Why I Oughta...

For the most part, the pizza making season in the Parrillo household is winding down.  Sure...we'll grill pizza pies a few times this summer, but on average fall and winter are our prime pizza making seasons.  Each year, I try to add an element to our pizza making routine.  In the past it was using Scamorza Cheese (more on this later) or 6 in 1 tomatoes for sauce.  They were nice improvements that lead to better tasting pies. This year, I decided to make the move to "00" flour - which is an Italian-style very "fine" flour .  While I didn't notice a HUGE difference, I believe that was because I have continued to tinker with the flour recipe - both in ingredients and proofing time/method/containers.   I'll be watching this stuff go on sale at Angelo Caputo's Market this year (it is a bit pricey - about 4X the price of normal flour), and see if I can finally settle on a crust recipe by this fall.   If you want to know more about Caputo, check out this

We give away these USB drives to customers/friends in the Chicago office.  Seems a bit incongruent with the whole notion of " cloud computing ", no? The next person who can come to lunch at the office can take this pretty thing home.  Who's available?

Today was the last day of the build.  They got it all done including the soffits, fascia, and gutters. This photo (taken earlier) doesn't include the gutters, but they're there.  Well...one of them is there.  The other will wait until after the inspection. We now wait until sometime next week when the electrician shows up.  He'll light the place up and get the overhead openers working properly.

Back in April, Google showed the Governor's race in Illinois as a dead heat .  Both Pat Quinn and Bill Brady were running neck-and-neck.   Turning to May, it seems that Governor Pat Quinn has regained a bit of ground in the query game and is now running a bit ahead of Senator Bill Brady.  Here's the chart as of this morning.  (click the image to blow it up bigger) Was the spike for Brady related to his tax return releases? I think public polling is showing Brady a bit ahead, so we'll see if the query volume will match the polls or lag behind.  Check back in June for the next update!

More progress of the garage.  They finished up the shingles on the backside of the garage and started on the house side.  There has been plenty of innovations in the construction industry, but apparently the tarpaper below the shingles isn't one of them. Then got busy laying the shingles.  They're doing a nice job of staggering them so the seams don't overlap. They finished up the roof but didn't get the siding done.  They tell me that they'll finish it tomorrow.  Then on to the epoxy floor!

The carpenters showed up early Tuesday morning and got started right away.  The progress slowed a great deal today as they only sheathed the roof and began to apply the shingles to the backside.  They popped the windows in, so it has a more finished look.  Here's how it stands after two full days on the build. When they started, they said they'd have it done in 3 days.  I'm skeptical.

Early Monday morning, our lumber and carpenters showed up to get started on the framing of our new garage.  I had to work, so I'm glad Nat was there to chronicle the progress.  They say that they'll be done by Wednesday - but I'm skeptical.  Every contractor we've dealt with has always under-delivered time-wise. But if someone is going to get the job done on time, it seems to be these guys.  They said they'd get to my house before 7 am, and they were there ready to work by 6:30.  I like that.  Here they are showing up with the material. They unloaded some of the materials, then dumped the rest right from the truck.  It had to have woken up the neighbors. These carpenters meant business and got going framing up the walls. These two guys lifted each section into place. They tied them together pretty quickly.   The covered the whole thing in plywood. Here it is all closed up.  Windows will be cut on this side. Like this! Because the spans are pretty big abov

Last week we were at Home Run Inn on 31st Street and saw a promotional flyer for their "Through Thick and Thin" Wedding contest - where couples can enter to win a dream wedding at Wrigley Field this summer (I took the photo below with my phone).  I immediately didn't understand how creative the marketing folks were at Home Run Inn.  See....there are two pizza companies sponsoring the contest:  Home Run Inn and Lou Malnati's.  Get it?  Thick = Lou's, Thin = Home Run Inn.  Pretty stinkin' clever. If you are getting married this summer, just submit a 500 word essay and you and betrothed will be sharing your nuptials with 41,000 of your closest friends during the Sox/Cubs game on June 13th. While I'm not thrilled with the location (what's wrong with Comiskey?!?!), I do think it is a pretty great promotion!

Say hello to my Saturday. Seriously.  This was (for me, at least) a pretty serious DIY project. Since we've moved in, one of my "to do's" has been to work on "sinking" a drainage system that diverts the water from our gutters away from our house and to a low spot in our yard.  When it rains hard, we get a little bit of seepage into our basement.  Not a lot of water, just some dampness.  I am hypothesizing that it was because the water would run from our downspouts and into the ground next to the house.  because of grading, the land contoured back towards our foundation. I went to Menard's early this morning and bought 10 10-foot lengths of sewer pipe and a whole series of joints and connectors.  I have put in a "T" in the middle as I'm planning on putting in a surface curtain drain - right in the middle of our new vegetable/victory garden.  The trench still needs to get filled in, but I'll get to that after I ensure the system '

Last night, I went to pick up (remember....pizza delivery is for suckers!) our pie from Lou Malnati's in Downtown Elmhurst and I spied something "new" on the counter.  Here's a photo of my front seat on the way home with the "new" item I picked up.  (note the 'cracked pizza box, too!) Guess I didn't have to wait to long , after all.