1001 – Soothing Pizzas of Gratitude | Real Time Recipe
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Episode 1001 – Soothing Pizzas of Gratitude | Real Time Recipe
[START OF RECORDING]
SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and my patron peeps, couldn’t have done this without you, patron peeps. Some of you have been supporting the show since January of 2016 when I started this and you’ve been here the whole time. Some of you…you know, it doesn’t…it’s not really that important, but that is mind-blowing. I would have never got to 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, or 1000 episodes without your support. That’s the only way I could do this twice a week. This episode is one of the ones celebrating getting to 1000 because of you. One month at a time, like I’m gonna talk about in this episode, one episode at a time is how we got there. So, your ongoing support from month to month is what does it, so pat yourself on the back. Pat yourself…kiss your shoulders for me. Oh, good job. Cup your elbows ‘cause it’s time for Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. Thanks, patrons.
INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake, whether it’s thoughts, you know, things on your mind that you’re thinking about; those are thoughts. Could be feelings or physical sensations, so emotions that are coming up from those thoughts or anything physical you’re feeling or experiencing, changes in time or temperature or routine or schedule or other stuff, stuff that comes up or stuff that’s coming up or stuff that happened.
Whatever it is, I’m here to…really, I’m here to keep you company in the deep, dark night, to take your mind off of stuff, to try to offer you a little bit of comfort in a silly way because you and your sleep is important, or you getting the sleep you need and deserve is important, or you not having a bedtime that you feel like you dread. You say well, at least I got that sleep podcast to listen to. Don’t know what…I know Scoots is gonna get mixed up. You deserve some rest. You really do. That’s why I make the show, because you deserve it and if you get the sleep you need, your life’s gonna be a little bit better.
If I can provide that…now, I can’t do it for everybody, but if I could provide it for you, it would be my honor because I know how it feels there in the deep, dark night, in the early morning, tossing and turning, temperature’s…you say, my temperature’s…I don’t know if it’s over-regulated or under-regulated or non-regulated. But whatever it is, I’d like to help. That’s why I make the show, because you are important. I went off-topic there, so…tossing, turning, mind…trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying…we do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I’m gonna do the rest. Did I say that? Oh yeah; what I’m gonna attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside…[MUMBLING] pass…sorry, I get mixed up, too. You’re so important, I got…I was…I went off-topic.
Whatever’s keeping you awake, I’d like to take your mind off that. What I’m gonna do or what I propose to do or what I’m trying to do is create a safe place, kind of a transferable safe place. I don’t know if it’s like an iron-on. That might be something. I don’t think…they changed the name of those, too. Heat transfer they call it now. Maybe…I don’t know if we’ve…I don’t think we’ve ever talked about iron-ons or heat transfers. We’ve talked about transferable safe places, but I’m gonna try to create a safe place by sending my voice across the deep, dark night. I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents, all to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff so you could fall asleep.
I already said why I make the show; there’s a couple other things you want to know, especially if you’re new, but if you’re a regular listener, I say this over and over again because I…well, one, I want to…I want you to know how important you and your sleep is, or are. I keep saying that and then my brain says, it’s are. I say, great. Could you save it for Talk Like a Pirate Day; you’re correcting me with arr? But…oh, so if you’re new, a couple things to know; if you’re doubtful or skeptical or if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re already confused…wow, the structure of the show’s not the way it should be, or that you’re not soothing in your tone, and I don’t get this, that’s totally normal to have a strong reaction to the structure or the sound of the podcast or my nonsense, or to just be skeptical about what I’m up to.
That’s a very normal way. That’s how most people approach the show, because you probably tried a bunch of other stuff to put you to sleep and maybe it didn’t work or maybe it worked for a little while, and this show’s very different and I want to acknowledge that ‘cause it does take — according to most listeners — a couple times to get used to the show, but I do try to soften that up by saying okay, one, if you’re skeptical or doubtful or a bit taken aback, that’s normal. A couple of reasons why; one, this is not really a podcast you listen to. You just kinda barely listen, and that takes some adjusting ‘cause we’re used to listening or waiting for it to get started or waiting for the story or something sensible or for me to be…this…believe it or not, it takes a lot of work to sound this unprofessional, but for me to go through some sort of countdown or something formal…this podcast never gets…it’s always going, never gets started.
So, that can take some adjusting. It’s also not a podcast that puts you to sleep. We’re a sleep podcast that keeps you company in the deep, dark night, that takes your mind off of stuff. I’m here to be your bore-friend, your bore-bae, your bore-cuz, your bore-sib, your bore-bud, ‘cause I’m here to be your friend in the deep, dark night and just to talk gently and in a way…I say yeah, I’m here to talk to you and tell you stories and go off-topic and stuff like that so that you don’t have to listen to me. I’ll be here talking whether you pay attention to me or not, and I clean up after myself and all that. So, that takes some getting used to. Other things that are a bit of an adjustment is the structure of the show.
Now, it’s very deliberate and intentional, the structure of the show, so that the podcast can benefit the most people and kinda be flexible. So, the show starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls so you all feel seen and welcome, ideally. So, that’s that. Then there’s support for listeners and then there’s support for the show via Patreon and sponsors and stuff like that, so that’s why…you can have support if you need extra resources. You can support your community, and then the podcast…I like…I don’t want it to be a part of a service. I want it to be there…a service that’s free for anybody and it comes out twice a week. So, the sponsors and the people that support the show are the ones that enable us to do that.
So, that’s that part of the show, then there’s an intro that eventually gets started and then never goes anywhere. Some people, they get off-put by the structure. They also don’t like the intro at first. I say that because eventually you don’t have to like the intro, but give it a few tries before you say, what is this nonsense? I say oh boy, is it nonsense. The intro runs from like, I don’t know, six or eight minutes into the show ‘til about twenty minutes into the show, and it’s me attempting to tell you what the podcast is but really, it’s also giving you time to get comfortable, to get into bed or to start to unwind or to get ready for bed or to do some other chill evening activity so you get some distance from the daytime, and you start to get into that relaxed mode.
Like lowering, slowly lowering the volume on the day, turning it down a little bit at a time. Or, I’m turning it down slowly and you’re just chilling there in bed or you’re chilling on your chair or you’re petting your pets. Whatever it is; foam rolling, not…foam rolling I haven’t followed through on a month or two, but I’ll get back to it one day. Foam rolling; I’ll be back one day. So, that’s why the intro goes on and on and on. Now, you can skip it. 2% or 3% of listeners start the show at twenty, twenty-five minutes. A few thousand people pay on Patreon to listen to story-only episodes. So, those are ways…those are other ways to [00:10:00] use the show. But for most listeners, it’s a part of their bedtime routine or some people, it’s part of their daytime routine to get a little break during the day. So, that’s the intro.
Then between the intro and the episode is business. Again, I want the show to come out twice a week for free, and that’s what makes that possible. Then there’s our episode. Tonight it’ll be a Real Time Recipe episode celebrating around 1000 episodes. Pizza three ways, though now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t even remember…I can’t even remember if we got the pizzas made and done. But you know, that’s…I may have fallen…this may be the first episode I fell asleep or into a fugue state while recording it, ‘cause I recorded it yesterday and I said wait a second, I don’t remember the pizza. I mean, I remember making it, but…and, the pizza was not forgettable. Some part of me would say well, it was a forgettable pizza. So, that’s the episode. We’ll do that, then there’s thank-yous at the end of the show.
So, that’s the structure of the show. That’s the reason I make it, and I’m really glad you’re here. I promised I would talk about heat transfers or iron-ons, so now…once upon a time, now I think a lot of people tie-dye shirts sometimes. You can still get iron-on or heat transfers, but that was a way you could make your own shirts. I don’t think…I can remember sometimes boxes…oh, I guess it was before temporary tattoos, but instead of a temporary tattoo, you could say make a…I’m pretty sure I never made the shirts, but we got one with the Sugar Puff cereal bear. Is that Honey Bear, maybe? But I remember…so, it would be something you could put on a shirt and you would…you were supposed to use a washcloth. This is how I believe…I think I never did it.
I begged my mom and then she would give me the tasks and I was unable to complete them, like put water in the iron and get a washcloth and set up the ironing board. I mean, I ironed my own clothes for school when I wasn’t wrinkled. But so, anyway, and then you would take a shirt…also, I’m not good at aligning things, so I think any heat transfers I did…who would have thought? I’m not good at aligning things and I make a sleep podcast. Those are two things perfectly aligned. But so, you would put a shirt down. Let’s just say we’re doing a shirt. Probably would be better…well, I guess a towel wouldn’t work ‘cause it has too many things, but you take the shirt, you put it on the ironing board. Maybe you get the shirt wet; I don’t know. Then you put on the heat transfer which came on a piece of paper.
One side kinda felt felt-like and then the other side was like…I don’t know. Then I think…yeah, you put a washcloth on there and you kinda steam it on the shirt. It never…usually…I think this was back in the 80s. It would come off if you wore the shirt or washed the shirt or took…usually only 40% of the transfer would happen successfully if I was doing it. But I can even remember seeing other kids and you’d see…what is that, Sugar Bear? What is that, like one-half of Sugar Bear? Yeah, yeah. No, this is O’Lucky O’Charm or whatever. I say, okay. So, those were heat transfers. I have no idea what that has to do with a sleep podcast; iron-on heat…oh, ‘cause I was trying to make a transferable safe place.
But yeah, maybe I could…ironing is one of those things, if you don’t do it in a hurry and you don’t…like, lately…and when I say lately, I mean somewhere between when I turned four and five years old and now, my clothes became stubbornly wrinkled. I don’t know if anybody else has that experience. You say, even for when I’m work…when I have to go somewhere for work like a podcast conference that’s for people that work in podcasting, so you kinda want to present your more business side which for me would mean being ironed, I would…I’m not even kidding; I’ll iron a shirt, I’ll use water, I’ll try to steam it. It’ll look ironed, then I’ll put it on a towel for about…or I mean, on a hanger while I finish getting ready, and then the shirt will re-wrinkle. I say well, it’s muscle memory.
I gotta talk to my therapist about this ‘cause this is one of those burned…I say, my clothes have a burned pathway. Say Scoots, your clothes have maladaptive behavior. I say yeah, they do…well, I say maybe not. Maybe it’s from all the bunching up I do. I say well, let me just get you in this crevice here. I’m gonna store you here in this nook and cranny, dress shirt, for when I need you for the one or two times a year I’m gonna be businessing around. I’ll pull you outta that nook and cranny, then I’ll put you in a similar manner in a suitcase, and then we’ll arrive at our destination. I mean, I’m not that bad, probably. But though, I guess the shirt would say well, I spent four years in a nook and cranny. I say wow, you’re really giving me a life lesson. I should just really hold you, huh?
Cup your elbows, kiss your shoulders, tell you a bedtime story, and keep you company, and then instead, I’m expecting you to be perfectly ironed. Can’t really iron something twice when you’re in a hurry because you say well, I gotta be downstairs in…four minutes ago. So, can’t really do another ironing. I’ll do some spritzing, though I do…hopefully there’s a lot of shirts now that are kinda created in a puckery way. Those are like, pre-wrinkled. I say, I love those shirts. I love a shirt with built-in wrinkles. That’s one fashion thing that’s…they say everything comes back in fashion. I say, wrinkles…the kinda wrinkles I live with…or grease stains; those are the other things populated on most of my clothes, or strange oil stains, those have not come into fashion, so I’m…I’m still…sometimes I’m waiting for them to come back in fashion.
I say oh wait, they weren’t in fashion in the first place. So, I mean, that’s…these are the things that qualify me to put you to sleep, which some of you may be saying no wonder I have such strong feelings about you. I say yeah, well, I’m here to help. I’m far, far, far from perfect. Wrinkles are…that’s the only met…it’s both real and a metaphor. Sometimes it’s like, a…I feel like a wrinkle, to throw a simile in there. Yeah, I was trying to think of anything else. But I’m glad you’re here, basically. I really appreciate you giving me your time. I really hope this podcast can help. Give it a few tries and see how it goes, ‘cause I really…I yearn and I strive, I work hard, I really want to help you fall asleep, and here’s a couple ways I’m able to do it for you for free twice a week.
Alright, hey, hey, so good to see you. I mean, it’s been…I know, and finally we can hug one another. Oh boy, come here. Let me give you one of those hugs where I pat your back. Oh boy, and a squeeze. Oh boy, no more back-patting…and really generous…and let’s do a moment of holding one another. Oh, this is treasured. Finally. Oh boy, yeah. Thank you for initiating that hug to let me know it was time to hug. I mean, I know we talked about it by…before and I said okay, well, we’ll be able to hug, right? Then you said, are you gonna give a hug or…? I said, I’ll receive a hug and reciprocate. Virtually I’ll be hugging you. Yeah, oh, that was nice. So, how are you? Oh, boy. Yeah, I don’t know how…how many months? I don’t know. Well, I stopped…I didn’t lose track; stopped counting.
I said to myself hey, let’s just live today. I mean, I said that to myself. Of course, my brain, my limbic system, all the hardwired mechanisms in me did not necessarily comply with that concept. But I did say that…I do say that to my…I say, one…I say it in different…I say, one day a time. Let’s just take the next twenty…can we just take one hour at a time? Most of me says no, thanks. Can’t we live life in the future, the far future, the past, the deep past, the imaginary past and future, the past with a microscope over it, and…like, can’t we? I said, well…and then I say, why not both? [00:20:00] Sometimes if I’m in the right place, I take your example. I say, why don’t I just give you hug parts of me?
Come on in and let’s give one another a hug, because I wouldn’t have been able to make this podcast without that, that I get from you and all the other listeners. Sometimes it’s a active hug and sometimes it’s…and then sometimes it’s just the knowledge I’ve been there, you know, and to get myself out of that projection of the past, present, or future, and just to be there and know that I can…that somebody else is going through something and maybe I could help with it. I think those are called barely lucid moments. But yeah, it’s a time to look back at the creation of the podcast and also to make pizza to celebrate, is a way…it is one of the ways I celebrate, is with pizza three ways. I gotta tell you, I have thought about how is…when did I make 1000 episodes? I’m not sure. How did I do it? I don’t know.
I did it with a lot of help and a lot of support that I’m very grateful for. I’m not good at…I’m either good at over-reflecting or not reflecting at all, so this is gonna be my attempt…’cause I said well, I could write out a Real Time Recipe episode and really get deep, and then I said or we could use our fingertips to mix some things together, and maybe that’s more appropriate anyway. The past…my whole…the whole history of the podcast, we have done pizza episodes, but at least through ‘20 and 2021 and even before that, pizza had become a staple, but then it really was my Friday night anchor. Pizza three ways enable me to kinda show the evolution and the options of the year, and one comes from Chef Staci, one of the noderators, a long-time listener, one of those people who when you see her smile in a picture or on her streaming, on Facebook, you say holy mackerel.
Now I can live one day at a time. That’s kinda this…I feel like the shining representative of the listeners. I say okay, I really can do this. I don’t think if I…and I guess it is that one bite at a time, just like when you’re eating pizza thing, because if I…and then I guess maybe that’s why I’m a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of 1000 episodes, is I only made them one little part at a time, not even one episode at a time. That’s really the magic; isn’t the 1000 episodes. It’s the 20,000 or 40,000 bites I took to make those. So, there’s that and there’s also the idea that…and I have this to thank all the listeners for and everybody else, is how far out of the comfort zone and to be uncomfortable…it’s just started my evolution with that, I feel like, but it’s always been something.
There was this idea of getting right size or sometimes I let my…let’s see. How do I say this? I know I’m gonna get to the…oh, maybe I should use the pizza as analogies to talk about this stuff? Yeah. Sorry, I was afraid I would forget about it. You’re right. Let’s make a list and we’re gonna go…we’re gonna have to make a shopping list like I told you, because we’re gonna virtually and magically, by the power of podcasting, go to a bunch of different stores because not only do we no longer exclusively shop at one because…it could be because of the…you know, we’ve learned new habits and some of them are good. Okay, so, I won’t tell you what…I guess I told you we’re making pizza, and some of it is optional.
Again, you can always…if you have different dietary preferences or needs, you can always adjust or just Google and…but so, we’re gonna need a large cauliflower head, so we want to get that. If we want to go organic with that, we can. Then we’re gonna need eggs, we’re gonna need hard cheese, and I’ll leave that up to you. Now, we’re gonna make three different crusts so that that way we can have…if we want to go with the Parmesan which is I think the most…any aged hard cheese my daughter doesn’t eat, so I think we might as well go with one of the big ones, like…but you can…like, a hard cheese. Then we want to get dried herbs and seasonings, but I actually have that and I will tell you though if you want to replicate this, you could usually look…and normally I say do you really need a premixed pizza seasoning?
But over the year, I have…now, I got my pizza seasoning…now, I know a couple of the big flour…not big flour, but the big small flour…there’s a king and there’s a Bob in big, small…what I would call the bigs of the small flour business. You’ve got Bob and Arthur, two separate flour…I wouldn’t call them barons, but…and I think one of them has their own pizza seasoning. I got mine when I got my man crate as a part of a test they were doing for the podcast. It’s been absolutely delicious. That has dried herbs and seasonings, and that’s what I like to use to taste. I will also say you could put down the…if we see it at TJ’s, the mushroom umami shaker thing is always good, or the salute…sweet salute or whatever.
Oh, also put down Brussels sprouts and then if we are at TJ’s, the citrus garlic seasoning and aged balsamic, ‘cause another thing now, my Friday nights is roasted Brussels sprouts. Okay, next up we’re gonna need some 00 flour, and this is a shout-out to my buddy Matt who was the one who taught me the ways of 00 flour. We’re also gonna need some regular flour, all-purpose, all…is it all purp… or all…all-purpose flour, yeah. In a pinch I’ll use bread flour too, ‘cause…yeah, you know. Then sea salt, fine sea salt. Oh boy, is that sea salt fine. We’re gonna need dry yeast and olive oil. I never…I guess…it’s so strange that there was Popeye but then Olive Oyl. Okay, then we’re gonna need some sugar…regular, run of the mill granulated sugar. Another egg we got, olive oil we got, then xanthum gum.
Yeah, I mean, don’t you feel fancy order…buying xanthum gum? Then for me, I’m gonna go with Bob in a…shooting for what I…this is my preference but we don’t have to do this; we’re gonna go to the Bob, the Bob of the mill. Old Bob’s Red Mill, and we’re gonna get two different kinds of gluten-free flour. There’s two different ones and we’re gonna get them both. One is the 1-to-1 gluten-free flour. The other one I think is just called all-purpose gluten-free flour. If you take…I don’t have it in front of me because we gotta go to the store and buy it and I don’t know what it’s called. One comes in a turquoise bag and the other one comes in a bag with reddish and brown highlights, both clear bags that use Velcro.
But so, one will have more of your…I don’t know what I would call your pastry gluten-free flours like your almonds and your coconut type things, and then the one…the all-purpose one is more of a…in your…I don’t know, I’m just imagining this but I think in your p and cassava-type things. But I like to use both of them for this particular crust. Oh, and then we’re gonna need toppings. So, we’ll need whole milk mozzarella. I would like some sort of smoked cheese. Smoke it, man. Smoke the cheese if you got it. Baby bell red bell pepper…baby bell…this…I don’t know if this was a thing, but it became a thing in 2020, 2021, is a bag of mini bell peppers in red, yellow, and orange. A onion…you can choose your style of onion.
Mushrooms, pepperoni, and again, depending on this…where you see it in one of the stores, I would like [00:30:00] some sundried tomatoes either in oil or out of oil. Fine either way. Boar’s Head pepperoni…stick is again my personal…what I would choose for me. I think that’s it. Maybe a…well, we already got Parmesan on there. I don’t know if we’re missing anything but if we are, we’ll deal with it. Oh, pizza sauce. Now…oh boy, everybody’s got…you could make your own but this is for convenience’s sake and I do have to say that now I forgot…the company that makes all…the original bell jar pizza…pasta sauce company that you see in everybody’s kitchen when you go through the cupboards to organize them, the old pizza…the old pasta jars sauce that starts with a C but I can’t remember.
I have discovered I really like their pizza sauce. But you might want to shop around for something that’s gluten-free and make sure it’s gluten-free. Rao’s…Chef Staci I think said that R-A-Os is a really good one; Rao’s, or the store brand. I can’t remember what it’s called. I mean, I’ve seen those jars my entire life. You say well, okay. I don’t know. They invented a whole aisle. You say, I didn’t know I needed so many different styles of pasta sauce when they almost all taste the same. You will see that I’ve made changes…and I did over times make my own pasta sauce because of Matt’s tutelage of me, but also…and then I would use the different pasta sauces as pizza sauce. But now I’ve come back around as part of my Friday ritual of making pizzas. So, let’s see here. We’re going through the…for the aisles there.
Let’s see, we’re gonna get our whole milk mozzarella. Oh boy, and the…a Parmesan and some smoked cheese. I guess cheese would be…the people that appreciate all the cheesy things I say on the show, but also a way that’s accepting of…that when I fall flat or I make a mistake and I try to correct it or when I make a mistake I’m aware of, that they say hey, oh, I noticed this could be fixed. I say oh, okay. Or they said hey, did you know this woke me up here when you mentioned that? I say wow, that’s really helping the cheese age in a good way or smoking it or making it whole instead of the part skim that doesn’t taste as good but maybe is better for you, but we only have pizza once a week. So, those are all things that I couldn’t have done without, is all those things, in some sense catching me.
Oh, and then we gotta go back. Let’s get that cauliflower. Oh boy, is cauliflower underrated, and the Brussels sprouts. Those are both gonna be the things…you may have been outside of our comfort zone at different times. ‘Cause you say well, these are nutritious and I’m not sure if I’m willing to try. But oh boy, with people saying go ahead, you can do it, or go ahead and try…say okay, well, I’m not sure because I’m just…it’s not like…it’s kinda different making a…I remember when I started out, I said I didn’t know anybody would listen to this and I didn’t know what it would be like putting myself and recording it and trying to be the best version of me and present something that’s soothing to other people where I could kinda still be the best version of myself and say well, what does that even mean?
That’s kind of…feels…and then say well, and then you’re gonna ask people to support the sponsors or support the show so you can keep it going, or what are you gonna do when people are upset about stuff? How am I gonna handle that? Again, they say well, why don’t you just handle it by buying…? I say oh, just put it in the basket for now; you’re right, and move onto the next ingredients? Wow. Powerful. Oh, boy. Okay, next stop in this…it’s so interesting how we go from one aisle of one store to one aisle in another store. Here’s all…I can’t quite read the jars for some reason. Did you know I got glasses during the pandemic? Yep, I did. I said…you went to an appointment, talked to the opt…the eye doctor, took all those tests, and I didn’t even realize it ‘til I put them on and I said oh, boy.
Now, they’re more…I don’t have anything…because I read on a Kindle or on a computer mostly, I don’t need anything for that, so I just have your old run of the mill readers. But when I’m driving now, really, so much less strain. I didn’t even realize how much I was straining. So, oh, what was my point about that? I don’t know. Oh, that’s why I can’t read the…I don’t know what those things are…Classico; I think that’s what they’re called. Classico? Should have brought my glasses to that. Yeah, so let’s get a couple of those. Let’s try that Rao’s, too. Okay, so we have our cheeses, we have…oh, we gotta go back and get mushrooms. Oh, you’ll go get…? Well, let me go with you. Yep, those bell peppers in a bag. Mushrooms, baby bell…oh, you’re my baby bell. Are you kidding me? Then an onion?
Oh boy, yeah, let’s go with that. I wouldn’t have thought that would be the onion you would pick, but it’ll be good. Then…oh yeah, right over there; you’d think it’d be refrigerated but I guess it’s a dried stick of pepperoni, so…oh yeah, sometimes I’ll go with Italian sausage but I think we’re kind of…we’ve got a lot going on already, so let’s just stick to it. Okay, so we have our sauce, we have our vegetable…we have our toppings. I think so, right? Oh, eggs. Okay. Yeah…oh yeah, that’s the kinda eggs I like, too. I mean, good for…yeah. Those are…I love eggs that are…beings that are kinda free. Yeah, you could get them from your local egg person. That’s great. So, you have eggs. Okay, from your local egg person.
That’s terrific, kinda like Alexandra, and reminds me…Alexandra and Laura, because they started a Facebook group because they said well, we wanted a place to talk about the podcast and connect with other listeners, and that Facebook group has really become a fertile ground. Not that…I don’t think the eggs I eat are fertilized, right? No. Right. Okay. But it’s just…I guess I was trying to create a metaphor. They both…they created all…I don’t know how many years ago it was and they said yeah, let’s come up with some…like, rules or guiding principles where people treat each other with dignity and respect, so we create a community that feels like a safe place and then all these noderators have come in. Remember when I talk…I did all that on the waffle episode, right? Yeah. So, there…so, okay, yeah.
Oh, okay, salt; you’re right. So, yeah, I know, I’m not…I’m…okay, so, sea salt. Thank you. Yeast in a jar…that’s how I like my yeast in a jar, though during 2020 I did buy it in a packet because I said I’ll take the yeast where I can get it. I did already have sourdough going on and off and my sourdough ended up going off, I guess just ‘cause I don’t eat as much white bread or bread in general other than my pizza, and I didn’t eat enough pizza dough to keep a relationship with a sourdough going. Okay, olive oil…you know, you could choose. I like…yeah, I that one that comes in the tin can. Oh, boy. Alright, so now we’re in the flour aisle and this is so interesting ‘cause it’s like an amalgamation of three different grocery stores in one flour aisle.
So, we have the 00 flour right there and that comes in a little thing but it’ll last us…it’ll make six pizzas, probably. Maybe seven, for our gluteny pizza. Then the all-purpose flour. Correct. Xanthum gum. Yeah, you could get that one. Then, yeah, they have both of the Bob’s flour that I was talking about, the all-purpose gluten-free flour and the 1-to-1 baking. I think that’s called…perfect. [00:40:00] Yeah, is that everything? Yeah. Okay. I think we…the great thing is this is one of those stores where you just walk out, and we walk right through this gateway here. We drop all the groceries in this cauldron just like Lady Witchbeard would have, and we’re back at my place here. Here’s what I need you to do, is I need you to…oh, did we get Brussels sprouts? Okay, we did.
Okay, so I…here’s your assignments; the oven is preheating. I need you to…I want you to…I need you to first chop up the Brussels sprouts. Oh, you’re already doing it. Yeah, you could just slice them or shred them. Yeah, like…yeah. Oh, you know what you’re doing. I didn’t realize you had handled so many Brussels sprouts before. But yeah, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just kinda…yeah, and then we’re gonna put them on this sheet pan here. I did get those seasonings even though I didn’t talk about it at the store. Yeah, as you do that, I’m gonna start mixing some olive oil in the sheet pan with the Brussels sprouts and I’m just gonna sprinkle it with ground pepper and this Trader Joe’s, whatever, garlicky citrusy seasoning. Just some shakes.
Okay, and then I need you to rice the cauliflower head while I heat up this pan to medium-low. The good thing is we have that same time portal, because right now while we’re doing that, we’re gonna go into the past. So, we’re gonna take a trip into the past. The groceries are already there. Luckily Lady Witchbeard’s helping. I try not to live in the past with the podcast. I say well, never been perfect and never will be, and I got a lot of work to do, but I also…so, but we’re gonna go in the past to make some doughs. So, about…let’s jump eight hours. Okay. Hey, that was…we kinda went back in time but only eight hours, and we’re not…we’re inside of a sealed bubble that’s only…we’re only allowed to make…prepare dough. You say Scoots, what dough? I say well, this dough; Sam Sifton’s…Roberta’s pizza dough.
You could find it out there, but we’re gonna take…so, I’m not gonna…I can’t give you the measurements because you’d have to talk to Roberta about that. But so, we’re gonna use the 00 flour and we’re gonna weigh it out there. Yeah, just like that. Put that in that bowl. Then the all-purpose flour, put that in there. Then sea salt. Okay, and then mix all that together. I do deviate from this in one way; I have warm water here and we’re gonna put the yeast in there, and there’s a little bit of sugar in there, just a couple sprinkles. Now, yeah, mix that up while we proof the yeast for about…oh, we already started proofing it. You went back in the past twelve minutes ago to proof that yeast? Great. Okay, and then…now that it’s proofed, we’re gonna put some olive oil on the yeast.
Now, we’re gonna mix it all together and then we have to knead it for three minutes. So, let’s see. Oh, you want to know what’s going on with me? Well, just working on the show. When I’m…when we’re doing this, I’m getting ready to go see my parents for the first time even though this will come out in the future. I guess my family’s another thing that I couldn’t have done it without. My parents, my siblings, my extended…my partners and whatever, nieces and nephews, and all my in-laws, and Sophia, and Sophia’s mom, and my cousins, my aunts and uncles, all of them. Sometimes people could be excited for me that knew me and knew that a lot of things were a struggle for me and that I could be a bit of a furrowed-brow person because I was lost.
I spent a lot of time lost and with a lot of strong, negative feelings about myself. But those people maybe saw something that I didn’t see, and it’d go to my friends and other people and co-workers at my different jobs and my bosses at different jobs, and all those people that kinda…all the people…a lot of people that tried — unsuccessfully, too — to help me, they really did help me. It was just on a twenty or thirty-year delay. Yeah, all the people that tried or that had to be…experience my non-positivity or that it’s like oh, boy…and a lot of that’s not for the podcast. It’s for my own journey, you know, outside of the podcast, and that those things are separate things and that’s okay. Yeah, so, okay, so that’s kneaded. Now…oh, good, so you went into the future again…oh, we went into the future, so it’s rested.
You’re gonna knead it again? Yeah, usually I let it rest for like, twenty or twenty-five minutes or sometimes up to an hour or two and then I re-knead. So, we’re re-kneading for three minutes. It does get tiring; you’re right. Yeah, I knead it right in that big Pyrex bowl. I don’t use a wet cloth at this stage. I just use the top of the bowl, and then if it’s cool inside, I’ll put it outside. It gets that yeast really going. But yeah, it is like there’s no secrets in kneading; it’s just keeping doing it, keeping doing it, and eventually you get a rhythm down and you say holy cow, this…could you believe that by taking that stuff and mixing it together and then kneading it that it rises and then we can convert it into pizza? Yes, kinda unbelievable. I mean, it is totally unbelievable ‘cause you think about all the false starts, you know?
Not even…or things that you never…I never followed through on. I just…and sometimes you gotta order pizza. During 2021, I discovered Square Pie Guys and that’s been a big part of when I need a treat. Or Starbird Chicken; oh, boy. So, I mean, so yeah. Yeah, but there was a lot of stuff I didn’t follow through on or…yeah, or that I said well…and a lot of that goes back to that hug. If I could have just said hey, let me hold you here. It’s not…I know it’s not easy. I know you’re a little bit scared. I know you’re full of those strong, volcanic feelings and a lot of that is projected inward and you got a lot of things that intimidate you greatly. I never really realized, to be honest with you, the power of just that holding and giving space to it.
Maybe that happened over this past eighteen months where it really became…wow. That actually works. I’ve always been afraid well, what if that doesn’t work, just holding it and saying wow, those are some overwhelming feelings, huh? Can I just hold you here and keep kneading you, in a sense, and just hold you and say wowee, that is tough? Let me pat your back and…or that is overwhelming, or the idea of that is overwhelming, or yeah, you…yeah, it is hard to think about that. Yeah, you do need to change that, or pay that back, or pay them back, or do that. I understand that. Or oh, wow, that sounds like a hard decision. Okay, so the kneading’s done. Great. We’re gonna jump ahead now. Okay. Oh, you…wow, you’re really good at this portal thing. Okay, so now we have a couple different jobs.
Somewhere in the future, the…we got the cauliflower and the Brussels sprouts. Did those go in the oven? Great. Okay, so now we’re gonna stick with the gluteny dough. We’re just gonna separate it into two dough balls and spread them…see…so, this is another sheet pan I have. It’s a little bit smaller and I usually make two pizzas with this Roberta’s dough. I put some olive oil in the sheet pan and I’ll stretch that out…not totally. It won’t stretch all the way ‘cause we still have a few hours, and then I will put…I put down a…what is that thing called? Where you put cookies to rest on there? A cooling vent or something, and then I’ll put the wet towel on top of that. The other one I’ll leave in the bowl [00:50:00] just ‘cause I don’t have unlimited space. So, that’ll perform a little differently, but it’ll rest there.
Sometimes what I’ll do is in like, in an hour I’ll spread that one out on the…I’ll flip the bowl, I’ll spread out the…that into a piece…like, pizza-like shape almost, and then put the bowl on like the bowl is the cover. You understand? A upside-down bowl. Yeah. Okay, so now we’re gonna make this Bob’s…oh yeah, you could look this one up. Bob…this is Bob’s recipe, or…from Bob’s website. So, we’re gonna put…oh, you already proofed the yeast for this one? Great. So, this one, what I do is…yeah, we’re gonna put…so, I take two different flours and we put them in the bowl together, and the xanthum gum; put that in. The sea salt, excellent. Then we have the yeast and the sugar and the water. Now we’re gonna put the olive oil in. Great job. Then an egg in there, and then we’re gonna whip…I just mix all that up.
I use a fork but you could use a whisk. Or if you want to save on dishes, what I’ll use is the measuring spoon that I already used. Okay, good. Very good. Now…okay, now we got another sheet pan here. We’re gonna put parchment paper out on it. Okay, great work. Then we’re gonna take the liquid and we’re gonna put it in the bowl with the flour and the xanthum gum and the salt. Oh, you know what I didn’t do, is I usually put seasoning in here and in the other dough, but we can sprinkle it on the gluteny dough or the glutinous dough. But yeah, we’re gonna put the seasoning in there. It just gives it a little bit more flavor. Okay. Yeah, just a couple sprinkles. Okay, so now we’re gonna…I usually mix this by hand. I keep a thing of water and paper towels ‘cause this gluten-free dough is very sticky.
Yeah, it doesn’t…it’s not…it has a different smell than regular dough and it also has a different consistency but that’s okay. What we’re gonna do here is…yeah, once it’s mixed, you kinda just paint it on. You kinda paint it. I imagine I’m finger-painting, or I guess you could imagine you’re playing with mud, like a mud pie. Just kinda shape it like a pizza. It’s more like sculpting it than stretching it. But don’t worry; this will change. You’ll be surprised. We are kind of separating ourselves from the recipe here, and again, this is not advice of how to cook stuff ‘cause there are eggs and other things and you’re…so you want to use proper refrigeration, and this is only for sleep purposes, not for actual cooking instructions. So, always follow the recipe even if Scoots doesn’t. This is only for sleepy sleep.
But yeah, you’re gonna spread it out. Now, we usually spread it out about that thickness because Sophia likes hers…she likes it a little bit thicker crust, and it will rise. You’re not gonna believe it, but I give it an hour to rise. We’re gonna put…yeah, a cookie screen or whatever the heck that thing’s called…cooling rack. Oh, that’s what it’s called? Then a wet towel over it. Then we can stack the two rising pizzas together and keep them somewhere where…yeah, they don’t…where you’re supposed to keep that kinda stuff. Okay, so now we’re jumping back to the present.
Yeah, I mean, I guess I talked about the history of the podcast in the other thing, so I mean, this is just more of…I guess…I mean, that’s what I mean; it’s like celebrating it by making…just making an episode and cooking with you ‘cause it’s like, one of the…people’s favorite things, and really making the show is one of my favorite things. Sometimes I get a little bit…or whatever, but most of the time I say wow, I get to make this show. I mean, and it does take…some people don’t really under…all the crafting that goes into making it, but I guess these pizzas are good example of that. Okay, so while…so…okay, so we got a little bit of time. Every ten minutes I stir the…what do you call those? Brussels sprouts in the oven, and I like them crispy and burnt, myself.
I mean, not the…not…a lot of the leaves will be burnt, but some of the more intact pieces will be just really well-cooked. You’re getting rid of the liquid which is also what we’re doing here with the cauliflower but we don’t want the cauliflower to brown. We’re just trying to soften it up and get rid of some of the moisture. Then we’re gonna get a cheesecloth ready, and that colander, and see those pizza stones and that brick? Yeah, we’re gonna use all that. You wouldn’t believe it, but we are. So, okay, this has been going for a little while. I’m gonna put a little bit of the pizza seasoning in here and I’m gonna need you to shred that hard cheese up, okay? Yeah, you’re gonna shred up…yeah. This one…this is Staci’s recipe, so we can say you’re gonna do a cup of hard cheese. Yeah. Oh, you’re gonna do two hard cheeses?
Wow. I like that idea. I’m just gonna do a little tiny bit of salt on there, and then I’m gonna stir the…what do you call it there? Okay, so you have the…okay, so now we’re gonna take the cauliflower rice and we’re gonna put it in the cheesecloth in the colander. We’re gonna take turns squeezing it out. Yeah, squeeze out…we wanna get all the liquid out. Yeah, and I mean, that’s kinda the cathartic thing about the podcast, is that I know that squeezing frustration of sleepless nights, you know? The listeners do, too. So, that’s a big part of it, too. Sometimes I squeeze too much. I mean, with this you can’t ‘cause we want to get as much liquid as possible out. But that’s been a mistake in the past, is when I’ve tried to control all the things that are out of my control. Like, not everybody…I can’t control how the listeners behave.
I can kinda talk to the listeners that are…I say hey, could you do this? But I can control my expectations…well, I can’t, but I can try to control my expectations, you know? Or I can create some self-soothing for when my expectations are unrealistic. Yeah. Or I can’t control necessarily what I’m afraid of or when people do stuff that I say oh boy, that’s uncomfortable, but I can do the hugging and the holding part of the…or say hey, well, okay, let’s have…let’s wait a day or let’s re-read this tomorrow, or let’s just delete that or say hey, that’s not okay, or say well, is…are we…or say, have we ever been…felt this way? How many other people feel…are feeling this way? Maybe it’s not about the podcast or you. That’s always a good one. What if it’s not about you? That was when…yeah, keep squeezing.
Then what we’re gonna do is put that…the pizza stones and the brick on there and just do a few more minutes of letting it drip…see if anything drips out. Yeah, I mean, I remember…there was…finally, because of the Sleepy Supporter Zone, we got things working with the ads for the most part, where we could keep some companies with us, but before that it was never…and now it’s always like, this is all my fault and I don’t know what to do. Then I talked to somebody from one of the companies that buys the ads ‘cause the companies that advertise don’t buy the ads; a company does, a ad-buying company. They said oh, it’s not about you. It’s just about…they said it’s just a spreadsheet. We say, this is how much the ad cost and this is how many people bought the stuff, so either it was successful or it was not successful.
But it was just a numbers thing, like…’cause I said, we’re…they’re just looking at their return on investment, right? If they pay $10 for an ad, they want to…they each have a different number. Well, we’d need to make $14, or some companies might say well, we only need to make $8. But yeah, you just have to get to that number. It’s not about you. It’s about oh, how do you get enough listeners to support them so that they…and then…and those numbers are also not known to you? But they say, it’s not a reflection on you. It’s just a reflection on oh, how could you find a way to get some more people to do that? Then, that’s freed me in some sense. Or the same I guess with Patreon; some people say different numbers but a lot of the time if you go to all…they’d say oh, well, it’s between 0.5% and 2% of people out of 100 [01:00:00] will support the show.
I said oh, well, I think people fall asleep to this all the time. We should get 10%, so then I…these were early mistakes I made. Or oh, you should have this many listeners. Then I thought maybe that was under my control. Or…yeah. Okay, so then…yeah, you’re gonna mix one of the egg…the egg with the cheese and kinda whisk it together, fork it together. Yeah, and I’m gonna stir the Brussels sprouts. So, we’re gonna pull the Brussels sprouts out now and then we’re gonna finish them with five…like, so these are about five or ten minutes undercooked. Yeah, this is not ideal.
If I had a show kitchen or something, we’d…they’d be done at the same time as the pizza, but we gotta…we could use time travel but I don’t think using time travel to have perfect Brussels sprouts…so, okay, so now we’re gonna mix…so, we’re gonna take…they’re gonna fold the cauliflower in with the egg and the cheese there. Then…oh yeah, you did jump time. Okay, so, we’re gonna put…while we’re making this crust, we’re gonna put the gluten-free crust in the oven now for about six minutes. I’m gonna pair-bake stuff just ‘cause then it makes it easier to put everything on the table at the same time. Yeah, so then we’re gonna parchment paper this sheet pan and…yeah, and then again, we’re gonna kinda make a lump here, a big dome, as Staci said, and then we’re gonna kinda spread it out, kinda press it out.
Oh wow, that’s good. Yeah, I mean, what a opportunity though for me to expand and evolve who I am and get outside of my comfort zone and help other people and help my…I say, okay…and get compensated for it. I say oh, okay, well, this could be your job. Wow, what if you could be successful at making a…making the podcast as soon as you stop trying to control everything and you just do what you do best and try to just influence what you can influence but not control things…oh yeah, one of the other things…yeah, it’s like, controlling what people imagine you’re like. That can be…oh boy, now luckily I have a therapist so I could talk to my therapist about that. That’s really one of the…not only is there so many good things about therapy but I could say well, I don’t understand how to deal with this idea of projection.
You know who you are or who you kinda are trying to be your best version of yourself on the podcast, but other people are seeing you in a different way and some…and then that might be different than even…or things might change and then their view changes. I said, oh boy. Or they just might be saying well, this is how I see you and it’s not good. You say oh, okay. That’s not under your control at all, and I say holy moly. Yeah, so that looks good. So, now we’re gonna switch out…’cause you are fast-forwarding time…okay, so we’re gonna take out the gluten-free crust and we’re gonna put in the first gluteny crust. Yeah, and then we’re gonna put the cauliflower one in. Oh, you put it in already. Oh, it’s been cooling for ten minutes? Wow, you’re real…you’re like Looper or something.
Okay, so I’m gonna chop these bell peppers. I like to chop them, and we’ll fry up the onion and the…oh, you’re already doing that too, in the same pan as the cauliflower. But now it has olive oil in there. You already shredded the mozzarella and the smoked cheese. Wow. Oh boy, am I lucky. That’s what I think of all these listeners that do all this other work like referring people or creating spreadsheets around the show or writing about the show. Then you start to see…’cause my whole life and even now, I get caught in my own cycles, self-fulfilling, self-prophecying, self-sustaining cycles that aren’t positive, you know? I think everybody does. I mean, I think it’s just part of being H-U to the M-A-N. Oh, there’s an…well, you know. I’m just feeding the old non-spelling cycle. Oh, I should feed the non-smelling cycle?
That’s funny. That’s very funny. But yeah, that I had all those and I still have those, where I have to kinda say okay, let’s take a break here. But the podcast, for the most part, or you’d say 51% or 60% or 70% is the listeners. Here’s the real magic, is that so many people have taken the time to just say thank you. They say hey Drew, hey Scooter, this is what I’ve gone through, this painful, sleepless experience and this is what caused it or this was what was behind it, or we don’t even know, or this is my work situation or my personal situation or my medical situation. This is my life right now, or this is what it was like, and then I…the podcast helped during that time or it’s helping me right now, or got me through that. That’s what keeps the podcast going.
To think that that was even…okay, yeah, spread the…so, yeah, we’ll put the…you’re putting the sauce on? Oh, and I get to just keep talking? The cheese is on there. Yeah, and then what I do is I put it back in the oven. I’ll jack the oven up to about 500 and then I’ll put them each in and I’ll keep an eye on them and then I’ll turn the broiler on for a minute or two, yeah to cook up the cheese or the ‘roni or whatever. Then, yeah, those…everybody out there that told me those stories, yeah, gather ‘round the table now. Or maybe you didn’t. Maybe you just listened and you’ve just been along for the ride or maybe you’re new. Or yeah, maybe I fell outta line with what…or, you know, maybe you’re even like well, Scoots, you’re imperfect.
Yeah, we’re kinda…I would give everybody a slice of one of these three kinds of pizzas, or make another one with some vegan cheese if I knew how. I did order high-quality…yeah, so don’t worry. I got a vegan, I got a vegetarian, but better than I can make, ‘cause that was…like, I tried and I could not find the right cheese. But yeah, I could not have done it. What I do is just on that daily basis, just one step at a time. While the steps are tentative and a lot of them are backwards and then going back forward again, or a lot of them are frozen, or I say, I can’t take a step today or I can’t take a step right now, sometimes that’s when somebody says well, you could take a step in that direction ‘cause you do need to go there, or hey, it really helped me. Thank you. Or hey, you know what?
Here, let me support you, or here; I know what that feels like too, Scoots. Sometimes that’s all I need to hear, is yeah, I know what that’s like, too. I think that’s the most important part about the show, is all of us gathered around this great pizza table. Holy cow, are there a lot of us here. Oh, boy. Good thing we had that time machine. How many pizzas did you make? 200 mil…between 200 and 300 million pizzas; great. Yeah, because without…I don’t know. Really, I am speechless and I thank you so much whether this is your first listen or you’ve been here or you helped the show, and I thanked you or I didn’t, or you’re working helping out the show right now, or spreading the word, or you’re just listening and you say well, I don’t…I…like I say, I totally…I appreciate that, too.
If you just enjoy the show or it just puts you to sleep, it does help me. Yeah, I could not have done it without all of you, and then I’m gonna keep going. The show’s gonna keep evolving and changing a little tiny bit at a time, just like it has 1000 episodes, because it isn’t just one thing. It’s all these little things, all these little ingredients, all these little steps, and I guess in reality it’s ‘cause that’s all I can manage, really, and I think that maybe that’s where we have to hold one another and hold ourselves and say, it’s all we probably really need to manage, is tonight or the next part of our wind-down routine, or when we get up, the first part of our morning routine, or just holding your pillow right now and getting comfortable, or going up to use the restroom.
Whatever it is, not to plant that idea in your head, but…so, small, small steps but based in saying you’re important, your sleep is important, and caring for that is important because then I can care for it right now and maybe I can care for it again tomorrow. Yeah, sometimes it’s gonna be hard and sometimes we’re gonna forget for weeks or months at a time. I’ve done that. I say, what happened? I thought we were doing something about that, but then you can start again, that one small step at a time, because that’s all it’s been. Without you, it wouldn’t have been possible. So, thank you so much and I’m hoping you’re enjoying your pizza. Goodnight.
[END OF RECORDING]
(www.leahtranscribes.com)
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Notable Language:
- Heat Transfer
- Xantham Gum
- Run of the Mill Readers
Notable Culture:
- Popeye
- Sam Sifton
- Looper
Notable Talking Points:
- The Flour Barons
- Eggs from beings that are kind of free
- Don’t use time travel for perfect brussels sprouts