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Day 56-58: Comfort City

Happy weekend, everybody.  I hope that you're finding a way to make it feel special.  Today, we met our friend Kathleen for a masks-on walk at the Marine Corps Memorial.  We walked down the hill, past Arlington Cemetery, and then halfway across Memorial Bridge.

I suspect that the "opening up" part of this pandemic (which we are not to yet, here, at all) is going to be more challenging, emotionally, than the lockdown part.   We are comfortable here, but things like visiting old places and seeing important people are not going to be the same as Before.  I'm trying to keep a balanced perspective: we will build different relationships and habits, and those will feel normal and fun and comforting at some point.  But this week, I'm really feeling the losses, of all the little interactions across the day that make me feel like I'm a part of a community, and of the ease of being social.

But we cooked and ate some good food.

New England Greek-Style Pizza
This is the pizza that Jeff grew up with.  New England Greek-style Pizza is a cross between a Sicilian slice and a more traditional parlor-style pie.  The crust is almost like foccacia-- doused in olive oil and cooked in a cast-iron skillet.  It doesn't have corn meal, as a Chicago-style would.  And it's thinner, though not thin.  We had a place in Boston we would order from, Natalie's, where we would always go for pepperoni, olives, and red onion.  We had a craving, and looked forward to Friday pizza night almost all week long.

When I went searching for a recipe, I was thrilled to see that J. Kenji López-Alt had given it the Serious Eats treatment.  I followed the recipe almost exactly (cutting it in half, because two people definitely don't need two pizzas!).  I just needed two small changes.  One: I had all-purpose flour, not bread flour.  No biggie.  And two: my yeast was active dry.  So, while I mixed the other ingredients, I bloomed the yeast with a few Tbsp of the (warm) water, a little of the flour, and a pinch or two of sugar.  The no-knead dough raised for 8 hours before I turned it out, washed the bowl, and oiled it up.  I let it rise for 40 minutes from there, in a slightly warm oven.  And then, after turning out into the pan, it had another 50 minute rise.  I needed to bake for 25 minutes in our oven (darn you, electric!), but then we were set to go.
The sauce was simple and amazingly delicious-- it called for cooking 2/3 of the tomatoes until they were thick and jammy, then stirring in the last third right at the end.  It was rich, but still bright--right on the money for what Jeff had in mind.  And the mix of cheeses (mozzarella, white cheddar, and parmesan-- from a can is fine!) was the perfect balance.  As evinced by the glamour shots, it was a beautiful pie.  And while it took some time, it was not particularly labor intensive.  We'll be going back to that one again and again.

 BLT
I think a BLT on toasted sourdough is about the perfect sandwich.  There are a couple of places near my office that do them very well, and I was missing it.  Saturday brunch it was, with mango mimosas.

Lunch Turkey Tacos
Friday lunch, I used tortillas to make a turkey-bacon-cheddar sandwich, of sorts.  1000 Island dressing, melted cheese, red onion, shredded ice berg lettuce, and smoked turkey fried in a little bacon grease?  Delicious.
Donuts to Go
Our out-of-the-house meal this week was a selection of donuts from our neighborhood favorite, District Doughnut.  They do amazing work.  Behold: Nutella cream, vanilla bean glaze, strawberry glaze, and Funfetti cake.  Thursday breakfast: win!

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