Friday, March 30, 2018

Pizza Pizza Pizza

A lot of my readers know I have been in career transition recently and what better way to "anchor" oneself than immersing  to a glimpse of the lives of 10 year old 4th graders and teaching them how to make amazing pizza from scratch! That's exactly what I did last Friday afternoon when I closed out my relationship with an amazing company  that I had enjoyed on and off since 2003!  10 year old boys are very "real" and raw with their emotions, they gave me a feeling of what it is like to be free of stereotypical responses and they made amazing pizza!

Recipe to make this thin crust pizza is incredibly easy and part of the workshop was having one of the boys with good handwriting to transcribe it... missing is the last part which is to let the pizza dough rest min 30 minutes ( best overnight in fridge for max flavour!) then when ready to cook, preheat oven to 450F, roll out dough thinly and place on pizza stone or pizza tray with holes that you have dusted with semolina flour( this allows even cooking and the dough won't stick ) The end result is amazing provided you use best quality ingredients for the toppings, meaning fresh mozzarella, basil, parmesan and other toppings of choice~ Buon Appetito!











Wednesday, March 28, 2018

St. Patricks Day Feast!

Having lived in the United States for over 15 years!! and having never really property celebrated the national Holiday of St. Patrick, this was finally the year to do it!  What better way than hosting an "Irish breakfast" - the "full Irish" as we call it back home with real Irish sausage, rashers, beans, grilled tomatoes, smoked salmon, soda bread and buttermilk scones, all accompanied with lashings of Irish music, a roaring fire and lots of friends!! Recipe for success right? Yes indeed, this was the best Irish feast and now we will make it an annual tradition. Everyone asked how is St. Patrick's celebrated at home and I had to tell them that during my days of growing up, the highlight of the day was attending mass at 8 AM, watching who wore the best sprig of shamrock that had been picked from the field that morning with fresh dew on it, and of course the break from the Lenten fast, which meant we could eat sweets that day, ah the joys of a time where everything was simpler, slower, more traditional and meaningful. Those days are sadly gone and probably don't really exist anymore in my homeland, but having and passing those sweet memories to my family and friends here in the USA somehow preserves them in time.