Friday Flashback

Today's Friday Flashback pictures are from June 2006.  We left the kids with our parents and flew out to Italy!  I have such fond memories of that trip!  It was awesome!  We were there for 2 weeks and got to see so much.  Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Rome, Venice, and Vicenza.  We also got to stay with good friends while they were stationed there. 

The Colosseum in Rome

 Trevi Fountain, Rome
We threw our pennies in the fountain because that is what they say will make sure you come back to Rome.  I do hope to go again some day!

MOCA

I got to go with Brenalee's class on their field trip to The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) downtown.  This was my first field trip with Brena's class.  It was fun to sit with her on the bus.  She is such a chatter box and it's always a delight to hear what comes out of her little mouth (most the time!).

 They first learned about doing self portraits.  They each had their own mirrors so they could look at themselves while they drew their portrait.  The did half their face as a realistic portrait, then the other half as an abstract...Brena's looked all abstract!

 They had a really fun loft for the kids to play in with all kinds of different art projects.  It was a really neat place!

Porch

 We have been wanting to get our patio screened in since we moved in.  We finally did it!  I can't wait to get my patio furniture and eat outside with no bugs bugging me and eating me while I eat!  We had a dog door installed, but Cesar being the big baby he is, is scared to death of it.  Hopefully he figures it out soon!

Pressure canning

I have been wanting a pressure caner/cooker forever!  I remember about 5 years ago looking into one and just not wanting to spend the money.  So, I started searching craigslist almost monthly and have never found a thing.  Well, for my birthday this year (which hasn't happened yet) TJ  I bought me a caner!!  It's an All American 21.5 quart pressure caner cooker.  All of my friends down here in FL, can meat.  I wanted to get in on that action too!  Friday night we went to our friends house and they helped me can my first batch of boneless, skinless, chicken breast.  It was awesome!!!!!  I now have 14 quarts of canned chicken ready to eat.  I started with a 40lb box of chicken and only had a couple of breasts left.  Yes, we buy 40lbs of chicken at a time!  I had just been freezing it, but of course have started to run out of room in my freezer.  We get our boxes from a restaurant supply company and we pay $52 for 40lbs - so about $1.30/lb.

 Putting the first jars in the caner!  I was a little nervous the first time - it makes some noise and I kept imagining the lid blowing off and blowing the kitchen up - but everything went perfectly!

My beautiful canned chicken :)  Yes, it does look like canned brain like TJ says.  It tastes great though!

Friday Flashback

These pictures were taken in October, 2004.  My mom's family - the Whiting family - has what we call "the ranch."  My grandparents and my grandpa's brothers lived out on the ranch, as did other family members.  They even have the road they live on named after them - Whiting Road.  Anyways - we went there a lot growing up.  Things have changed now, there is only one brother left, my grandma doesn't live there, and things are just not the same.  It makes me so sad because I have such fond memories of that place while I was growing up.  All the family dinners, dinners at the barn, dinners at aunt's and uncle's houses, playing in the creek, lots of play time with cousins, swimming in the summer, etc.  For a couple of years when I was an adult, there was a corn maze out at the ranch.  I got to take Tyler there one year.  I love these pictures.  I love the fall feel to them, the mountains in the background, I love everything about these photos.  Now I'm going to go cry...

Pizza

It's a new pizza night around here!  I haven't gotten around to posting this and really wanted to share this.  

Building our pies 

The pizza man who always slides the pizza into the oven perfectly!

The yummy, oh so yummy goodness of almost-brick oven pizza.  Baked at 500° for 7 minutes.  And, yes, the pizza peels and stone are a must!

This is probably our favorite - bbq chicken



We really, really like pizza at our house.  I have been making pizza since I was old enough to cook.  In fact, here is a previous entry on pizza and a journal entry from high school on making pizza:

http://melissasmaniacalmortality.blogspot.com/2008/09/friday-night-tradition.html

I have been making the pizza in the above entry for 20+ years and eating it longer than that.  I got a new neighbor last year and was excited she had pizza nights too.  So, I invited her over for pizza night.  Then she invited the kids and I over for pizza night (this was when TJ was still deployed, so he wasn't invited).  Holy smokes, I was BLOWN away by her pizza!  I was embarrassed to have fed her my pizza the week before.  Her pizza wasn't just better than mine - it made mine taste like some kind of gas station-grab-a-slice and go pizza!  Seriously.  Once again I am reminded of how grateful I am for the new places we go and all the great new people we get to meet.  Not only do I gain lots of new friends who are like family because of all we go through, but I get some really great recipes too!!  So, Beth - thanks for enlightening me on the joys of how to really make pizza ;)

Pizza dough:

Mix 1TBS instant yeast, 1 cup hot water, 1 tsp honey - let stand for 10 minutes

Mix in 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. olive oil, and a pinch of salt.

Knead for about 10 minutes

Lightly oil a bowl and place dough in bowl.  Cover and let rise for 1 - 1.5 hours

The other essential to this pizza is heating your pizza stone in your oven for 1 hour at 500° prior to baking your pizzas.  I roll my dough out on my counter, then place it on the pizza peel that has been covered with cornmeal.  Then when it is on the peel, I place the toppings on it.  Then slide it in the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes. 

Our favorite pizza - the BBQ chicken pizza:

Spread bbq sauce on dough, top with cooked chicken that has been sitting in bbq sauce for about an hour, top with a sliced jalapeno, red onions, some crumbled blue cheese and mozzarella.  We love this one - it's our very favorite!  The blue cheese really makes the pizza and cools down that jalapeno.

One of our other favorite pizzas is the mushroom truffle pizza.  Sautee shitake mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil and truffle oil.  Use garlic infused olive oil as the sauce on your dough, place sauteed mushrooms on that, place some mozzarella cheese on top and drizzle with more truffle oil.  OH MY!  I could give you a lesson on truffle oil - but don't want to type it all out.  Just google truffle oil - or truffle mushrooms.  It's interesting.  And, please make sure if you do buy truffle oil that it is infused - not an essence!  Essence is cheaper because it's not the real stuff - and doesn't taste near as good.

Friday Flashback

Today is my middle sister's birthday - Kimberley.  So, I thought it only fitting that the Friday flashback be of her!  I can't remember if I've posted this picture before.  But, in any case it's of Kim and I.  I think we are about 4 & 2.  We are both in our Sunday dresses our mom made for us.  If you've read my blog at all you know how much my sisters mean to me.  I hate that we don't live closer to hang out and have our kids hang out.  I miss my sisters so much.  So, happy birthday Kim!  Hope it's a great one - luv ya!!