Pizza Night

We love to do pizza night at home. We can make it a bit healthier and pick our own toppings. Josh and I don't always agree on toppings or even the same crust, so this time, we each made our own pizza. They turned out great. These days, we're getting prepared pizza dough from Fresh & Easy. It's ready to go. You just leave it at room temperature for 20 minutes, then roll out using a little flour to keep from sticking. Here are our masterpieces...Josh made a whole wheat pizza crust with no sauce, using olive oil and black pepper, hot Italian sausage, fresh basil and mozzarella. My pie was traditional crust, thin with a bit of pizza sauce, black olives, hot Italian sausage, arugula, fresh garlic and mozzarella. (I can't believe I forgot fresh mushrooms - my favorite!) Josh went with Goose Island Demolition - a Belgian ale, and to accompany my pizza, an Argentinian Malbec - 2009 Kaiken. The Kaiken was good, reasonably priced at $10 and was a great, smooth match for my pizza.

Winemakers Notes

The wine presents a vivid ruby red color. On the nose black fruit and blueberries aromas are evident, accompanied by chocolate, vanilla and elegant flower scents enhance the wine complexity.
On the mouth it has velvety and harmonious tannins and good structure, due to a proper harvesting time selection, while vanilla notes stay lingering during the long finish of the wine. It’s a fresh and joyful wine, were acidity is in perfect balance, a faithful example of the quality of the Mendoza first zone.

Spring lettuces grown in a pot

This year is the first time I've tried growing my own lettuce, and so far, I'm having great luck. Here are a couple pictures of some lettuce I'm growing in large pots on my front porch. It's growing so fast, I was able to share with neighbors. Does anyone know the name of the big shaggy lettuce plant? If so, please let me know.