Catch phrase alert

I have previously expressed my affection for strips that stick something permanently in your mind. Today's "Home and Away" does a masterful job.

I've worked as a pizza cook, which wasn't terribly successful, since there's a lot of fast hand-eye work involved. I was much happier when they moved me to the grill, which involves more judgement than pure monkey-skills. In fact, I really liked grill work because of the problem-solving of making everything come out right and simultaneously. 

But my time in the pizza department taught me to make pizza dough and the various secrets of getting the thing to come out well, which I subsequently adapted to a home oven.

What I never quite accomplished was reducing to scale the amount of mess required to make 50 pizzas from scratch to the making of one pizza from scratch. I think "pizza-mess" is a constant.

And it ain't worth it. And besides, although I was likely to go a sort of "demi-Nicoise" route, using fresh tomatoes in place of sauce (but not actually turning it into a baked tuna salad with cheese, thanks), it's not like I was grinding and stuffing my own sausage.

A foodie friend criticized me once for saying I cooked something from scratch when I actually used canned tomatoes.

Well, fair enough, but I use fresh tomatoes when I think it makes a difference,and only Robinson Crusoe can claim to be totally pure on that count anyway. I mean, even when I use fresh tomatoes, I don't grow my own spices, and we all know that a freshly-slaughtered chicken tastes different than a dead one bought at the market but how often do we go that route?

But note in today's comic that Steve Sicula's character doesn't say "scratch." He says "home-made."

To me, the real "Ikea" factor comes when he confesses to using a "store-bought pizza crust" rather than "store-bought dough." That's where the metaphor springs to life:

Wood:Particle Board :: Dough:Prebaked Crust

And, while I have no culinary argument with buying shredded cheese, the idea of a plastic bag of shredded cheese being analogous to a plastic bag of little wooden pins just delights me.

"Ikea pizza" is gonna stick with me.

Speaking of cooking:

Cheap Thrills Cuisine is a weekly strip by Thach Bui and Bill Lombardo that pretty much speaks for itself. I'll probably make this one. (I say that every week, of course, but I'm more likely to make something that fits into four panels than some extravaganza from Cooking with the French Chef.)

 

But now, let's finish assembling this:

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the "Let George Do It" phase of the Kickstarter campaign for the Kenosha Festival of Cartooning is over and the "Yo! Come on!" phase is here.

With six days left, the campaign is barely halfway to its goal of $10,000, which is intended to bring some genuine top-flight talent -- Stephan Pastis of Pearls Before Swine, Greg Cravens of The Buckets, Michael Jantze from The Norm and Jantze Animation Studios, Norm Feuti of Retail and Gil, Dave Coverly of Speed Bump and Parade Magazine and Tom Racine of Tall Tale Radio -- to a festival that would then be free to the public.

At this stage, the National Cartoonist Society Foundation has agreed to match all new donations, but somebody still has to make the donations. 

That would be you.

A couple of points:

1. The gifts are worth more than the donations.

2. Aside from the fact that several of these people are Friends of the Blog, this is a valuable program for the future of comic strips. Letting the public meet the artists is of extraordinary importance to the medium.

3. I've already donated and I promise that I'm more broke than about 85% of the people reading this.

4. If they don't hit the goal, they get nothing. It's not like they can bank the money they got and then charge people "just a little" to get in. If it doesn't work, it fails completely.

So here's my argument:  It may well be that you aren't giving because you can't get to Kenosha and so you feel you won't benefit.

But don't you know anyone in Chicago (which is only 65 miles away) or Milwaukee (which is even closer)? 

Make a donation and send them an email that says, "I got you a present: Free admission to this really great festival! Sure, you can take one of your friends. Hey, wotthehell, take them both!"

"Let George do it" won't work. I'm George. I already donated.

Now it's your play.

Comments

[Dann]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for today's entry. I still spend most every day thinking up lenthy responses to your posts; typically regarding one or two minor points, but occasionally the whole damned thing.

But then I think to myself, "Self? What if this is the straw that breaks the camels back? What if this is the one to rupture our avuncular relationship?" With you being the "uncle" in this particular relationship.

And so I demur. You're welcome.

Today, I have no such concern.

I, too, used to make pizza a long time ago. I could toss pizza dough with the best of them. And deliveries frequently had their side benefits. What a great time!

The recipe looks so good that I'll probably take a shot at it as well. And I picked up another comic to read as well! What's not to love.

Best Regards,
Dann

[Sherwood Harrington]

I think I'll take a pass on the salad. Just not my style (my style is a quarter head of iceberg lettuce, left in a big wedge-shaped chunk, with half a bottle of Kraft thousand island dressing dumped on it; the lettuce is optional.)

On another topic, I really like that spinning globe thingy that tracks visitors. I also like part of what the gadget's page on its German server says about it: "Every visitor leaves an eternal dot on the globe..." Not a permanent dot, an ETERNAL dot. That goes well with the mostly-thoughtful comments discussion in yesterday's CSOTD.

[Dann]

Hey! I've had that kind of map for years!

Grumble...grumble...lack of comments....grumble...