Make Your Own Pizza Night - a cheap and easy party idea

As a Bostonian, I pride myself on recognizing a good happy hour special, a restaurant with exceptionally fresh seafood, and the best place to shake it on a Friday night. That being said, what local doesn't enjoy a night in with friends and a 6-pack of Sam from time to time? Then, of course, the question becomes - what's for dinner?

Well I did a little experiment last night, and it was such a success, I feel the need to share this great find. I invited J and Packie over - we cranked up the "pop hits" station on TV, cracked a few beers, and created 4 beautiful pizza pies.

I've always been afraid to try making my own pizza for a couple reasons -
1) I don't have a pizza stone - turns out this is not a problem at all!
2) I've had so many delicious pizzas in this city - could I really create one delicious enough to choose this option over takeout?!

Turns out the answer is yes!! It was simple, cheap and delicious. And the best part is - my friends had a blast making their own pizzas!


Here's what we bought and how we used it:

• 2 bags pizza dough (just ask where they keep it in the supermarket or you'll be walking around for days)
• 1 jar plain marinara sauce
• a huge bag of mozzerella cheese
• mushrooms, green peppers, onion
• pepperoni
• 1 can minced clams 
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 package of basil

The beauty of this is that you can get any toppings you want, no one has to compromise. You can mix n' match, experiment, or just create your favorite pizza and tell everyone else to buzz off. Our groceries came to $25 total (not including beer). ;)

We started out with the oven at 400 degrees - turns out this is too hot for my particular oven...but you'll have to assess based on yours. You know your pizza is done based on two things: 1) when you lift it up with a spatula and the bottom is firm and 2) the cheese is melted. If these two things don't happen at once, you may need to adjust the heat...we turned ours down to 350 to give the cheese more time to melt.

Spread some flour on a baking sheet and roll out your dough (we used half a ball of dough per pizza - 1 pizza of this size can feed 1 person). Turns out I don't have a rolling pin - no worries, throw some flour on a small bottle and you've got yourself just the right tool. When you've made it the size you want, roll up the edges a little to make a crust, then decorate! I recommend using only a little sauce so you dont end up with a soggy pizza. We did all our toppings then covered them up with cheese - Santarpio style!

We cooked them one at a time - and ate, drank and danced in between! There's no set time for how long the pizzas will need to cook - just look for the signs of done-ness. Ours took about 10 minutes each.

Check out our masterpieces!!! We made the following pizzas:

• Pepperoni, green pepper, basil, red sauce, cheese
• Clams, olive oil, basil, garlic, cheese 
• Mushroom, green pepper, basil, onion, red sauce, cheese
• Pepperoni, green pepper, mushroom, onion, basil, red sauce, cheesse

Fantastico!
Little B

PS - does anyone have suggestions for making a homemade pizza even better? Secret ingredients? Special technique? Please share!

Parish Cafe for the Best Lunch You've Had in Months...

I've spent my share of summer days in line at Parish Cafe (on Boylston St) waiting for an outdoor table to bask in the sun while enjoying some amazing food. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that the chilly winter air has made getting a table at one of my favorite Beantown lunch spots a little quicker!

After doing some research, I believe I've discovered the reason for their extremely high standard of quality. The concept behind Parish Cafe was to ask all the best local chefs to create one amazing sandwich each. The menu items are named for the chefs or their restaurants. This unique concept allows each dish to stand on its own as a star. I, for one, have never been disappointed.

A recent visit with EDubs and the Captain was no exception. We started off with the vegetarian corn cakes ($9.75). This dish is simply amazing. Seared/baked corn cakes with sliced avo and some pico in a tasty sauce. The whole thing is piled on a delectable salad - it was a perfect way to start our lunch date, leaving all three of us excited for what was to come.

I'll be honest, I fell in love with the first thing I ever ordered at Parish and often have trouble ordering anything else - the Zuni Roll ($12). Described by the Captain as "Thanksgiving in a wrap", this amazing treat consists of smoked turkey, bacon, dill havarti cheese, and cranberry chipotle sauce, all wrapped perfectly in a flour tortilla. The creamy textures of the dill havarti, with the tang of the cranberry is heavenly. Also, Im not normally a fan of cole slaw or potato salad, but either choice is a delicious side. Every bite of this meal reminds you of the time and dedication Parish puts into a fresh, quality meal.

I could go on and on about other amazing dishes, but I know you won't be disappointed with anything you try!

Other tidbits to mention - Parish has a full bar and turns into a great casual spot to meet up with a friend for a drink and a quick bite later in the evening. They serve their full menu until 1AM, with last call at 2AM so there's plenty of opportunity day or night to try one of their mouth-watering treats!

And I made myself hungry thinking about this place...so there's nothing left to say except see you there!!

Little B

6B for an Epic Monday Evening...

My plan for last night was to go to the gym and go grocery shopping, but sometimes life just calls for martinis and trivia instead. I admit, it was a little early in the week to indulge (and Im paying the price now with a nice little headache)– but if you ever find yourself in need of a Monday night out – I suggest heading to 6B.

Packie and I hadn’t seen each other in what felt like forever, so we did a little research for a classy-ish place downtown to catch up with a happy hour special on Monday night (a tall order, I know).

Turns out, 6B (located at 6 Beacon St – thus the name) offers a pretty fantastic deal: Dinner for 2, including a bottle of wine…for just $35!!! (no, not $35 each, $35 TOTAL). Considering you generally can’t get any bottle of wine at a restaurant for under $25, we figured this was a steal even if dinner turned out to be some chicken nuggets and potato chips.

Lucky for us, dinner turned out to be salmon, rice pilaf, and broccoli – not too shabby! The food wasn’t anything out of this world, but it certainly wasn’t bad and the portions were generous. You can check out their website for a list of other meal options they offer – all looking equally yummy. Wine options were pretty basic – shiraz, chardonnay, merlot, or pinot grigio. We went with the pinot and our very Irish waitress (awesome!) brought out a bottle of Cavit – nothing fancy, but it was good and we had no trouble polishing it off.

After dinner (around 8pm), the trivia hosts set up right behind us. Normally, Packie and I wouldn’t attempt trivia without assistance from our more worldly friends, but we were assured that “comedy points” would be counted (and fortunately, we’re very funny people…modest, too), and with that in mind, we ordered a couple martinis (ranging $8-$10) and decided to play. We each tried 2 different cocktails over the course of the evening – all of which were delicious!

Trivia turned out to be lots of fun – it wasn’t Stump Trivia like a lot of bars in Boston have – it was a little more laid back, though the rules/categories were similar. We were given ample hints and help by the trivia hosts (since it was clear there was no way we would win) and as promised, we were given comedy points for our creative, hilarious responses (i.e. we didn’t know who the president of Egypt was, but we still got points for “President Tut”). What can I say? These things just come to us after a bottle of wine and a couple cocktails…

Trivia wrapped up a little after 10pm and we asked for the check. Total bill with tip came to $80 – which included 2 full meals, a bottle of wine, and 4 cocktails. Not too shabby!

So for those of you who’d like to pretend you don’t need to go to the gym and you can last another day with no groceries – 6B on a Monday night is the place for you!!

Now to find a bottle of Excedrin…
Little B