I prefer yesterday’s leftover pizza cold and there’s nothing like KFC out of the fridge. I’ll eat cold leftover steak, especially if I get to gnaw it off the bone.

I prefer pizza reheated, unless I've been drinking heavily the previous night. Fried chicken is something that is good cold and also good hot.

You’re a sick, sick, man! :)

Pizza especially is the best when just out of the oven. I used to just buy slices at Costco, and they were good. Then I started ordering whole pizzas, and was amazed at the difference a “just from the oven” pie tasted. Not quite a “When Harry Met Sally” restaurant scene, but pretty close.

Speaking of pizza, growing up rather poor, pizza wasn’t something I got often. Usually just school lunch pizza, which in the 70’s wasn’t anything to write home about. I’m sure I got some pizza at Shakee’s maybe once a year.

One of my favorite uncles would invite me to his house on the weekend to use his kit computer that he built. Nothing more exciting than playing Trek in the later 70’s in basic for an almost teen.

One evening I’d stayed a bit longer than normal and we were all hungry. He went and picked up a large pizza, that even today still sticks in my mind. I’ve never been able to track the place in south Scottsdale down before. I wasn’t sure how it was spelled, Aurellio’s is what I thought. I was pretty sure it was a Chicago style pizza. Seems it was Aurelio’s, and was the first location outside of IL.

I just googled it, and found the correct spelling, and that a family involved in the AZ location has the Spinato’s chain. More than 40 years later, I can still remember that pizza. Maybe it was just the first really good pizza I ever had. I think I’ll try a pie when I get back to town.

Microwave, oven or (surprising to some) frying pan? Microwave is the worst - tough crust. If you have soggyish crust, I find putting the pan in the over while it's preheating and then putting the pizza on a hot pan, helps crisp it up. Frying pan works well to crisp the crust too - especially if it's cut Chicago tavern style (squares) and you just have a couple of slices. Deep dish needs to go in the oven. Tons (literally) of pizza experience here. :D

I tell people on a 1-10 scale, almost all pizza starts at about a 5 and just gets better. :)

I remember my first Chicago style pizza too. I'm from Illinois, but not Chicago so I was not familiar. Alferno's on Rush. There was one on Broadway too. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

there’s always a joy for fried chicken. Alice really saved the camping trip with it.

agreed that fresh pizza is so fun. It’s a fun thing to cook.

maybe it’s generational - my dad also was a big fan of eating to live and mentioning it while not acknowledging those meals when he got exactly what he craved. All yummy overall. Food is such a nice joy to have, especially now!

Oven. Always the oven.

I wish I could confine my eating to only when hungry. I'd probably weigh 15 lbs less.

The fried chicken bun description on the menu is
Fried Chicken Bun · B&B Daikon, Chili Emulsion, Furikake

mmmmmmm

Today for lunch I heated up the rice and beef casserole thing I threw together last night. Mr Gfunk wanted Mexican rice apparently, and came home with half the Goya products in the store. I sauteed some ground beef, onion, and garlic, then put it in a pan with the rice and topped with cheese (healthy!) and baked it until the cheese was melted. It was like Mexican food by way of Minnesota.

In the 80’s, while young, single and carefree, I drove around much of the US one summer. My worst Mexican food was in Idaho, which was way worse than Minnesota Mexican food! :)

Luncheon:
hummus & pita and thick tortilla chips & guacamole
Evergood polish sausage, grilled, both solo and as sandwich on warm baguette with sweet hot mustard and grilled corn on the cob and Kettle mango salsa chips. Kettle heh heh

big thanks to jaimito for inspiring me to get evergood brand, whose factory is so nearby that I often see it. No odors.

i’m adding a Warm roll-ppang as I made a batch today and ran errands while letting the dough rise (three rounds). Thank you forever to LapLap for this.

You might as well throw it in the garbage if you are going to reheat pizza in the mircowave. I have used a hot frying pan many times and it crisps up the crust very nicely. I have also used the toaster over and put the slice directly on the rack...also not too bad. My favorite way to heat up leftover pizza is on the grill.
I have been known to bring back an entire pie from NYC or just a few slices. I always bring back 2 or 3 slices from Secret Pizza in Vegas. Heating them up directly on the hot grill is as close as you get to freshly baked. I am fine with cold pizza though.
And pizza is like sex and bacon...even bad pizza is still pizza. I think I would start at a 4 though.

made the Japanese curry I’ve considered for years because I love japanese curry and won’t allow myself to get it at my favorite curry spot (the one near a dispensary where I wanted to organize a local DO). It’s good but when I read the instructions and serving sizes, I assumed that I used only part of the box contents. Oops. It’s not that I’m supposed to use all of the $3.49 box but just the box has 1750mg of sodium. Omg. I need to find a curry with less sodium. My goal was 3 meals and now I have to stretch this out to more because of the sodium. It’s yummy and I’m having it on half a pack of brown rice (similar to Costco’s product).

back to more water....


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I love those packets but ... it's a huge amount of sodium. I go for the Medium Hot as well. Was surprised to find them at the Stop n Shop here.

went to safeway today and looked at the HOT package. 5 servings. Each serving 850 mg of sodium. Omg. I put it back and I need to learn how to make Japanese curry without the box. Omg.

Pre-packed meals like those are generally always high in sodium. This recipe doesn't look too difficult. https://norecipes.com/japanese-curry...-from-scratch/

agreed - they’re so great :-)

brekky:
Trader Joe’s chocolate croissants (warm from oven)
challah with peanut butter (it was my favorite store-bought challah from local deli Wise Sons, but it’s time to bake our own again)
Organic mango and cherries
coffee with oat milk

expected luncheon:
hummus & pita
maybe challah
leftover Japanese curry OR Indian coconut chicken that’ll expire on 6/1; either with appropriate rice dish
more fruits
carrot coins