Friday night....

... is pizza night in our house (yes, that's right, I was back on the east coast this weekend). Every Friday night, FH Alphie turns into an Italian papa (aka Papa Tony), and our kitchen becomes pizza central. We have been doing this for over two years whenever we are home on a Friday night (and, lets face it, we generally are...), there have been a few occasions where we have rescheduled at the request of guests, and moved it to a Saturday, but only with good reason - Socceroos matches during the World Cup springs to mind....

FH Alphie rolling the dough

FH Alphie makes his own dough, which after a few failed attempts at the beginning, came from a recipe in SMH's Good Living liftout. He hasn't actually read the recipe in the last 18 months, but that is where it originated.

pizza 1 - olive oil, garlic, parmesan and tomato

The tradition started as a way to use up the leftover bits in the fridge at the end of the week, but has now morphed into its own monster. We now regularly buy things 'specially' for pizza night, and the guy at our local deli has worked out when FH Alphie is by himself, buying pizza toppings, he's an easy target! He'll often return with piles of antipasto ingredients, and multiple types of cheese.

pizza 2 - asparagus, olives, onion and bocconcini

We always start with a garlic pizza (although sometimes a zaatar pizza is whipped out instead), and what follows that is totally dependent on FH Alphie's creativity on the night. There's usually a mix of tomato and pesto bases, and mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, but apart from that, there are no guarantees.

pizza 3 - capsicum, bocconcini, artichokes and chorizo

pizza 4 - mushrooms, olives, haloumi, parmesan, onion and asparagus on pesto

Friends of ours, Mr & Mrs Pink, who live stumbling distance away (after the obligatory Friday night beers), are regular Friday night guests, and always bring dessert with them, or rather, Mrs Pink brings dessert, and Mr Pink brings the beers... Mrs Pink is the queen of desserts - I don't think we've had a double up in the last year! This week it was chocolate self saucing pudding and ice cream.

Mrs Pink's chocolate self saucing pudding

I'm now back in Perth for the working week, after a great weekend at home, a beautiful wedding for Uni friends and pizza!

-Alphie