The Stratzeria: 10 thoughts on Making homemade pizza in Lansdale

For the third straight year I have been making pizza for friends as if it is my true calling. Maybe it is. Last night a friend said I needed a sign outside my house, The Stratzeria.

Some thoughts:

1. Jazz is chosen randomly, counting by 7's. Last night it featured Anat Cohen, Tony Bennett, Duke Ellington, and three others. They are set before I start the dough. The other week I forgot this stage. I do turn down the volume just before guests arrive.
2. People generally say they like all toppings, but what many really mean is they do no like olives and they think pineapple is a travesty. Personally if I could adapt to both of these I think you could as well. We love using oil-cured black olives.
3. I do keep a running total of people have fed. The last two years I nearly fed 60 people pizza. It seems to be what we do these days for entertainment. I am mystified by how many friends I wish to have over.
4. The best way to place greens on a pizza is to cook it in the sauce.
5. It's ok to use straight mozzarella.
6. It's ok to use billions and billions of other types as well. I like adding a bit of a second cheese to the mozzarella.
7. Broccoli is best chopped into tiny bits. We like muenster cheese with broccoli.
8. Dough. Heaping two cups of warm water, a splash of honey, two packets of yeast. One to two cups of whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup of olive oil, tsp of sea salt, and as much white flour to make if dough like. My recipe has evolved into this. It used to have a 1/4 cup of rye flour. Makes enough for two pizzas which I make on cookie sheets.
9. Shrimp and garlic is heaven. It used to be a special Christmas Eve treat.
10. If I am to make my own pizza sauce, then it happens in the summer by roasting tomatoes with garlic and salt. add fresh herbs from your garden at the very end.

Side note... I blogged about my Fit over here.

 

How to make lavender hot chocolate or cocoa on Valentines and beyond. Tips and Recipe

Marshmallows from the Alice Bakery
floating in my lavender hot chocolate
photo by Wayne Stratz

Tips:

• grow your own lavender, if done by seed, they germinate well in a moist paper towel placed inside a plastic bag.
• dry lavender during the explosion of blooms in spring time... twist tie in small bunches and hang with blooms hanging down
• feel free to forget about that dried lavender, when you discover it it in several months it will be cold and it will be a fine time for hot cocoa
• be inspired by things you have never tried. I have placed lavender in lemon pound cakes and rice pilafs. I think I first ate lavender in a dark chocolate bar made by Dagoba. It also had blueberries in it. 
• experiment.
• use what you got, but I got to say having this in the house may have inspired the idea of making lavender hot chocolate.

Dagoba
chocolate alchemists
photo by Wayne Stratz

Recipe (for two servings)

1. use fingers to crush a teaspoon of dried lavender and place into a tea sock thingee
2. place two heaping tablespoons of cacao (cocoa) powder and two unheaping tablespoons of sugar in a small pot
3. place a quater cup of water in pot 
4. add heat to create a syrup
5. add two heaping cups of milk into pot. 
6. add tea sock thingee
7. heat slowly
8. heat slowly
9. pour into two of you favorite mugs
10. add marshmallows for your Valentine if she/he desires

hand crafted mugs by Pam Cummings
photo by Wayne Stratz

The 12 Days of Christmas Shout Outs: Breakfast Buddies for day four

On the third day of Christmas, I mentioned the tradition of buying Mosaic Woman a young adult novel every year. Here is another tradition. Years ago, she bought me a waffle iron for Christmas. I have never operated the gadget. In our two studio row, I am the pancake dude.

So now I am treated to waffles every Christmas morn, not for all twelve days, but consistently on day one. Mosaic Woman and I have eaten breakfast out in many a location over the years and for that I am grateful. But I have a few friends who have breakfasted with me more than once.

In Oregon it was the friend who I met when she was assigned the challenge of supervising my student teaching. This morning it was an Episcopalian priest, who I met when I searched for a spiritual director to guide me through the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius. I also meet a young man, who has decided that I am the Uncle Wayne he never had.

So, I give thanks to those who are willing to begin their days with me and share their first meal of the day.

 

Strudelfest 2013

Strudel dude with his family

I am a bit toasty. But even before this busy weekend, I could not recall how long it had been since I had seen my parents and my sisters for three consecutive days. Well it didn't quite happen because one sister skipped the picnic on day two. But all made the drive to my place today for a strudelfest. Now I'm wishing this weekend could stretch on for a fourth day, but not necessarily with family. Just a day to be a slug.

 

RevGals Five ~ Sneaky and other thoughts

numbers 15 to 21 in my
Wisdom Series

this Friday the Revgals take us here ~ 

Who knew it was the Second Friday of the month?   

Thank goodness something reminded me, but my apologies for the late post.  I have been busy getting ready for Blizzard Nemo (really, 24 inches in Boston?  Why on earth don't I have a snow blower???) and pondering life transitions--oh, but enough about me.  

How about you?  

1) What is sneaking up on you, and what have you been 

thinking about? 

Mosaic Woman and I will have our first show the first weekend in March.  Three weeks to the Owen J Roberts show.  Are we ready to get started again?  We are ready for the chocolate cake served in the cafe.  

2)  What will you have for lunch today?

Lunch was typical for me.  Peanut Butter and some tasty jam on whole wheat, yogurt, and corn chips.   

3)  If you were to get snowed in for two days, and you need to hunker down, what essentials and treats would you store up?

Water for sure.  How about some bread and pastries from some local bakeries.  I think we could survive. 

4) Tell me a story about one awesome thing you have experienced in the last couple of weeks.

At school my students and I experimented with taking a variety of ways to takes cuttings from a begonia.  It worked successfully no matter which way we did it.  The most amazing ones were the ones we placed in water.  One leaf on a long stem.  When we fished them out this week, the roots were nice to see.  But the ring of tiny gem like leaves emerging from the stem right above those roots was a splendid sight indeed.

 

5)  What is your favorite office supply to splurge on? (now 

THAT is random, right?)

Sharpies, which I used to design my coloring pages.

In appreciation for fresh pie ~ stained glass for the chef's gals

3D for L
by Wayne Stratz

 For several months this past year we celebrated the local harvest through the creative talents of a friend who happens to be a pastry chef (amazing food recipes found there). 

 It started with rhubarb and wound it ways through strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, back walnuts, raspberries, ...  Margaret and I would go over on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and eat pies and tarts (sometimes with homemade ice cream) and drink coffee.  The latter was too late and I would wake up to go teach with a "pie hangover."

Maybe sometime around July when the pie maker walked us outside, I told him my way of thanks... stained glass for his wife and two daughters.  The youngest (a senior in college, who was a pleasant addition to those summer pie nights) got the blue and green 3D piece that greeted you.  The daughter who teaches little ones got this 3D piece ~

3D for M
by Wayne Stratz

 As for my friend, Red (the wife of said Chef), well she has always been a fan of my Wernersville Cross and my patchwork designs, so I thought the Wernersville Cross II should be introduced to the world by way of gift.  So here folks is the one and only cross of this type.  I will make more, I think, but for now I am so glad to know where the first one resides. (and yes, every one has 21 pieces)

Wernersville Cross II
by Wayne Stratz

May you celebrate the food you love with the people you love ~ Strudelfest, where art thou

from the past
I think I was taking a healthy lunch break before stuffing myself silly later

Normally by now a Saturday has passed by when I have a steady stream of facebook posts about making strudel.  That stream in part was a way to let my sister in California know what she was missing, but soon enough it would be cold and gray here in Pennsylvania and she would be glad to be missing that aspect of living here.  Well, I never got around to scheduling a day of strudel in October, but today was to be the day.

The other day I blogged that my sister had had a stroke.  My parents have flown out to support her.  So today's celebration has been postponed.  I talked to those in California the other day and let my dad know it will happen soon after they return.

thanks to all of you who have offered up prayers for my sister.  She is doing generally well.  Her balance is a mess and some of that support is literal since she has fallen twice since her return home.  Also her eyes are functioning well on their own, but are not communicating well with each other when they both are open.  

It was my dad's mom who taught me how to make strudel fifteen years ago.  Soon after that she had a stroke and I have always counted that day in her kitchen as one of the greatest blessings in my life.  

So what of today then.  Pizza.  My year of pizza slowed down a bit when the school year kicked in, but of late it is showing signs of being alive and well.  This evening I will make pizza for the 49th and 50th person in just over 10 months.  I would highly recommend venturing forth on a similar journey.

If you did, what food would you make?

Wordless ~ Plum Dumplings

Wordless Wednesday: The toppings, the dough, and the finished pizza

2012, the year of the pizza

This is not from tonight, but from the
land of pizza past

tonight the 16th and 17th friends came over for pizza

This is a celebration.

Wordless about Alice Chocolate

Alice Bakery & Confectionary

Alice Bakery & Confectionary

      Alice Bakery and Confectionary

Days of bread and physics

photo by Roy Patrick Tan who shares his photos and is a painter

If you know you are low on an ingredient, leave home early, and shop on the way to the school.

Sign in, check e-mail, review the physics lesson:  then teach Physics.

2nd period is your prep: go for a walk to get out of the classroom, say hello to someone who is pleasant and smiles, go shopping if you did not leave early-- be glad that a store is just down the street.  Move needed materials from your classroom to one that has a kitchen.  as prep time comes to an end, place a pot with water over some low heat.

Say, "wash your hands."  Say, "did you wash your hands?"  as you keep an eye on the water temp, students will prepare three large bowls:  2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 tsp of salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil.

in a 2 cup measuring cup you place a packet of yeast, if this is the first time experience for a student you will explain about fungi and pockets of air in bread, a pinch or two of sugar, and 2 cups of water which is just over 100 degrees, Fahrenheit.  With the right pressure you can exceed 100 degrees Celsius but this would kill the yeast and you will have crackers. 

repeat the above paragraph two times, each time showing the students the signs of life before pouring into one of the big bowls.

add 1/2 cup of white flour after 1/2 cup of white flour until the hand-crafted wooden spoon, which is only used for bread, has done as much as it can.  Kneed in more flour till it is moist but not sticking onto your hands or the table.  Oil the dough, then cover with one of those big bowls.  Run off to teach physics while being glad your assistant can wrap things up in the kitchen.

eat lunch, but before that time is over go to the kitchen and get the oven pre-heating 360 or so.

6th period---  take each dough, cut in half, each half in half, each quarter in half, each eighth in half.  Quit cutting.  form rolls.  say, "please don't toss that around," and before that you will be heard saying, "knives are sharp."

start baking the rolls.  I put a tray on a low rack for 8 minutes and then place it on a higher rack for 8 minutes as a new tray goes on the lower.  keep baking.  sample rolls with students.

7th period finish baking and clean up.  sample rolls with students.  place rolls in bags as they cool.

8th period sell rolls around campus, but sample rolls with students before venturing out because it is likely they will be gone by the time you get back.

and in the end...

after gluing down 67 pieces of glass
... after meeting friends for breakfast, who desired a glass penguin
... after buying apples and cabbage from local farmers
... after getting the kitchen prepared
... after making 8 doughs (which didn't bother my bum wrist at all)
... after grating potatoes and cabbage
... after greeting mom, dad, and aunt
... after turning the oven on
... after stretching and topping and rolling 8 strudels (2 of each, those mentioned plus grape)
... after greeting sister here and saying hi to sister out west
... after eating with family as the last strudels baked
... after greeting friends
... after seeing my family to the door with hugs and thanks for carrying on the tradition
... after greeting more friends
... after finally turning the oven off
... after serving plates of food and glasses of beverages
... after sitting back and enjoying the presence of friends
... after maybe one or two snarky comments
... after saying good bye and your welcome
... after a few moments alone with Mosaic Woman in the living room

I stretched out on the couch, awake enough to hear jazz.  And I realized that I almost never stop and just listen.  So I did.  I closed my eyes and listened.

F is for French Onion Soup with some Frim Fram Sauce

photo by me

Came home from work today to find two bags sitting on our table. The bags were from the Alice Bakery located in nearby North Wales, PA. Slightly tempted, I was chewing on a piece of the baguette as I walked up stairs to get the business news from Mosaic Woman (weekday ritual), who blogged F is for 45.

I had asked her to get some good bread to go with our soup and succeeded for sure. The other bag had a chocolate croissant that was devoured with our early evening coffee.

As for the Frim Fram Sauce, apparently it does not exist (non-exhausted research) and it took to this day to finally find that out. Thank God for the A to Z Challenge. Nat King Cole made it big, so lets hear it from the man and listen till the end for the punch line delivered to the waiter:

...

Wordless Wednesday: E is for Eating Eggs

Fridays in PA--- Digging The Merrymead Farm

Not that far down the road from Lansdale is a local dairy. Merrymead Farm is a cool place.

It is a place to go to buy real ice cream (OK, I grew up not far from a now dead dairy store, which was run by relatives, who made the best black raspberry ice cream in the world, so I may be biased). However, enough folk who live around here agree with me that I can say this is the place to go. And yes, on a busy day a gaggle of young folk will be there to greet you and take good care of you.

But I also love Merrymead because they are small and the farmer speaks of his cows with great love. They proudly have chosen not to use rBST hormones.

There are plants for your veggie and flower gardens in the springtime, local veggies for your kitchen in the summer, pumpkins and a corn maize in the fall, and eggnog for the holidays. And ice cream all the time. The creative use of the land and store has kept this local treasure going.

How cool is it that for over 100 years the same family has kept this dairy alive and well.

I hope you can visit it one day. If your not from around here, may you be blessed with a family dairy farm that brightens your life wherever you call home.

wordless Wednesday: cupcakes at Virago

Cupcakes at Virago Bakery in Lansdale, PA

A Week of Wordless: Homemade Salade Nicoise for Wordless Wednesday

Fridays in PA--- Pierogies and PA Preferred

Last week I was trying to get all of you to buy fresh veggies and support PASA . So what local veggies did you eat this past week? I won't try to get you to make pierogies from scratch, although there was a time...

You see, Mosaic Woman and I both grew up where there was a large popualtion of one ethnic group or another who love pierogies. In my house they were deep fried, while up in Edmonton MW ate them sauteed in lots of butter after they were boiled. That is how we do it these days...


first seen when speaking about grace


The good thing about being back in PA is that we don't have to make, well MW doesn't have to make us pierogies from scratch. These were made at the T&L Pierogie Shop in Hazleton, PA, but found in a local grocery.

We tried the cabbage for something bit different from the more typical potato style. The back of the bag introduced us to PA Preferred. It is a good thing for Pennsylvania to be promoting all that is grown and produced in this fine state. ...

Do you dig pierogies?

top 10 favorite restaurants in Lansdale---- Fridays in Pennsylvania

UPDATED AS OF 6/15/15

OK, the list could be longer, but I kept it at the ten best places to eat in Lansdale (in my opinion)... and all of them are not only within walking distance, but also in the borough proper.

Chong's Dumpling House... Chinese food. Great variety of dumplings and soup. And the seasonal veggie of the day makes a healthy side dish. 13 West Main Street, Lansdale, PA‎ - (215) 855-4812

Giuliano's... No place to sit down, but this neighborhood deli is a huge favorite for subs and steak sandwiches. Word on the street is they now have a pizza oven. and you will be met with good folk with a fine sense of humor... three generations of it no less.

429 North Chestnut Street Lansdale, PA 19446-2625 (215) 368-0412

Little Something Nice [Sadly no longer there]... Used to be real close, but still easy to walk to. The owner is a great guy and will converse with you in Italian if you choose. Great place for coffee and a sandwich whether you are waiting for a train or not. 101 West Main Street Lansdale PA 19446 (215) 631-7997

Nadia Thai [Lost their lease]... Has changed hands a few times and we sure like the hands making the traditional Thai salad (Som Tam) these days. I love the curries, especially the green. 113 Walnut Street, Lansdale, PA 19446 (215) 855-3256

Not Just Sandwiches[Is no more]... Years ago I did a search for breakfast spots and we came across a place called Daddy Pops in Hatboro, PA. A bit of a drive for the pancakes, but so worth it. Well they opened this place in Lansdale and still spice them up with nutmeg. I dig a side of ham.

Oasis... Farthest away, but we love to walk there all the same... check out my post. 821 West Main Street, Lansdale, PA‎ - (215) 368-9230‎

Saigon on Main[Changed hands is now Asian Legend, with somewhat different menu]... Well I guess this is the farthest since we have to cross Main Street from where Oasis is to get there. Took forever to open. Pho is wonderful and the menu has many a vegetarian option compared to other local Vietnamese restaurants. 844 West Main Street, Lansdale, PA (215) 368-9888

Shell Fish Sue[really sad to see this go]... Most recent on the list and is building a reputation for its Lobster Mac and Cheese.  We went during the olympics so chose the fish and chips.

Virago[Another casualty of rising rent]... A healthy lunch or breakfast option needed. A cup of coffee? A gluten free cupcake? If you are in search of gluten free or vegan baked goods, go to a place that makes it so tasty you don't know the difference.

West Main Diner... Need a good family meal at a good price from good folk. This is it. 805 West Main Street, Lansdale, PA (215) 855-7801


OK Lansdalians... what did I miss?