If you like to bake and if you ever get a chance to visit the King Arthur store, I really think you should go. It's a great place and we really enjoy our visits. Last year, we took a class in making sticky buns and we had a great time. This year, we made pizza. And again, we really enjoyed the class. The instructors are very knowledgeable and our fellow students are always so nice and friendly. There were more men this time, so Rick felt a bit better, more wives with their husbands than the last time. Rick said he enjoyed this class more so than the sticky bun class.
Each student made two pizzas, so Rick and I ended up with four pizzas (they were smaller than regular pizzeria pizzas, probably about a medium-size). Toppings were just fresh basil chiffonades, fresh mozz and then some shredded mozz. A really nice garlic oil that's sold at the store that we used to brush on the unbaked dough. We used all-purpose flour for the first pizza, then used semolina for the second. Rick's pizzas were really nice; he did a better job than me at shaping. I did better at kneading the dough. But it all worked out in the end and we had some really yummy pizza to snack on. Plus, the semolina recipe actually yielded two crusts, so we split mine and bagged his semolina dough ball, brought it home, and I stuck it in the freezer for later.
I didn't buy much at KA this time around: some of the garlic oil (it's really good stuff! and I'm thinking it would be great spread on naan, focaccia, even baked potatoes, maybe for dipping, all kinds of stuff), a caramel monkey bread mix, and some kind of cheesecake bar mix for Rick. I don't buy a lot of mixes, but the monkey bread caught my eye and Rick loves anything cheesecake, so they found their way into the cart. No flour this time around, since I had bought 10 bags at the grocery store the other night for cheaper than what the KA store sold them.
We stopped at Penzey in Hartford, Conn on the way home: I bought some of the new garlic shoots, roasted garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, cream of tartar (I go through a lot of cream of tarter from making snickerdoodles all the time!), a new bbq spice that Rick wanted to try, a large bag of Hungarian Sweet Paprika (because I go through that quickly), and a large bag of dried mustard. I forget everything we got, but we bought enough that we got free marjoram and free lemon and pepper. I tend to use a lot of lemon and pepper; it's really good on corn, for example. @Kat0121, the store wouldn't accept the coupons you had in the post; I printed them out, but no luck. I did get the free marjoram and lemon, so all was not lost. I bought the garlic shoots and am looking forward to trying them out. We also had my BIL's Penzey order and were able to fill that for him, plus he also got the free marjoram and lemon and pepper seasoning....he already told me that I can have the lemon and pepper.
And then we stopped in Conn to visit one of my best friends who has a new furbaby. A little grey kitty, anywhere from 6-10 years old, and a friendly little girl. She's a sweetie. I guess that makes me a fur-auntie again!
I was glad to get home last night. Rick is off work today, so he's taking care of laundry. I was originally going to take off yet today, but I am at work because I have a meeting this afternoon that I could't get out of.
The cats were fine. The petsitters came in twice a day to feed and my sister and BIL came in at night for about an hour or so to spend some time with the clan and give Muffin a chance to be out of the computer room. They sat on the couch and watched a couple tv shows with the cats. They also stopped by in the morning, just to make sure everything was OK. I worry so much about the cats when we're gone and it's nice to know they're in good hands. Last night when I went to bed, I had Mollipop curled up in my left arm and Muffin was curled up in my right arm. I had planned on going to bed to read for a while, but the cats had other ideas and that was fine, too. I fell asleep really early because I was pooped.
The only problem I had was with my butt.
It's really bad now again, from being in the car. I'm going to start looking around for some kind of pillow or something for support. The car has leather seats and my butt is getting sore way too quickly. I don't know what we're going to do; Rick says he's pretty much ready to just trade this car in, but man, I hate to do that. Test-driving a car down a road for a couple miles doesn't give you any idea of how comfortable a car is on a long trip. I was willing to try driving Clarence (PT Cruiser) to Vermont; even as old as he is, I think he could make the trip, but Rick was completely against it. Clarence is a comfortable car for long-distance. Our Hyundai Tucson is not. I kept trying to adjust the lumbar pressure, the seatback level, the seat distance....everything and anything. But after a couple of hours driving, I was really uncomfortable and til we got home, I was in some serious pain. I had trouble sleeping last night; kept awakening from the pain; it's going down my left leg, so I know it's piriformis sciatica again. Short of finding some kind of support for the car seat, I don't know what to do.
Rick is already planning on us going up next year for the second pizza class. This one was more for novices; he's ready for another one! I'm still looking for a bread-baking class with a guest instructor. My dream would be a class with Peter Reinhart (The Bread Baker's Apprentice author) as the guest instructor....and I know he does come in from time to time!
I have a couple pictures from the pizza class. One of Dear Richard with one of his pizzas. And he took a picture of me chowing down on a slice!
I'll post them when I get home tonight.
Each student made two pizzas, so Rick and I ended up with four pizzas (they were smaller than regular pizzeria pizzas, probably about a medium-size). Toppings were just fresh basil chiffonades, fresh mozz and then some shredded mozz. A really nice garlic oil that's sold at the store that we used to brush on the unbaked dough. We used all-purpose flour for the first pizza, then used semolina for the second. Rick's pizzas were really nice; he did a better job than me at shaping. I did better at kneading the dough. But it all worked out in the end and we had some really yummy pizza to snack on. Plus, the semolina recipe actually yielded two crusts, so we split mine and bagged his semolina dough ball, brought it home, and I stuck it in the freezer for later.
I didn't buy much at KA this time around: some of the garlic oil (it's really good stuff! and I'm thinking it would be great spread on naan, focaccia, even baked potatoes, maybe for dipping, all kinds of stuff), a caramel monkey bread mix, and some kind of cheesecake bar mix for Rick. I don't buy a lot of mixes, but the monkey bread caught my eye and Rick loves anything cheesecake, so they found their way into the cart. No flour this time around, since I had bought 10 bags at the grocery store the other night for cheaper than what the KA store sold them.
We stopped at Penzey in Hartford, Conn on the way home: I bought some of the new garlic shoots, roasted garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, cream of tartar (I go through a lot of cream of tarter from making snickerdoodles all the time!), a new bbq spice that Rick wanted to try, a large bag of Hungarian Sweet Paprika (because I go through that quickly), and a large bag of dried mustard. I forget everything we got, but we bought enough that we got free marjoram and free lemon and pepper. I tend to use a lot of lemon and pepper; it's really good on corn, for example. @Kat0121, the store wouldn't accept the coupons you had in the post; I printed them out, but no luck. I did get the free marjoram and lemon, so all was not lost. I bought the garlic shoots and am looking forward to trying them out. We also had my BIL's Penzey order and were able to fill that for him, plus he also got the free marjoram and lemon and pepper seasoning....he already told me that I can have the lemon and pepper.
And then we stopped in Conn to visit one of my best friends who has a new furbaby. A little grey kitty, anywhere from 6-10 years old, and a friendly little girl. She's a sweetie. I guess that makes me a fur-auntie again!
I was glad to get home last night. Rick is off work today, so he's taking care of laundry. I was originally going to take off yet today, but I am at work because I have a meeting this afternoon that I could't get out of.
The cats were fine. The petsitters came in twice a day to feed and my sister and BIL came in at night for about an hour or so to spend some time with the clan and give Muffin a chance to be out of the computer room. They sat on the couch and watched a couple tv shows with the cats. They also stopped by in the morning, just to make sure everything was OK. I worry so much about the cats when we're gone and it's nice to know they're in good hands. Last night when I went to bed, I had Mollipop curled up in my left arm and Muffin was curled up in my right arm. I had planned on going to bed to read for a while, but the cats had other ideas and that was fine, too. I fell asleep really early because I was pooped.
The only problem I had was with my butt.
Rick is already planning on us going up next year for the second pizza class. This one was more for novices; he's ready for another one! I'm still looking for a bread-baking class with a guest instructor. My dream would be a class with Peter Reinhart (The Bread Baker's Apprentice author) as the guest instructor....and I know he does come in from time to time!
I have a couple pictures from the pizza class. One of Dear Richard with one of his pizzas. And he took a picture of me chowing down on a slice!
