It's Been too Long!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!  I know I'm a bit late with the sentiments, but that doesn't mean they are any less heartfelt.  We were in Chicago for two weeks for a beautiful white Christmas (I shoveled snow in sub-zero temperatures) and then up in Orange County for about a week for the New Year (for the first time since I was a little kid I was good and asleep at midnight.)  The most I did in the kitchen during those three weeks was toast some walnuts for something my mom was making.  But now I'm back in my own kitchen with two new cookbooks in hand (and a few new gadgets) so the new material is coming!

For Christmas I received the pizza stone and wooden peel that I had requested and I couldn't wait to get them home and try them out.  Here's the sleepy eyed Christmas morning picture of me opening it.  (Thanks TKO!)

Upon our return, Thai Veggie Pizza was among the first things on the menu.  Brett carefully read the directions for the stone and I made the dough.  Regular readers will find it no surprise that Brett wielded the pizza peel.  I can just imagine what a horrible doughy mess would be in the bottom of our oven if I had done it.  We covered both the stone and the peel with cornmeal to prevent sticking.

 We also made the executive decision to not try and take the pizza out of the oven with the peel.  We just removed the whole stone.  I did goof around with the peel once the pizza and stone were safely out of the oven and it is pretty clear that I would have shoved the whole thing off onto the rack.

As advertised, the crust was light and crisp and pretty darn delicious.