Deep dish pizza and all that jazz

After several months of recovering from our trip through Europe (and by that I mean recovering from posting the resulting photos, not from the trip itself) I've finally got around to putting together some of the better photos from the trip Andrea and I took to Chicago in June.

Chicago's a great city.  It's one I've meant to visit for a very long time, and we found an excuse when we returned from London and our newlywed friends Padmini and Apurva settled there.

I'd still like to put together some shots from around Boston, from up in the Adirondacks and from my walk of the River Thames last year, but we just bought a house and we're expecting a baby in December, so who knows when I'll bother with all that.

posted on 2008-08-21 23:50:00 :: permanent link

Remote control

Superman lives

I just got a new gadget.  The cheap little Canon Wireless Remote Controller RC-1 goes with my camera (and probably other Canon DSLRs), and it's already pretty fun.

The main thing most people are likely do with such a remote is appear in their own photos without having to use the pesky timer, and admittedly that is convenient under some curcumstances and it's the only thing I've managed to do with it so far.  However, the impetus for buying the RC-1 was actually to take night shots.  I found it a pain to use my Canon's bulb feature (that's the mode wherein the camera keeps its shutter open until the user releases the button) when I tried to take photos of the stars in July.  The camera inevitably moves as a result of its contact with me, and the blurs were a bit of a letdown.

Plus it's no fun waiting two minutes for a shot with your finger on a button, trying not to move.

The RC-1 is infrared, so it needs line of sight, but it's otherwise a neat remote.  It will make experimenting with night sky shots a lot easier.  I'm thinking some night traffic shots are also in order.

posted on 2008-08-20 19:30:00 :: permanent link

Beer of the Month: Shipyard Summer

I like beers that play with the tongue, flavors popping up in unpredictable but (with the repetition of the raising of the wrist) repeatable ways. Shipyard Summer meets this criteria. An easy sipping beer ideal for the season, Shipyard Summer feels smooth on the swallow, hits you with soft orangy citrus and then finishes hoppy and lemony.

Andrea and I toured the brewery in Portland, Maine, a few years ago. It's a nice place, and it's in a great port city that's well worth visiting. This particular selection is one Shipyard should seriously consider brewing year-round.

I found this on draught at the Coolidge Corner Clubhouse in Brookline, Massachusetts, where I hadn't been since I lived in the neighborhood years ago.

posted on 2008-07-29 21:15:00 :: permanent link

Pizza Report: Gino's East, Chicago

This is another thing I've been planning to do for a while, along with my Beers of the Month.  I've always been passionate about trying styles of the greatest food ever created: the pizza.

Not so much a distinct food as a medium for endless culinary creativity, pizza is the result of the confluence of seventeenth century events that brought the North American tomato to Italy. The oldest pizzeria in the world, in Naples, dates to the eighteenth century, but the food didn't find its way to America until the twentieth.

Chicago style pizza is a thick, heavy concoction that originated at Pizzeria Uno and is often called "Deep Dish." The original idea behind making the pie so filling was to allow Americans unfamiliar with the food to accept it as a meal: Uno's bakers were of the opinion that New York style pizza wasn't substantial enough to pass muster in a restaurant setting. (I disagree, but then again I can eat far more slices of thinner crusted pizza than I can of Chicago style pies.)

Gino's East has a number of locations. We went to the one on Lincoln in North Chicago with our friends, Padmini and Apurva.  The pies are thick, but oddly it isn't not the crust that feels thick.  Rather, it's the toppings and the cheese, which melt together in a glorious goo beneath the sauce.  Yes, you read that right: Gino's is one of those contrarian pizzerias that dares to put the sauce above the cheese.  Personally I prefer the traditional layering with the cheese on top, but I still enjoyed the pizza at Gino's very much.  I was a bit surprised that the crust lacked the buttery fried texture I've come to associate with deep dish (led by my many experiences at the Pizza Hut and Uno frachises).  Instead it was flaky, a bit like the crust on a blueberry pie, yet with a more savory, pizzalike flavor.  The thickness of the crust was only apparent at the edges of the pie.

I'm still a thin crust man, but I recommend it.

posted on 2008-07-12 13:26:00 :: permanent link