piss and vineger

I’ll be turning 30 years old on July 12, 2010, and I decided to partake in the project where you make a list of thirty things you want to accomplish before your 30th birthday. I don’t have long to go, but I’m hoping I can polish off everything on this list by making the items reasonable:

1. Hang curtains (whether store-bought or handmade) in every window of the house, and get rid of every shred of miniblinds that have been haunting my windows and my dreams since we moved in.
2. Install hardwood flooring throughout the main floor of the house (!!!).
3. Pay off my credit card.
4. Brew a batch of stout beer.
5. Plan and start saving for an autumn vacation in Vancouver/Seattle.
6. Grow delicious foods from heirloom seeds from Baker Creek, including a healing herb garden.
7. Get a really great haircut from my bestie JoAnn at G Spot Hair Design, one that is an actual hairdo rather than something I pull back into a bun everyday.
8. Get new glasses and contacts.
9. Paint every room in the house something other than “Ultra White”.
10. Scan all of our photos and organize them somewhere online.
11. Update my Iowa City tumblr at least once a week.
12. Continue my weight loss/fitness streak. Weight Watchers is working!
13. Throw a May Day party.
14. Organize and clean the basement.
15. Try sewing another purse.
16. Bake the perfect Blondie.
17. Finish watching the whole Arrested Development series (we’re on an extended hiatus, mid-season 2).
18. Create monthly music mixes without missing a month.
19. Try making homemade ketchup.
20. Build a pergola on the patio to continue cultivating an awesome backyard oasis.
21. Finally part with (donate) the ugly fleece that’s clogging up my fabric stash.
22. Go scooter camping in Palisades.
23. Buy a bike helmet so I can safely ride all over town.
24. Start really using the calendar/scheduling app on my iPhone to help keep my life more organized.
25. Try raw milk.
26. Mail goodies to my faraway friends.
27. Build a respectable cocktail station.
28. Start a food blog with aforementioned JoAnn.
29. Make a batch of Navratan curry.
30. Throw a fabulous 30th birthday party on my patio.

Kevin and I are big calzone fans. There’s a restaurant in town (Sam’s Pizza, for those of you from or visiting Iowa City) that has a great meal deal where you can get two 2-topping calzones for $11.99, and we probably order it once a week when we’re in lazy, eating-out moods. When we’re being better about actually cooking our own meals, we like making them ourselves, too.

We’ve also both been semi-obsessed with the idea of grilling pizza and pizza-type foods ever since we started grilling in earnest a year ago last summer. We always want to attempt it, but we’re paralyzed with the fear that the food will be ruined and we won’t have anything else to replace it for the meal that night. At one point, we brought home a Papa Murphy’s pizza and grilled it while it was still on the paper backing, but it didn’t cook all the way and we had to finish it in the oven anyway.

A few weeks ago, after we both had a couple of beers in us after cleaning all day Sunday, we decided to make calzones and just go for it, since it was warm outside. The picture above was the result. I made up the dough from the following recipe, which I love for the fact that you don’t have to allow it much rising time:

1 0.25oz package of yeast (or 2.25 tsps)
1 cup warm water
2.5 cups flour
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Combine yeast and water in a bowl, stirring until dissolved. Add sugar to mix, stirring until dissolved. Sift flour and salt into yeast mixture, combine until you’re left with a dough ball; coat with oil. Cover bowl with saran wrap, let rise as long as you want.

I split the dough batch into two balls, rolled them out, and filled one for each of us. Mine contained cheese and onions (no mushrooms, which I mistakenly thought I had). His contained everything but the kitchen sink: onions, jalapenos, pineapple, cheese, sauerkraut. Gross. Anyway, we laid the calzones on top of foil on top of our pizza peel, and took them out to the grill and tossed them on, foil and all. We coated the tops with olive oil and turned them over mid-baking. Afterwards, they were delicious and smokey. One thing I would do differently is that I’d coat the foil with oil before laying the ‘zones on top, so that they wouldn’t stick while cooking. Otherwise, I’d do it again in a second.

Yum!