Sometimes You Just Order Pizza

We've been eating a lot of take out lately and I'm not too proud to say it.  I don't know what happened.  Well, yes, actually, I do.  It's the end of the school year and everything is going ka-blewie.  We are all insane here.  For instance, this morning I can't find the coffee press.  I've looked in all the usual places, and I've looked in all the unusual places and now I'm just caffeine deprived and mad.  This is what comes of giving angry pre-teen children jobs to do around the house.  Ask one to empty the dishwasher, but don't expect to find your coffee press ever again.  

Dear God, I may have to go to Starbucks.  

I hate end of school-year stress.  It always feels much worse to me than even the stress of September.  Sure, September brings new classrooms, different kids, school supply shopping.  In September, kids who have been going to bed late and waking up late, now have to go to bed early and wake up early.  There are new routines, plays and bands, choruses and teams to try out for, and I'm shelling out money right and left for t-shirts, and field trips, cleats and guitar lessons. 

But May is sneaky.  It is deceptively stressful.  You're all happy because the sun's finally out and the plants you thought you'd killed last fall are sprouting hopeful shoots, and the dogs can lie outside on the deck with their bellies turned toward the sun.  You feel like you're running down the home stretch because school's almost over -- which is a good thing, right?  Except that one child has a chorus concert, and a project on Rome due which is 60% of her grade, and a biography project for language arts which is 40% and for which we have to go to the actual library, in town, and look for books.  The other daughter has soccer tryouts, and an end of year band concert,  and, even though she's only in 4th grade, she's in the chorus of the 5th grade play and she has to be at rehearsals, and we need to  make 80 madeleines for the French festival (and we only have one pan).  And she's stressed because transitions stress her to the ceiling so all you have to do is say boo! and she's the Tasmanian Devil.

Oh, and because one of my 100 jobs is tutoring highschool kids in writing, I'm getting calls about their end of year projects.  Which is good, work is always good, but still... time.

Also, the end of April is my dad's birthday, then the first week in May is my husband's birthday, then it's Mother's Day, then the week after that is our wedding anniversary: all wonderful events, celebratory events, but events which take time and definitely preparation.

Sorry.  Didn't mean for this post to turn into a big whine-fest.  However, this is a long way of saying that sometimes, pizza is very very good.

Instead of a recipe, I am linking you to Poppi's pizza -- my favorite joint in this area.  They have this thin crispy, New York style crust that I cannot get enough of.  (I'm sorry, everyone else in the world, but New York crust is the best. Just like New York bagels are the best.  It's the water there, so don't feel bad.  When I was pregnant with Em I almost had Smith talked into driving me to my favorite pizza place on Greenwich and 6th -- even though we lived in Center City Philadelphia at the time.  At the last minute he made some panicked calls to a native Philadelphian who directed him to a pizza place he swore had NY style crust.  It didn't.  If Poppi's had been around back then, a very ugly chapter in our marriage would never have happened.) 

However, there is quite a lot one can do with leftover pizza.  We always order a large, and sometimes two because you can put slices on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then, once they're frozen (about an hour), wrap them in parchment and stick in freezer bags.  Take a slice out and reheat it in the oven (never the microwave, which makes the crust soggy) whenver you want it.   

To make it taste yummier, take your leftover pizza and plonk a spoonful of tomatoes from a can on top, grate a bit of parmesan, stick it in the oven at 425 and in 10 min you have crispy pizza.  Really, any cheese you have is good on cold leftover pizza.  I like ricotta, goat, brie, tallegio, but not all at once.  Or, put a few pieces of pineapple on your plain, bacon or sausage pizza before warming it up. I've also put frozen slices of mango on my pizza -- surprisingly yummy, especially for breakfast.  Right now I am eating plain cold pizza while sipping hot coffee. (Found the coffee press, it was in the cereal cabinet).   Christine Lavin prefers her's with cold coke. 

Em prefers her leftover pizza delivered to her in bed by her mother as a bribe for getting up before 10am on a beautiful May Saturday in order to go do something as a family without a huge argument.  At least I'm hoping this will be the case.  Wish me luck.