the fat content on the label or you will fall over in shock. (Plus, it's the "good" kind of fat...HONEST!) But the calcium, content, ounce for ounce, is about one hundred and thirty times that of lowfat milk. Not bad!
I'll have some fruit and yogurt for breakfast and I think I should be standing upright for a while....
I'll admit that I'll gladly have a sip of it if there are some double-dark chocolate brownies onsite, but I really do mean that I'll have a "sip"... as in, like, a tablespoon-ful. It just doesn't appeal to me. When I was a child, my mother was nonplussed by my aversion to milk. She said I was the only kid in town who wouldn't drink the stuff. The only thing that reassured her was the fact that I actually liked leafy greens and broccoli, which do contain scant amounts of calcium.
But the stuff of sustenance for infant cows...? Not so much.
Well, here I am, a woman of a certain age (almost!) who is, on a daily basis, barraged with entreaties to take in enough calcium or ELSE! Or else risk a dowager's hump or shattering bones or a wheelchair or a nursing home or worse...all before the crow's feet are even set in my face.
But there was this bottle of tahini in my fridge, left over from a recent batch of hummus (which is about all I ever use the stuff for). I wanted a light vegetarian dinner, so I steamed some fresh vegetables, but knew I needed some more "ooomph" if I wanted to avoid raiding the cookie jar at 10pm. There were no beans. Butter or olive oil sounded too fatty. But tahini...hmmm...that could be a right nice (and hearty) dressing for my broccoli and associated veggies.
And it WAS a right nice dressing! Don't read the fat content on the label or you will fall over in shock. (Plus, it's the "good" kind of fat...HONEST!) But the calcium, content, ounce for ounce, is about one hundred and thirty times that of lowfat milk. Not bad!
I'll have some fruit and yogurt for breakfast and I think I should be standing upright for a while....
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Competitive Cooking with High-Falutin' Chai-Smoked Chicken and Hot Apricot Sauce
Last weekend, mi esposo and I managed to get out of the house for a nice dinner on the town. We went to a well-lauded establishment and had a lovely, lovely meal, but as I read the menu, I wasn't gripped with that urgent, excited feeling of "OH! I've got to try that!" In fact, everything on the menu was pretty much standard fare that I've had before. Again, it was delicious, but, well, I kind of wanted to be dazzled with something I've never tried before. Take, "tea-smoking", for example.
I've heard of tea-smoking, or cooking meats at a high temperature over tea leaves, but I heretofore have never had the opportunity to try it. Maybe I need to try some more high-falutin' places on a more regular basis. But there's no reason that yours truly can't try her hand at things that sound high-falutin'. And I wanted to do better than that last memorable meal.
Fast forward to earlier today, when I was reading a food article on tea-smoked ribs. The author gave a detailed account of how to mimic the smoky flavor of an outdoor barbecue in any old plain-Jane residential oven. The article grabbed me. Here was my chance to make up for last weekend, to dazzle myself. Why in the world couldn't I jury-rig some kind of high-falutin' tea-smoked entree with whatever I had on hand?
There were no ribs in my fridge, but there were some chicken breasts in the freezer. I didn't have any smoky Chinese tea like Lapsang Suchong, but there was a box of seldom-used Chai. Chai-smoked chicken was sounding really good to me and it got my gears turning...Of course, I'd need a sauce. Wouldn't some kind of hot and spicy, apricot-y thing be fabulous with Chai? And I had some couscous and pine nuts...I could turn up the texture volume on that with the addition of some heavy cream. I was sure that if I added some steamed asparagus I could "ruin" (my competitive term for out-doing) the chef who made last weekend's dinner. A plan was in place.
Now, chicken breasts, the ubiquitous boneless, skinless variety, tend to cook very quickly. They can literally be a flash in the pan if you saute them, or a really quick dinner in the oven. Overcooking chicken breasts leads to the undesirable dry "rubber chicken effect" that seasoned palates bemoan endlessly. With the high heat required to get my tea leaves to smoke, how in the world was I going to avoid the rubber chicken effect?
Well, I never really thawed those frozen breasts. I softened the exterior slightly on the microwave's "thaw" setting for just a few minutes and threw my chicken briquettes on a rack over a roasting pan that had five tea bags opened and scattered across the bottom, plus a little chicken stock. I don't know if the stock was really necessary, but I feared a flash fire of tea confetti if they didn't heat up gradually. I covered the whole shootin' match with some foil and threw it into a 450-degree oven for about 35 minutes.
The flavor was very subtle, but so nice. I amplified it slightly by brewing a scant amount of super-brisk Chai tea, combining that with apricot preserves and hot sauce that I reduced to a slightly thick consistency for a complimentary sauce. The couscous, cooked in heavy cream and scattered with pine nuts was a great, rich counterpoint.
I did it. I "ruined" that chef from last weekend and made my own dazzling, high-falutin' dinner. I will definitely work this into the rotation on a regular basis.
I've heard of tea-smoking, or cooking meats at a high temperature over tea leaves, but I heretofore have never had the opportunity to try it. Maybe I need to try some more high-falutin' places on a more regular basis. But there's no reason that yours truly can't try her hand at things that sound high-falutin'. And I wanted to do better than that last memorable meal.
Fast forward to earlier today, when I was reading a food article on tea-smoked ribs. The author gave a detailed account of how to mimic the smoky flavor of an outdoor barbecue in any old plain-Jane residential oven. The article grabbed me. Here was my chance to make up for last weekend, to dazzle myself. Why in the world couldn't I jury-rig some kind of high-falutin' tea-smoked entree with whatever I had on hand?
There were no ribs in my fridge, but there were some chicken breasts in the freezer. I didn't have any smoky Chinese tea like Lapsang Suchong, but there was a box of seldom-used Chai. Chai-smoked chicken was sounding really good to me and it got my gears turning...Of course, I'd need a sauce. Wouldn't some kind of hot and spicy, apricot-y thing be fabulous with Chai? And I had some couscous and pine nuts...I could turn up the texture volume on that with the addition of some heavy cream. I was sure that if I added some steamed asparagus I could "ruin" (my competitive term for out-doing) the chef who made last weekend's dinner. A plan was in place.
Now, chicken breasts, the ubiquitous boneless, skinless variety, tend to cook very quickly. They can literally be a flash in the pan if you saute them, or a really quick dinner in the oven. Overcooking chicken breasts leads to the undesirable dry "rubber chicken effect" that seasoned palates bemoan endlessly. With the high heat required to get my tea leaves to smoke, how in the world was I going to avoid the rubber chicken effect?
Well, I never really thawed those frozen breasts. I softened the exterior slightly on the microwave's "thaw" setting for just a few minutes and threw my chicken briquettes on a rack over a roasting pan that had five tea bags opened and scattered across the bottom, plus a little chicken stock. I don't know if the stock was really necessary, but I feared a flash fire of tea confetti if they didn't heat up gradually. I covered the whole shootin' match with some foil and threw it into a 450-degree oven for about 35 minutes.
The flavor was very subtle, but so nice. I amplified it slightly by brewing a scant amount of super-brisk Chai tea, combining that with apricot preserves and hot sauce that I reduced to a slightly thick consistency for a complimentary sauce. The couscous, cooked in heavy cream and scattered with pine nuts was a great, rich counterpoint.
I did it. I "ruined" that chef from last weekend and made my own dazzling, high-falutin' dinner. I will definitely work this into the rotation on a regular basis.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Mothers' Day Brunch
The girls are coming over tomorrow. I have to confess that this might be the first brunch I've hosted in a looong time (I think I co-hosted a bridal shower back in 1992...yikes!)
It won't be too over-the-top, but it will be a lovely morning. If the weatherman decides to come around, we may even sit under the lilacs on the patio.
-Apricot Filled Pastry (not making this...someone else does pastry better than I do and I can accept that)
-Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus Spears with a Bearnaise Drizzle
-Quiche Lorraine (using Mom's recipe, of course!)
-Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
-Ben and Jerry's (all Downie family events include ice cream... even brunch!)
-Coffee and Fresh Juices
Mi Esposo will pick up a flowering plant for the girls to take home.
I am so glad we don't have to accept a sub-par reservation time for a cold and wilted buffet somewhere!
It won't be too over-the-top, but it will be a lovely morning. If the weatherman decides to come around, we may even sit under the lilacs on the patio.
-Apricot Filled Pastry (not making this...someone else does pastry better than I do and I can accept that)
-Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus Spears with a Bearnaise Drizzle
-Quiche Lorraine (using Mom's recipe, of course!)
-Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
-Ben and Jerry's (all Downie family events include ice cream... even brunch!)
-Coffee and Fresh Juices
Mi Esposo will pick up a flowering plant for the girls to take home.
I am so glad we don't have to accept a sub-par reservation time for a cold and wilted buffet somewhere!
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