Seriously.
Cornmeal crust.
That just happened at a place in Alameda - which shall remain nameless.
What is wrong with people?!
I am a pizza snob. I know this. I've been informed by many other people of this. It's so bad sometimes my husband is afraid to take me to pizza places because he knows we may never return. Thankfully I have slowly converted him to loving New York style.
Pizza is a deceptively simple thing to make. People think it's no big deal - cheese, sauce, dough, and toppings. What can go wrong? Well, everything dear Watson - absolutely everything.
If the cheese is poor quality, it won't melt correctly. If it's not mozzarella, it will taste strangely. Cheese should have a little grease form on the top. A good East Coast pizza will even have added olive oil to enhance the greasy goodness.
The sauce should have the right balance between herbs and spices and the tomato base. If there is too little, the pizza is dry. If there is too much, it begins to be California style or possibly a poor attempt at Chicago.
The dough, however, is a completely different story. Dough is an indication of geography, and certain preferences. If a pizza is to be a genuine New York style pizza, the pie should be large and dough should be hand tossed. This method is what makes the center of the pie incredibly thin while the crust is large and bubbly. If the yeast is right, the crust should be crunchy, while the inside melts in your mouth. The center should be so thin, it becomes necessary to fold your pizza twice in order to support the cheese, sauce, and any toppings. Literally, the center should come apart.
Anything less is not New York style pizza. People who claim something different is New York are either a) morons, b) delusional, or c) lying.
I am just about convinced that I need to start making pizza myself. I know if I decide to begin this adventure, it will be wrought with failed attempts. I will become frazzled, frustrated, and possibly fat from blobs of dough. I might even get dough stuck on my ceiling as I toss it. I don't know. It remains to be seen. If I do decide to embark on this venture, you will know it. I'll document every aspect. It's too good to pass up.
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Coast to Coast - California or New York?
As many of you may know, Christian and I are in the midst of transition. I like to call this summer our "geographical interlude" because we simply don't know where we might end up living. This is even more pressing because of the conversation I had with Christian yesterday. It went something like this.
"So how do you feel about Troy?"
"Huh?" I thought about Greece for a minute before it hit me. "You mean Troy NEW YORK? Like across the Hudson from Albany?!"
"Yes."
"There's a BMW Motorcycle shop there?"
"Yes."
"They have work during the winter?"
"Actually yes."
We went back and forth about the details of such a change. The pros and cons were weighed against the other location possibilities. The biggest cons are of course, our family and the snow.
I like the Hudson Valley. It's a good place. I enjoyed growing up there. I know a lot of wonderful people and there are many things to do between Troy, Schenectady, and Albany. Plus, it's not a bad place to have kids.
California is a beautiful place. I love it out here. I love the salty ocean air and I love the palm trees. I love fruit all year round and blue skies. I love my parents. But of course, this place is ridiculously expensive and the infrastructure is broken. I don't relish the idea of my kids going to California public schools, especially when I know there are places that have college like electives in high-school.
Then again, the question remains where we want to be in order to achieve our goals as a couple, and I'm not sure what location would be best in order to do that. Christian wants to own a shop - at least one - so the question remains, where would be best to do this? I want to have a couple small businesses myself. We can't really begin these things until we're settled in a place where we want to stay for any length of time.
Still, the idea of being in the capital region is an interesting one. I like the idea of having seasons (even if winter and mud aren't my favorites). I like the idea of being in a place that is small enough that I can have the city and the country without too much hassle. There's water and mountains. There's culture and low cost of living. But there is snow...lots of snow.
Christian has never lived in snow and part of me wonders if he would be okay with it. He's always been on the West Coast. Most of that time has been spent on the California coast, with only a short period in the Arizona desert. Seasons are a different kind of animal. Snow is something that Christian has experienced, but he's never really lived in it. He hasn't been in a place that was as dark and cold as New York is from November through January. Part of me worries that he would hate it. I really don't relish the idea of moving across the country only to find that I will be moving back in a year. I'm tired of moving like this. I desperately want to be still.
Nothing has been decided, and we have a lot more information to gather before we come to a final conclusion. It is a lot and frankly I'm wide-eyed while holding my breath. I just pray for the best thing for all of us. Say a prayer and cross your fingers!
"So how do you feel about Troy?"
"Huh?" I thought about Greece for a minute before it hit me. "You mean Troy NEW YORK? Like across the Hudson from Albany?!"
"Yes."
"There's a BMW Motorcycle shop there?"
"Yes."
"They have work during the winter?"
"Actually yes."
We went back and forth about the details of such a change. The pros and cons were weighed against the other location possibilities. The biggest cons are of course, our family and the snow.
I like the Hudson Valley. It's a good place. I enjoyed growing up there. I know a lot of wonderful people and there are many things to do between Troy, Schenectady, and Albany. Plus, it's not a bad place to have kids.
California is a beautiful place. I love it out here. I love the salty ocean air and I love the palm trees. I love fruit all year round and blue skies. I love my parents. But of course, this place is ridiculously expensive and the infrastructure is broken. I don't relish the idea of my kids going to California public schools, especially when I know there are places that have college like electives in high-school.
Then again, the question remains where we want to be in order to achieve our goals as a couple, and I'm not sure what location would be best in order to do that. Christian wants to own a shop - at least one - so the question remains, where would be best to do this? I want to have a couple small businesses myself. We can't really begin these things until we're settled in a place where we want to stay for any length of time.
Still, the idea of being in the capital region is an interesting one. I like the idea of having seasons (even if winter and mud aren't my favorites). I like the idea of being in a place that is small enough that I can have the city and the country without too much hassle. There's water and mountains. There's culture and low cost of living. But there is snow...lots of snow.
Christian has never lived in snow and part of me wonders if he would be okay with it. He's always been on the West Coast. Most of that time has been spent on the California coast, with only a short period in the Arizona desert. Seasons are a different kind of animal. Snow is something that Christian has experienced, but he's never really lived in it. He hasn't been in a place that was as dark and cold as New York is from November through January. Part of me worries that he would hate it. I really don't relish the idea of moving across the country only to find that I will be moving back in a year. I'm tired of moving like this. I desperately want to be still.
Nothing has been decided, and we have a lot more information to gather before we come to a final conclusion. It is a lot and frankly I'm wide-eyed while holding my breath. I just pray for the best thing for all of us. Say a prayer and cross your fingers!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
From Nowhere, With Love
Last night I met someone and I asked them if they were from the Bay area. They said they had lived here for 14 years. I responded that she was therefore from the Bay area. She said, oh no - 14 years isn't enough to be from a place - she was from northern California, not here.
The longest I've ever lived in a single town is 14 years. So I guess I'm from nowhere. But if I'm from nowhere, I'm also from everywhere.
It hits me that I have missed out on certain things when people say things like that. I miss out on having the really tight knit group of friends from high school that went to college together, has had baby showers together, weddings and everything. I missed having family members close by. People would go to their grandmother's after school, and I had to wait for summer vacation to take a two week trip to get my annual dose of my extended family. It was isolating. I still have that problem now. It takes me a long time to commit to a place because part of me doesn't expect it to feel like home. Even after being in Hayward for almost a year, I still have dreams about the house in Phoenix and half expect to wake up in it. Sometimes I even dream about waking up in the parsonage in Santa Barbara where my parents lived (the third longest place I've lived...).
On the other hand, when I meet people that seem like they could maybe somehow be a friend, I open up and seek them out (which doesn't mean they do the same thing). The problem with this is, I start to get my groove with the friendship and then I leave again. It's frustrating to say the least.
You'd think with my nomadic lifestyle I'd have less stuff, but the thing is, I've been expecting the situation to change. I've been collecting furniture etc because I want to settle. I want to be from somewhere. I want to have roots and a home that I can go to for twenty years running. I haven't had something close to this for some time. The closest I came was 14 years in Albany.
I did my growing up in New York, but now I look at Facebook pics of my highschool cohort, and I feel like I'm galaxies away. Its true I sometimes slip into a New York accent. But I also slip into a Pittsburgh accent when I'm with my family, or a southern drawl with other family members. I've been known to take on other accents as well, depending on who I'm with, and what the situation is. So yes, even though I grew up in New York, I really don't belong there. Not now.
But then, can I belong anywhere? Do I just make myself belong somewhere? It's a concern I have because I so rarely feel like I fit in a place (despite whether or not I actually do). The irony is, that I do fit in rather well here in the Bay. We just can't afford it. Someday I'm sure we would be able to, but by then, I hope I'm already living in a big house full of family and friends, with tons of animals and a huge garden. No small roots for me.
The longest I've ever lived in a single town is 14 years. So I guess I'm from nowhere. But if I'm from nowhere, I'm also from everywhere.
It hits me that I have missed out on certain things when people say things like that. I miss out on having the really tight knit group of friends from high school that went to college together, has had baby showers together, weddings and everything. I missed having family members close by. People would go to their grandmother's after school, and I had to wait for summer vacation to take a two week trip to get my annual dose of my extended family. It was isolating. I still have that problem now. It takes me a long time to commit to a place because part of me doesn't expect it to feel like home. Even after being in Hayward for almost a year, I still have dreams about the house in Phoenix and half expect to wake up in it. Sometimes I even dream about waking up in the parsonage in Santa Barbara where my parents lived (the third longest place I've lived...).
On the other hand, when I meet people that seem like they could maybe somehow be a friend, I open up and seek them out (which doesn't mean they do the same thing). The problem with this is, I start to get my groove with the friendship and then I leave again. It's frustrating to say the least.
You'd think with my nomadic lifestyle I'd have less stuff, but the thing is, I've been expecting the situation to change. I've been collecting furniture etc because I want to settle. I want to be from somewhere. I want to have roots and a home that I can go to for twenty years running. I haven't had something close to this for some time. The closest I came was 14 years in Albany.
I did my growing up in New York, but now I look at Facebook pics of my highschool cohort, and I feel like I'm galaxies away. Its true I sometimes slip into a New York accent. But I also slip into a Pittsburgh accent when I'm with my family, or a southern drawl with other family members. I've been known to take on other accents as well, depending on who I'm with, and what the situation is. So yes, even though I grew up in New York, I really don't belong there. Not now.
But then, can I belong anywhere? Do I just make myself belong somewhere? It's a concern I have because I so rarely feel like I fit in a place (despite whether or not I actually do). The irony is, that I do fit in rather well here in the Bay. We just can't afford it. Someday I'm sure we would be able to, but by then, I hope I'm already living in a big house full of family and friends, with tons of animals and a huge garden. No small roots for me.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Queen Ice Digits
It's gotten cold. Okay, so it's gotten to be in the forties regularly. So nothing is frozen yet, but wait! There is a frost warning for tonight and tomorrow!
When I first moved to California from New York and I saw my first frost warning I thought it was the most preposterous thing in the world. Who cares if there's frost?! I want to know when we're getting three feet of snow! HA! No such thing along the coast. But of course, there are farms.
Produce is one of the life bloods of California. We grow things here. *grin* Necessarily, farmers are interested in climate and weather. It impacts the choices they make during their days, whether or not the fruit is going to be sweet, whether or not wine will be a-m-a-z-i-n-g that year, whether to cover the veggies or not. And believe me, the number of fields we pass when we drive down to Santa Barbara from Hayward make it clear how important farmers' daily actions are.
So now I understand the reason for frost warnings. Of course, I don't need a frost warning myself necessarily. Still, it has special baring on me as well. But I don't need a frost warning to know that I need to take action. You see, I have a sensitive system. It is annoying to say the least. Let me explain the temperature issue. Unless I am used to heat (which thankfully for the moment I am), I slow down. I get so sluggish I stop functioning. On the opposite side of the spectrum, wet cold impacts me in a worse way. Thanks to my British blood, I have small veins. Tiny. And when it gets south of 50F I have to start wearing thick wool socks and gloves. In fact, any exposure of my fingers and toes to the cold causes my blood vessels to constrict and form blood blisters - pernio. It's not contagious, obviously. It has to do with the unique expression of the genes my parents gave me. It's rare. Shows up primarily in people with a lot of British blood (Thanks Dad!). I've only had one or two bad outbreaks where nearly all my fingers and toes were swollen, itchy, and painful. Those of course, were the ones that caused me to investigate what was going on and now I know to take precautions. Because, like many things, it can get worse. If you don't treat an outbreak (i.e. keep your hands warm or take medication if it is very bad) the blisters can ulcerate. Gross!
You can imagine for the past few weeks I've had to don my large woolly socks and wear gloves to drive (leather + metal = bad). Even with my wool socks, my feet are still cold. I get into bed and will push my feet under Java or Christian and frequently shock Christian (fortunately he's a space heater, so it works out). The normal response is "Your feet are ice!" Yes, yes that's me - Queen Ice Digits. Even the carpeted floor doesn't help. Regular socks are useless without slippers. Keep in mind guys, this happens even after I've been working out regularly (unless it is directly after a run for 20+ minutes).
I once heard that an official prep would never wear socks unless there are very specific circumstances. Unless I'm living in a very consistently warm place, there is no way I could meet the description, even if I shopped at J. Crew and Lacoste religiously, I would fail. I need my socks, not just your average athletic sock, I need huge unmistakable thick wool socks, even living in Coastal Southern California I needed them.
Frost warnings? Who needs them! I have cold feet!
P.S. This discussion makes me wonder, does Dumbledore have pernio? Or does J.K. Rowling? Because it is true, you can never have too many good socks.
When I first moved to California from New York and I saw my first frost warning I thought it was the most preposterous thing in the world. Who cares if there's frost?! I want to know when we're getting three feet of snow! HA! No such thing along the coast. But of course, there are farms.
Produce is one of the life bloods of California. We grow things here. *grin* Necessarily, farmers are interested in climate and weather. It impacts the choices they make during their days, whether or not the fruit is going to be sweet, whether or not wine will be a-m-a-z-i-n-g that year, whether to cover the veggies or not. And believe me, the number of fields we pass when we drive down to Santa Barbara from Hayward make it clear how important farmers' daily actions are.
So now I understand the reason for frost warnings. Of course, I don't need a frost warning myself necessarily. Still, it has special baring on me as well. But I don't need a frost warning to know that I need to take action. You see, I have a sensitive system. It is annoying to say the least. Let me explain the temperature issue. Unless I am used to heat (which thankfully for the moment I am), I slow down. I get so sluggish I stop functioning. On the opposite side of the spectrum, wet cold impacts me in a worse way. Thanks to my British blood, I have small veins. Tiny. And when it gets south of 50F I have to start wearing thick wool socks and gloves. In fact, any exposure of my fingers and toes to the cold causes my blood vessels to constrict and form blood blisters - pernio. It's not contagious, obviously. It has to do with the unique expression of the genes my parents gave me. It's rare. Shows up primarily in people with a lot of British blood (Thanks Dad!). I've only had one or two bad outbreaks where nearly all my fingers and toes were swollen, itchy, and painful. Those of course, were the ones that caused me to investigate what was going on and now I know to take precautions. Because, like many things, it can get worse. If you don't treat an outbreak (i.e. keep your hands warm or take medication if it is very bad) the blisters can ulcerate. Gross!
You can imagine for the past few weeks I've had to don my large woolly socks and wear gloves to drive (leather + metal = bad). Even with my wool socks, my feet are still cold. I get into bed and will push my feet under Java or Christian and frequently shock Christian (fortunately he's a space heater, so it works out). The normal response is "Your feet are ice!" Yes, yes that's me - Queen Ice Digits. Even the carpeted floor doesn't help. Regular socks are useless without slippers. Keep in mind guys, this happens even after I've been working out regularly (unless it is directly after a run for 20+ minutes).
I once heard that an official prep would never wear socks unless there are very specific circumstances. Unless I'm living in a very consistently warm place, there is no way I could meet the description, even if I shopped at J. Crew and Lacoste religiously, I would fail. I need my socks, not just your average athletic sock, I need huge unmistakable thick wool socks, even living in Coastal Southern California I needed them.
Frost warnings? Who needs them! I have cold feet!
P.S. This discussion makes me wonder, does Dumbledore have pernio? Or does J.K. Rowling? Because it is true, you can never have too many good socks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)