Two, 2....Two posts in one.

This is two posts in one--two challenges in one. Please bear with me.
The first part of this post is for the Power of Pink Challenge with the Bean Town Baker, but if you read all the way to the end, you'll see my "Food and Flix" post.
It's all about the Pizza.....Mystic Pizza.



At one time I had a book blog in addition to this blog (which used to be exclusively a food blog, but now I've combined both, in an effort to make life easier for myself.)


Here is an excerpt from my book blog, a post I did 2 years ago, almost to the day.
It is a true story....please read it, I'll explain everything at the end. There is a reason for me writing about breasts.... (October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, remember?)
Read on.....


from October 30th, 2008


Last night, after I got home from Book Club....(where we discussed the book, Tangerine--a great Junior Highish age novel ) I wandered into the family room where my husband Rich was watching TV. We visited for a moment, I am always very excited when I get home from a book club and I need to talk, and then..... (some of you might want to quit reading now---gets a bit x-rated from here on out).... I took my bra off.


Yes, it's true. I just slipped it off under my shirt and laid it on the chair... my intention was to pick it up when we went upstairs to go to bed. It was uncomfortable!!!


The girls needed to be freed. Ahhh....sweet relief!
It's a sad fact of life, but for a large breasted woman in her late 40's, the taking off the bra moment is the best moment of the day! (sigh)


I picked up my book and sat down to read for a bit.... I got sleepy. Rich got sleepy... he began to turn off lights, I followed him up the stairs...off to bed.
but, we had left behind one important piece of evidence behind....THE BRA!!!


Had it slipped my mind that my 25 year old son is now living with us again? Had it slipped my mind that he was not home and would soon be arriving?


His M.O. is to grab a snack and watch a movie or the news or something.... in the very same room where said bra was left.


I have no idea what horror he might have gone thru at the sight of that... b...r...a... just lying there over the arm of the chair. (sigh)


My mind cannot go there....poor child.


Even if he tried to go on with his life.....his routine of turning on the TV, eating a snack..... his eyes must have been drawn to the grotesque sight again and again, like one is drawn to a car accident. With every flash of light from the TV screen in the darkened room, it must have jumped out like a hideous phantom, like the boogy man in a house of horrors. (I can hear horror music soundtracks in the back of my mind).


Hopefully, when he finally went upstairs to take his slumber (and there is no doubt in my mind he went up earlier than usual), he was not bothered by nightmares.


The house was dark this morning as I walked down the stairs.. As I do every morning, I grabbed my book and headed to the coffee pot. I made the brew and then walked slowly out into the family room, turned on the light by the side of my chair and YIKES, YIKES, YIKES!!! There it was---evidence of parents who are gross and disgusting! I grabbed it and ran up the stairs, into the bathroom where Rich was in the shower and began screaming (In a stage whisper), "OMG!!! I forgot my bra!! It was just lying there on the arm of the chair, for the world to see!"


He said "so?"


I said, "Your son!! Dustin was down there!"


He said, "Well Dustin is 25 years old, I can pretty much guarantee you, he's seen a bra before."


I said, "Not his MOTHER'S! Just lying around in the living room, like we'd been.... you know."


He said, "no. I don't know."  (he says pointedly, as if we never "you know" anymore)


I listed all the things I think Dustin might be going thru....disgust, annoyance, horror, fright repulsion, etc.


Rich, as supportive (ahhahaah--a pun. Bra? Supportive?) as he usually is, just laughed at me.


Kind of like the clown in a horror movie..... laugh clown, laugh!! Laugh Rich laugh!


I guess this horror I must have put my son thru is appropriate...after all....tomorrow is... HALLOWEEN!!!
**********************************************


Back to the present. Tomorrow is Halloween again--2 years later. My son, who is now 27, has moved back to Virginia, and so my husband and I are alone once again.    And last night I left my bra on the floor by the chair in the TV room...again.  I can't help it!  (It just feels so nice to get out of that thing)  At least this time, I needn't fear anyone coming home to see it.


I am lucky to have both breasts and be able to write a funny story about them. Some women are not that lucky, and who knows what the future holds in store for me?  For you?  For our mothers?  Our daughters?  Our friends?
So in an effort to bring awareness to bringing about a cure for breast cancer, I am joining up with "Bean Town Baker"  and her Power of Pink Challenge.    October  happens to be  (both in the United States and Canada) Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I have made a fruit pizza....and made it PINK!

I used to give my mom such a bad time....she doesn't remember the 60's!  And it's not because she was a wild flower child, experimenting with all kinds of things.  It's because she was busy raising her family.  And the things she doesn't remember are music and movies.  I love the music of the 1960's,   and I was just a child, so I always think it funny that my mom can't remember popular music of the day.
Well....for The Food and Flix challenge, the movie of the month was "Mystic Pizza" and it was  tagged (on the back of the Netflix envelope) as

quirky linchpin of 80's  cinema.    I won't lie...I had to lookup linchpin.  It was the Top Dog, the Key Player of  1980's cinema!

And I missed it!  In the 1980's,  I was busy raising my family.   Sorry I made so much fun of you mom.

I even had an situation this spring, where my son and his wife went to Mystic, CT in May, and sent me a text saying  "We're having Pizza at Mystic Pizza."

And I thought,  "oh...is this some Sci-Fi thing?"

But, now...now...it is all coming together.  The movie 'Mystic Pizza'  was a great little movie.  I'm glad I watched it. (even tho I fought with the DVD which I had rented from Netflix. It had scratches on it, but only towards the end, so I struggled thru the last 10 minutes, but I made it).

I loved the  "friendship that is changing" aspect of the moive.... because that's kind of how life is, especially in our younger, highschool friendships.  We all struggle as we leave our familiar lives and grow into adulthood.

I loved the small town of Mystic....or at least how it was depicted; the sea, the fishing boats, the ethniticy of the fishermen, and it took place in autumn, my favorite season.  And those girls had boobies (that's my connection back to the breast cancer awareness post) as was made evident by their "slice of heaven" T-shirts, showing them off!

And I can't forget to mention seeing  a younger 'Berta' (from Two and a half Men) and a younger Matt Damon.

I chose the fruit pizza for two reasons,  one for the Food and Flix challenge of doing a pizza inspired food, and two, because I thought it would be easy to make it pink for the Power of Pink Challenge.  

Fruit Pizza

Crust:

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Filling:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

8 oz cream cheese

Glaze:

1 cup fruit juice

2 T. cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

For the crust, mix the butter, flour and powdered sugar together.  Pat in a 9x13 pan or a pizza pan.  Bake in a 325 F oven for 25 minutes, or untildone. After crust has cooled, spread teh cream cheese filling on the crust. Arrange desired fruit on the mixture.  Have your glazed cooked for two minutes or until clear.  Cool and drizzle over the fruit.

**I didn't use the glaze, but drizzled chocolate over it before I served it.

I also doubled the recipe for a larger pizza pan. And added some red food coloring to make a pink filling. You need not do this. you can also put any kind of fruit you want to. I've also seen a crust that is made with store-bought sugar cookie dough. That would be good also.