As the kids’ Highlights magazine made known to us, yesterday was National Pizza Night. I’ve made pizza in the electric pellet smoker a few times now and, together with the kids, I was looking forward to observing such a fun event. Having the meal on the calendar, it was also a good opportunity for me to finally plan ahead and prepare the dough per the recipe of Joe Beddia, from the Pizza Camp book I received this past Christmas.
Like other Pizza Nights here, what I intended to be a family affair inevitably turned into another Daddy show. Mom and the kids got stuck in traffic and arrived home late. While a blessing in a sense because there was a lot of prep going on, it put us behind schedule and mom had a night meeting at 7pm. While the littles popped outside to cheese their own pies, they mostly waited impatiently from the living room. From the pizza station, I was reminded of father/son projects with dad like the construction of a quarter-pipe skateboard ramp that similarly became father projects. I imagined my father enjoying himself there in the New Jersey garage, tinkering with the oversized wooden contraption he knew would only congest the garage he kept so tidy. Selfless act, really.
The pies came out better than any before. The highlights for me were the carmelized onions and my pepper-powdered anchovies. At the end of the night, I don’t know who enjoyed pizza night most–the kids, who got to eat their own creations in front of the TV; mom, who said she loved each pie more than the last from where she stood and ate, over the oven in the kitchen; or me, who had my best outing yet, pretending I was a pizzaiola at bustling wood-fired pizza restaurant. Or maybe it was our neighbors Kate and Pat, who had their sizzling pie delivered straight from the pizza peel! Making pizza for the family is a convergence of gratitudes as delightful as the combination of pizza flavors. Along with others, I look forward to many pizza nights to come!
