[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
We opened up the Serious Eats Mailbag this monday to find a package addressed to Official Serious Eats Mascot and Chief Financial Officer Hambone (a.k.a. Jamón). Inside the box was the most darling pizza-shaped dog toy, complete with squeaker in the crust. The toy came to us from long time Slice'r dhorst's dog Miss Ellie, whose friend Tammy Johnson seems to be a master at creating cute things out of cloth over at Fessenden Hill Creations.
Here's the note:
Dear Hambone,
A while ago I saw a picture of you looking longingly at a slice of pizza that Kenji was eating. I know just how you feel.
Sometimes the pizza bones are so good that my mom (dhorst) forgets to share. Sometimes she makes pizza for her friends at work and leaving me with the smell of pizza in the air and not a pizza bone in sight.
She felt bad for me and asked a good friend of hers, Tammy Johnson of Fessenden Hill Creations to make some pizza slices for me. They even have a squeaker in the crust!
Well, here's a slice for you to chew on the next time Kenji doesn't feel like sharing a bone with you. Maybe he can come up with some pizza flavored spray in The Food Lab to spray on your slice.
Woof! Miss Ellie
Thanks Miss Ellie and Dhorst! I'll get to work on that pizza spray, though I think Jamón might have a tough time wresting that pizza slice from Yuba's iron jaws.
About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.