What is COVID pizza, does it taste good, why is it not round, and other practical nonsense from inside an episode of Omicron variant delirium...

​What exactly is a COVID pizza? I think you’re looking at it in the photo above.
 
As some people I know might say, “Dude, that cheese pizza is righteous!”
 
OK, maybe so—until you see the whole thing.
 
You’ll get to see it in just a moment.

But first, the lesson is... Well, there is no lesson. I just have COVID, which seems to wreak havoc with focus, at least in my world.
 
Ah. I know: the lesson is don’t pay attention to anything I say right now. It’s the virus filtered through over-the-counter medications talking.
 
The last time I had a visit from the Omicron fairy, my doctor prescribed Paxlovid, and it was crazy. I had a kind of hyper focus.
 
I was writing a piece featuring Peter Reinhart, and was stunned at the revved-up feel of being on low-grade over-the-counter crank that got me through that operation like a champion.
 
This time, when I tested positive, I was thinking, “Well hey, at least I get to do that again!”
 
Nope.
 
Seems insurance companies have decided that since COVID is no longer the risk that it was six months ago, they’re not covering Paxlovid any more.
 
That means, for me, the Paxlovid street price is $1,664.67.
 
Um... Wow?
 
So I’m not giving you much of a Saturday Afternoon Pizza Post here. I’m just swirling around in the throes of borderline delirium, hoping this will be over soon.
 
Which takes me back to the COVID cheese pizza problem.
 
I suspect what the COVID pizza is all about is a reminder that mise en place extends beyond the mere physical arrangement of one’s station to the psychological arrangement of one’s mental state.
 
And that state includes focusing on the task at hand.
 
In the case of the COVID pizza, I was suddenly distracted as I was launching it.
 
I knew in a flash I should stop what I was doing and re-set.
 
But I didn’t.
 
Instead, I just gave the peel a bigger shove than required, and sent the raw pizza sailing into the back wall of the oven.
 
That’s why it looks like this:

At least it didn’t get hung up in the convection fan. I’ve done that before. It’s not pretty.

SIDEBAR: To demonstrate just how unplanned this whole thing is, look at the photo. If I was actually intending to illustrate, much less with any clarity, the flat side would be at the top of the photo. And the bokeh out-of-focus part would not even be there. This was just bleary-eyed screwing around with the camera while my wife watches, shaking her head and wondering when she'll actually get to eat pizza if at all. (She has COVID too, so no worries about sharing pizza germs!) 
 
Anyway. The three primary ingredients when baking a pizza: focus, focus, focus.
  
That said, don’t focus too hard.
 
With over-focus, you end up in the same place as when you’re under-focused: things get whacky.
 
You work too hard, and think too hard, and it doesn’t maybe all go south, but it’s harder and less fun than it needs to be.
 
Equilibrium, baby.
 
Seek sea-level focus.
  
Imagine a yin and yang pizza symbol depicting the intertwined duality of all things sauce and cheese. Mindful pizza.
 
The best place to be mentally is in the sweet spot, in the flow state. Making pizza with an energized focus, full involvement, yet easy and with enjoyment in the process.
 
Time and consciousness melt together into a complete absorption in the process.
 
And the pizza is fantastic.
 
 I’ve not yet written Pizza Mind. Maybe that’s the next book.
 
In the meantime, if you’re interested in more about the psychology of flow, I highly recommend Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (Yes, he was Hungarian. No word on how he liked his pizza.)
 
If you’re more interested in the development of a mindfulness that helps one attain a flow state, Dr. Jon Kabbat Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are is a brilliant and readable examination on being in the moment. (Recommended by my doctor, as a matter of fact.)
 
In a pinch, The Inner Game Of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey is a practical application of mindfulness and flow. You don’t have to be a tennis player, though it does help.
 
Those are not affiliate links. They’re just link links. Not everything is about commerce. 
 
Hope you’re having a great weekend. I’ll see myself out.
 
Next week, the Omicron fairy should have gone away and there should be more pizza in the oven. ​

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