tekobo

Lovely looking ribs @amusedtodeath. And great photography.

Of course! The pizzas were a bit square anyway because The Husband had put the dough balls into square containers to prove. He was pleased that that tied in with the square cutting directive. Engineers, eh? We are easily pleased.

Yes, your dad was right! Mother-in-law wasn't feeling well so the three of us worked our way through a sausage pizza and then a pepperoni, mushroom and chilli pizza (notice I cannot quite bring myself to call them pies). I thought the first pizza might have needed a bit more cooking on the crust so I left the second one in for the same time at a slightly higher temp. The verdict? Father-in-law: Liked both equally and was particularly complimentary about the crust. Me: Liked the sausage pizza for flavour but the crust on the pepperoni pizza better The Husband: Liked the pepperoni, mushroom and chilli pizza best and wanted more but settled for some extra wine instead. That leaves us with two balls and more sausage for lunch tomorrow. Hurrah! Thank you very much @Pequod. Best pizza night yet.

Woo hoo!!!!

This made me laugh A LOT. The key thing a totalitarian regime needs is threat of violence in the event of non-compliance. As a programme director I am skilled at this and do not have to issue any actual threats. This is my white board. It gets refreshed once a month and stuff stays where it should.

Naaa, dodgy operators are the worst. Particularly an arrogant one like me who hates measures in teaspoons and cups. At least if I had been measuring in teaspoons I would have realised I wasn't using nearly enough yeast. Instead, I relied on a scale and didn't check it was measuring in the right units. Boo.

Ha ha. Just back from London. The Husband's pizza balls are looking good and the 21" is warming up. Hoping mushrooms are in one of the approved columns because we've got a whole load: Ooh, they look a bit fuzzy in the picture but I think that is because of the cling film over the top. Will report back much later...

Tyrus, oh my Tyrus, wherefore art thou? Hast thou forsaken me? Awww, come on....come back, you are amongst friends. @Tyrus, @Tyrus, @Tyrus

No pressure then! I am all in. I have enough for four balls of dough in the fridge. Off to London shortly so The Husband will be in charge of turning them into balls later today. His parents will be joining us for pizza night tomorrow so even more pressure to get this right. I remember making Yorkshire puddings for my Yorkshire mother-in-law and getting them sooo disappointingly wrong . Happily she can't be from Yorkshire and Chicago at the same time so I won't have those expectations to satisfy. Heretical question: are there any other toppings allowed on this type of pizza? I might need some back up or light relief if my sausage turns out to be just that little bit too fatty in spite of pre-cooking.

Instructions received loud and clear. Will transmit to The Husband too, in case he tries to vary. Ha! I ordered half a pig from a local farmer because I didn't have any pork shoulder, that is how weird/particular/cheap I am. I cannot bear to buy sub-standard pork at inflated prices from the supermarket. The downside is that you actually have to wait for the animal to be killed and hung and so I won't be getting the shoulder (and all of the rest of the half pig) until next Friday. In the meantime I cut up a pork belly that I had, cutting out a lot of fat, to make the sausage as directed. Probably still too fatty but I hope it will turn out OK.

Welcome @mwerner89, your KK is indeed a beauty. Terra blue. Lovely.

Thanks for posting your pizza dough recipe @Aussie Ora. I asked for it because I was puzzling about why my more recent dough balls were not quite as plump. Since asking for your recipe I have tried out the South Side Thin recipe that @Pequod includes in his post here. It is more dense/has less hydration than the Ken Forkish recipes that I have tried so far - more work when kneading. More importantly, I discovered two things as I prepared my ingredients for this recipe. 1. I should have been multiplying my yeast quantities by 1.25 because I was using dried yeast and not instant dried yeast and 2. my drug dealer scales for measuring small quantities had somehow changed mode from grams to carats and I was using far too small quantities of yeast in my more recent tries. Dough with right amount of yeast and sausage with right amount of wine are now in fridge waiting for pizza night tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Looking forward to the authentic Chicago experience, with or without the paper delivery bags.

Hey Tyrus. As someone who encouraged you to post about your new toy I am sorry that you feel we have not engaged. But - I'm going to paraphrase crudely here - telling me I am in a close minded cult and taking your toys home won't increase my desire to engage. Yeah, sometimes stuff goes off topic and sometimes people completely ignore a post because there is lots else going on that they are more interested in but if you want an ongoing conversation you have to post some more stuff too. I have seen a few offset cookers on TV and I am not going to get more interested in yours unless you tell me more about the set up that you are building, show me more food porn or tell me how you beat that smart arse down the road in a competition. Peace, mate. I've got to get out there and clean some windows before the sun gets too high in the sky.

That dough looks nice and plump @Aussie Ora. Would you share the recipe?

A box of change indeed. I walked up to the bank yesterday carrying my piggy bank. I was very proud. They took me down a peg or two. Apparently they don't just get out a scale and weigh it all. No. You have to pack it into bags of £20 and then they will weigh them. So I had to go and stand at a counter to sort myself, and my money, out. I am still excited. This lot came to £464 and, thanks to the power of modern technology, a couple of online clicks mean that I am now the proud owner of 464 more premium bonds. I won't earn any interest but each month I will have the chance of a small win or maybe even the £1m jackpot. Much better than storing them in a cupboard and I still have the rarer coins sitting in the cupboard appreciating in value. Cash is cool.

Chocolate and beetroot! Some weird, tasty stuff going on here. Keep going, you might just convert me.

Congratulations! Sounds really good. I'd love to go along and look but have never signed up for instagram. Can we have our own show here??

Really good to see your tasty steak results. I am cooking a birthday dinner for friends this weekend and am looking to try this method too. As for your wife not liking lobster - bonus! None of the silly guilt about needing to give the other person the ever so slightly bigger piece.

Touché and too true! I'll re-train as a life coach and make money, helping them adjust to the real world when the realisation finally dawns that life just isn't fair, or safe.

I am more worried about death and taxes. Once the old people who collect coins die off there will be no one to sell them to. I will ride out Brexit, move to a tax free haven and then sell, sell, sell before the Millennials take over the world.

If you were old enough to have one @Bruce Pearson, you would know. On that basis, not wanting to corrupt you, I won't explain about adult beverages. Cherish your liver, I might need it one day.

I went on to eBay straight after I posted my photos here and found that the sought after coins were not quite as valuable as I had been led to believe by the internet hype. That said, most are worth at least £7.50 each. I never realised that £2 coins from as recently 2002 could be worth more than their face value. Plan of action: 1. Smile and thank greengrocer for alerting me to this interesting and potentially lucrative wheeze. 2. Take all the standard £2 coins to the bank. Invest the total in premium bonds. 3. Hang on to the non-standard £2 coins and look out for more. Maybe one day in the future they will make me rich. All good.

Oh yes!

Chicken always used to be lower down on my meat choices but since I got a KK it has shot right to the top. Your cook looks good and has reminded me that it is already three days since I last ate chook. Must rectify that.

Just in time for the Abba reunion I have discovered something really cool about my money. I have been saving £2 coins for years. The pace has slowed recently because we use real money so rarely these days. A week or so ago I thought I really ought to count up the coins to see how many I have. I counted and weighed the first ten coins and then twenty to callibrate and then weighed the lot to see how much I had. £562. Hmmm. What to do with it? I can spend that easily with a few clicks online but spending real cash feels like a greater responsibility. First candidate was a medium Korin and some Binchotan but I am not sure if that is quite symbolic enough. No decision made yet. In meantime, I happened to mention my piggy bank to my greengrocer. His shop is one of the few places where I still spend and receive coins. He told me that some £2 coins are worth more than others. My curiousity was piqued and I found an article online this morning: https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/3524236/rarest-most-valuable-2-pound-coins-designs/ What fun, searching through my pile of coins. I wasn't aware of the different designs and the stories that each represent. The majority of my coins are the least valuable. But I have a number of different designs across the spectrum. And one of the most valuable on the list. This £2 is worth £40. I know this has nothing to do with KKs but I was so excited that I had to share this with someone and you were here. I like playing with money.