Dinner last night... Impromptue Pizza Party!!!

Yesterday was one of those busy days... From the moment I awakened at 5am to walk the dog... It seemed the more I did... the more that needed to be done... but then again... I think we have all had days like that...

I've made homemade focaccia bread... ( the fancy style pizza bread with out tomato sauce...) as well as many other types of bread... not even to mention pizza. In my readings I have heard about these "pizza stones" on which you can cook your different breads as well as pizzas and calzones. I've heard about how wonderful the crusts become...and that they make all of the difference in the world when it comes to the texture of the crust.

Well... yesterday I decided inspite of all of my errands I would go and price these "pizza stones" at a local houseware store...To my dismay... they cost almost $30-$35 for an 18-inch round stone. I went home and did some more reading to find that you could buy quarry tile...and line your oven. So I looked up a local tile company and found myself buying 6x6 inch, UNGLAZED Terra Cotta tiles that were at least 1/2" thick ( the books said any thinner they might crack since the oven is usually very hot when making pizza etc...) They only cost $1.50 a piece... and I only needed 9 to tile my oven!!! --- they also state that if you try to do this you should leave about an inch of space on all 4 sides to allow the hot air to circulate inside the oven.

Of course I now had visions of I Love LUCY... and here pizza making episode...In any case...I made homemade dough and pizza sauce from "The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook" and invited friends over for a pizza party!!! I made sure that we had many toppings to choose from... (basically anything leftover in the fridge works great!!! and then anything else left over can easily be used today for omlettes.)

The favorites among my friends were the marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes with garlic, steamed al-dente asperagus... smoked sliced ham... provolone cheese.. fresh basil... and pitted black olives...-----although I had many more toppings... ( button as well as portobella mushrooms, sauteed onions, sauteed peppers, smoked turkey, BBQ chicken, fresh rosemary, pepperoni, ) those seemed to be the winners... and the pizza ??? well.. the new oven tiles work wonders... I can't believe I didn't try this sooner...Now my friends are upset with me... 'cause now they say they will never be able to order pizza at a pizza shop ever again!!! Now isn't that one of the best compliments one can receive!!!

I hope ya'll are doing well especially now that Georges is now behind us... HAPPY cooking today...