The Crust

The pizza crust came out pretty well. I used Il Pane e la Pizza flour from Italy. Not a word of English on the label. I also used a recipe from Alton Brown for the dough, with slight alterations (of course). The dough has to knead in the standing mixer for 15 minutes! Wow! No wonder mine was previously not working too well, I was kneading BY HAND, and not for any 15 minutes either. My standing mixer is a Krupps. It's kind of old and not heavy duty, but it does the trick. I have usually used it for cheese cake and carrot cake, and not much else. Using a pizza stone also improves the crust (thanks Denise). Hopefully it will continue to improve each time I make it :)

Party at Dee's

Yesterday I was honored to be included in the graduation celebrations of Jackie, Joey and Katie. Barbara and Paul were wonderful hosts, as usual!

We had wine and cocktails, veggie pizza, meat pizza and plain pizza (Dee's makes GREAT brick oven pizza), then came the salad, then came the pasta: Primavera, shrimp with broccoli and I am drawing a blank (sorry). Dessert was this big, beautiful chocolate graduation cake and coffee.

I sat with Jennie, Jeffrey, Miriam and Carlos. I danced with Katie and Jennie (just once, a personal request from Katie). We had great conversation with great friends.

I walked to Dee's after Jill and I walked the Austin Street Street Fair. It was a really good day!

Up For Grabs

Friday night Michael and I tried a place we've never been, La Bella Cucina on Juniper Valley South. We sat outside. We had a stuffed artichoke, fried calamari, brick oven pizza with cherry peppers and garlic, fresh fruit and espresso. Everything was averagely good. The sky turned a beautiful blue and some stars came out. That was the best part (aside from being with Michael).

Saturday, after we looked at wood flooring samples (entire apt. flooded in April), I went into the city, wandered around a bit, had a pretzel, looked in all the store windows (Prada, LV, etc), walked through Central Park, came home. For dinner, Michael and I went to Dani's. Had our favorite soup-stracciatella-and eggplant parm, chicken with peppers and onions and spinach on the side. Terrific!

Sunday we went to our friend Leslie's house. It was her daughter's birthday. They have a really nice house with a beautiful, park-like yard. Always good food, good wine and good friends :)

Tonight was boring. I made chicken cutlets with string beans and garlic on the side. I ate salad, then a handful of Milk Duds. Diet of champions...

Tomorrow night, I am meeting my brother for dinner along with our most longtime family friend, Sue. We are going to Circa Enoteca in Mineola.

The rest of the week is up for grabs.

Spring, Please!

WHERE is the warm weather? This is black turtleneck weather and it's freakin' May! I'm a little tired of it.

On other topics...yesterday was Mother's Day. Can't say it's the best day of the year for me. Expectations on all sides, doesn't really work for anyone. However, we spent the early evening with our very good friends Joe and Denise and their friends Chuck and Dominick. Michael and Joe ordered from Barosa, then went to pick it up: Calamari Barosa, chopped salad, pizza and foccacia sticks. All very yummy along with good red wine and conversation and friends.

Saturday night, Michael picked up from Fontana Gyros: Greek salad with chicken souvlaki and gyro and avgolemeno soup. Always good.

Friday night Jill and I went to Sato and drank tons of sake :) and ate yummy sushi!!!

Thursday night, Jesse and I were in Ithaca and we had Thai food with our family. They are very accommodating and generous whenever we appear on their doorstep and we love them for it and for myriad other reasons as well!!!

A Few Days Late...

I have no idea where I've been. Please excuse the slacking off :)

Last week there was Risotto Bianco and rosemary lamb chops. Michael has photos he will place here later, but I can't remember the rest of the week. I was busy and stressed.

Yes, me stressed. I took the Department of Education Secretary Test. I drove to Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, actually found a spot on the street. From arrival to conclusion, I was there about 2 hours. I had practiced my steno (actually my very own scribbled version) for 2 weeks prior.

Who dictates letters anymore? It's completely outdated (sounds just like the DOE). Anyway, it's not so easy to listen to someone speak at 70 words per minute, write it all down (no you cannot type it while they speak-would be MUCH easier), then type it back perfectly in business letter format using WordPad (a minor and limited version of Word).

Additionally, I had to copy a Teacher Observation Report (not difficult) and re-type a hand written letter with all corrections made (not difficult either).

Hopefully after the stress (certainly gone now), and the driving to Brooklyn, I can peacefully wait EIGHT weeks to find out if I passed. Then I only need to find a school with openings.

Friday night we went with the Wisners, Spilkes and Judy to Dirty Pierre's. They have very good mussels, and their fries were right on the money. Judy and I had Black Bean Soup and Goat Cheese Salad (Jill too). Lisa had portobello mushrooms with mozzarella, Lenny a burger and Michael had the Jerk Chicken. No idea what Evan had, sorry. My glass of Cabernet was GROSS and they won't make pitchers of Margaritas. But otherwise it was good and fun!

Saturday we opened our cabana at Silverpoint, came home and ordered pizza and salad from D'Angelo's on 108th Street. Yum!

Last night I made Rigatoni with sopressatta, calamata olives and basil in a milled tomato sauce. Michael and I liked it, Jesse did not. Can't win all the time....

Tonight will be pork chops with charred peppers and salad with Green Goddess dressing (who remembers that one)? It was my mom's favorite when we lived in California.

Don't know about Tuesday and Wednesday yet. But Thursday, Jesse and I are driving back to Ithaca so he can make his college advisor appointment on Friday morning. Then we'll drive back afterwards.

And Mother's Day with the Figliolias!

xo