The important stuff: Sunset 5:24, Sunrise 7:02. Pizza: spinach with pepperoni and olives.
This morning I was cooking breakfast and was thinking about a meme I saw on Facebook a while ago, “Admit it, everyone has a favorite burner on the stove, but no one talks about it.” It’s true – I always scramble eggs on the lefthand burner and cook bacon on the right. Yes, I can cook two things at once with minimal burning. I generally wait until the bacon is done before doing the toast – I have my limits.
That’s not what I wanted to write about today. Honestly, I forgot what I was going to write about. I’ve been asked to preach a sermon at our church during lent and I’ve been working on that all afternoon. Yesterday I had a really good ATPC episode outlined in my brain, but right now, poof – can’t remember any of it. All I can really remember right now is stuff I’m putting in my message. I’m disappointed as I recall there were a couple of good jokes in there for today’s post.
I think it was about cooking or going to the grocery store. I will admit that I go to the grocery store more often than I cook. Generally Heather and I go together to the store. She makes a list and I check off the items as she puts them in the cart. I’m also taller than her so it’s my job to reach the things on the top shelf and I lift the heavy things, which is the main reason she wants me to go with her. After 21 years of marriage, I’ve learned to not say, “That’s not on the list,” as she puts things in the cart. I’ve also learned that I can sneak a bag of cookies in and she won’t notice until we get home.
Not that I do that – every week. Sometimes I put in a bag of snack almonds or pop corn without announcing it. Risky, I know …
Speaking of pizza, tonight in the second night in a row that we’re having pizza. Last night we went out to pizza with Heather’s portrait group. They have a show at the local museum and yesterday was the open house. Heather and I spent most of the afternoon there. Heather helped with snacks, and answered questions about her art. I was there to carry things in from the car, eat the snacks and be available to be introduced as Heather’s husband. Afterwards we got rewarded with pizza for dinner and an enjoyable time socializing with the members of the portrait society. As we left the restaurant Heather was a little concerned that having pizza on a Saturday meant we couldn’t have it on Sunday, but after a short conversation we both agreed that you can’t have too much pizza so pizza was still on for tonight too.
That’s about it for this week. Sorry I can’t remember what I was going to write about. I promise that next week I’ll be finished with my other writing and will devote all my attention to episode 9.
and here are the four portraits Heather has in the show:
Andrew's View of the Week 
Because of the way our range on our stove is designed, I cook most meat on the left burner because it’s the largest. I prefer the rear right one for soups. The other 2 I don’t use often.
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We have a couple of very large burners that don’t get much use with just two of us in the house.
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We had pizza weekend last weekend. Birthday party for little Joe Saturday afternoon–pizza was served. We had pizza for dinner that night. The next day, Daughter had a thing to attend which also served pizza. It’s the universal party food, I guess. I was going to cook steak and potatoes Saturday night, but got behind, so threw a pizza in the oven instead. Yours with pepperoni, olives, and spinach sounds great.
Nice job to your wife on those paintings!
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Pizza – food of the gods. 😉
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Truly. Move over ambrosia!
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🙂
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Pizza is just too good, isn’t it? And Heather’s artwork is incredible. You both make a great creative team! 🙂
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Creative is a strong bond.
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Heather’s portraits are very special, Andrew. I am sure you play an important role in supporting her art, as well as keeping her pizza supply plentiful! Very important work!
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She does great work and I do all I can to encourage her to keep going.
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Wow, I love Heather’s portraits! That’s a type of art I never attempt — it’s just too hard for me. If I get the proportions of a flower wrong, nobody notices, but make someone’s nose too big or eyes too small, and yikes!
Your spinach/pepperoni/olives sounds delicious. Yesterday mine was zucchini/pepperoni/ham/salami/mushrooms/onions/peppers. I love homemade pizza — I can load it up with anything I want! 🙂
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Heather’s worked hard on these and just loves it. We start with a frozen pizza, but one of these days I’m going to attempt to make my own pizza dough.
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Pizza dough is easy! Here’s my recipe, which makes 2 medium-thickness pizza crusts; or 3 thin pizza crusts; or, in our household, a thin one for me and an extra-thick one for Hubby.)
We start around 5:00 PM for a 6:00 PM supper. I make the crust while Hubby preps the toppings, and the timing works out so the crusts are ready to load up about the same time the toppings are ready.
1.5 cups warm water
1.5 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and sprinkle the yeast over top. Let stand until it starts to bubble (usually takes 5 minutes or less).
Mix flour and salt together in another bowl.
Stir the yeast solution until smooth, pour it into the dry ingredients, and add the oil.
Stir everything together and keep stirring until all the loose flour is pulled into a dough ball.
Turn the dough ball out on a lightly floured surface and knead about 10 times, just enough to make the dough consistent throughout (but don’t worry if it’s not perfect).
Spread a light coating of oil on your worksurface. Divide the dough. With oiled hands, press the first crust into shape on the oiled surface. Begin at the middle of the dough ball and press down and outward to gradually thin and expand the crust. When it’s about the size you want, transfer it into your greased pizza pan and reshape the crust (it always stretches out of round when you pick it up).
You can put on your sauce and toppings immediately – by the time you’ve loaded your toppings up, the dough will have risen.
I bake our pizzas at 425°F on the convection setting. Our oven isn’t big enough to bake them side by side, so I bake them one above the other and swap their places at about the 13-minute mark. The thin-crust pizza takes about another 5 – 7 minutes after the switch; the thick-crust takes about 8 – 10 minutes after the switch. Depending on your oven and the thickness of your toppings, ‘your mileage may vary’.
Enjoy! 🙂
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I just showed this to Heather. She said, print it out, let’s try it. I’ll let you know what happens.
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No such thing as too much pizza! As for the grocery list, you should know by now that it’s only a starting point. Love the portraits. That’s one thing I never tried. Outdoors, buildings, etc. But never people. My hat’s off to Heather.
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Heather’s always wanted to do portraits and I have to say that since she joined the portrait group, she’s improved a lot.
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Pizza two days in a row? Sounds very good to me! I’m with you on the sitting down to write and then promptly forgetting what you were going to write. Thanks for sharing your wife’s lovely portraits – she’s obviously very talented!
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She’s a great artist as fas as I’m concerned.
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Pizza is the food of the gods… 🙂
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It is! 😉
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Lovely pictures. There is a lot of personality in those faces.
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and Heather has a way of bringing those personalities out.
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So nice to see your wife’s work. Love the pictures. And the grocery shopping story. And I hope you remember what you forgot. I hate when that happens.
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Heather is a good artist and is really enjoying her portrait work.
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Excellent choice of toppings for your Sunday night pizza (which I’m able to say even as I anticipate breakfast in the next hour). I really admire Heather’s work. Something about the woman in the upper right draws me in; probably that winning smile.
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Heather likes that face too, she’s done a couple of studies to get it just right.
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You and Heather are just delightful creatives. (Since shoulder replacement three years ago during Covid, my husband took over grocery shopping. I haven’t been in the grocery store since! Turns out he can do it quicker without me.) Hurrah for pizza!
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I’d do the shopping on my own, but I only bring back what’s on the list, so she comes along to make sure I get what she really wanted.
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Good day to you. Heather’s portraits are awesome. People are so hard to do and she really did a great job. I love the Native girl. All are just beautiful. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. 🙂
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Heather puts a lot of work into them. That model is a member of one of our local tribes
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I don’t know the people in those portraits, but experience has taught me that painting a portrait is extremely difficult, especially trying to get a good likeness.
It takes a lot to put portraits in a show, because most people will judge them by the standards of a photograph, which, obviously, is totally unfair .
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Heather has been working with portraits for awhile and she’ll tell you that they are hard to do.
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Having expensive and expansive tastes. I used to sneak in packets of dark chocolate digestive biscuits and be forgiven at home. Tell Heather I love the portraiture.
Hugs.
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Heather is a great artist and I think research shows that dark chocolate digestives are actual good for your health … 😉
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