Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Cooking Club--pizza
















 




 
Pizza!  Pizza Pie!

Welcome to my Cooking  Club Post!

It happened to be Pizza night ( 3 years ago--oh my!)  because Paul got a brand new pizza oven.  One that goes right on top of his Webber Grill.

                                           

It was a small group of Cooking Clubbers, but some very serious ones.
See how all the guys are making sure Paul is using his pizza oven correctly?





All kidding aside, it was a fun evening of reminiscing and visiting.
I've always thought that having people over to dinner and breaking bread together (we always have bread!  This time in the form of pizza crust) is kind of sacred in it's way. Connecting with friends over food is one of the greatest joys in life.
This past year has been a crazy one for getting together---
---Pizza Night was 3 years ago. 
---and then we had 6 more Cooking Clubs. (I will post soon, I promise)
--Covid hit and we met no more.
--until November 2020
--where Sally said  "I'll never more take for granted the pleasure of small talk with friends over a good meal"

So, when I say that we had a fun evening of visiting, that is nothing to scoff at or take for granted.
Friends and food are important!
Just this afternoon a text was going around, trying to find time to get together for another cooking club get-together.  It's hard to do.
Half of this group is retired now and as April pointed out  
Retired People tend to run a muck!!
They really do!  and it makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Pizza is important too!
See some of our homemade pizza's below.






This one was made in the oven--not the pizza oven.  I can't remember why exactly.  It's been three years!  LOL.  


This was my appetizer pizza. 
The veggie bars with the crescent roll crust?  I just made it into a pizza shape.


The only photo of our dessert brownie pizza slices!  Almost covered with ice-cream.
And a good carrot cookie.
Made with love by April.


Let's go back to the beginning for a minute--
Before their guests (all of us) arrived, Sally and Paul were busy with this:




And once we got there--- they did this:



Paul is going to give it his best shot!








Ta Dah!!

Before we ate, we enjoyed a cocktail on the deck--then it got too cold to eat outside so we ventured inside.
Where Debbie quickly put the finishing touches on her grilled romaine salad.



Where we ate and reminisced about old pizza parlors and then had to tell our spouses favorite pizza and see if we got it correct.
Spoiler alert!
We all did.   We know our partners well.

We all remembered having "homemade" pizza like this when we were growing up in the 60's and 70's.
It all came out of a box!  We were lucky if our mom's could find some sliced pepperoni to put on top.

So...table talk was remembering Shakey's Pizza Parlor. All of us had memories of it --the dark  parlor with a fireplace and long tables.  They  had big windows where you could watch the pizza makers putting everything together and then slide it into that oven.  It was so cool!
We all loved Shakey's.
Those of us from the Pacific Northwest all knew and loved Pizza Pete Pizza. And Godfather's Pizza was another one we all remembered. 
Now those were good pizzas!





Everyone's favorite pizza?
Our spouses guessed right!


Paul--anchovies
Sally- bee sting   prosciutto  jalapenos and honey

Charlie -- Canadian bacon and pineapple and pepperoni  (he's indecisive his wife says--but he agreed)
Deb E -- Canadian bacon and pineapple

Rich--pepperoni  black olives and mushrooms
me/Debbie-- chicken Thai pizza

Doug -- pepperoni and extra cheese
April --pepperoni and extra cheese

I always find it interesting when couples like the exact same thing.  Rich and I NEVER do. Never ever.

Later table talk started being about foods we would or wouldn't eat (it IS a food themed club after all). Who would eat snails?  Or worms?  Or insects?
Well guess what?  Sally served us a cocktail that was very good!  Very good.
Very . Good.



This liquor was colored by an insect up until 2006!  LOL
We all got a good laugh over that.




Campari is an alcoholic liqueur, considered an apéritif (20.5%, 21%, 24%, 25%, or 28.5% ABV, depending on the country in which it is sold), obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit (including chinotto and cascarilla) in alcohol and water. It is a bitters, characterised by its dark red colour.
Campari is often used in cocktails and is commonly served with soda water or citrus juice, or with prosecco as a spritz. It is produced by the Alfredo Campari Group, a multi-national company based in Italy.

History


It was the best Cooking Club ever!
(except for our missing friends)
It was a great evening with the best friends ever!


And these cooking club meals were all good too... just click on the link to see.




Cooking Club #2- Cajun Cooking

Cooking Club #3 - Let's all go to Hawaii


Cooking Club #5 - Famous Chefs  (long post with other stuff mixed in, but just trust me)

Cooking Club #6 -Meatball Madness -- or something round  (long post combined with Famous Chef's.  Scroll thru some stuff to get there)

Cooking Club #7 - Breakfast for dinner

Cooking Club #8 - Slow Cooking

Cooking Club #9 - Mexican Street Food



Cooking Club #12 - It's all Greek to Me!

Cooking Club #13 - A Root Beer Tasting Holiday

Cooking Club #14 - Thai Food

Coming Soon -- Pacific Northwest Region
Cooking Club Scavenger Hunt
Milk Street Mania
9x13 cooking
Jewish Deli Night
Italian Dinner



Happy Eating Everybody!

See you next time.


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