Last Saturday, I made pizza dough for the first time, and it was a delicious success! Not sure how I’ve gone so long and made so many pizzas never having made the dough from scratch. (In the past, I’ve been a big fan of Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough.) But now, I can imagine it becoming a weekly staple.

For this first time around, I used a basic recipe and methods combined from my three go-to cookbooks of the moment: Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food, Isa Chandra’s Vegan with a Vegeance, and the standard Joy of Cooking. The ingredients don’t vary much, but I like getting a few different opinions on techniques and timing–especially when it comes to yeasts.

Once the dough was prepped, I headed to the refrigerator to gather toppings from what we had on-hand. First, a pie with herbed potato, carmelized onion, and goat cheese with a thin spread of tomato. And second (inspired by Antonio’s in Amherst), a spicy Mexican pie with black beans, avocado, diced jalapeno, and goat cheese with a splash of hot sauce!

Any suggestions for your own favorite (and maybe unusual) seasonal pizza toppings?

i’m slowly coming back to daily life after another week long adventure in northern california. august is here, and summer is slowly start to wind down.

nicole, one of my very favorite people, traveled back to Los Angeles with me, and is sharing a bit of my LA life this week. we both love our breakfast pastries (check out our croissant diaries project!), so this morning we feasted on croissants from my neighborhood bakery, fruity jams, and creamy coffee. mmmm, how i love breakfast–especially on a weekday morning with a little something extra and special company!

i’ve officially fallen in love with a new world of coffee: blue bottle of san francisco, a microroaster and coffeehouse and expert coffee brewery. they carefully roast all their own shade-grown beans. and then, individually prepare each cup of coffee using beehouse ceramic manual drippers. and every cup is a super rich, coffee-y kickstart to your morning (or afternoon or evening, if you’re like me).

i had my first sip at the ferry plaza farmer’s market on saturday morning. manual dripping isn’t the most efficient setup for a busy day at the market, and the coffee line gets a bit long–but wowww, it is worth the wait. in fact, we waited twice when we couldn’t resist going back for a second cup. and then an hour before leaving the city on sunday night, alex and i searched in vain for one last fix. it’s that good.

i’ve lusted after bodum french presses for a long time. but after seeing blue bottle work their magic with a manual drip (and drinking many cups of yummy manual drip in the past few months), i think the beehouse ceramic dripper may be swaying my mind, heart, and tastebuds…

:: image from lillieinthecity / flickr