Pizza Party

One of our buds, Mark, put out an APB last week: A "fix your own pizza" party at his place Saturday night. Oh boy! I used to have pizza parties for Brian and his friends. Get some Boboli crusts, some Pizza Quick sauce, pepperoni, and a bag of cheese. Sounds like fun to me!

Yeah. Well.



As you can see, this was clearly no lame-o "Boboli" Party.

There was real live pizza dough rising on the counter when we got there. A large pan full of roasted tomatoes—from Mark's garden. Homemade tomato sauce simmering on the stove. Fresh homemade pesto. And fresh mozzarella.

And there was sausage, and fresh basil, and olive oil. And there was a rolling pin, and a baking stone, and a paddle, and canister of corn meal, which Mark referred to as "ball bearings."

We pulled up chairs and let Mark take the lead on the first couple of pizzas.

There's Mark's hands, fixing up a crust.

Pesto, artichokes, and mozzarella on this one.

Boo-ya! The pizza came off of the paddle!

Tina adds more ball bearings for the next pizza up.

So, these crazy-delicious pizzas on crispy crusts would come out of the oven, and we'd devour them almost before the next one was popped in for baking. During the interim, we talked and cut up, while we sipped a few [million] Blue Moon's. It was simply lovely. Hanging out and cooking with friends is one of my favorite things to do. Especially when the friends are doing most of the work!

Ah, but I gave in, before night's end, and gave it a shot. I was determined to toss my crust, but I wasn't so good at it. I eventually gave in to the almighty rolling pin.

Mike dishes it up.

Marcy and Atef mugging for the camera.

Or rather, Atef mugging Marcy for the camera.

Look! Mark has central vac! Alanis saves the day!

Atef & Mark (mozzarella) cheesing it up for the camera.

Now get this. Not only were all of the pizzas handmade and all of the ingredients homemade, but Tina brought the dessert.

Not a dessert, like a box dessert like WE might have brought, if we'd brought anything, which we didn't, because we suck. Well we did bring ice, but it wasn't even homemade ice. Yes. We were too lazy to even make ice. I iterate: we suck.

Anyway, Tina's dessert was a rich, beautiful chocolate torte. That she made herself. From scratch.

She also brought along 2 tubs of homemade whipped cream, a bowl of fresh raspberry sauce, and a tub of homemade strawberry ice cream.

To quote another blogger that I read, "Shut Up! I Know!"

Tina's chocolate torte.

Strawberry ice cream. Homemade Strawberry ice cream.

I know you're all lining up to become my friend now, just so you can get to Mark and Tina through me, and score an invitation to any parties in which one or the other of them might be cooking.

Go ahead. E-mail me.

I'll put you on the waiting list.