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eG Foodblog: robirdstx (2011) - My Spring Break: By The Bay And Throug


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I'm officially giving my husband grief for not having as cool a hobby as yours! I can't wait to see how the pizzas turn out!

If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry? ~Author Unknown

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Beautiful fish cakes and bread, robirdstx! I've only ever made crab cakes once. Now I'll try making the fish ones because of your inspiration. :smile:

That pizza steel will be one of a kind. Looking forward to pizza!

Thank you. I usually make the cakes with crab but the snapper worked out pretty well.

Definitely one of a kind steel. Pizza results coming soon!

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Plan A that got scratched on Monday was put into play today. Time to find a lemon and a lime tree! I was looking for a meyer lemon and found it and a kieffer lime at my local Lowe's Home Center.

Meyer Lemon

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Kieffer Lime

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So many pots to choose from at the Houston Garden Center!

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Repotted Lime Tree

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Both trees repotted on the south side of the garage where they will get lots of sunshine.

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I can hardly wait for them to start producing fruit!

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I'm very impressed that Lowe's had kaffir lime. I used to have a tree when I lived in Austin and loved it.

I'm just up the highway, half-way to Houston, in the Clear Lake/Galveston Bay area.

My parents live in League City and work in Galveston.

Those fishcakes look world class.

Do you get stone crabs in Galviston?

Those fish cakes do look great. I've made crab cakes a lot but never thought to make fish cakes.

I don't think there are stone crabs in the western part of the Gulf of Mexico. I've only hear of them from Florida. We just get blue crabs, and plenty of them, too!

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Time to make the pizza!

But first we have to make the dough.

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After resting for about an hour, I cut the dough into four equal pieces. Two pieces for dinner tonight and two pieces to go in the freezer in ziplock baggies, with a little bit of olive oil, for next time.

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Here's the first crust. I need to work on my stretching skills. :smile: The dough is on a circle of parchment that is dusted with corn meal. And the cookie sheet will be used as a paddle to get the dough onto the very hot steel. The oven had been turned on to 500F about an hour before and then switched to broil. The steel is on a rack set at the highest level, just beneath the broiler.

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The sauce goes on the first pie for DH.

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Then some diced onions.

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A bit of shredded cheese and then lots of pepperoni, hot Italian sausage and chopped pickled jalapenos.

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Out of the oven after 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

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And the underside.

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The second pie is for me, with mushrooms and black olives.

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This pie was in the oven for 4 minutes and 15 seconds.

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And the underside.

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I'd say the steel did a pretty good job. Previously, we would have to par-bake the crust, add the toppings and finish the pie when using our stone. So we saved a step; and DH really liked the way the pepperoni crisped up and the flavor of the jalapenos!

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Beautiful pies! Your stretching skills look pretty good to me. Whenever I try it comes out less round than rectangular-with-rounded-corners. :blink: I just call it "free form" - yeah, I meant to do that.

Cognito ergo consume - Satchel Pooch, Get Fuzzy

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DH made some Pillsbury biscuits for us this morning. I had mine with a pork sausage patty and a few of those strawberries we bought on Sunday at Froberg's.

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Do you remember this from my teaser photos?

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I bought this plate at a small pottery in Mesilla, New Mexico a couple of years ago. And today I'm flying out of Houston to El Paso to make my way through the pass and into New Mexico for the second half of this week.

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Galveston Island Part I - Seawall Blvd.

Benno's

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We stopped at Benno's for a brew and some fries and had a sit down to listen to and watch the waves. Beautiful day - lovely breeze, low humidity, and temps in the low 70s.

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My aunt and uncle live in Beaumont, and when we went down to visit them in the mid- to late-90s, we went to Galveston for the day to hang out on the beach. Around lunch time there was a brief shower, so we went to a seafood place for lunch. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but that pic of Benno's looks really familiar. I've been a seafood lover from a long age, and just remember the waitress saying that the shrimp was really fresh then seeing a dolly get rolled by, still dripping, full of shrimp. So that's what I ordered. :wub:

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta." - Frederico Fellini

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What can one say about the pizza pan - wow!

Those fruit trees look kind of tall already- are they dwarf or semi dwarf since you have them in the non-gigantor pots? Good luck on your future harvest- walking out to pick fresh unsprayed citrus is a pleasure I try not to take for granted - plus they are lovely to look at.

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I use parchment paper under the dough, too. You can forget about stretching if you top the dough with plastic wrap and roll it out with a rolling pin. Works every time and I really get a thin crust.

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In addition to the strawberries, we bought this little thyme plant to put in the garden.

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This, then your citrus plants -- do you grow a lot of the produce you use?

Your fish then fishcakes look so good to me -- I'd like a plate of each, please. :wink:

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Well I'd say the pizza pan was a success...those look great! Looks like we're going to get two for the price of one this week...Texas and New Mexico...have a safe trip!

If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry? ~Author Unknown

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My aunt and uncle live in Beaumont, and when we went down to visit them in the mid- to late-90s, we went to Galveston for the day to hang out on the beach. Around lunch time there was a brief shower, so we went to a seafood place for lunch. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but that pic of Benno's looks really familiar. I've been a seafood lover from a long age, and just remember the waitress saying that the shrimp was really fresh then seeing a dolly get rolled by, still dripping, full of shrimp. So that's what I ordered. :wub:

Hi emilyr, thank you so much for sharing your memory of your visit to Galveston.

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What can one say about the pizza pan - wow!

Those fruit trees look kind of tall already- are they dwarf or semi dwarf since you have them in the non-gigantor pots? Good luck on your future harvest- walking out to pick fresh unsprayed citrus is a pleasure I try not to take for granted - plus they are lovely to look at.

Yes, that steel turned out to be pretty cool. Can't wait to try it out with naan or other flatbreads.

I think they are both dwarf. I was really, really happy to find them so big. Interestingly, their root balls were pretty small (maybe recently repotted) and the new pots should take care of them for a while. The meyer lemon has lots of flower buds already. And, yes, I think they are lovely to look at, too.

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