Pizza party

It's safe to say, Sammy's Pizza has nothing to worry about. AJ's Pizza has a ways to go before it could be considered competition. Our masterpiece, while lovingly hand-crafted, poses no threat.

But it sure was a fun supper to create! With Jeff working Friday night, I declared it pizza, popcorn and a movie night. But not just any pizza would do. This pizza, we would make ourselves (with the help of a Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust and store-bought pizza sauce. Hey - I said hand-crafted, not hand made.) Our fine pie featured pepperoni and Canadian bacon across it all, with mushrooms on half and onions on the other. Cutting up the mushrooms with my Pampered Chef slicer/dicer thing was AJ's favorite part, followed closely by slicing the finished product.

And then it was time for the movie. Sydney and I had picked up Rio earlier in the day. So we locked Gus in his kennel, dimmed the lights (not really), spread a blanket on the living room floor and enjoyed the children's version of dinner theatre.

All that time in the kitchen, or maybe it was just the chance to use cool utensils and food prep gadgets, seemed to inspire AJ's inner chef. After the movie, he set to work making "stew" for Jeff to eat when he got home from work. Starting with a bowl of water, AJ added more sliced mushrooms, some squished grape tomatoes (the wires on the slicer/dicer aren't sharp enough to penetrate tomato skins) and a couple of pea pods. Peering into the refrigerator for more ingredients, AJ decided all that was missing was a little milk.

Really?

"It tastes good, Mom," he assured me.

"Uh huh," I responded, unconvinced.

"Why do you just keep saying 'uh huh'?" AJ asked. (I'd used that same response when he'd announced some of the other ingredients.) "Don't milk and water mix together good?"

"Usually it just ends up tasting like watered down milk," I told him.

He sampled his masterpiece, insisting, "It's good."

"Uh huh."

A few minutes later AJ asked, "Where something I can use to scoop out the garbage?"

"What garbage?"

"You were right. It doesn't taste so good."

Undaunted, he decided to try something new. And this time, he did just fine. When Jeff got home from work, he found a bowl of raspberries topped with Cool Whip. And lest there be any doubt who this treat was for, AJ taped a note to the counter identifying "for dad".

On second thought, based on this experience, maybe Sammy's will see less business from one of its loyal customers. AJ is already asking when he can make another pizza.