The companion post to the Focaccia recipe. And when you get to Whole Foods (below) keep in mind this was originally posted in April 2016.

I happened to be in The Palmer Home Thrift Store the other day and I spied a book I didn’t know existed– a crappy old cookbook titled The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines. I had no idea the Frug wrote such a book, so I picked it up and shelled out $1 + $0.07 and went to fetch Mr. Big Food. I told him of my find and he asked, “What cuisines?”

Good question. As I was driving at the time, we speculated. Mr. Big Food was certain the three ancient cuisines were Mesopotamian, Peloponnesian, and Egyptian. He was certain these were the three, although he was hard-pressed to name any specific dishes these cultures might have created.

When we arrived home we discovered that the three “ancient” cultures are thoroughly modern: China, Greece, and Rome. Oh well.

It’s an excellent cookbook filled– as all of the Frug’s cookbooks are– not only with recipes but culture and history.

I settled on Rustic Pizza for Marica Cooks Monday. The dish has three main parts: sauce, filling, and crust. The crust is the problematic element calling for pine nuts and chestnut flour, neither of which is readily available at the Piglet in town. Not to worry! We were headed to Capitol City Monday morning. The City Mice shop at Whole Foods! We’ll just pick some pine nuts and chestnut flour up along with some other things we need at Whole Foods on our way out of town.

Overheard at Whole Foods (1), “There is no way on God’s green earth I am going to spend $10 on a little package of pine nuts. I’m just not doing it.”

Overheard at Whole Foods (2), “They don’t have chestnut flour.”

Overheard at Whole Foods (3), “They don’t have any rye bread, either.”

Overheard at Whole Foods (4), “I’m not paying $15 per pound for a brisket. I don’t care if it is grass fed. That’s ridiculous.”

Overheard at Whole Foods (5), “Let’s just go to Kroger.”

Kroger had everything we needed except chestnut flour which– knowing what I now know about chestnut flour– was probably a good thing.

Pizza was fun to make and turned out great! Recipes coming.