Pizza and a Movie

On Saturday night I was determined to make my own pizza with a pizza stone.  It was a little harder than I expected, but it was sure fun!  I have always wanted to make my own pizza on a pizza stone to make it taste like true wood fired pizza with the bubbly crust.  Nothing really is the same as pizza in Italy, but there are a few places here that come close.  Sometimes though, I would like to have my pizza in the comfort of my own home and have whatever toppings I want.  

This was my first time with my pizza stone, and I definitely need more practice with it, but below I have listed some of my dos and don'ts of pizza making on a pizza stone!  

Also, after racing through The Firm (book version) because I loved it so much and couldn't put it down, I was SO excited to rent the movie on our AppleTV and watch the book in action.  What a disappointment.  John Grisham is a best selling author for a reason and they totally hacked his work!  Switched around the story lines in detrimental ways.  Serves them right for getting such terrible reviews and ratings.  Seriously, I wish I could erase the whole thing from my mind because it was such a disappointment.  If you haven't read the book, you really should.  The movie was so awful.  

Ugh...thank goodness I had my pizza!!

My Toppings: Tomato Sauce, Mushrooms, Artichoke Hearts, Turkey Meatballs, Black Olives, Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Sliced Onion, Pineapple, Shredded Mozzarella and Fresh Herbs from my patio garden.  Obviously you can use whatever you want.  Yes, I put all that stuff on, I like it that way!

First order of business.  Put your pizza stone into your oven when your oven is COLD.  Then heat your oven to 450 degrees.  Leave it alone and start dealing with the dough.

It is important to have a pizza peel or something like it to make sliding the pizza dough onto the stone as easy as possible.  Make sure to sprinkle some flour and cornmeal on the pizza peel first before you put the dough on top.  Otherwise it will be so sticky and heavy you will never get it off.  Brush the crust with a little olive oil so it gets nice and browned. 

After you stretch or roll out the dough onto the peel, put all your toppings on.  It is vital that you spread out your toppings, sauce and cheese evenly.  Try to not to put too much in the middle of the pizza because it will make the center too heavy and soggy when baking.  

Remove the Pizza Stone from the oven using gloves for HIGH temperatures only.  Sprinkle some cornmeal onto the stone and gently slide the pizza from your peel to the stone.  

Put your stone back into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly!

Things I learned:

-Remember to put the pizza stone in a COLD oven

-Buy fine ground cornmeal

-Do not listen to a guy in the elevator about how good Trader Joe's pizza dough is.  I bought the wheat kind and didn't love it.  Next time I will make it myself or get some from a pizza place.  

-That I am not a professional pizza tosser and next time I should use a rolling pin to get the 

dough to the thickness I prefer.  

-My husband standing over me directing is not helpful.  

Especially when he doesn't know anything about pizza making.

-Making pizza is harder than I thought.

Hope this inspires you to try this out!  It really was a lot of fun, even though at times I was a bit frustrated because I wanted it to be perfect.  I will have to practice more and I am sure I will eventually get the perfect results.  My pizza was still excellent and I am very proud that I didn't burn myself.  That pizza stone gets extremely hot so be careful!!

If you have made pizza on a stone, leave me some tips!  I am going to try again soon!

Another Year...

I can't believe it is March already again, time just flies by! My birthday was this past week and I am so blessed to have such good friends and family around to celebrate with! My parents went over-the-top and hosted a fun birthday party for me with some of my close friends from college. Things have changed so much from when we were at Pepperdine and just a short walk down the hall to someone's dorm or apartment and when classes were all the responsibilities we had. It is much harder to get together with friends as often as we used to see each other.

This year I feel so fortunate to have been able to have dinner with everyone, regardless of my birthday. Some of my friends weren't able to make it and I missed them, but we will get soon hopefully! Along with great company, my parents hired a chef from a local restaurant to make a gourmet dinner for us complete with my favorite food: PIZZA!

Caprese Salad with Portabello Mushrooms

Penne Arrabiata

Had the best time! Even got a tin full of my favorite Taco Bell Hot Sauce Packets! Love it!

Beautiful Carrot Cake my sis made me! Thank you everyone for making my birthday so special, I will cherish these memories. This is just a small sampling of pictures, I tried to keep them food related, but we sure did have lots of fun!

Restaurant Review: Sibilla

Shopping is a big part of any vacation for me; naturally we went to Miami's famous walking street Lincoln Road. It was just like a Floridian 3rd Street Promenade. There were tons of out-door restaurants, boutiques and strange people. We set out at 10am for a day filled with walking, sight seeing, shopping and eating. The sun was out and it was a perfect day for what we had planned. As we were walking along the promenade we spotted Sibilla and decided to make it back around the same way around lunch time to try it.

Greek Salad

Tagliatelle Bolognese

Margarita Pizza (my favorite!!) The crust was thin and perfect!

This place was really good and I was happy the pizza was up to my standards. I never want to waste the calories if it isn't great. I ate the whole thing, so that speaks volumes!

Restaurant Review: Pizzeria Ortica

Just in case anyone was wondering what my favorite food is...it is PIZZA! Not just any kind of Pizza. Pizza like in the picture below! I do not like thick, doughy pizza with too many things, too much cheese and no taste. I love Pizzeria Ortica's beautiful, bright sauce, the fresh cheese and the basil. The pizza part is really thin and the crust is a little thicker giving you something both to hold onto easily and to nibble on after eating the good part!

I really can't say enough good things about this place, but I will tell you that you must try the "Budino de Cioccolato". It is a semi-sweet chocolate homemade pudding with a salted caramel pudding layered on top and a dollop of whipped cream at the top of all of it. It is heavenly! It is something about all three different flavors melting in your mouth.

Last night my sister and I went here for dinner before going to see "Hair" at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Unfortunately, we had to run out to make it to our seats in time and I didn't get to have dessert. Sad!

I am always impressed with the quality of the shows at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. I think it is because it is so convenient and easy to walk to from South Coast Plaza or neighboring restaurants. It just makes for a fun, relaxing thing to do right here in Orange County!

Last night we saw "Hair" and I have to mention that this is the 3rd Theater Production my mom has taken my sister to with Full Frontal Nudity in it. It is so hilarious!
I will never understand how these actors get up and take off all their clothes in front of so many people, but to each their own I guess.


The costumes were really cool and looked like they were authentic from the 60s. The music is what I really loved. The orchestra was amazing and the best part is the whole orchestra was sitting in special places within the set. Usually you can just hear them, but we could actually see them! If you get a chance you should look up tickets for this theater, it is small, but they get some great productions off Broadway.

Perfect Weekend!

Sunday night we went up to Santa Monica in search of the perfect place to have Karen's Bridal Shower. My mom joined us and we had such fun time looking at all the hotels up there and having lunch! I wish I would have taken photos, but I forgot as I was starving!

On our way home we spent the rest of the day with our friends Scott and Kathryn in Marina del Rey. I am so happy that we have been making plans with them more frequently because I love hanging out with them! We went for drinks at this place overlooking the harbor and the sunset was just exquisite. This photo below really doesn't do it justice, but I tried.

What a perfect end to a great weekend! We ended the night watching the Golden Globes and getting take-out. I normally despise take-out, but since I was with two of my favorite people I didn't care! We had pizza...which is my favorite food and the only acceptable thing to get from take-out. All was good! Especially the company!

I just hate eating things out of plastic containers, nothing is ever the same as when you get it in the restaurant, and you miss the whole experience of eating in a restaurant! The whole idea of it just bothers me, it takes just as much time to order food and go pick it up as it does to make a nice healthy meal that you see exactly what is going into your food!