A Question for You

Hello there!

Allow me to be the 9 millionth person you know to say: What a week!” I spent a reasonable part of the week angry, scared, then even angrier, more scared and then I had a good sob while driving in the car.

I’ve been in the car (and thus not writing and creating recipes) most of the week, driving up and down and all around northern New Jersey in search of the state’s best pizzerias. Every three years New Jersey Monthly does a round-up of best pizzas. This is my second time on the case, and I’m pleased to report there are some great new additions to the list.

I ate an exemplary wood-fired pizza at Sette in Totowa, NJ, which made me feel for a few fleeting moments as if I were in Italy. Then I remembered I was eating pizza in the parking lot of a pawn shop, listening to news about an insurrection in Washington, DC on the car radio. I turned off the radio, closed my eyes, ate my pizza and thought of Italy. The pizza, with its puffed crust, speckled with leopard-like spots thanks to the heat of the wood fire, was topped with creamy mozzarella, translucent slices of prosciutto, fresh arugula, marinated cherry tomatoes and wispy shavings of Parmesan.

I spent much of last weekend learning how to make soft pretzels, which makes a fun weekend project. Monday I made gluten-free oat- and almond-flour chocolate chip cookies for my daughter who was writing what seems like her 978th essay for a college application. Tonight was puffy snickerdoodles, a recipe I perfected after trying over 12 different recipes to arrive at my own.

Ah! But I lured you here with a question for you! What kind of things are you interested in learning more about? The history of the American kitchen? Would you like recipes for pound cakes, quick breads, soups, pies, cocktails, world peace? Please let me know.

More soonly,

Marissa