Focaccia

I attribute the success of this week to focaccia (for more reason than one). First of all, let's take a look at the etymology of "focaccia." These facts are provided by my good friend, Mr. Wikipedia:
"In ancient Rome, panis focacius was a flat bread baked in the ashes of the fireplace, (focus in Latin). The word is derived from the Latin focus meaning 'centre' and also 'fireplace' – the fireplace being in the centre of the house. In American-English, it is sometimes redundantly referred to as focaccia bread. As the tradition spread, the different dialects and diverse local ingredients resulted in a large variety of bread (some even may be considered cake)."
The beginning of this story begins with an unusually large bag of flour, which Louis received from his good friend Marcus (the circumstances of this exchange are another story entirely). I believe I know my way around the kitchen, but when it comes to baking bread I'm cursed. So, naturally, my idea was to make use of this learning opportunity to have Louis teach me how to make bread. However, I don't think I'm patient enough... as he ended up pretty much making it himself (AND it turned out delicious, I might add). I did, however, provide the recipe. Kind of. I looked it up on allrecipes.com. If you don't know about allrecipes.com, GO NOW! This is where I find my best recipes--they have a rating system and comments by those who have tried the recipes. It's pretty much amazing.
So, my life has been enriched twice this week by focaccia, and I wish to share the joy with everyone else. Here's the recipe (found on allrecipes.com... not to be redundant):

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, dissolve honey and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 cup flour, salt, and 3 tablespoons olive oil to the yeast mixture. Stir until combined and then work in the last cup of flour. Knead the dough until smooth, elastic, and soft, about 7 minutes. Add only enough flour to keep the dough from being sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick. Place in greased 9x13 inch pan or baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Poke dimples in the bread and drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

This bread is delicious dipped in marinara sauce or olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar. It's not too hard to make either! Well, I guess if you're able to make bread... haha. I'll keep working on that one.
However, focaccia, though delicious no matter what, is much more fun eaten in groups. Louis made a huge double batch and we all gathered round, telling little anecdotes and just having a grand old thyme (I mean time...). Sorry. I couldn't resist. Anyway, I must share my favorite event of the evening. There is a certain young man in our ward named Juan*, who is a lot funnier than I originally supposed him to be. He works at the dementia/mental ward of a local nursing home, and shared some extremely entertaining stories. These stories included characters such as the 80-year-old woman who is perpetually pregnant, or the 95-year old "Marine" who also happens to be a "billionaire." My favorite story, however, was that of a schizophrenic patient who sometimes believes herself to be God. He said one day there were a few of them in there with her... so she looks at one of the aides and says, "You're dead," and then points to the next and says, "You're dead," all the way down the line until she gets to Juan. Now, this is no game. When she says you're dead, you are seriously dead to her--you exist no more. It seems that Juan's personality struck her a little differently as she pointed to him and said, "And you're Judas Iscariot."
Make of that what you will... I personally don't hold it against Juan (like he has some treacherous aura or something).

*Names have been changed.