Pizza Night!

I have to honestly say, there is NO easier meal to make on the drop of a dime than pizza!

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It's the perfect combination, after a loooonnngggg day of work. There is enough cooking to transition the mindset, but quick enough to get dinner on the table at a decent hour!

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Of course it's easier to call up Domino's or your local pizzeria, but just a few essential tools of the trade can enable you to create pizzas better than you can buy!

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Having just gotten married this summer, we are blessed with many new and generous gifts from our dear family and friends. Among the much appreciated loot are the pizza tools provided by B&A (fellow foodies and experimental home cooks!).

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Well worth the investment...or if your lucky enough, to list on your wedding registry, are the following:

1) A square pizza stone. I say square purely based on feedback from B&A on their circular one. The square will be more versatile...like when making breads!

2) A peel. Absolute lifesaver! You will prevent much frustration by keeping one of these around! [Some more friendly advice from B&A]

3) A large non-stick pizza cutter. I recommend the OXO Good Grip cutter, because that is what we have and we love it! My sister-in-law swears by hers, which she purchased at a Pampered Chef Party.

As you know by now, baking, doughs, etc are a little scary for me. With that said, I still have never attempted a homemade crust. Not to mention, pizza is usually reserved for those nights when I need to make something fast, but will also provide leftovers for my hubby's lunch the next day.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a new pizza dough in the supermarket...

SHIPYARD!

As a ME College grad, I LOVE and know Shipyard VERY well.

We gave it a try and loved it so much that it's now worth the extra 50 cents to upgrade from the Hannaford Pizza Crust!

As soon as I get home, I get the dough into a bowl with some flour to bring it to room temp and allow it to rise a bit.

While the dough rises I cook up some 'extra hot' sausage...

because a meal is not a meal, unless there is meat

(according to my husband).

Then chop up some peppers and onions.

[I really do LOVE this bowl set! A bridal shower gift from my Aunt...who is a wiz at baking I'll have you know!]

The #4 essential to great homemade pizza...Corn Meal!

It not only helps with transfer, but it also adds to the crust's texture!

After much try, I've finally figured our how to stretch the dough.

I also have to admit that being in a rush and not someone with room to can things, I copped out and used store bought pizza sauce.

Oh well, maybe someday we'll get there!

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Now for my favorite part...ricotta cheese!

It really does sooo much for pizza and calzones :O)

Okay, now for more cheese.
Can you ever have enough??

The meat.

Veggies.

Hot peppers (of course)!

The final delicious pizza!

I did over cook it just a tad...

but it was still tasty!

How High (aka Hot)?

One of my best friends K-T and her fiance came to visit last weekend.

We went out for Thai to end our long day of fighting crowds, a strange encounter with a power tripping crossing guard and the flat out stresses associated with holiday shopping!


Side note - BYOB is perhaps one of the best inventions.

The reason for our trip out...a fiery bowl of Thai Curry!

When we ordered we each requested our curry be hotter than normal. Usually you can say extra x 10 at most restaurants, only to be disappointed with something that barely tickles the tongue.

The waitress asked each of us on a scale of 1 to 5, how hot?

A 5 for me of course, K-T went with a 3

and her fiance a bold 4.

We drank, slurped our soups, munched on the apps...

and then came the curry...

the fire breathing Thai curry!

So delicious and WICKED HOT!!

We became giggly...it was like a drug!

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Our faces were flushed, tongues burning

and laughter filled the air!


To explain how hot...
we were high off this stuff, that was how hot!!

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We ended the night rockin' out our high on guitar hero!

What a fabulous time!!

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[P.S. I know there is not much cooking lately...but no worries, it's on the way!]

The drinks are on 'them'...

The annual company holiday party...

Always on a Friday in VT, which means I, along with the other VT folks, get to work all day...and the ME/BOS offices get a freebie to travel. They also incidentally get a free weekend at the nice downtown Marriott for coming...I guess that is the trade off for living in VT.

For the last two years we have rented out an Italian Restaurant downtown. The menu is fantastic, wine fabulous and attitudes merry (for the most part)!

My husband hates this event. Ever since I've been in the post-college working world, we've had the same annoying conversation every year...'Let's skip the party' suggests my husband...'we can't, part of my job is internal marketing and the Partners expect me to be there' is my reply. We then dance around the issue for the weeks and days leading up and I remind him that this is the ONE TIME A YEAR he has to do something like this. Kicking and screaming he eventually gives in to being my date and fulfilling his role as the husband of this BD Homemaker.

This year, I did compromise a bit. Usually I have some involvement with the actual planning, which requires me to attend at the very start, but this time my contributions were taken care of that afternoon. After my husband's plea of 'can we please not be the first people there?' I decided we could shoot for fashionably late...and fashionably late we were!

6:30-7:15pm - Cocktails. I have now made it a custom to have my husband drink a glass of red wine immediately upon arrival...mind you he is not a big drinker, so this is wife prescribed medication. It calms his nerves, making him my own little social butterfly sidekick!

7:15pm - We sit for dinner. This year we sit with my dear friend JC and her wonderful husband. At the other end is our firm's newer Director of Interiors and her husband, who are a great couple as well...we've lucked out once again!!

The meal begins with bread,

roasted garlic spread and a pate spread of sorts.

No one at our table seemed very into the savory animal spread,

so that left it all to me, yum!

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I was not able to get great pictures of the meal, but mine began with a Grilled Calamari and Grilled Radicchio Salad with Balsamic. The grilled flavors combined with the natural bite of the radicchio is delicious! So good in fact that this, along with the rest of my meal selections were a repeat of what I had last year!

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Now for the main course...Sea Bass. The most delicious piece of fish I have ever had in Vermont! The texture of the fish, a potato crust, spinach and THE SAUCE are so beautiful to the eye and FABULOUS to eat!!

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I wish I could make fish like this!!

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I didn't get a picture of dessert (too much to drink by then), but it was the most delicious combination...Basil Ice Cream with Strawberries and a Balsamic Reduction.

Freakin' f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c!!

Eat, drink and be merry...

cause the drinks are on them!

Our first Roast Beast

Of course I didn't think about photog'ing this dinner...

I was in too much of a hurry

(there is that expressive nature I guess).

It was a Monday night work week feat

of cooking us a delicious Roast Beast!

[dr. seuss how the grinch stole christmas...in case you didn't get it]

My husband shared that this was a 9 on his scale...

so I whipped out the camera and was able to get this shot.

Coffee, vanilla bean, salt-n-pepper rubbed beast (F&W inspired) with roasted maple carrots, rosemary garlic potatoes and brussel sprouts....YUM!

Thank You for Not Letting Our House Burn Down

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were enjoying a nice quiet Friday night at home...when there was a knock at the door. It was our awesome neighbor from across the street.
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[To truly understand his awesomeness, you have to know that he is also the same guy that courageously mounts a 4-wheeler plow all winter and clears our driveway...we like him very much!]
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With no snow yet, this visit meant something else entirely.

As I held our eager greeter dog back, he informed us that we might want to take a look at the tree out front.

Holy cow, you should have seen it!! The power lines touching the tree were causing fiery ash to dance all around that windy night!

We thanked our awesome neighbor and my husband called the power company. Eventually one truck showed up and sat out front. We received a call from the power company advising us to stay inside...reason - the situation out front was pretty bad. With a finger on speed dial to the fire department, my husband impatiently waited for something to be done.

Finally one of those large power company bucket trucks arrived. One brave man was lifted into the tree with a chainsaw and began cutting down the branches (which were now on fire). The fire had made its way into one of the large trunk parts of the tree. What a sight! There was literally a campfire coming from the center of our tree!!!

The chainsaw cut through section after section until they found the bottom of the fire pit. The men then explained that due to the amount of voltage running through the tree (and thus our lawn), we could have been electrocuted if we had walked up too close! Phew!!

The power company guys packed up and left the burning logs on our lawn?!?! What the heck?!?! The last thing they said before leaving was to haul out our garden hose and put the fire out...nice. I managed to grab our hose from the shed and do a lousy job of hooking it up. Then my fearless gimpy/one armed husband finished the job and saved the day!!

He doused the grounded campfire logs

and the few embers still in the tree.

If it was not for our awesome neighbor's help that night, who knows how this could have ended up?? We very well could have gone to bed only to be awaken with our house on fire!!

How do you thank someone for preventing your house from burning down? One thing I do know [from his help in the winter] is that he likes cookies....so I made him these really BIG ones.

Thank you awesome neighbor!

Happy Happenstance

What better way to end the long All American Weekend of Thanks[giving], than with a Korean Feast!


I make these dishes so often, it didn't occur to me until after that I should have documented the process for folks.



For this no brainer feast the auto-pilot was set and the post-turkey day [Saturday, Nov 28th] therapy began...

MENU

Korean Dumplings (Yakimondu) w/Sauce

Dumpling Soup

Rolled Eggs

Pork w/Red Leaf Lettuce

White Rice

Hot Bean Paste Sauce

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Cabbage Kimchis

Cucumber Kimichis

Sesame Spinach

My Kimchi Trays

The Mouthwatering Hot Bean Paste & Sesame Spinach

The final table spread!

Tabletop cooking, spicy mouthfuls, plenty of drinks...

and a game of Cranium!
food + drink + friends = happy happenstance

I'm a flaky expressive that LOVES the double dough whole wheat

Last week I was a warrior of the road...while on my quest to dig up some business I had the privilege of attending/sponsoring an educational meeting for an association of prospective clients.

It was not a motivational session, but rather a supposed inspirational course. The topic -

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Professional Renewal...

...Both In & Out of the Office

It was promoted to deliver information on "...how you can embark on “new beginnings” in your career, taking control of its direction and your contentment on the journey."

Did it work? Um, not sure yet, but it did have some impact.

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What I have managed to take away are the results from my rigorous personal nature evaluation...I'm a professionally diagnosed EXPRESSIVE:

Expressives get involved with people in active, rapidly changing situations. These people are seen as socially outgoing and friendly, imaginative and vigorous. Because people react to behaviors as a result of their own value biases, some see the expressive style as dynamic and energetic while others perceive the same behavior as egotistical. Expressives can get things going, but may sometimes settle for less than the best in order to get on to something else. They lack tolerance for details, are highly competitive, and may need to learn to work with others in a collaborative manner.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the description for the most part and would like to consider a good deal of it true...but when she referred to these folks on occasion as flaky, I was kind of insulted!!

She later went on to emphasize we are social butterflies, which is quite fitting for my profession. OK, so maybe she made up for the flaky accusation in the end.

Now on the road I do not always eat well,

but I do often make an effort to eat the best...

Not the Ritz, but it's got an ironing board that works great as a kitchen table!

Can you guess what I had for dinner??

Well let me tell you, I had an amazing pizza

all to my flaky expressive self!

This trip took me back to my college town, which meant it was an absolute necessity to 1) have a Shipyard Pumpkin Head on tap; 2) enjoy a delicious Pat's Pizza and 3) bring some fine Gritty's Christmas Ale across the boarder.

Chicken Portabello w/Pesto on a
Double Dough Whole Wheat

Pat's pizza is really good but what makes this particular combination so freakin' great is the crust!

The texture and flavor are superfabulous!








This beautiful pizza is a hybrid of two Pat's Menu options. My husband and I came up with the idea to combine on one of his many visits to see me during my college days...

I was sure to bring him home the leftovers :O)

Twas the day after Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving was over and with our pants a little snugger, we welcomed the holiday season with guilt and mutter...

This was our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife. We did what was expected and ran around to our various family dinners. As luck would have it, we managed to sneak away without too many leftovers and the typical task of trying to live off creative turkey menus for the next week.

If you're like us on Thanksgiving, you indulge. The dizzying options before you are too much to resist. On this faithful day after thanksgiving, I entered the grocery store with excitement, for I was going to attempt something lite and refreshing!

Mixing things up a bit I started with the protein options. Working my way down the meat cooler, I passed the butcher counter, until I found myself staring at the seafood.

I occasionally purchase shellfish, but rarely do I go the straight fish route. You can probably count on one hand the number of attempts I have with fish.

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Having such a delicate texture, my marinating, cooking methods and so forth have produced mostly crap. It doesn't taste good, nor does it look appetizing. Don't get me wrong, I do like fish...just not when I cook it. Feeling bold and confident I go for the Tilapia fillets that are on sale.

Finding no arugula in our produce section, I decide I want something crunchy so I grab everything I can think of...

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endive, fennel and jicama. Then add some limes, oranges, starfruit and cilantro to the basket.

We're good to go!

Jicama resembles a turnip and is described by the helpful Hannaford's sign as having a potato texture and pineapple banana flavor.

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The first and only time I have had jicama was on a family vacation a couple of years ago with my now in-laws to Amelia Island, Fl.

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The creation of a crunchy slaw using this then strange ingredient was created by my loved Seattle Cuz and Uncle (in-laws & fellow foodies!). It was crunchy and delicious!!

The tilapia is seasoned and left to marinate in lime and olive oil.

The jicama peeled...

and sliced...

The CRUNCHIES mixed.

Now for the final plates!

Yes, the whitish grilled pile is my fish. While the flavor was great, the cooking method proved too much....Fish 1, Little Ms. Homemaker 0!

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The salad was a beautiful sight! Colorful, citrusy, lite....and CRUNCHY! I'd likely make this again and do advise any readers to go bold and give it a try!!!

...suggestions for improvement are of course always welcome :O)

Overall a 6 on the Hubby's Food Scale.

Not to bad, we're making progress!!