Pizza Pizza!

Yes please!

Who doesn't like pizza?

Definitely no friend of mine.

What's not to like? It's a complete meal that you can eat with your hands...you can eat standing up...the perfect compliment to beer...and therefore the perfect compliment to any sports watching situation...and topping possibilities (and now crust possibilities) make pizza happiness possible for everyone!

Pizza for peace?

Possibly.

My pizza making career can be divided into two distinct eras: B.S. (before pizza stone) and A.S. (after pizza stone).

The B.S. phase was so-so. I got pretty creative with the toppings, which was the highlight of the whole thing. The downside was the crust. It never got crispy and blistery. Which is really my favorite part of the pizza. You can imagine my disappointment. Over and over again.

But my how one very heavy square stone has changed all that! I always thought that perhaps this supposed pizza stone that I read about on my food blogs would be the pizza magic maker. It made sense. Super hot stone = crispy crust. Room temp baking sheet = floppy crust. Now I know, that there are dissenters out there who say that you don't need said pizza stone to achieve pizza perfection. You can achieve the same results with a heated baking sheet. Blah, blah, blah.

To that, I have the following questions:

1. Can your cookie sheet evenly hold the high heat of the oven for even baking?

2. Can your cookie sheet pull away the moisture to make that crispy crust?

I didn't think so.

Just get the stone. It's amazing. Pizza changing. Serious stuff here.



This is the one I have from Williams-Sonoma. It's wonderful.



Zucchini and goat cheese pizza. And no, this is not homemade dough. I have been highly discouraged from yeast after previous cinnamon bun fiasco. Maybe next time.

But it hasn't all been cooking for me. Yesterday was (gulp) ear-piercing day. Third time's the charm. And I don't mean my third attempt at going. I mean, my third time getting them pierced. Yup. I let them close. Twice. For those of you that know me, you already know that I have a very low tolerance for needle pain...bordering on being allergic to it. So the thought of having to sit on display at Claire's was unsettling to say the least.

But it had to be done.



After a few "Just give me a minute", I finally got them re-pierced. I had a 12-year-old girl watching me. I had to be brave.

At least I got a lollipop. Green flavor.

After all that excitement I needed to do something soothing. So I made a batch of pineapple scones. First things first. They're terribly unattractive. I had problems forming the dough into little triangles because it was so darn sticky! So I over-handled it, and still didn't get my little triangles. Go figure. But they are quite yummy, light and fluffy. A success, in my opinion.