Alton Brown Store Closing and cooking up Pizza, Pudding, and Tacos

Well friends, the store on Alton Brown's site is currently closed.  I'm hopeful though!  We haven't seen much in the way of innovative products in AB's shop over the years and maybe the clearance and closure portends many new and exciting things to come.  We'll just have to wait and see.  Speaking of, it's about time for me to rummage through Amazon and see what cool Good Eats gear I can find.  Just this past weekend I was lamenting the decision to put off my purchase of A Thermapen instant read thermometer.

In more exciting news: There is yet another new Good Eats episode coming our way!  American Classics VIII: Tacos will premiere Thursday night at 8:30pm EST.  In this show Alton will cover everything from making your own flour tortillas to taco sauce and, of course, the beef and fish in between.

Recent episodes and experimentation at my house!

Yesterday I made a batch of AB's roasted asparagus to go with some grilled NY strip steaks.  Awesome indeed!  He was right about the other flavors asparagus is capable of producing when cooked in various ways.  I've always just steamed mine, but roasting may become a new standard.  I didn't use nutmeg as the recipe calls for, though the lemon zest did add a nice touch.

I managed to find a jar of malted barley syrup at my local Italian produce/meat market.  I was thankful since the closest Whole Foods store is a ways off and that always gets multiplied when you have a toddler in tow.  I also picked up some mozzarella balls and nice, juicy large tomatoes for my first foray into grilled pizza.  I have both of my grills set up and need to decide which will take on this experiment.  Gas would be easier, though I just bought a new grate for my Weber (made BBQ ribs Saturday).  Lisa at the All About Alton blog recently fired up her grill, so head over there for some good pizza reading while I get mine going within the next few days. 

Finally, banana pudding.  This show got me excited!  I used to love the ol' vanilla wafer studded pudding when I was a kid and haven't had it in years!  I'm definitely going to make Alton's vanilla wafers this week; not sure if I'll go all out for the pudding just yet though.