19.12.10

black swan.

Saw Black Swan yesterday with the family...it's maybe not a movie for every family. I'm not saying it's amazing, but I liked it quite a bit, at least more than anyone else did. Then again I'm a bit of a sucker for the dimly-lit 70s horrorish stuff from De Palma and Cronenberg...

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Today we are attempting something experimental: showing the boyz where pizza comes from. This will be the first time the full 8-member family is together, and it's always a question of what to make that intersects with everyone's food preferences. Pizza is an easy answer.

The stock response to this menu decision would be "let's just buy a bunch of pizza from somewhere", but I am a bit pained by the kids' disconnection from real food. 90% of what they eat is pretty garbagey stuff that comes from a box or can or the freezer or McDonalds, which I find sad and uninspiring (though they do eat blueberries, apples, corn, and potatoes).

Don't misunderstand a bitch. I understand that it's hard to monitor two male toddlers and cook real food from scratch at the same time, especially if cooking is not something that relaxes you. And I understand the argument that "they don't like anything else" other than highly processed food, but this is kind of a chicken/egg thing: if you start out with MSG and HFCS as your introduction to solid food, yeah, it's hard (and time-consuming) to cook healthier food at home that can compete with that on a taste level.

So, since Mara and I have nothing but time here, we thought we'd see if 1) the boyz would be interested in seeing what happens to pizza before the delivery man shows up at your door, and 2) we can make food from scratch that 5-year-olds will eat.

It's thoroughly probable that they won't care at all about where pizza comes from, or will decide that today is the one day they "don't want pizza", and I am fully aware that it will be a real challenge to cook food that resembles what they're used to in the taste department.

Here are the pizzas under discussion:

Dylan: tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni
Cole: tomato sauce, mozzarella
Erica: some kind of veggie
Kyle: not sure
Pitts: tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushroom and onion
Dad: white pizza with parmesan and truffle oil
MT: margherita
Me: pear, gorgonzola, arugula

Something with rosemary would be nice, but I don't see where it would go. We're also going to try one or more of the adult pizzas on the grill, which should be an adventure.

To make things even more adventurous, it's possible that at some point in the afternoon our cooking will be fueled by these delicious cocktails that Dad turned us on to last night.

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the ritz 75.

1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz fresh mandarin juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
2 oz gin
1/2 cup champagne

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2 comments:

Wendy Miller said...

That drinks sounds delish! I had friends with kids who had never made pizza either & we all had a ball. In fact 5 years later they still talk about it

MEM said...

That drink was delish. If we hadn't run out of champagne I might've been in trouble. The version on gumbopages uses lemon juice instead, we'll have to try that too...

And yeah, the pizza was fun, it turned out to be a pretty good idea of something to do with ze little ones...