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<p>I keep saying that I <a href="http://www.lunagraph.com/blog/2006/01/electric_mixer_1.html" target="_blank">don't</a> <a href="http://www.lunagraph.com/blog/2007/01/channelling_my_inner_anglophil.html" target="_blank">bake</a>, and yet I keep wanting to eat things that require baking. Like homemade pizza. Homemade pizza margherita style with roasted garlic, fresh basil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and olive oil. I tried making pizza crust once before, when we lived in Nashville, using the recipe in <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/features/deborahmadison/home.html" target="_blank">Deborah Madison's</a> <em>Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone</em>. Apparently my dough making skills have improved since then. The pizza I made weekend before last (pictured here), using the same recipe, was yummy. So yummy, in fact, that I repeated the experiment last weekend and then again last night. Last night's version, perhaps the best so far, included spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, along with some extra mozzarella and olive oil. I must say, it tasted good.</p>
<p>Speaking of the Deborah Madison cookbook: It's a hefty tome. I have had it five or six years, and I have not even begun to plumb its depths. A lot of the recipes are very labor intensive&mdash;not the kind of thing you want to whip up after a long day at work&mdash;and a lot of them involve cheese.* Perhaps I will investigate this book more fully over the summer, since I will have lots of time to spend in the kitchen. </p>
<p>A couple of other new dishes have become favorites in a short time: a very simple green curry and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Som_tam" target="_blank">som tam</a>. The ridiculously easy green curry is made with coconut milk, green curry paste, soy sauce, red and green bell peppers, and whichever other vegetables the refrigerator offers (zucchini, snow peas, green beans, spinach, and bamboo shoots have all made made appearances). I make this using grocery store green curry paste (A Taste of Thai, I think)&mdash;which I'm sure would be frowned upon by aficionados but is scarfed up with glee here&mdash;but the coconut milk must come from the Asian market. I used grocery store coconut milk once, and it did not go over.</p>
<p>Som tam is a new obsession (not shared by my love) begun when we visited my sister during spring break. I had never tasted this yummy salad until Elizabeth and her friends Jonathan and Jim got Thai takeout for us. They all went to Thailand for three weeks last year, and Elizabeth said she ate som tam all the time while they were there. The salad was so good, and it seemed so simple, I determined I would learn to make it. Luckily, my better half accompanied me to Southeast Market on my jaunt to acquire the ingredients. He persuaded me to ask for help, a practice I shun, and a nice guy who was working directed me to all the som tam necessities. This was very important, since preparing the dish requires a couple of tools that I didn't have: a <a href="http://importfood.com/claymortarpestle.html" target="_blank">mortar and pestle</a>** and a <a href="http://www.templeofthai.com/fruit_carving/papaya_salad_kiwi_peeler.php" target="_blank">vegetable slicer</a>. The first batch of som tam caused James to make a bad face&mdash;he did not approve of the dried shrimp. I must admit, I like it better without that touch of authenticity. I predict there will be som tam in the fridge at all times over the summer. </p>

<p class="note">*The one I love does not eat cheese other than mozzarella. They say opposites attract: I lurv cheese, the softer and stinkier the better (up to a point).</p>
<p class="note">**The mortar and pestle page includes photos of som tam in the making.</p>
