Celebrate, Food

Pizza Palooza

34 Comments

On Wednesday, when the temperature was in the mid-90s but because of the humidity it felt like 100°, this family of pizza hounds went to Cushnoc Brewing Co. for a pizza palooza to celebrate our birthdays. Normally when we go out for pizza, we use a reasonable amount of restraint. We share a large pizza, and while Clif might get a beer, Dee and I usually get iced tea.

However, this was a birthday celebration for the three of us, so we pulled all the stops.

We started with spicy nuts,

and we all had special drinks.

Here’s a closer look at mine, a humdinger of a bloody Mary.

Then came the pizzas. We each ordered our own, and they were all beautifully baked.

Naturally, there were leftovers and lots of them. (Truth be told, I was pretty full after the drink and nuts.) Did we come prepared? You bet we did. Not only did we bring a cooler with two ice packs, but following the example of our friends Alice and Joel, we also brought containers from home for the leftover pizza.

After the pizza it was off to the movies, a perfect air-conditioned way to spend a very hot afternoon. We saw Alpha, a beautiful, soulful imagining of how wolves and humans bonded 20,000 years ago in Europe. It’s told through the point of view of an adolescent, Keda, who, in an accident, becomes separated from his tribe’s hunting party. He forms an unlikely and an uneasy alliance with a wolf, and together they travel across a harsh winter landscape to return to Keda’s village.

If you are a canid lover, this is a must-see movie. If you are not a canid lover, Alpha is still worth seeing at the biggest screen you can find. Imax, if possible. The cinematography is stunning—dazzling even—and so immersive it feels as though you are traveling with Keda and the wolf.

And something unexpected happened as I watched Keda and his tribe hunt buffaloes. As the small band of hunters stood there with their slender spears, they looked so vulnerable that I actually felt sympathy and tenderness toward them. It reminded me that we were not always a scourge on the planet, that once we were small and relatively weak in a harsh environment.

What comforts we have now in comparison to those who lived in the ice age. In a neat coincidence, Dee bought Clif and me an Instant Pot for our birthdays, which will make soup, among other foods, much easier to prepare. Looking forward to cooking with it.

After the movie and presents, we sat on the patio and had drinks. Beside us, the blue fountain rippled with falling water. Birds came to the feeders, as did squirrels. Crickets sang.

We all agreed that the patio was one of the finest places to be in late summer and a fitting end to a wonderful day.

 

 

 

34 thoughts on “Pizza Palooza”

  1. A lovely way to celebrate birthdays!!

    So glad that you like Alpha – I just loved it. I was worried that it was going to be cheesy and grade B but it was really so beautifully made and acted. We saw it in Imax and it was fantastic to see it that way!

    I love my Instant Pot – enjoy!! 🙂

  2. What a wonderful was to spend your birthdays, th photographs made the food and drink look very special. I will keep an eye out for that film too.

  6. Lovely to celebrate family birthdays together.. With food & movies.. We also love catching up with our adult kids this way .. Enjoy! 😀😀😀

  7. Oh, yes, let’s talk about that bloody mary…with bacon! I would say breakfast! A great way for you and Cliff to celebrate your birthdays! What fun…pizza, movie, cocktails, and friends! Perfect. Happy Birthday!

  11. What a wonderful birthday and pizza palooza celebration! The drinks and pizza look amazing and I can’t wait for you to share some of your Instant Pot recipes. Thanks for another movie recommendation to add to my watchlist.

    1. Many thanks! We had a wonderful time. One of the things I am most excited about is cooking beans in the Instant Pot. We eat a lot of beans—especially black beans. While I don’t mind soaking and cooking dried ones, it will be awesome to be able to cook them so quickly. Especially since dried beans are so much more economical than canned beans. Plus they taste better.

  12. Pizza and beer looks like a perfect way to celebrate birthdays. Then you accessorized with the nuts. But, my husband thinks you took it over the top with that Bloody Mary. Wow – now that was a creation. Hope you’re enjoying the cooler weather. Happy Birthday to you all. 🙂

  15. It does sound like a wonderful day. The pizza is making me hungry even though it’s way past my bedtime. I had to google Instant Pot – the front panel looks complicated, but assuming it’s easier to work than it looks, I can imagine it coming in very handy.

Comments are closed.