Many of you might know that growing up in my house Friday night was pizza night. Homemade pizza night. My dad would make the dough and sauce himself. At first it was full pizzas and then by the time I was in high school it was individual pizzas with my mom receiving her pizza first.
When I went to Mary Washington College I truly missed having my dad's pizza and would always look forward to breaks and summers when I was there for pizza on Friday nights. I wanted to be able to make that pizza myself. I asked my parents that if I was accepted to the University of Delaware for graduate school all I wanted for graduation from MWC was a Kitchen Aid Mixer, just like my mom's, so I could make pizza in DE. Well, I was accepted to UD and graduated from MWC but I didn't receive the mixer...yet....
The summer of 2000 before I moved to Newark, DE, (pronouced New-Ark and not to be confused by that other Newark in New Jersey) I "apprenticed" with my father to learn how to make the dough, the sauce, and then assemble and bake the pizza. It was quite a learning experience when I then realized how lonely it is in the kitchen on Friday nights. All the action is going on in the TV room our outside on the porch if it is summer. And my dad had been doing this for over 20 years. But I loved it when I took the reins for the first time on a Friday night. I forced my dad outside to enjoy the experience of receiving the first pizza out of the oven. He wasn’t happy that I hadn’t made it for my mom, but my mom just smiled at me. That night was one of the best experiences of my life.
Christmas 2000, after my first semester at UD, I came downstairs on Christmas morning to find a giant box waiting for me. And I knew what it was before I even opened it....it was my Kitchen Aid mixer from Santa!!! I started immediately upon my return to Newark making pizza. I pride myself on my pizza. And I love to make it for friends and family. And the boys absolutely love my pizza and I make it almost every time they are with us.
Yesterday I did something I might regret. I was going to be busy all day with Mary Kate’s baby shower (I’ll fill you guys in on that event soon), but wanted to have pizza that night for the boys. So when I was getting the last minute baby shower items taken care of upstairs, and the boys were eating breakfast, I gave James instructions on how to make the dough. He asked me to come downstairs and take a look at the dough to give him a sense of when it was ready to be taken out. When I took a in the bowl I was shocked. It was his first time making dough and it was perfect after about 10 minutes. Perfect! I told him he sucked as I went upstairs to get dressed for my day.
The baby shower clean up kept me longer from the house than anticipated; I had to give James instructions via text message on how to make the sauce. He did a really good job. He exclaimed that now he wouldn’t need me for anything as he could make pizza on his own. I know he doesn’t know what he is talking about. But having passed the torch on to someone else what will I do with myself?!?
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