Pizza Party!

Two's company, but three is a party!! And what do you serve at a party? Why, pizza of course!

One Saturday, Keizo and I made a quick trip to Costco, which is barely 10 minutes from my parents' house. As I pulled into the parking lot, he uttered an amazed "We're here already?" The Costco in Japan is about 30 minutes from his apartment, making it a rather inconvenient place to pick up just one or two things.

We stocked up on some household staples and grabbed a plain cheese take and bake pizza. When we got home, we got started assembling the toppings bar; we had spinach, sausage, bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, olives, onions and mushrooms!

We also picked up some wine, and since we were at my parents' house, there were actual wine glasses to drink from!

One of my best friends from high school joined us for dinner and we got started decorating our own pieces of pizza. Then we popped the whole tray in the oven at 400 F for about 10 minutes and we were ready to eat.

Jenny and I showing off our mad pizza decorating skills on round 2.

After dinner, we were joined by Jenny's husband and we brought out the board games. First we played Jenga, then moved onto Pictionary, which provided us with hours of entertainment. I don't think they left until after 12. I really hope we'll all get a chance to do it again...just not quite sure when that will be.

Super Bowl Salad

Super Bowl Sunday was me and the guys (Keizo and my Dad) so you can probably guess who got left with the responsibility of making dinner. It's okay though...I met my annual quota of football viewing by watching the half time show and the last quarter, which are the most important parts anyway, right?

No Super Bowl "party" no matter how informal is complete without snacks and beer, so we got some ready made sushi, crackers and artichoke dip at the grocery store. We also picked up some red bell pepper and a red onion to make "Greek Tortellini Salad" for dinner.

After chopping the veggies and putting the frozen cheese tortellini in the pot to boil, I got started on the dressing. Olive oil, red wine vinegar, a splash of sherry and some red pepper flakes look so pretty combined in the measuring cup.

Combine pasta, veggies and feta cheese in large bowl and toss with dressing. If you plan ahead, the salad can be chilled, or if you are more like me, eat it right away.

Rounding out the meal were baby carrots with hummus and fresh garlic toast. Kept dinner on the lighter side after all those snacks.

Plus, there was Samoa Girl Scout cookie ice cream for dessert ;-)