On the Cold and Windy Prairie

Last night I went to the coldest, windiest, most progressive small town I’ve ever visited: Milan, MN. This community of 350 uses geothermal energy to heat their bank and church, they have signed onto the Kyoto Treaty, and through one citizen’s Peace Corps work have recently welcomed over forty immigrant residents from Micronesia.

You ask why I was 150 miles west of the Twin Cities on a Monday night, struggling to keep the car from blowing off the road, eating takeout pizza in the car with my boss at midnight? Minnesota Design Team! (MDT – see previous post.) I am co-leading a visit in late March, and this was our first preparation meeting. I am encouraged by the spirit and concern these people have for their community’s future, and I look forward to the positive stress I’ll experience throughout this process. There are some tough issues to address and much preparation work to do, but I love participating in a volunteer effort I believe in so strongly. Hooray!

Notes on a Friend

I don’t know why I feel compelled to post on this topic, but I suspect it is in the interest of supporting the power of blogs to connect and relate people, stories, and ideas.  I think it is also because I want our readers to think of my friend, and in honor of his family to reflect on the meaning and value of your own companionships and families.

The 27-year-old wife of my high school swimming teammate (and driver of our team toiletpapering van), Chris Ireland, is near the end of her struggle with cancer.  They have two young daughters. For the past year, Chris has blogged about their experience from our hometown of Blue Springs, Missouri, giving the world a view into their private experience.  http://www.jenniferireland.blogs.com/

More Pizza Makers Born

Shilad and Katy have purchased a stone. We, along with Dan and Melissa, welcomed it into the world with six tasty pizzas. Photos are here.

World Tour Continued: Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV (visit: Anna Webber’s place, Dec 15-17) This town is like the moon: beige, dusty, and vaguely familiar…but also suspiciously mystifying. Every normal situation turned bizarre, which introduced fascinating conversational pauses and puzzled looks between Anna and me. I feel relieved that at least one place in the U.S. is still unmistakably itself–not a chance you’d think you were in Minnesota, even as you drive past the Target-Best Buy super strips. I dare you to ask me about the Cultural Corridor.

Highlights: 1) Cultural Corridor, 2) neon sign boneyard, 3) Anna’s top-level-top-view parking strategies, 4) weekend of culinary firsts–oysters, foie gras, $100+ meal, and 5) on-site urban design and casino design discussions, which involved ubiquitous exterior walls, dense sprawl, and multi-million dollar gaming industry architecture facts.

Photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/lasvegas2006/

Pizza Dough Recipe

This recipe makes enough dough for 3-4 thin crust pizzas or 2-3 traditional or deep dish pizzas. I always make this much and freeze the dough I don’t use[1].

Mix in large bowl:

• 2 cups warm (not scalding) water
• 1 packet/~1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar [2]

Add:

• 5 cups flour
• ~.5 tablespoon kosher salt
• ~.125-.25 cups olive oil

Mix, and add flour as needed to create a moist, but not sticky dough [3]. Knead for 5-10 minutes, depending on your energy level and how much you’ve had to drink. People say more kneading is better; it’s very hard to over-knead.

Form dough into a ball.  Oil a large bowl with olive oil, insert ball, and cover bowl with plastic or a towel.  Let rise for about an hour.  Rising takes longer when cold (e.g. it can rise in a refrigerator overnight).

Remove from bowl and divide on a floured surface (you need about a baseball-sized ball for one thin pizza).  Form the dough you don’t want to use that day into balls, put into plastic bags, and toss in freezer.

Flatten the dough, top with tasty stuff, bake in a hot oven.  I bake 7-8 minutes on a 450 F oven on a stone.  Any hotter, and I set off the fire alarms every time.

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[1] To use frozen dough, you can (a) put it in the fridge 12-24 hours before use, then remove from fridge about 1 hour before use, or (b) take out of the freezer about 3 hours before use, or (c) as a last resort, try to thaw a bit in the microwave using the soften icecream settings.

[2] At this point, the recipes tell you to let it sit for 5-10 minutes until it’s bubbly, but you don’t actually need to do this unless you’re unsure if the yeast is still good.

[3]  I think using stickier dough is an advanced technique – it makes for better crust, but it’s harder to manage.

Fall World Tour Retrospective: November

Blue Springs, MO (Thanksgiving: Craig family house, Nov 23-26) It was a pleasing holiday combination of active time with extended family and relaxed time with Mom, Dad, and Becky.

Highlights: 1) long walks in warm weather, 2) traditional holiday food, 3) entire days wearing pajamas and drinking coffee, 4) instructive skin care techniques demonstrated by Aunt Mary K., and 5) intense Hive games with Becky.

Los Angeles, CA (wedding: Steve & Kristie, Nov 10-13) Our trip shattered my previous opinions about LA, at least from an urban design perspective. Sprawling, yes, but dense; auto-centric, yes, but pedestrian-friendly; polluted, yes, but beautiful…and so on. The water problem persists, but the place is still much more appealing in person than it was from the academic armchair and design studio. Of course, real life differs from tourist experience, but I’m pleased to reinforce for myself the importance of visiting a place. More travels ahead!

Highlights: 1) grounds and buildings (oh, and art) of the Getty Museum, 2) vacation time with Jesse and Meg, who chauffeured us about in their rented convertible, 3) public beach access walks through dense, lush neighborhoods, 4) Hollywood celebrity sightings: Slash and Barney, 5) Venice Beach denizens, visitors, and palm tree graffiti, 6) coffee on Redondo Beach Pier, and 7) wedding festivities and conversations with Steve.

Getty Museum photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/gettymuseum/

A few others from Los Angeles, including Barney and Jesse and Meg, are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccharp3r/tags/randomlosangeles/