Crumbs About Bread :-)

So I went out yesterday to augment my food stores, just enough for a few days since I’m going home to my parents’ house this coming Tuesday. It was hot, I spent a little more than I intended, and when I was done sweating my choices and paying for them, I pushed my cart out of the store and scanned the parking lot for an unoccupied taxi. Not only was one there, but the engine was running, and he had no passengers. I hopped in.

Now, remember, I’m supposed to be giving up breads and sugars starting July 5. So we pull up in front of my door, I pay the guy, and what does he hand me? Two plastic bags full of bread.

He, or someone he’d ferried, picked these up from a Latino bakery; I knew this because I’ve purchased things from panaderías before and recognized the style of baking. I’ve loved most everything I’ve ever bought from a panadería.

But now I have a bunch of bread that I won’t be around to eat for a week, and I hate to throw it out.

Not that that’s a huge problem for me. I’ll have about six days after I return from visiting my parents to eat it, and I can do it. It’s why I find myself in the position of having to give it up for awhile.

There are two places, though, that I want to visit before I start my grand breadless existence. I want to go to IHOP for some pancakes, and since I have to go to Whole Foods to get the agave nectar, I plan to nosh on a couple slices of their Margherita pizza.

Margherita pizza is named for the Italian Empress Margherita. She passed through Naples on a trip, and when she got hungry, she stopped someplace to eat. The pizzaiolo crafted a pizza specifically to honor Her Excellency: Slices of ripe tomato, a sprinkling of fresh basil, and creamy mozzarella cheese on a pizza crust. Made with foods the colors of which pay homage to the Italian flag, the Margherita pizza is also called pizza Napolitana or Neapolitan pizza because it was crafted in Naples. When it’s made right, it’s the way I most enjoy pizza.

That’s enough bread talk!