Why I Oughta...

Last week, Nat the Babe and I went out to give Pazzi di Pizza a try.  It has been open for a few weeks and there's a bit of a buzz about the place.  I've heard from others that they went or are going, so the word-of-mouth is working for them. But, while they're clearly working to get the kinks out of their operation, the place shows some promise. They'll need to improve the main event - the pizza pies - but they're not that far off.  It wouldn't be a wood-fired pizza place if I didn't spend a few minutes snooping around the pizza-making station.  These guys are hand-stretching the dough for each pie on the spot, topping them and getting them in the oven fast. The pizzaiolo said he only likes to put one or two pies in there at a time and keeps the oven at a fairly low temperature (600 degrees).  He said he keeps each pie in the over for 3-4 minutes - which is pretty long for this style. Nat and I each ordered our own pizza.  She picked a make your own wi

Sweet corn isn't the only seed that I planted 10 days ago.  I also sowed a handful of Zucchini seeds - officially called 'Summer Squash'.  These are Burpee's Fordhook variety and they're already very lively. These are always easy to give out to family and neighbors, so getting three or four of these plants to fruit is my goal.  The beetles that arrived by my cucumbers last year took over some of the buds of my Zucchini plants last year so I'm going to try to plant them as far part as I can this year. 

Last weekend, I planted a bunch of plants in the garden, but I also sowed some seeds directly in the ground.  One of those seeds was sweet corn.  Sweet corn seeds look like little shriveled up pieces of corn right off the cob.  The package explicitly called out the process of putting the corn seeds directly in the ground instead of (like other seeds) starting them indoors.  I've never grown sweet corn before, so this was just a shot in the dark.  Turns out?  The seeds germinated VERY fast and now there's a bunch of seedlings that have emerged.  This variety is called Trinity Hybrid and is good for Zone 5 - 6. I think I'm going to have to thin them out (because I planted them too close together), but I'll let them go another few days to allow for the strongest to survive.  According to the package, you're to plant the seeds pretty close together (6 inches) and in blocks instead of long thin rows to aid and ensure pollination.  64 days from now hopefully we'll

My fourth sports-related search trends blog post went up on the Official Google Blog yesterday - just in time for the Mavs victory in game six.  In this piece , we dug in on some professional hoops trends and found some interesting things including how the on-court renaissance that veteran Jason Kidd has under-taken is mirrored online and he's seen a surge as the playoffs wore on.  Have to be happy for him this morning, right?  If the Stanley Cup goes to game seven, I might be able to squeeze in a NHL post all about Lord Stanley's Cup and what a big deal a game seven is for all sports. -------------------------- Here are the live links to all ten of my posts on the Official Google Blog: At the Republican National Convention: Politics in the Cloud and on the Ground  (9/9/08)  Searching for the Next Olympic Host City  (10/1/09)   Searching for the 2010 Stanley Cup  (6/2/10)   Celebrating 10 Years in Chicago ( 12/16/10)   Auto Industry off to a Fast Start in Motown  (1/1

I *thought* I had my garden layout finalized.  After all, I had everything planted.  But, yesterday, we made a trip to Angelo Caputo's Market to pick up some pizza-making supplies (yes!), I wandered out into the garden center and found these beautiful San Marzano plants. I tried my hand at raising these same plants from seeds, but they got leggy and died.  I couldn't pass these up because they'll be PERFECT for my sauce/canning experiment.  Looks like I'm going to have to move some things around to make room for a few of these.  Now...only if I could find some volcanic ash to amend the soil.

While there were certainly plenty of highlights at Matt and Suzie's terrific wedding a few weeks back, one that I knew I had to share here was this photo of Matt's Groom's cake.  I don't know the full backstory (if Matt knew about this or not, where it came from, etc), but this cake had a prime spot - right on the dance floor as we entered the room after cocktails.  And, it was a hit with everyone there.  Now, while I'm certainly gushing about the looks of this Herkey the Hawkeye cake, I can proudly tell you guys that I didn't try one bite of that stinkin' thing.  I wouldn't dare let a crumb of Hawkeye cake cross these lips.  Wouldn't think of such a thing. I did, however have like 4 pieces of their normal wedding cake - which was my favorite (carrot!), so I guess that more than makes up for my stubbornness towards the Illini's enemy. 

This year, I decided to go a slightly different route for the tomato plants in our garden than last year.  Variety was the calling card of our garden last year.  We had big and small.  We had heirlooms and hybrids.  Greens and yellows.  This year, I decided to focus on one core tomato:  the plum.  The reason for this is because I want to can a bunch of them (whole/peeled) in preparation for next spring's completion of the wood-burning pizza oven in our backyard.  What's that you say?  Pizza oven?  Yes.  I think I'm going to push ahead - against some folk's best recommendation.  (more on that later this fall as the pieces come together).  To satisfy my wife (the real tomato eater in our house), I'm going to out and get a few more heirloom plants that are NOT plums, but thus far, I have 9 plants in the ground and 8 of them are plum varieties.  The first of which is called an Amish Paste Tomato.  My mother-in-law found these at a garden center out by her and she