It Started with a Journal

Today was a surprisingly gorgeous day in Seattle -- I don't know what the official temp was, but it felt like a summer day (a Seattle summer day, anyway, meaning that it was warm and lovely) and the sky was cloudless and very blue. And of course today was the day I slept in until almost 2pm, because I'd stayed up until 5am the night before, so I missed most of it, sigh. Not that I would have done anything outdoorsy anyway, but seeing the blue skies and sun outside my window and not having to turn my heater on would have been very nice. Now it's already dark and over with -- dare I hope tomorrow will be the same? It was one of those days that Seattle occasionally gets in May that gets me hoping (in vain) that summer is right around the corner. Luckily it's January so I'm not fooled.

I went to Circuit City yesterday to see if I could snag any good deals; it was quite a disappointing experience. First of all, there were tons of people there, all hoping for the same thing, but there wasn't really anything much on sale. Some things were 10% off (digital cameras, movies, accessories), while other things were at regular prices (video games, iPods, TVs, computers). For me it was barely even a sale. I mean, 10%? Lame. Especially on things like their movies, which are overpriced anyway. However, tell that to the 25+ people who waited in line to pay for their purchases. Honestly, I don't even know what they got or why. At those prices the items that were on sale were probably about equal to prices you could find online. I guess people can't resist a "going out of business" sale regardless of whether or not it's actually a good deal. I roamed the entire store and really, there was nothing worth purchasing at those prices. I'll try again next weekend -- the pickings will be slimmer but hopefully they will continue to discount more and more to get rid of the remaining stock. The one thing that caught my eye was an open box Nikon D90. It's a really big camera and much stronger than my D40, so it wouldn't be for everyday use, and unlike my D40 can shoot movies. It was $1,089 for being open box, with an additional 10% off. That's still a lot of money for a camera I don't really need. However if it's still there when I go back and it's discounted further, I may seriously consider it.

Ever since I tried to go to Paseo and they were closed for vacation, I have been craving it. I've even considered maybe trying to make my own pulled pork, but theirs is indescribable and I have no idea what goes into it -- it's not BBQ sauce, that's for sure. I'm not the only one who is missing them; I love this latest review on Yelp:

"We go through this same trial separation every year, and every year I stay up late thinking about you. Christmas vacation should have been over weeks ago, and I cannot take it anymore! If I can don't eat a slippery caramelized sweet onion soon, there's gonna be a Midnight Cuban Missile Crisis."

Every single person who reviews Paseo waxes on and on about the Midnight Cuban, because Yes, It Really Is That Good. "Men if you are ever wondering what a woman will sound like in a bedroom, bring her here, pay $7.50 and you will have your answer after the first bite." -- haha, what she said!! And everyone also seems to have the same experience of getting there too late and Paseo being out of sandwich bread. It's like, if there's consistent demand ORDER MORE BREAD. Sheesh.

Some of you may be familiar with my love of New York pizza. I can't get enough of it when I go there, and often have it every single day. I don't know why it's so difficult (or undesirable) to replicate it outside of that state, particularly on the West Coast. That's why I was so excited about Mulberry Street Pizza, which ropo and I went to after saying NO THANK YOU to Benihana's (btw, omg @ the vermin thing dude) weekend lunch prices. I then made a post to the Food Porn community about it, complaining about the lack of such a pizza in Seattle, and two suggestions were made: Pagliacci Pizza (it's OK pizza, but is definitely not NY style pizza) and Pudge Bros, which claims to have NY style pizza.

( Pudge Bros Pizza experience. )

Well, the English muffins were a failure. I'm trying again tonight. I've been keeping a fully active sourdough starter on the counter that I made from the French sourdough culture, and every time it needs to be fed (which is twice a day), I have to discard 90% of it. The whole thing is around 100 grams, so really that's only about 90 grams being discarded, but I hate to waste. The only other things I can do with it is to either use it or give it to someone else so they can have their own culture to care for. Sourdough starter anyone? :P So I've been keeping the discard and using that for these English muffin trials.

The thing with making pizza dough is that you inevitably have to make enough dough for like multiple pizzas. I froze 3 dough balls, put 2 in the fridge, and used one yesterday. Today I made pizza again from one of the dough balls in the fridge and made a pictorial out of the experience!

( A pizza pictorial! )