How To Have Brunch

What are you doing this weekend? Having me over for brunch, I hope. Get out your champagne mugs glasses!

Brunch is an institution: a special time where drinking in the daytime is not only appropriate, it is encouraged. I adhere to very strict Brunch Club Rules.

1. At least one food item on the table must be made up of at least 50% eggs. 
2. One food item must be 100% bacon.
3. Each beverage consumed must be made up of at least 50% champagne (or other appropriately bubbled alcoholic intoxicant). This is my new favorite method of making a mimosa. You're welcome.

You should put some fruit on the table. It feels healthier this way. Coffee also helps. So does dining Al Fresco, if possible. Al Fresco is not that weird guy who lives around the corner from you; it is a fancy way of saying outdoors. Eating is one of the only outdoor activities I truly enjoy. To reiterate, the bubbly alcohol helps me enjoy outdoor activities. So does the bacon.

A Tale of Two Pizzas

More confession time. I love pizza. Bad pizza is good pizza. My favorite pizzas, though, all share similar traits: thin, crispy, yeasty, crackly, chewy, perfect ... oh, did I mention I'm a bit of a dough/crust fan? Screw the toppings. I want to talk about pizza crust.

Making your own dough is SO EASY. Seriously why are you not doing this? And here is my trick/commandment: make it as far in advance as you want. A week even. All that time in the fridge just lets the yeast work its magic and get all stretchy and delicious. Here are two pizzas, made within one day of each other.

Day One: FLUFFY DOUGH. My nemesis. Still delicious, but still. This tasty but you know it could be better.

Toppings: skirt steak, caramelized garlic and shallots, roasted cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, Mexican crema (have you had this ish? It is like sour cream but TANGIER. This probably deserves an entire post unto itself but that would be kind of gross, just C Fierce, eating a jar of Mexican sour cream. I'll do it, Internet. Don't tempt me.)

What could POSSIBLY be hiding behind the jump? Let's find out!

... and the Garlic Bread From Heaven That Hates Your Thighs

Confession time: I love garlic. I love garlic bread. I love crappy garlic bread, I love Stouffer's garlic bread, I love dipping garlic bread in tomato sauce, I love the cheesy nasty "garlic sticks" from Pizza Hut. I love it without abandon. And I don't care who knows it. (That was for you, Francesca.)

So when I got it into my head that I would make Perfect Spaghetti and Meatballs, I immediately made sure that garlic bread was on the menu. You can't have one without the other, right? Well, I guess I can have garlic bread without anything else. But it certainly doesn't hurt the situation one whit to combine the two.