MY BEST PIZZA EVER

 I'll get  to the pizza part later, but will begin with this pandemic, using a few graphics from the morning New York Times:

If you've forgotten how to read graphs, the results are clear.  Those states voting for Donald Trump are killing themselves by avoiding being vaccinated.  How serious is this?  Almost a factor of 5.

Further from the NYT:

Since Delta began circulating widely in the U.S., Covid has exacted a horrific death toll on red America: In counties where Donald Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote, the virus has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June, according to Charles Gaba, a health care analyst. In counties where Trump won less than 32 percent of the vote, the number is about 10 out of 100,000. How do these numbers compare with the world in deaths/100,000 population? U.S.  21 Hawaii  and Vermont  5  (lowest in  nation--yet, Hawaii's governor still refuses to allow spectators at football games) Mississippi  31  (highest in nation) California 17 Republican states  47 Democratic states  10 World  6 Russia  14 France  18 Argentina 25 Italy  21 Germany 11 South Africa  14 Japan  1  (yet they remain sort of still in lockdown) Canada 7 Thailand  2 Israel  8 Sweden  14 (this is the country that chose not to shut down) India  3 (but they underreport)  Brazil  27 Peru  59 South Korea  5 China  .03 Taiwan  .3 Diamond Princess  0.5 (are cruises actually this safe??) Next to Peru, Republican states rank #2 in the world for deaths/100,000 population!!!  Clearly, countries of the Orient did something right.

Which leads to the Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming, daughter of former Veep Dick Cheney) vs Donald Trump battle.  She will inadvertently create a split in the Republican party to insure what almost never happens:  reverse the outcome of mid-term elections.  Usually the party out of power gains an edge.

• Cheney will cause sufficient turmoil in Republican ranks that many incumbents won't run in the general election because Trump-supported candidates will either scare them off from competing at all, or beat them in the primary.

• 
  Then, in the November 2022 general election, Democrats will win seats that normally would go to Republicans because:
• There will be fewer Republican incumbents running.
• This is the key factor:  a good number of staunch classic Republicans will not bother to vote in the general election because they will either be upset that their non-Trump candidate lost in the primary, or otherwise out of principle.  A few might actually vote for the Democrat.
• In many other voting districts, solid Republicans will also avoid going to the polls because of their distaste for the Trump ethics and tolerance by their candidates running for office.  
• If this figure is, here and there, only 5-10%, that would insure for a Democratic Party win.

The scary part of all this is that TWO-THIRDS OF REPUBLICANS STILL THINK TRUMP REALLY WON THE ELECTION.  Last week, the tainted group the Republican-led Arizona legislature appointed to recount their presidential election results actually reported that, not only did Biden beat Trump, but Biden got a few more votes than officially reported.  Then yesterday, in a public speech, Trump went on to lie, again, that this audit showed he won Arizona.  AND MOST REPUBLICANS PROBABLY BELIEVED HIM, for this was widely covered by Fox news!!!

While Petite Syrahs are now grown through much of California, aficionados salivate on the best from Paso Robles, which now has more than 200 wineries.  I hope to take my Amtrak trip next year to include this town, Santa Barbara and San Diego.  The first two for wine-tasting, and the latter for their zoo.

Petite Syrah is grown from San Diego to Mendocino County.  However, right in mid-California near the coastline is where this grape grows best.

Earlier this month I featured Petite Syrah, a red wine that was virtually unknown until more recently, and now is the hottest wine grown in California.  While you can find Petite Syrahs from Paso Robles priced below $10, try to find the better ones for less than $40/bottle.  I went to Tamura's to purchase four of them all around $10, but there wasn't even one from Paso Robles.

So this weekend I embarked on a mission to see what cuisine went best with this wine.  The first bottle I opened was a 2018 Sixth Sense from Lodi, 14.5% ethanol.

Can't see the details, so here:

The first experiment was with a simple ravioli from 15 Craigside:

Of course, you don't expect me to just be satisfied with the above.  I enhanced it by frying some garlic slices in wagyu beef fat and Portuguese sausage, into which I lightly fried the ravioli.

My meal with that wine, beer and salad.  Terrific.

Next, grilled salmon, salad, Romano cheese and croissant:

Clearly, Petite Syrah goes well with Italian and seafood.  Finally, the pie'ce de r'esistance, Japanese wagyu beef pizza.  15 Craigside supplied the pizza plus salad.

I enhanced with wagyu beef fat, butter and Miyazaki wagyu beef:

First I fried the pizza crust in butter:

Then placed the pizza in an oven, topped with a the remnants of the wagyu fat.

I added some basil,which I grow:

Oh my.  Without a doubt, my best pizza ever.  The Petite Syrah helped.

-