Pizza Dough/Foccacia/Bread Dough

Instead of ordering pizza while in Seattle, Jodi made a homemade pizza dough and we made individual pizzas for dinner one night.  There was a hunk of leftover dough, so we did something else with it another night.  But first, let me share the dough recipe because it's quite honestly one of the best homemade ones I've had.  The original recipe came from Jodi's copy of The Food of Southern Italy by Carlo Middione.

Basic Bread Dough For Making Homemade Italian-Style Bread, Pizza, and Focaccia (page 47 of The Food of Southern Italy)

2/3 cup warm water, not over 100F
1 1/2 tsp yeast, fresh or dry
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour
3 tbsp olive oil (added to the warm water)

The book has about three pages of directions, which I'm not going to go through.  Check out my bread baking tutorial instead!  The original recipe does say that this can be easily doubled or tripled.

For extra special flavour and a great aroma, Jodi adds garlic powder to the recipe.  This comes out light and airy and crisp, with big air bubbles reminiscent of ciabatta bread. 

Here are the pizzas we made!

Jodi's pizza

My pizza

As I mentioned, the third portion of dough was saved and refrigerated for another use.  So the next night, Jodi made an amazing garlic cheese bread with it.  OMG!  So good!

I'll be keeping this dough recipe handy for future pizza nights in my own house!

Amtrak Snack

So, it's been a while. It wasn't my intention to let the blog go for this long again, but stuff happens. I've been unwell, I went away for a few days, blahx3. But I'm back, and I have new content plans for the days to come. I spent 3 days in Seattle with Jodi, which of course meant a lot of great food, so you'll be hearing all about that.

In the meantime, while I get my act together, here are some visuals of what Amtrak has to offer in terms of food on their Cascades trip between Seattle and Vancouver. Last weekend was the third time I've taken this trip, but the first in which I've taken advantage of the dining car. Surprisingly, the menu was quite varied (chicken teriyaki bowl, enchilada bowl, lasagna with meat sauce, mac & cheese) and not outrageously expensive the way airplane food is. However, I kept it simple. I had chowder, a sandwich, and a drink, which came to $13.75.

The chowder was piping hot and very good! For a commercially made chowder, I was quite impressed! Very creamy, lots of clams, decent potato amount, and not overly salty like other commercially made chowders I could mention. The sandwich was a bust though; soggy as hell and not very fresh. The lettuce was toast as was the tomato. I wound up eating mostly the meat and cheese. Next time, I'll order something else to go along with my chowder.

In the end, I learned that the dining car is a good option if I can't pack my own lunch. I had been avoiding it, assuming the prices were outrageous. And while not super cheap, it wasn't like some of the overpriced slop I've been served on airplanes.

Some Miscellaneous Seattle Food

Here are some photos of some other eating experiences I had while in Seattle that were really good.

Excellent coffee drinks at Vivace's.

One night we had take-out pizza from Romio's. It was great pizza, and they did a pretty decent tiramisu, too.

This last trip to Seattle saw my first Whole Foods experience. WOW is all I can say. There are two Whole Foods in Vancouver, but I've never been in them. I couldn't believe how chi-chi this Seattle location was, and the variety of stuff available for take-out! It was overwhelming. On top of that, the bakery items were gorgeous, as was the seafood selection. We bought a few grocery items and then selected a couple of things for dinner. I went with some Indian take-out; tandoori chicken, coconut rice, Bombay potatoes, naan. It was good, especially the rice!

Two Words: Lunchbox Laboratory

Also, what happens in Seattle stays in Seattle.

The decor is mainly retro lunchboxes:
Some have a sense of humour:

So, I will not be writing much in this post because it might reveal too much about the number of visits Jodi and I made to Lunchbox Laboratory in my past two trips to that fair city. I'm just going to post a whole bunch of pictures and let you come to your own conclusions. But come to this conclusion: the food there is freaking incredible, as are the milkshakes. Oooooooh, the milkshakes - served in beakers - were a wonder to behold and taste. OK, enough! Onto photos!

Gourmet salt selection...

Reese's Peanut Butter Shake

Kool Tang - Koolaid & Tang

Santa Fe Slammer Burger

Turkey On Mars: sliced turkey breast (the good kind) Swiss cheese, marsala onions, pesto mayo

Oreo Cookie Shake

Truffle Love Burger (beef burger, bacon, a huge slab of some kind of cheese I can't recall right now, caramelized onions, white truffle mayo)

One of Lunchbox Laboratory's famous Boozy Shakes. The "spikes" come in a little test tube because the alcohol will affect the freezing of the shake. This is the caramel macchiato spiked with caramel vodka, Bailey's and Khalua.

Country Club Sandwich: turkey breast (again, the good kind), ham, bacon, Swiss cheese, mayo. Side was tater tots with white truffle mayo.

Mini corn dogs.

Gabacho's Nachos: heap of tater tots & lots of other stuff.

Two more milkshakes; the one on the left is the Drunken Elvis, the other is the Caramel Macchiato again.
The Tokyo Drift Burger; churcken burger (chicken & turkey), teriyaki mushrooms, Havarti cheese, roasted garlic mayo.

Yeah, just go here! Their menu is here.

Seattle Hot Spot: Part I

During a trip to Seattle in 2001, or thereabouts (way back in the mists of time, anyway), I stumbled upon a great little joint across from Pike Place Market that served really good seafood. The place stuck in my mind not only because of the food - it was great - but because it had bright blue and white decor and small little wooden booths that were kind of cute.

This past Christmas and New Years, I was in Seattle again for the first time in 10 years, and I took a day to go exploring around the market. I still remembered the place I'd eaten at way back when, and I wanted to go there again if it was still around. I remembered that it did not front out onto the street and that it had "oyster bar" in the title. After meandering around a while, and noting the ridiculously long line in front of the original Starbucks for future reference, I saw a sign under an awning that said "Emmett Watson's Oyster Bar." I followed the arrow up a corridor and into a courtyard, and there it was - complete with the same booths and everything! I went in, got a table, and was presented with a menu printed on the back of a paper bag.

At this point, I even remembered what I'd ordered back in 2001 (or whenever it was): the Captain's Basket. I remembered this because of the deep fried clams it had, and that the variety of fish in the basket - oysters, clams, shrimp, scallops, and some kind of white fish - was very appealing since I love all those things. And so this is what I ordered again.

And it was fantastic. Deep fried perfection! It was just how I remembered it. Served with tartar sauce and seafood cocktail sauce, the portion size was generous and the fries were perfect - hand cut, blanched first, and then fried (you can always tell).
During last week's trip, I just had to go back. I went to the market on Sunday, and was disappointed to see that some places closed early. But not Emmett Watson's. They were open till 6:00 and I was in luck.

I was seated in a nice blue booth and perused the menu once again, thinking I should try something else for a change, and I figure that since this was an oyster bar and I adore oysters, I should just go for the oyster basket. It was the same price as Captain's Basket - $9.75 (a bargain, if you ask me). I also decided, since it wasn't the nicest day weather-wise to try some chowder. I am a chowder fanatic, and I was not disappointed. Stick to your ribs thick (my spoon practically could stand up in it), it was piping hot and served with a little package of oyster crackers. It was a bit on the salty side, but excellent, and I think, from the texture, it might have been thickened with mashed potatoes rather than a roux. And it wasn't filled with large chunks of carrots and celery, which I appreciated.

As for the oyster basket: excellent, again! I counted 9 juicy oysters, seemingly battered in a cornmeal batter, perfectly fried, succulent, and just fabulous.


Definitely check this place out if you're in Seattle and need a great place to eat while out marketing at Pike Place.

Doughnuts in the Future

One place we went to last week was Top Pot Doughnuts, 2124 Fifth Avenue - right across from where we got our nails done. :) Touted as "hand-forged" these were definitely some awesome treats. We both chose the Bavarian Cream, though the Raspberry Bullseyes were very tempting.

Way better than Tim Horton's, I can tell you that!

I even treated Jodi and me to a copy of Top Pot's doughnut cookbook, which I plan on using! The recipes seem simple enough, though you have to be comfortable with deep frying. I am OK with that!

Seattle!

Today I'm off to Seattle for a few days to visit my good friend Jodi. I was there over Christmas and New Years and had a fantastic time, and I know I'll have a fantastic time this trip, too. I also know the food will be amazing because Jodi is a ridiculously good cook and gourmand, and she has a Bradley smoker on her balcony she is not afraid to use!

This is the bourbon and orange marinated hickory smoked chicken she made on New Years Day:

This was so good you'd pay top dollar for it in a fancy restaurant, I swear.

Jodi is also famous for cookie breakfasts...(yes, we ate this for breakfast - several days in a row)...


...And epic turkey dinners with enough food to feed an army (there were two of us). The turkey she brined overnight - look at the colour it has!


I'll save the fondu photos for another time because I don't want anyone damaging any keyboards out there with all the drool I'm sure these photos are creating.

And of course, there is Starbucks in Seattle! This is the original, across from Pike Place Market. I snapped some photos but didn't go because there was always a huge line-up out the door! Luckily, on the walking route to Jodi's from Pike Place, there are plenty of Starbucks to choose from and they didn't have line-ups!

The West Coast adventure continues. And...I'm also going to Seattle again in April!