49 thoughts on “September 3, 2020: Four Score And Ten Years Before That Seventy”

  1. I've been spending way too much time painting and general (overdue) maintenance at Runner daughter's, but I've been given tonight off -- anyone up for making tonight's game the Zoom WGOM Game of the Week Extravaganza Thing*?

    ZWGWET, plus it's the always exciting acronym-within-an-acronym

        1. Oh yeah, I was thinking of counting up from zero on a number line, not backwards chronologically.

  2. I'm spoilering this shit because it's so controversial.

    half joking SelectShow
    Spoiler SelectShow
    1. I read somewhere that his dad serves on the city council. Having lived in buffalo I’m not a fan of foodstuffs that call themselves wings without being actual wings first.

    2. FZ? SelectShow
          1. well, sure, with that context.

            but. but. But having a close, professional relationship with public meetings and public comment...I've seen worse wastes of time.

  3. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is apparently in the running to buy the Timberwolves.

    Haslam could make the Wilfs only the second-slimiest ownership group in town.

  4. no pics, but last night I made my first attempt at Kenji Lopez-Alt's neapolitan-style pizza hack.

    It was a fun revelation. Fun because tasty, tasty pizza done fast. Revelation because the combination of hot cast iron and broiler meant I didn't have to heat my kitchen up much.

    technique: make regular ol' pizza dough (preferably, let it age in the fridge overnight or longer to develop flavor; I used about a cup of sourdough starter along with 1/4 tsp yeast, 2 cups flour, 1 cup water, salt, olive oil, more flour so that the dough cleaned the sides of my stand mixer while kneading; in retrospect I probably should have used some sugar, because I used a half-cup of whole wheat, and the crust ended up having a slightly bitter aftertaste). Make sauce from drained, canned tomatoes, salt, garlic, olive oil, buzzed in the blender. Drain fresh mozz for a good ten minutes by blotting with paper towels and weighted with a plate. Pick some fresh basil.

    I used my cast iron comal (10-inch diameter, very, very low rim). Any oven-proof pan will do, but the low rim is ideal for extracting the pizzas. A larger diameter pizza pan would be nice. I will have to look for one.

    Pre-heat your broiler with a rack in the highest position that will allow you to get your pan in and out . Pre-heat the pan on the stove.

    cut about 4-oz portions from your dough, formed into balls. Working with plenty of bench flour and your hands, flatten and stretch the dough into roughly 8-9 inch rounds (i.e., slightly smaller diameter than your pan surface). If you have a peel, put a round on it and, working quickly, add a few tablespoons of sauce, lay out some cheese (I roughly tore pre-sliced rounds of fresh mozz, maybe a couple ounces per pie), and scatter a few basil leaves (rough chopped or not). Sprinkle some olive oil on top and slide the pie onto your pan. Get that thing under the broiler for maybe 2 minutes. When dark (burned) spots start showing on the rim of the crust, pull it out and put back on the stove on high for maybe 30 seconds to do likewise to the underside (checking frequently). transfer to cutting board, assemble your next one, and cut and serve the pie.

    It's not the same as "real" neapolitan pizza, but it's about as close as you can get at home without a $900 Breville pizza oven.

      1. I have one. But it takes a lot longer to heat up. Part of the point here is not having to run the oven, just the broiler.

    1. Doc, were you aware Kenji’s been making YouTube videos in his home kitchen over the last several months? (I realize I may have missed a recent conversation about this.)

      The Poissonnière & I have been watching them together, and she’s become a big Kenji fan. She’s asked if we can visit his eat at his house or visit his restaurant. A direct quote: “ When everyone is well and we know him good, I will go to his house and ask him for sausages...but no beer.” She’s also expressed that she loves him.

      Given her interest in the videos, I’ve made several of the dishes he’s featured — keema matar, menemen, green chile cheeseburger, gai yang, kimchi & gochugaru spätzle, migas, and his late night tortilla “crust” pizzas. I’ve made several of the dishes for supper more than once, with great results every time. So far I’ve had pretty mixed success with her eating them, but migas have become my default lunch when we don’t have leftovers.

  5. from the ESPN obit today, this great line:

    Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson, who had Seaver on his 1977 and '78 Reds teams, said, "My idea of managing is giving the ball to Tom Seaver and sitting down and watching him work."

    1. this video, at about 1:05, shows Seaver's classic delivery, with his drive leg knee and shin scuffing the mound. That's what I remember most about him.

    2. Great quote from Sparky. The 4-letter obit said that Hank Aaron called him the toughest pitcher he ever faced. The guy was a stud.

  6. for those not scoring at home, Bootsy has been absolutely killing it with food pr0n on the bookface all pandemic.

      1. I wish I had a way to get to the face books, tho with all these over due book fees I can’t risk going to the ‘brary

          1. No kidding.

            Not buying books this year, I recently ordered, and got John Lewis' book Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement from the West Hartford library. West Hartford honors Hartford library cards, so I thought I'd be set. Took a couple of weeks for it to come back in, then I got my email, and I drove over to get the book at curb-side pickup. I called the library.

            Me: I'm here to pick up the book I reserved.
            She (Librarian): Did you make a reservation to pick up the book?
            Me: No, but I'm on the phone with you now... (wrong thing to say)
            She: (annoyed) You're supposed to make an appointment!
            Me: Sorry. What should I do? I'm parked outside the library now.
            She: (Aargh!). Wait a minute and we'll have someone put the book on the table. You must be wearing a mask.

Comments are closed.