Book Club – Sept 24th, 2009 Edition

The following is a guest post by Christine Liu . All photos are by Shimon Rura .

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We witnessed much on the fateful book club dinner on September 24, 2009: a lot of hocus-pocus, daring acts of suspense, and stuffing strange objects in our gullets in the spirit of sheer adventure not typically seen.

Present this evening, along with host and unabashed warranty-voider (more on that later) Jeff Potter, were Tina Downey, Christine Liu (pictured above), Shimon Rura, and Andrew Sempere .

In a move that can only parallel the poetry (and poignant amusement) of the evening’s proceedings, the following imagery is accompanied by commentary in haiku verse.

this is where it starts.
oven lock is removed to
induce superheat

thin-crust pizza can
only dream of a blistered
fate at 800°F

kitchen getting warm
the unknown looms as temps rise
warranty? voided.

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a quaff to cool down
tina’s german wine chills fine
in dry ice bucket
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nature’s bounty sits
lush and freshly plucked from earth
pizza topping WIN
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jeff wonders if we
think apple, potato feels
the same? (close, not quite)
[flickr size=”small”]3952897097[/flickr]
cinnamon, cayenne
which one is a flavor and
which triggers nerve pain?
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fresh dough needs kneading
gluten, arise! gluten, come!
the oven awaits
[flickr size=”small”]3953675646[/flickr]
my dear, it is time
unfurl the oven god’s wrath
can we take the heat?
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holy smoke, batman!
forty-five seconds later
pizza effing COOKED
[flickr size=”small”]3952901889[/flickr]
let’s try again, yes?
oven cools a bit; tina
preps a second pie
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crust too thin, toppings
too heavy to slide. what to
do but risk jeff’s life?
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in it goes! oh, crap.
dropped bits = pyrolyzation
eyebrows still here? check.
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big risks, big pleasures
it’s a beaut of a pizza
live dangerously
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everything smells great
we research more on the web
atlanta guy rules
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all in all, only
oven glass is casualty
and yeah, that’s my hand
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next course: (dry) ice cream
choco, cream, beer… goldschlager?!
chunky, cold, boozy
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easy, instant way
to impress guests: put dry ice
in, on everything
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sweet down, savory next.
keller’s tomato sorbet
strange and addictive
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it’s a miracle!
we flavor-trip on pellets
changing sour to sweet
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with a single bite
of lime, tina yelps in joy
(it works! this is nuts!)
[flickr size=”small”]3953670120[/flickr]
this photo says all
lemons are swell, but grapefruit
pwns everything else
[flickr size=”small”]3952894169[/flickr]
we can’t get enough
cheese? beer? strawberry?
strange white powders? sure!
[flickr size=”small”]3953671752[/flickr]

Thanks, Jeff and company, for a tongue-twisting, hair-raising and thought-provoking evening. Geek cooks, unite.

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The colorful spectrum of the evening’s hijinks can be found fully on the corresponding flickr set .