American Pi

An engineer already!

Happy Pi Day! Yes, it's uber geeky, but today's date is 3.14, which is also the value of the variable known as Pi. So in honor of our littlest Spadaro Engineer, happy Pi day! And in appreciation of such a random day, I'm going to share a recipe for homemade pizza (pie) dough. It's actually much easier than I thought it was going to be.

In other news, Alabama just had its primary elections yesterday. It isn't a secret that there are a lot of republicans around, but did you know that when we registered to vote they didn't even ask us what party we wanted to be registered as? I guess they just assume that everyone is republican. Ha!


 Because of this, it means that yesterday was an open primary. And I was excited that although not being a republican, I could still vote and be part of the process. So as soon as Derek got home from work, we jumped in the car and headed to the polls - I don't think that Alabama has absentee ballots, and certainly isn't like Oregon where they've completely done away with polls entirely. And the experience of physically voting at the ballot box really made me reminiscent of my childhood. I remember going into a curtained off stall (in my memory it's like an all-black shower stall complete with curtain) with my mother and watching her vote. Oh how things have changed.

When we got to the polls, I was a bit saddened to find that they asked me if I wanted to vote republican or democrat. I had a momentary identity crisis (do I say republican so I can vote in the republican primary or do I give the honest answer that I'm a democrat?). I ended up deciding that I couldn't say republican without feeling guilty, so I took the democratic ballot and headed to my cubbyhole.

Needless to say, I was one of a very small number of people who voted democrat in this primary (I signed in on line 18 one hour before the polls closed). But, I did get to cast my vote for Obama. Hahaha. Not only was I not able to vote for one of the republican candidates, but all of the local primaries were also republicans and therefore my ballot was about as short as it could be.

Oh well. It was a fun experience nonetheless. Now time to enjoy some pizza pi!

This is a spin-off of a recipe from the Joy of Cooking. Feel free to modify it with your own favorite spices and seasonings.

Homemade Pizza Dough
4 Cups flour
1 Tbsp garlic (fresh or powder)
1 Packet yeast
1 1/3 Cups warm water (approx 85 degrees)
2 Tbsp olive oil (I used Extra Virgin)
1 tsp salt

1. Make sure your water is warm to the touch, but not hot. If it is too hot, the yeast will die. Pour the yeast into the water and allow to dissolve (takes approx 5 minutes). If you don't see foam beginning to form after 5 minutes, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar or less. That should do the trick.

2. Mix olive oil with yeast. Combine flour, salt, and garlic powder.

Addison loves Italian food. It's in her blood!

3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix. You may want to use your hands and thoroughly knead the mix together. Knead dough for 10 minutes until thoroughly mixed and a bit elastic feeling.

4. Put dough in a bowl and cover with saran wrap or a damp cloth for 3 hours. Dough should appear 2x in size.

5. Punch down dough, divide into 2 parts. Stretch dough into desired shape (feel free to try throwing, but make sure to stay away from the ceiling fan when you do).

6. Put down a sprinkle of corn meal on pizza pan or pizza stone. Lay dough on cooking surface. Brush top with olive oil, then dress with whatever sauce and toppings you want. Bake for approx 25 minutes at 400 degrees.

A Walk in the Neighborhood

It seems that everyone is getting busier and busier as Christmas approaches, even Addison. Now that she has learned to walk, crawling is a thing of the past. Unfortunately, along with the mastery of walking comes many bumps and bruises. Thankfully none have been too severe yet, and a kiss and smile seem to be all it takes to get her on her way once more. Let's hope this stage lasts for a while yet.

So in the spirit of walking, and because the weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny, we decided to go on a walk this weekend in search of the neighborhood coffee shop. Now that may not sound like much considering in Santa Barbara we were only 300 yards from a favorite restaurant, but here in Huntsville the situation is a bit different. Our house is situated in a very nice established neighborhood, and we are at the very back of it. In fact, we are across the street from a park and a land trust. So, it takes about 4 minutes to drive out of the neighborhood, let alone walk.

Despite all of this, we wanted to see if it could be done. So, after bundling Addison in the stroller, we set off. W headed to Olde Towne Coffee Shoppe, which is in the Five Points area nearby. Five Points is what I describe as the hippie / young and kidless area of town. Probably the area that is closest to Santa Barbara in feeling (if there is such a thing). There is a Thai restaurant, local grocer, acupuncturist, some artsy shops, and Olde Towne Coffee. It took us about 45 minutes to walk there from our house, so it's what I would consider to be close.

Olde Towne Coffee was great. There were a couple of people outside playing chess, inside others were carrying on various philosophical and intellectual conversations, and it was obvious that most of these folks were regulars. There was no option for grande on the menu, but the coffee was good and the selection of specialty coffee drinks was plentiful. I enjoyed it very much and hope to come back soon. I'm not sure I know of another non-chain coffee shop in Huntsville (actually I think I've only seen Starbucks around), so that definitely added to it's charm.

We took a different route on our walk back, and although it still took 45 minutes, we had the fun of going straight through the big old cemetery. Maple Hill cemetery has been around for a very long time. Just glancing at some of the headstones we passed, I saw a few where the person buried had died in the 1800s; and I could see other headstones that looked to be even older. Now this cemetery is huge, and every year they have an event - a stroll - where actors dress up in period clothing and tell the stories of various people who are buried there; after our short walk through, I'd really like to go next year. I'm not sure why, but old cemeteries really fascinate me. And this one is so big, it's really impressive, too.

Anyways, that's enough for now. I'll give my recipe for scones in honor of the coffee shop, and save more ramblings about our neighborhood for another post.

Blueberry Scones

3 1/2 cups flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup blueberries
4 eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream

Mix all dry ingredients together. Then cut butter in with pastry blender (or 2 knives if you're like me and don't own a pastry blender). Once butter is cut into pea sized pieces or smaller, mix in blueberries.

Next beat the eggs and set 4 Tbsp aside to brush on the scones before baking. The rest mix with the cream. Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible. You want the batter to just barely stick together, but not be fully meshed. The more hidden small chunks of butter there are, the better.

Then form the dough into wedge shaped scones (or whatever shape you want) and lay on a greased cookie sheet. Brush with the egg previously set aside, and dust with sugar.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.