Sunday, June 05, 2005


extra silky

due to various happenings, i didn't get a chance to make pizza last sunday.

thus i stored the biga i'd made the previous night in the fridge and brought it out today, gave it a stir, let it warm up, offered it some fresh flour; and soon it seemed as good as new!

then i proceeded to make pizza as usual according to st. hamelman's recipe. . .and lemme note that never had the dough turned out so silky. i'm not sure whether this is a good thing yet or not.

but the dough didn't have that broken, watery quality i associate with overworked or overaged dough, so i'm pretty hopeful! let's see how it bakes up and how it tastes.

in other news, it just so happens that i came to mention my london adventures recently on alt.coffee. several londoners there just didn't believe what i was saying -- "it sounds like something out of dickens," one commented skeptically.

"you make it seem like a surreal avengers episode," another wrote me privately.

alas, what i can i say? wimbledon village is a very special place that doesn't operate like any other part of town, and the inhabitants prefer it so.

on the other hand, the disbelieving shouldn't be the least surprised by my tales of the half-naked madman in the tuxedo jacket, torn kilt, and ragged ballet slippers standing in the pub with its sweet 3-legged dog.

p. ackroyd in his most excellent biography of london takes great pains to emphasize london's innate and unchangeable paganism, the radical sense of individualism held by all londoners, and the innate theatricality of the people and the place together.

i'm just coming to understand how lucky i was to be adopted by the wimbledon regulars and how charming -- and really english -- their little world is.

once again, i highly recommend ackroyd's book! it's just a hoot to read. how good is it?

it's so amusing that a hard-core new yorker like myself can scarcely put it down. i wish ackroyd would write a "bio" like this of new york!

and altho' my experience of london was partial and quite brief, i can tell you there is much obvious truth and wisdom to it, actually.

i'm deliberately parcelling myself out a chapter a day, which goes really well with some classic stan getz and a nice americano. . . no, not that americano, this americano.

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