Oh so scholarly.

Fork. On Sunday nights the boy and I have to work late.  Latish.  9pm.  Considering we live very close to the office, we're usually home by 9:30 or so, but that still demands a very quick turn around for dinner.  Pizza is the usual choice, especially because our sister shop sells a very delicious premade pizza dough*.

*Okay, it KILLS me that I buy the dough.  It does.  BUT, I do know the lovely lady that makes it and frankly, it's really quite good.  As close to home-made as I can handle, but in the future (when I have more time on pizza nights) I'm excited to get to making my own.  It will involve a sourdough starter and some hours of rising, but I'm itching for it.  Until then, Rachel's dough will do just fine.  (Thank you Rachel, thank you).

We try to keep it simple with the pizzas.  Too much stuff and your dough is bogged down and limp.  So, we went with a classic tomato sauce (reduced to thicken it a bit), mozzarella, chopped PIOPPINI mushrooms from the farmer's market, basil.  All topped with some dressed greens, a salad pizza, if you will.  Texturally it's very pleasing, and visually it looks pretty snappy too.  I almost always sprinkle my pizza with red pepper flakes, so I suggest you do the same.  If you know, you like some spice.


Glass.  GRIGNOLINO.  Ready to get on board?  I hope so.  Grignolino is a grape from Piedmont that produces a fantastically smooth and easy-drinking red.  Light and bright.  Delicate, even.  The color is a gorgeous ruby and the taste screams of fresh raspberries and strawberries.  Derived from the name "grignole," which means "many pips" or seeds, this grape doesn't have a lot of juice to offer.  Therefore, the wine is a happy blend of fruit and tannins, a very soft and food-friendly red.

 We drank the La Mondianese 2010 bottle with a chill.  Delicious.  Funnily, I'm not that excited about most Italian wines.  Often they are too high-toned and astringent to work well without some kind of food pairing.  Rarely do I want a glass of Italian wine without food, BUT with certain dishes they absolutely sing.  Grignolino and a classic pizza, yes please.


Play.  Think college.  Think booze.  Then think food.  Probably pizza right?  Maybe not in YOUR dorm room, but certainly in the dorm room of EVERY movie you've ever seen about college.

Now think of your ideal night now.  Ideal booze.  Ideal meal.  Easy drinking, easy eating, easy living.  To pair with the oh so high-browness of making our own pizza and drinking a rare Italian wine, we decided upon The Social Network.  You know the one.  That movie about that guy that made that thing we wish we didn't LOVE so much.  Ugh, he is sooo rich.

And like some kind of college classroom debate, the movie spurned lots of discussion on the meaning of facebook, how it has completely shaped our social lives.  Damnit, I've grown up with facebook.  I'm almost the same age as Mark Zuckerburg, I was one of the first to experience The Facebook as a daily thing.  It's hard to even talk about without feeling stupid and duped, but it is an interesting and overwhelmingly relevant topic.  Now that Twitter and these things we call BLOGS have taken over, facebook is a given, a must.  Almost old hat.  I'm legit friends with people I don't even know because of it.  Everyone is connected.

Love you!

So has it made all of our "real life" relationships more worthy?  Because they aren't based on some kind of virtual interaction?  And how many of these "real" relationships do we have?  Without this interweb of friends, how alone are we?

Le sigh.  I suggest watching the movie because Aaron Sorkin is AWESOME, because the acting is superb, because Trent Reznor nails it 2/3 of the way through, because it IS topical and yep, it does involve you.  But PLEASE do not without some very tasty booze and satisfying cuisine.  You need some backup.