The Best Thin Crust Pizza

My wife and I love thin crust pizza.  It is almost impossible to find a good one in any pizzaria or restaurant. I would say that Yai Yai's in Lincoln, NE and the Natt Spil here in Madison both come close to what I want  from a pizza, great toppings, thin crispy crust that doesn't bend, and great beer.  The problem is that you can't get it delivered.  My wife found the perfect recipe on the World Wide Web that is both easy and so good.

Follow the instructions on the website and you can't go wrong.  I cook the crust about five minutes in the oven before adding toppings.

I modified the recipe for our tastes by making it with white spelt flour and adding a little more water.

Otis loves to help and he is putting a lot of effort in rolling it out here.

I also cut the veggies thin, toss in a bowl with olive oil and oregano and saute for a few minutes.

My favorite combo of ingredients is Pesto, Zucchini, Portabella Mushrooms, red peppers, walnuts, and bacon.

Friday pizza nights with homemade pizza, home brew, friends and family.  Now that's livin'.

Awesome Way to Tie a Scarf

The Sartorialist is a great fashion blog.

New Music Posted on NPR

You can check out Broken Bells, James Mercer and Danger Mouse, debut in its entirety here.    Broken Bells album doesn't disappoint if you like pop music.   They also have Gorillaz new album for a listen here.  Both albums are available for purchase next week.

Pets: Why Owning a Dog is Worse Than Driving an SUV

Let me preface this entry by stating I have two cats and a dog.  I love my animals, but in the winter time its tough love and it's like being trapped with roommates too long.  I, like most people, want to be environmentally conscience and lower my impact logically.  I am not going to grow all my own food right now or buy everything organic and local, we do what we can but it’s just hard on the budget at the moment.  I look for low cost easy ways to lower my carbon footprint, taking bags to the grocery store, reusing as much as possible, stuff like that.  In the nice long winters here in Wisconsin I have had time to ponder things I really have never thought about like the carbon footprint left by my animals.  I mean I pick up my dogs poop and throw it away and I know it goes to the landfill, but what is the impact of that poop and the dog food and other dog products on our earth.

I did a little Google research and I found some pretty interesting statistics on the impact of pets.  The best information comes from a book entitled Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.  The title may seem harsh but after reading some of the information provided, Novio, my dog, is looking pretty tasty. For instance, owning a medium sized dog is like owning two SUV's:

To measure the ecological paw, claw and fin-prints of the family pet, the Vales anylized the ingredients of common brands of pet food. They calculated, for example, that a medium-sized dog would consume 90 grams of meat and 156 grams of cereals daily in its recommended 300-gram portion of dried dog food. At its pre-dried weight, that equates to 450 grams of fresh meat and 260 grams of cereal. That means that over the course of a year, Fido wolfs down about 164 kilograms of meat and 95 kilograms of cereals.

It takes 43.3 square metres of land to generate 1 kilogram of chicken per year - far more for beef and lamb - and 13.4 square metres to generate a kilogram of cereals. So that gives him a footprint of 0.84 hectares. For a big dog such as a German shepherd, the figure is 1.1 hectares.

Meanwhile, an SUV - the Vales used a 4.6-litre Toyota Land Cruiser in their comparison - driven a modest 10,000 kilometres a year, uses 55.1 gigajoules, which includes the energy required both to fuel and to build it. One hectare of land can produce approximately 135 gigajoules of energy per year, so the Land Cruiser's eco-footprint is about 0.41 hectares - less than half that of a medium-sized dog.

Basically, owning my medium sized dog is way worse than the a-hole that drives around a hummer.  The book goes on to say that cats are like a small car.  So here in my house we are driving the equivalent of two small cars and two SUV's not counting our actual car.  I will definitely discontinue my judgment of SUV drivers, unless they have two dogs in the back after all I am a hater. 

I am not condoning eating dogs or cats or anything but it has swayed my decision about animal ownership.  I would never choose to own a Hummer because it seems excessive and wasteful, but I have chosen to own three pets one way or another.  The information I read was pretty eye opening.  Should cities be more dog friendly or should they be less dog friendly to discourage pet ownership?  I know cities like New York make driving a car really expensive and discourage people from driving there with tolls and high costs of parking.  Using this logic it would make sense to tax dogs and cats for the added impact on landfills.  After all it is a choice to own a dog or cat.  I don’t see myself choosing to own any more pets.  Of course it is the wintertime and my animals are driving me a little crazy.

Here is an article with some helpful tips to leave a lower your carbon paw print.  The article mentions everything from eco-friendly pet foods to toys.  The same problem remains for me though is the budgetary impact of buying eco-friendly dog food.  It is one of the responsibilities of owning pets that I didn't think of when I chose to take them in.  


This blog has a lot of good information and tips to be a greener pet owner.


If you have any tips especially low cost tips let me know in the comments.

I Have Been Promoted!

From Penis Pusher to Butthole Checker!

I am excited to announce that my duties as penis pusher are now over.  Otis no longer needs guidance and can direct his stream solo.  Thank friggin' the almighty.  He is totally solo in the bathroom; however,  my duties are not over in that realm.  He is wiping himself so now I am regulated to butthole(two words or one?) checker.  Are these jobs I can put on my resume?

The Shoe/Book Shelf and Coat Hanger

I am really trying to get a hold on the clutter and yard sale like appearance of my house by making things easy and convienent for both my kids and myself.  We pretty much exusively use the back door when entering the house and the coat closet is in the front of the house.  So from the rear of the house its easy to find the closet by following the trail of gloves, hats, scaves, and coats.  Everyday I should pick up the discarded winter clothing and take it to the coat closet, but doesn't always happen.  I wanted it to be easier and have Otis take more responsibility picking up after himself.  I built this shelf out of leftover plywood and screws from my garage.  I am pretty proud of this one as I built it during the day with the kids around.  Otis uses it and loves to put the shoes away and I don't have to waste 10 minutes trying to locate all of the winter accessories.  I also have been toting around this old piece of barn wood I got from my friend, Nate,  thanks again.  It has such a beautiful grain, and I have been trying to find a use for it for about four years.  I needed to make a coat hanger for the wall and it was a perfect fit.  Just a few cuts and some hanger hardware and it was finished.  I am very pleased with the set up and the house seems less cluttered with coats and what not.

What has Two Thumbs and Can Bake Bread? This Guy

                                                                           actually my bread in photo


Baking has never been my bag.  I am not the most thorough and meticulous guy, but I hate paying 4 dollars for a loaf of organic bread.  Last year I read the New York Times article on No Knead Bread.   The recipe and method sat well with me and allows room for experimentation and error, key to my lack of skills.  Every loaf of bread has been edible since I started with the exception of one I forgot about and looked like I tried to cook a rock.  

I stick to two main recipes we like here, Spelt Bread and Sesame Semolina.  I use more yeast because its cold here and I find the bread turns out better.  I also use a little more salt.

Spelt Bread
2 cups whole spelt flour
1 cup white spelt flour
1.5 cups water
pinch of salt
some honey
1/2 tsp yeast

Sesame Semolina
2 cups white bread flour
1 cup semolina
1.5 cups water
1/2 tsp of yest
pinch of salt
some toasted sesame oil (coat my hands with it so the dough doesn't stick)
sesame seeds for top

The water and salt and honey can be changed for taste and wanted crumb, basically the more water the more bubbles.

More recipe variations here.   But I basically stick to the three cup rule.  Whole wheat would be 2 cups whole wheat 1 cup white.  Its pretty easy to add whatever you want to the bread like sunflower seeds or other whole grains.  Here is a video that is some what helpful to see the process.




I try to minimize mess and tools so I do everything in one bowl and don't take the dough out unit it is ready to be baked.  I use only a fork as a tool to stir so no need for crazy expensive mixers.  A dutch oven is key and I prefer the no enamel ones.  I do knead the semolina bread for a little bit especially if the kids have been crazy.  What I love about the bread is the short time commitments.  Otis, my son, helps me mix it, usually takes 5-10 minutes, I give him a bit  to play with when I flip it around another 5 minutes and then bake it.  The only tough thing is you have to plan ahead since the bread has to sit overnight.

Any questions just put them in the comments.