Pizza Start to 2010

First thing we did when we got back to Halifax was, naturally to visit the grandkids and their parents. That's Boaz and Mummy taking a picture of Grandma taking a picture.
And that's Dov, taking a break from his peanut butter to give us a big smile.

Naturally, after a little while catching up, the conversation turned to food and Joanna brought out a new cookbook she knew I'd love....James McNair's New Pizza: Foolproof Techniques and Fabulous Recipes and just as naturally, the two of us huddled over the book while we oohed and aahed over tasty looking treats.

A little background....Joanna tries very hard to keep their home kosher-style. And by that I mean not mixing dairy and meat and not cooking with pork or seafood. All of which she loves, just not at home. So when we saw a glorious looking Caramelized Onion and Sausage Pizza, I suggested dinner at our place, which went something like this....

The easy part....preparing the unbelievable, incredibly easy, oh-so-tasty California style Pizza dough the day before, which just required a couple of punch downs in the fridge and letting it rest for about an hour before creating the actual pizzas.

Same goes for the Seasoned Tomato Pulp, required for Bo & Dov's Marinara Pizza.

I even found time earlier in the day to make the onion & sausage topping as well as get the ingredients lined up for a pastry baked Brie with pecans and some of the orange rhubarb chutney I got at The Shipwright Cafe in PEI this past September. It was supposed to be an appetizer. And since we also invited Ezra's parent, I defrosted some shrimp and arrange more ingredients for the excellent recipe for a shrimp pasta dish from another new book I want to review.

That was the quiet, so-good-to-get-back-to-my-kitchen-after-a-week-away part of my day. And then joyous chaos. Around 5 pm, Jo, Ezra and the boys arrived. The little one only wanted his Poppa and Boaz, needed Grandma to do all sorts of things, none of which included being in the kitchen. Even though the weather turned stormy and Ezra's parents begged a rain check, Joanna, always craving seafood, suggested that we still make the pasta (I will share that recipe in the next day or two) and skip the baked brie.

In the end, it was Joanna making the pasta and Ezra preparing the pizza and lucky grandparents just getting tons of loving from delicious little ones. What a great way to start 2010. I do hope your beginning was as joyous and that the rest of the year looks as promising.