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I made pasta (from scratch) with my Kitchen Aid for Valentines.

Makes one 10-inch tube cake

4 cups peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped tart cooking apples (about 4 or 5 medium apples)
1/3 C (packed light) brown sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons ground cinnamon
3 Cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
grated zests of 1 orange
4 large eggs
1 C vegetable oil
½ c fresh or frozen orange juice

1. preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan, bundt pan or kugehlofmold. In a small bowl, combine the apples with the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest. In a large bowl using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat the eggs and oil until thick and creamy, about 2 minutes at high speed. Add the dry ingredients with the orange juice and beat just until moistened, but thoroughly blended. Do not over mix, but there should be no lumps or dry spots.
3. spoon one third of the batter into the pan. Cover evenly with half the apple mixture and cover with another one third of the batter. Use a spatula to smooth the batter over the apples to cover completely. Repeat with the remaining apples and batter depending with a smooth layer of batter.
4. Place the pan on a rack in the center of the oven and bake 60 min. Cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil and bake 15 minutes more, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack about 1 hour. Invert onto a rack to cool completely before serving.

Ingredients:

• Pizza Dough (see Recipe)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Romano Cheese
• Garlic (I mixed with olive oil on crust)
• Artichoke Hearts
• Fresh Cracked Pepper
• Green Onion

Ingredients:

• Pizza Dough (see Recipe)
  
• BBQ Sauce (see Recipe)
• Pepper Jack (Grated)
  
• Grilled Chicken (Sliced)
• Jalapenos (Sliced)

Garnish

• Iceberg (Shredded)
• Chipotle Ranch Dressing (mix with lettuce while pizza cooks)

Assemble Pizza

Spread BBQ Sauce on Crust. Place Shredded cheese on Pizza. Arrange Chicken & Jalapenos on Pizza.

Cook for 6 min in 450 degrees Oven. Allow to cool a bit before slicing. Place on Plate. Top with Lettuce that has been mixed with the dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 lbs bread flour
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 & 3/4 Cups Warm Water

Take 1/2 cup of water, sugar, and yeast. Put in a small bowl. Set in a warm place for 5 minutes to proof.

Place the yeast mixture, water & oil in the mixer bowl. Run on the slowest setting. Mix until incorporated. Add the flour to the bowl and mix for 1 min. Add the salt and mix until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide into 4 pieces and ball up. Lightly oil the dough balls and cover. Let proof until doubled in size.

Here is the crust with too much olive oil on top. Cornmeal on peel. Its ready for the BBQ Sauce.

I took a pizza class at Whole Foods on Tuesday. My hopes is that by taking cooking classes I will be more intersted in meal prep. Chef Phil had a really strange way of ‘rolling’ out the pizza. I’ll try to capture it next time. Unsurprisingly I wasn’t wild about item #2 but the rest were amazing. The BBQ chicken pizza was a big winner so here it goes first.

The Menu

• Gravalax with Herbed Cream Cheese and Creme Fraiche
• Basil Roasted Pepper and Fresh Mozzarella
• White Pizza
• BBQ Chicken with Jalapeños, Pepper Jack & a Refreshing Salad Topper

BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 T chopped Garlic
• 1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 oz. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 oz. hot sauce
• 1 3/4 C Ketchup
• 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
• 2 Tablespoons Molasses
• 1/4 C yellow mustard
• 1/4 C White Vinegar
• 1/4 C Dark Brown Sugar

Method:

In a two Quart sauce pan, over low heat, melt butter. Add all ingredients. Stir constantly, increase heat to simmer (Do not boil) for approximately 10 minutes.

There was a budget for my companies holiday party this year. The result was a mandatory attendance at a pool hall and a pool tournament. There is nothing about pool, competition, forced workplace socialization that has any appeal to me.

I’m sure that there are people who like playing pool. I expect there is a huge gender bias. I also suspect that the people who like it feel successful at it and did not start playing against their will.

I chalk some of it to my preceived place on the Extraversion-Introversion Spectrum (far far to the Intro)

I’d like to leave you with some reading: Caring for Your Introvert

And assure you that really, I’d like to be left alone.

The greatest magic is transmuting of passions.