The Wonderful World of Pizza, Thursday, Period 3

[carbsliftthespirit]

Once Raiden's students had gathered at Portalocity this week, he ushered them through said portal onto the streets of Berkeley, California. "All right," he said with an enthusiastic clap. "As pizza continued its journey across the United States, it inevitably reached the west coast, and California-style pizza was born. No one can really agree on the origins of California-style pizza, as it was more or less simultaneously invented by three different restaurants: Ed LeDou's Prego in San Francisco, Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Beverly Hills, and Alice Waters' groundbreaking farm-to-table Chez Panisse--" Raiden held out his hands in a 'ta-da' sort of gesture toward the restaurant they were standing in front of "--right here in the funky college town of Berkeley. Prego doesn't exist any more and Spago only does dinner--and doesn't currently serve pizza. Chez Panisse doesn't serve pizza in the main restaurant, either, but they do have a few on their cafe menu, so that's where we'll be dining today.

"Now, California-style pizza is distinguished by its thin, crispy crust and creative use of ingredients you didn't used to find on pizzas, like goat cheese and chicken. It really helped people to realize the sky is the limit, toppings-wise, and that's why we salute it. You can find California-style pizza all over the country these days, most notably at the chain California Pizza Kitchen, but for now, let's head into the Chez Panisse cafe and have some lunch--uh, don't...don't look at the prices. I'm covering this. And after that you can explore the town of Berkeley!"

Library, Thursday 7/31

[noonedecidesmyfate]

The library was not a mess this week, there were no stray feathers, and even the gremlins seemed calm.

Actually, the gremlins were just asleep as Belle discovered when she did a walkthrough of the stacks. Some had borrowed the blankets that were theoretically for Gray.

Today would be a quiet day, she decided. Shelving could wait. She would just sit and read and hope no gremlins were disturbed by anyone else.

Finding (More) New Hobbies, Thursday Period 2

[stykera]

“I was a koala last week, as you know,” Stark said. “I hope Summer didn’t traumatize any of you too much with her food choices. She can do that. Often. That’s just how she is. But it was good of her to take over while I was a bear that isn’t really a bear.”

Stark was very happy to be himself once more. Koalahood wasn’t terrible, at least, but he liked being Stark-shaped.

“This week we’ll do something different. Something less likely to horrify anyone.”

It was a low bar to clear, admittedly.

“Some hobbies are more passive than others. Sometimes you have things like camping, or cooking, where you have to do a lot. Sometimes you have things like reading, or like watching movies. Or television. That’s what we’re doing today.”

That’s right. It was time for movie day! Well, TV day. Close enough.

“There are so many things to watch and it’s easy to spend a lot of time doing just that. But some things are even educational, or at least they pretend to be. One of my favorite things to watch is programs about food. Cooking, or baking. And that ties in with the last two weeks as well. So, we’ll be watching episodes of Good Eats. One called ‘Art of Darkness’ about chocolate. And one called ‘Deep Space Slime’ about…well…gelatin.”

Because it was funny, ok?

“So. Let’s watch some television. There are snacks, even popcorn.”

Markets of the World(s), 2nd period

[unusual_sith]

"My apologies about last week," Lana began. "I had a sudden call from home. Hopefully I can make up for it this week with our trip to Jemaa el-Fnaa in Morocco. It's been named an international heritage site, and has been in use for centuries by both locals and tourists. It's got merchants, entertainers, and more, all in one area. We'll be getting there slightly before sundown, and we'll have two and a half hours, so we should get to see the best of both worlds. Enjoy!"