Ennui and Awesomeness

Once, not long after we'd started dating, Jeff explained to me the guiding principle of his life. That does seem to be one of those things you do when you've just started dating and are having the kind of deep conversations that disappear by about week 3. During our deep-conversation period, I learned that Jeff's guiding principle is to seek out the awesome (to get the real effect, you have to say it like an exuberant teenage boy--or maybe an exuberant thirty-ish boy. Try it: awesome!). Discovering and celebrating awesomeness, said Jeff, was the best way he could think of to spend one's life. There was probably some facetiousness here, but at the time I didn't ask many questions. It was, as I said, early in our relationship, and I was rather intimidated. Secretly, I knew that I spend a lot more time in the worlds of rather-niceness and kinda-coolness than awesomeness. I started to suspect that I couldn't keep up with this guy's standards.

Sometimes I still suspect that, but must somehow have managed to keep Jeff in the dark, seeing as we're still together--look!


I couldn't resist displaying that photo. So it's hokey, but...I'm writing a post on awesomeness! What's the use in trying to be cool? This picture is particularly awesome because it was one of those hold-the-camera-at-arm's-length-and-hope-for-the-best jobs that never come out. Autofocus, by the way, is awesome.

I was thinking about the awesomeness issue recently because I've been missing it. Everything's fine--life is pretty low-pressure right now, and I have plenty of time for the bit of work I'm doing , which is a nice change. I've been staying with friends in Chicago, and am feeling very thankful to have such friends, who are bending over backwards to help me out during this transition (thanks, guys, really). I have lots to appreciate. Nevertheless, I'm having a hard time getting excited about much. I keep trying to read things, or listen to things, or do projects, but I just find myself bored. Maybe it's the humidity, maybe it's the everlasting unsettledness, but awesomeness feels very remote.

One side effect of everything being so boring is that there's nothing worth writing a blog post about. My standard (obviously) isn't so high as real awesomeness, but I can't get interested enough in anything to want to share it. I don't think this is a good state to be in. So I've been pushing myself to find awesomeness to share. Fortunately, since I'm pretty good at blowing off intrinsic motivation, I had some pressure from another source: I was required to find some awesome recipes, to contribute to a recipe box for Elizabeth's shower. (Here she is opening it.)


(By the way, more visual awesomeness is on display at Andrea's photo blog.)

Having had to rustle up my favorite recipes, and in the process being reminded of their awesomeness, it occurs to me that they should be shared more widely. Some of my recipe cards were pretty obvious--the Best Recipe pancakes really are the best pancakes, and their cookie-crust cobbler is the best cobbler of any kind. But by some stroke of luck Tom and Elizabeth don't have the Best Recipe Cookbook, nor Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, so finding recipes to give them was a breeze. Here are two others that I think everyone should have: the best tomato sauce for pasta (Marcella Hazan's--incredibly easy and simple) and the best pizza crust (Chez Panisse's--this one takes forever, which is something I seldom tolerate in recipes, but it is so good).

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice (we use Pomi usually)
5 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt

Put canned tomatoes in saucepan, add butter, onion and salt and cook uncovered at a slow and steady simmer for 45 minutes or until fat floats from tomato. Stir from time to time, mashing any large piece of tomato in pan with a wooden spoon. Taste and correct for salt. Discard onion and serve sauce with pasta. This recipe makes six servings.



Pizza Crust

2 t. dry yeast
3/4 c. lukewarm water
2/3 c. bread flour

4 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 c. rye flour
1 t. salt

1/3 c. olive oil

Make a sponge by dissolving yeast in 3/4 c. water, stirring in 2/3 c. flour, and allowing to sit until quite bubbly (about 30 min.).

Mix flours and salt in another bowl. Stir 1 c. cold water and 1 c. dry ingredients into sponge. Mix thoroughly and let sit another 30 min.

Add remaining ingredients and knead until dough is soft and elastic (5 min.). Add more flour if necessary, but dough should remain soft and slightly sticky.

Put dough in a large bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled (2 hrs., or let rise overnight in the fridge).

Punch dough down and divide into portions of the size you want (7 oz. for a regular-sized thin-crust pizza). Form each into a smooth sphere and wrap in plastic. Allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hr. before shaping and baking. Balls of dough can also be frozen, then thawed overnight when you want to use them.

Notes:
1. I suspect the second sponge step could be skipped without much damage. This recipe really does require an exorbitant amount of rising time, and there's no reason we should stand for it.
2. I've used just all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour in place of the 3 kinds in the recipe, because that's what I had, and it worked fine.
3. This is amazingly good if you make it really thin and bake it at a high temperature--say, 450 for 15 minutes.
4. Did you know that fresh mozzarella now comes in "pearl" form? I suspect that real foodies have gripes about this--not being authentic or something. But not being a mozzarella connoisseur, I think it's marvelous that it comes in little bits, so you don't have to cover the pizza with enormous clumps of cheese, or deal with chopping it up, or settle for the really inauthentic kind in the bag. Mozzarella pearls + pre-grated parmesan=excellent shortcut pizza topping.