Pie Day!

November 23, 2022 By Carole

Today is the day for baking the Thanksgiving pies, friends. I am making 4 this year. 4 pies for 8 guests. Yep. But the reality is that when it comes to Thanksgiving, it’s important to have everyone’s favorite. So we will have . . . apple, mincemeat, pumpkin, and cranberry pecan.

I made the crusts yesterday so I’m ready to hit the ground running this morning. And everything else is also on track . . . the gravy, cranberry sauce, and mashed turnips/carrots are all done. I’ve delegated other sides and on Thanksgiving itself I only have to do the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

I hope your Thanksgiving prep, travel, plans are going perfectly.

Let’s Make Pizza

May 11, 2022 By Carole

I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone when I say that I adore our new Ooni Pizza Oven. It was a purchase I thought a lot about, having wanted one since last summer. I read a bunch of articles rating various brands of pizza ovens and pretty quickly decided on Ooni, but then there was still the matter of deciding which model to get. I knew I wanted gas, but thought it would be cool to have the option of using wood, too. I talked to a couple of friends who have Oonis and got their take. And then I read a very thorough review from America’s Test Kitchen (I’d link to it but it’s behind a pay wall) which basically said that the pizza isn’t in the oven long enough to really impart any flavor from the wood smoke and it also pointed out that maintaining a hot enough fire with just wood is tricky.

I’m practical enough to know that any sort of barrier to using an item like this is going to mean I don’t use it at all, so I pretty quickly gave up the idea of wood fired and went with the Ooni Koda 12 Gas Powered Pizza Oven. I bought a bundle directly from Ooni so I also got a pizza peel, an infrared thermometer, and a carry cover. Knowing that we’d use it more with a permanent place to keep it set up, I bought a stainless steel cart with wheels from Amazon. My investment in this was just over $650. Like I said . . . not cheap. But 100% worth it. We’ve made 18 pizzas now which brings the per pizza cost down to $36. Ha!

I made my own dough using the recipe from Ooni. It makes enough for 4 pizzas and when I don’t make all 4 I stick the extras in the freezer. My hope is to have a stash of frozen pizza dough for those times when I don’t have the inclination to make it fresh. I also use the pizza sauce recipe on the Ooni website and it’s simple and quick and delicious. It’s even better now that I’ve got my own basil growing.

As for types of pizzas, my favorite is a simple margherita pizza with just sauce, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil. Dale is partial to pepperoni. On Mother’s Day I got a little bit fancier and made one with fig jam, goat cheese, and arugula. The trickiest part of the process is launching the pizza into the oven. Sometimes it sticks and I haven’t been able to understand why that happens seemingly randomly, although I’m starting to suspect it’s when the dough is too warm to start. Out of the 18 we’ve made I’ve only had one be a total loss so I think that’s pretty good. And, as a friend said to me, even when it’s not perfect . . . it’s still better than anything I can get where I live. You know what else is better? A pizza cooks in 60 seconds. Yep. 60 seconds.

I’m looking forward to using this more as the weather gets warmer. I’m thinking pizza parties under the pergola all summer long! I sure wish you could join us!

St Lucia Day

December 13, 2021 By Carole

Today is St. Lucia Day in Sweden, a day that celebrates the return of the light as December 13th was recognized as the winter solstice under the old Julian calendar. In our house that means I make lussekatter, casually known as lucia buns.

I made them yesterday, using this recipe, and they were simple to make and absolutely delicious, too. I did not wear a crown of candles on my head, nor did I wear a long white gown with a red sash, but I felt very clever and very Swedish anyway.

We ate some yesterday, shared some with Jack, put a bunch in the freezer and still saved some for this morning. I will be having one with my coffee, acknowledging my Swedish heritage and celebrating the return of the light.

St. Lucia Day

December 15, 2020 By Carole

Sometimes Tuesday rolls around and . . . there’s nothing to really blog about. So, with not much to say, I’ll show you a picture of the saffron buns I made on Sunday in honor of St. Lucia Day in Sweden. And I’ll link to my favorite recipe for them so that next year when I go to make them again I’ll remember that this is the one I prefer.

They were yummy.

Happy Tuesday.

Thanksgiving Week . . . With Pie

November 24, 2020 By Carole

The decision has been made with regards to pie. There will be 3. And they will be full sized. As cute as those little pies are I worry that they will be . . . fussy to make and more challenging than just following my usual pie formula. So, later today I will make 2 sets of pie dough instead of my usual 5. And tomorrow I will make a pumpkin, a mincemeat, and a cranberry pecan. In the spirit of pie, I found this poem to share with you. I think the title couldn’t be more appropriate because pie = perfection!

Perfect for Any Occasion

Pies have a reputation.
And it’s immediate—no talk of potential

Regarding a pie. It’s good
Or it isn’t, but mostly it is—sweet, very sweet

Right then, right there, blue and red.
It can’t go to junior college,

Work hard for the grades,
Work two jobs on the side.

It can’t slowly build a reputation
And a growing client base.

A pie gets one chance
And knows it, wearing as makeup

Those sparkling granules of sugar,
As a collar those diamond cutouts

Bespeaking Fair Day, felicity, contentment.
I tell you everything is great, says a pie,

Great, and fun, and fine.
And you smell nice, too, someone says.

A full pound of round sound, all ahh, all good.
Pies live a life of applause.

But then there are the other pies.
The leftover pies. The ones

Nobody chooses at Thanksgiving.
Mincemeat? What the hell is that? people ask,

Pointing instead at a double helping of Mr.
“I-can-do-no-wrong” pecan pie.

But the unchosen pies have a long history, too.
They have plenty of good stories, places they’ve been—

They were once fun, too—
But nobody wants to listen to them anymore.

Oh sure, everybody used to love lard,
But things have changed, brother—things have changed.

That’s never the end of the story, of course.
Some pies make a break for it—

Live underground for a while,
Doing what they can, talking fast,

Trying to be sweet pizzas, if they’re lucky.
But no good comes of it. Nobody is fooled.

A pie is a pie for one great day. Last week,
It was Jell-O. Tomorrow, it’ll be cake.