Home Cookin'

Different kind of visual stimulation today.

That would be the gluten-free pizza I made last night, as shot by my less-than-ideal cell phone camera. 'Twas a fine creation, if I may say so: garbanzo and brown rice flour crust, yummy garlic-and-onion-rich sauce, mushrooms, kalamata olives, red peppers, anchovies, and first-rate fresh mozzerella.

But the real reason it is photogenic (other than that I was feeling extra-special visual artistic having seen Red and The Jackie Look this weekend) is that butcher block beneath the pie.

Since I've been spending more time at her place and in her kitchen, Cory and I have taken to making it over in some pretty bitchin ways: the pots and pans, the peg board, the coffee renaissance. And now this: Cory moved the gear that had been on her cube/modules, we took the measurements, did some extensive comparison shopping and finally Cory had a wood shop in Ohio cut us this fine piece of maple to the exact specs we needed for a fab work space in our ever-evolving food lab. The pie you see before you was the first (relatively) major test for the butcher block, and it handled it like a champ. That bottle of rioja went very nicely with the feast, I might add. And while Cory thinks that the power outlet there compromises the photo, I'd like to point out that it came in very handy indeed when I was mixing the dough.

All hail stylish functional New York Kitchens!