“It just arrived one day, like she was accidentally pregnant with her own dying. It was pain’s version of the virgin birth—you never did it with death, but somehow it screwed you anyway.” CE Morgan The best literary description of what it feels like to get a cancer diagnosis, from the inimitable author of my […]
I cannot imagine a better kick off to the Mardi Gras season than the confetti snowfall finale of the LSU victory in the National Championship Game Monday night. In exchange for access to the field pre-game, we volunteered for a bizarre job in the press box—like a scene from the Office, in a post-paper world, […]
What I especially love in food and drink, that which is complex and pleasurable on many levels, is also what draws me to the writing of Jane Bowles—her style might as well be the umami of the literary world. Reading Two Serious Ladies would be an archaeological dig to a psychoanalyst. What I loved about […]
I’m afraid that here in Minnesota we have come to the season wherein the mere idea of a sauna is the motive force behind each step I take toward winter. Ooh, it’s getting cold. And I’m frantic to make soup. Or piping hot pizza with all the veggies the summer has left behind. Grilled Chicken […]
Cauliflower, to me, looks like a plant with gout. Not hard to tell I’m back on the old medicine service! Meanwhile, major developments in the backyard garden—cauliflower ready to harvest—only took 75 days of staring at it to get it to bloom. I used to eat Pizza Bagel Mini Bites when I was in grade […]
There’s nothing like an endarterectomy to make you reconsider having pizza for dinner. This might be the last pizza I’ll ever eat. And as such, I’ve shaped it into a large abdominal aortic aneurysm in tribute to the body part it jeopardizes. Surgery has taught me so much. For example, there’s nothing like taking surgery […]
Traveled across an ocean, admittedly of corn, to arrive in Iowa City last night for the Examined Life Conference to which I brought my usual song and dance, and this time, one more song and dance. I have a travel buddy, the infamous Linda Drozdowicz, medical school classmate, aka, the only person you can call […]
Who would have thought potatoes were the secret ingredient of excellent deep dish pizza? The reason? The high starch profile jump-starts fermentation, therein creating a complex profile of flavors, and even leaves a little sugar in excess to sweeten the deep dish crust; also, the potato starches interfere with the gluten bonding among the flour […]
And finally, the last pizza in the pizza marathon. At the finish line was Izzy and KP. So good to be home. Sausage and Bell Pepper Pizza with Basil and Mozzarella Adapted from Baking Illustrated INGREDIENTS for the Basic Pizza Dough 1/2 cup warm water (about 110°) 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast 1 […]
The magic of the Whidbey MFA residency passed too quick! I have the post-residency blues akin to the post-pizza blues—too good, too much, too fast. And although right now I feel as if I shall be full for weeks, tomorrow, I’ll already be hungry for more. Love is half a longing possession does nothing to […]