Summer's Return

Sun. Sun. Sun. Warmth and warm breezes. Birdsong rampant overhead. Thick, hearty shadows blooming under every tree, vining their way across the lawn at every burst of sun. 

How we have waited.

And now, all this GREEN!!

Scratch That: Pizza

Here's a post dedicated to the love of making things from scratch. It's not something I always do, but it's certainly never something I regret! Keep in mind my idea of "from scratch" is not fully from scratch. For that, I think I'd have to grow every conceivable vegetable and herb, own a cow for my dairy source, and learn how to mill wheat into flour. Not exactly things I have time or resources...or knowledge to do. At least at this time! (I say, with much wishful thinking haha). So I'll keep it at mostly homemade while I....   Scratch That: Pizza  

Punnyness most definitely intended.

The Recipe

*Preheat the oven to 350˚F

*For the crust, mix:

2.5 cups flour

2.75 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Add 1 tablespoon oil and 3/4 cup water and stir until the mixture forms a ball. If dough is stiff, add more water. Dough will be soft, not sticky. Knead on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes. 

*Pour a few tablespoons of oil on your pizza pan. Use the ball of dough to spread it over the whole pan. Turn the ball over so both sides are now oily. It's much easier to handle this way. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough or just stretch it out with your fingers until it covers the pan, or until crust is the thickness you desire.

*Add toppings. For my pizza, I used:

Meat flavored spaghetti sauce

Lots of pepperoni

Sliced mushrooms

Diced onion

Garlic powder and dried oregano

Shredded Mozzarella and Shredded Italian cheese

*Bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs, until cheese is completely melted and crust springs back to the touch. 

*Total prep and cooking time: about 20-30 minutes!!

The crust can also be made in advance and put in a sealed container or bag in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

The Grocery List and Calculator
(Based on amount used for recipe)

Spaghetti sauce (4 oz) 0.30

Pepperoni (2 oz) 0.75

Sliced mushrooms (4 oz) 1.25

Shredded cheese (16 oz) 2.00

Diced onion (3 oz) 0.20

Garlic powder and dried oregano (sprinkling) 0.01 or less

Flour (2 cups) 0.80

Baking Powder (1 t) 0.01 or less

Oil (1 T) 0.01 or less

approximate total cost of 12" pizza: $4.53 (yeahya!!)

The Nutrition Factor

Unfortunately, I didn't record some nutrition things before throwing away containers, like for the pasta sauce. Maybe next time I do a "Scratch That" I'll have some actual stats in this section. For now, I think it's just common sense that anything homemade is going to be more healthful if only because it isn't completely loaded in every possible way with every strange preservative known to man. 

The Resulting Lack of Any Regret

Mmm, mmm, mmm.  =]

My Favorite Actors Relocate

Well, hello memories!!

If this post crosses over into the melodramatic, it may be quite fitting, as it deals with a set of characters quite skilled in the art of melodrama: childhood toys. See, as I was decluttering my house and getting rid of all those things I'll never miss anyway, I came across a collection of Barbie things. But not just dolls and piles of clothes and furniture. I came across a collection of characters, story-tellers - actors, if you will.



As I removed them from their storage, I could feel the old stories rushing back at me. The daring escapes, the horrible betrayals they experienced as good fought with evil. Barbie rescuing Ken from a cliff, Ken returning the favor by throwing himself in front of a bear to save Barbie. Children packing their lives in the car and running away from the orphanage. Covered wagons and amazonian women swinging on vines and committing Robin-Hood-like feats and heists. Reenacting scenes from movies. Travels to far away lands and distant histories. Soap operas and sit-coms in our hands.

Amazing how these toys are never really things to us. How they are vehicles for our stories. How they were vehicles for our stories. And amazing how even as children we grasp the basics of story.

Christina

I warned you this would get melodramatic. But I'll stop myself and introduce what remains of a once large community of "actors" living in my home and being recalled straight from my childhood. 

There's Christina, who's actually a look-alike and namesake of a doll I had before. She was always typecast as a savvy leader and independent woman. She's played the leader of a band of homeless women, cynical and protective. She's been the working entrepreneur mom with a Househusband, complete with apron, making her pancakes for breakfast on bright pink plates. Her most memorable role to me is singing "Starlight, Starbright" every time there was a talent show. That, and how she'd reveal her shockingly short hair by accident and end up telling the story of a painful past and a horrible disease and all the trial she had endured. And then whoever listened, Ken or Barbie or some younger doll, would be inspired by her personal strength. And a friendship would be forged out of sheer admiration and respect. 

Amy

Then there's Amy, whose roles have included sit-com college student, businesswoman, and pioneer. She was often that unfortunate character who the misogynistic Ken character would hit on first because her physicality fits the apparent stereotype of "bubbly blondes are easy." But her personality and strength defied that in every way, as she always ended up roundhouse kicking Ken to the floor when he wouldn't take no for an answer. And if that doesn't make her enough of a baddass, there's always the nail-polish tattoo on her right bicep. She may be most memorable as rebellious handmaiden to the Ancient Greek Empress in a story involving a diving rivalry between the royal houses of Spain and Greece (apparently in some alternate reality). 

Bobby

And Bobby! Who could forget little Bobby, with that mischievous look on his face. Little brown eyes looking innocently up as if to say, "it wasn't me, I swear." He was always getting into a mess or wandering off and his poor frazzled parents would tear out their plastic hair in agony, wondering what drawer, closet, or cupboard has he hidden himself in this time?

Chris

And then there's Chris. Oh, Prince Charming. How fun it was to play up his cheesiness. And all of the stereotypical stories that involve some cheesy, over-smiling male with a dry-toast personality trying to woo...anyone. But we didn't always let him be that way. Sometimes he was a good guy. Especially in a certain soap opera we created. In that soap opera, he was the boyfriend of a doll with a terminal illness. And also played the fiance to a doll with a super eccentric mother who was constantly baking things and consistently burning them to a crisp in the Barbie oven. He would grimace in anguish whenever the smoke alarm interrupted some romantic speech to his beloved. Of course, the grimace was all in our minds. Cuz...yeah...that smile never ceases. Did I mention he was always a prime candidate for playing the funny guy? He kinda has that look like, "I just told the punniest joke. Ever."

Paige

And little Paige. She's been around a looooong time, some 14 years or so. No wonder she'd end up playing this oh-so-wise toddler, whose monk-like remarks always guided her elders. While the adults were all running around looking for Bobby, she would shake her head and sigh at the futility of their exasperation. If only they would ask her! She knew all that passed in the household, and in all the universe for that matter, apparently. 

"Ohm," she might say, as she meditates on "the sound of one hand clapping." 

It's also hard to forget her part as the daughter of Ariel the mermaid, who was tricked into marrying a Raj of India and later learned he was just the guy from next door whose overstocked pantry was always being depleted by Ariel and her accomplices as they stole from the rich and gave to the poor. 

Eliza

Eliza is one of my favorites ever. In the sit-com family comedy, she played this über athletic tough gal and her brother played this guy who read American-Girl magazines and secretly made paper-and-glue hand crafted items. I suppose we were exploring the swapping of the gender roles that are so easy to notice if you watch even an hour of kid's Saturday morning TV. She's always been this tough little gal, a tomboy typecast almost every time, and another doll who loved to swing on vines and commit feats of daring like the women before her.

The Bags Are Packed

Suppose it's time to box them up again and take them to Goodwill. Hope some kids take them home for a very cheap price and have their own adventures with these characters, telling their own stories of daring-do. As actors, they've had a pretty good run and experienced a whole range of characters and plots. But who's to say they can't go on to wow another audience with their social commentary and versatility? That's what I'm hoping for them. =]

My favorite actors hit the road to some new venue