Ordered Chaos

Dearest Thief,

O unfortunate creature, wherefore art thou a burglar? You came not as a thief in the night, but as an unwanted visitor under blazing sun. You entered our hearts uninvited and left broken glass pumping through our veins. Your invasion wreaks of moral death and the volume of your theft drowns the noise you didn’t make, the noise our neighbors didn’t hear.

But we hear you. We see you everyday. You surface in the uneducated, in the absence of meaningful relationships. Your inconspicuous colors shine brilliantly with ignorance, and your downward eyes meet only the cold pavement that deserves nothing better than the bottom of my shoes. You eat the food you’ve never cooked, you sleep in the bed you’ve never made, and you spend the money you’ve never earned. Shame on you for receiving without gift. And shame on you for looking without blinking.

One day the dirt you’re so unknowingly focused on shall lodge itself permanently in your unblinking eyes. And on that day your heart will fill with such solitude that you’ll realize, it is only your heart that houses broken glass, and it is none other than your heart that you’ve shattered. For we, the resilient, can bounce higher than you’ll ever jump. And we, the hard-workers, the earners, the tolerant and the givers will be the judges that give you an undeserving second chance. A chance at a life that is real. A life that is earned. A life that is appreciated and returned tenfold to those who participate. For to be human we must be compassionate. It is a criterion for membership in our species, and its absence indicates evolutionary failure.

Although I’m inclined to do so, more importantly I’m obligated as a human being to show compassion to you, fair burglar. Should you one day find yourself stuck like gum to the bottom of a shoe, may that shoe walk a path of moral servitude and unconditional compassion. And may that shoe empower you to walk, on your own two feet, out of the coffin you’ve spent your entire life whittling.

Sincerely and compassionately,
Victim 2341

Want to know what happens when I get too excited? I’ll tell you. Pizza! Stile Italiano, that is. Okay, so maybe not purely Italian style, but close! I opt for homemade everything, except yeast of course. Now let’s say that you think I over-analyze everything. And let’s imagine for just a moment that you’re correct. What does that mean in this situation? That means that I have a philosophy about pizza! Yep, that’s right. You see, “pizza” to me is like a fill-in-the-blank question without a correct answer. It’s a crust made of (fill-in-the-blank), topped with (fill-in-the-blank) and garnished with…well, you get the idea. Alton Brown might call it a vessel for endless possibilities, and I’d agree.So what exactly did I do with my time? Check it out:

Dough
1 1/2 cups all-purpose white flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp quick-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients with a whisk in a large bowl, and add the water and oil. Stir with a dough whisk or wooden spoon until a mass forms.
2. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes, adding a little flour until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.
3. Gently form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled large bowl. Swirl the bowl around to coat the dough in oil, cover with plastic and put it in a draft-free area. I like to put in an unheated oven and place a pan underneath it with hot water. This ensures the oven stays just slightly warm and moist. Let the dough rise until doubled, hopefully around 30 minutes (more if you’re using active dry yeast).
4. Remove plastic wrap, gently massage large air bubbles from dough, and turn out onto floured surface. Cut in half, form each half into ball, and flatten them into discs. Cover them lightly with the plastic wrap and let them rest for about 10-15 minutes (a good ole “bench rest”). If you’re only going to make one pizza, only give one the bench rest, bag the other in a ziploc sprayed with cooking spray and refrigerate. Better yet, just make two pizzas.

Garlic Pepper Oil
1/3 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Put the oil in a skillet or small saucepan and add the garlic and pepper flakes while the oil is still cool.
2. Turn on the heat to medium and let the oil come to a slight sizzle. As soon as this happens, turn off the heat and let the oil sit until you’re ready to use it.

Marinara Sauce (from America’s Test Kitchen)
2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes , packed in juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
2 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup dry red wine, such as Chianti or Merlot
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Table salt and ground black pepper
1 – 2 tsp sugar, as needed

1. Pour tomatoes and juice into strainer set over large bowl. Open tomatoes with hands and remove and discard fibrous cores; let tomatoes drain excess liquid, about 5 minutes. Remove 3/4 cup tomatoes from strainer and set aside. Reserve 2 1/2 cups tomato juice and discard remainder.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden around edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and oregano and cook, stirring constantly, until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Add tomatoes from strainer and increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring every minute, until liquid has evaporated and tomatoes begin to stick to bottom of pan and brown fond forms around pan edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Add wine and cook until thick and syrupy, about 1 minute. Add reserved tomato juice and bring to simmer; reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally and loosening browned bits, until sauce is thick, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Transfer sauce to food processor (or transfer to saucepan and insert immersion blender) and add reserved tomatoes; process until slightly chunky, about eight 2-second pulses. Return sauce to skillet and add basil and extra-virgin olive oil and salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.

(makes 4 cups)

Other Toppings
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drain & sprinkled with salt in strainer
1/4 lb Fontina cheese
1 box frozen spinach, defrosted & ringed dry
Fresh basil, chopped

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Roll dough into circle. Brush with garlic pepper oil.
3. Bake for about 6 minutes, or until just crispy but not yet golden brown.
4. Remove from oven and brush with more garlic pepper oil. Spread a thin layer of marinara sauce (not too much!), about 2/3 cup or so. Top with tomatoes, spinach and Fontina.
5. Throw it back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
6. Remove from oven, sprinkle with basil, slice like a warrior, and devour with vino (or a Peroni). Buon appetito!

It’s been a couple weeks since my last post, and I’ve been waiting to have something to say! However, I’ve had no light-bulb moments, no crazy breakthroughs, just daily life. But that’s okay. I did set a new goal of trying to maintain 30 miles per week of running. For avid runners, that’s not too insane, but I usually run only 4 days a week, so we’ll see what happens.

School has been, well, okay. It hasn’t been as stimulating as the last session, but I guess they can’t all be mind-blowing. Imagine me as a cat (hopefully that’s difficult), and look at the picture above (our cat, Cali John). That should give you an idea of how I feel in one of my two classes right now. To be honest though, she looks a lot more comfortable than I am in class. My siesta would be better served with pillows and no fluorescent lighting.

Okay, I skipped over an explanation of our cat’s ridiculous name, Cali John. Yes, SHE is a girl. And HER middle name is John…so?!? It’s not my fault that my parents never gave any of our childhood dogs my middle name! Husker Francis, Herbie Collins… This was my big chance. A chance to pass on my name, and dad’s middle name, to a future generation. So there you go, my heritage and namesake lives on feline-style. To be fair, she’s a spayed female…and she likes her middle name.