Pizzaiolo's

Pizzaiolo: The Pizza professional responsible for tenderly tossing, topping, and firing your pie to blistery perfection.

There's three superb Pizzaiolo's I know; Estella Louise, Uncle John and Daddy-O, and they are rather cute.

They have their own tricks up their sleeves, when it comes to making pizza pie's and there's no messing around... well, not really. They have fun as they work; joking, teasing and making a BIG mess.

Estella Louise~

She has the tender touch. She lightly dust her work surface with a handful of flour, places a piece of dough, and starts her tender work; kneads, flattens & rolls, and occasionally tosses (a work-in-progress). Her sweet touch is the key factor to their pizza's.

Uncle Johnny~

The topping master. You can see his wheels turning, as he starts working; coming up with delicious creations. My personal favorite is the Filet Mignon with an egg-- delicious. There's also the famous Margherita with a touch of dried oregano, so' so good. Another one we really enjoyed was the tuna, arugula with Parmesan slivers, wow!

Filet Mignon & egg

& Daddy-O~

Daddy-O takes this job very seriously

He starts by firing up the wood-fired brick oven; by only using oak wood, because you see- good wood is also a key factor. The oven has to be at a blazing temperature of 500 degrees . He then pops the pie in & keeps a watchful eye, and ta-da! out comes blistery-pizza-perfection.

Left: Sardine & Mozzarella Pizza. Right: Buffalo Mozzarella & sauce

Notice the perfect fire

Uncle John taking a break from pizza making to say hello to baby Victoria

There are many more, but to be quite frank, all this typing about pizza is making me hungry. I must go now, and kindly ask "The Pizzaiolo's" when the next pizza fest will be.

Ta-ta!

Morning showers

This morning brought us light showers, which made our casita a little cold.

And in order to avoid turning the heater on (due to two nasty coughs), and because it really wasn't that cold. The oven begged that I make Irish soda bread, and in return made our house a little warmer and gave us a nice treat.

Estella, my little helper watched as the dough spun in the Kitchen Aid, and as I added more flour, it spun out of control, all over her.

A good laugh and a great way to start the day.

She then ran to get her binoculars (as she meant to find goggles), to avoid getting flour in her eyes again.

And as the bread baked, we tickled

and played with Victoria.

The master piece~

enjoyed with a little butter and homemade rhubarb jam

Under the weather

Estella woke up with an ugly cough this morning (first cough in her life) and feeling "a little tired", she said.

I guess that's what happens when my sick niece, is kind enough to share her gum (right out of her mouth) with my kid.

So, we took it easy today; soaked up the warm sun and practiced covering our mouth when coughing & keeping our hands washed.

She wasn't tickled about having to stay away from her baby sister Victoria, but understood the importance of it. She actually stated "Mommy, I'm upset I can't play with my baby sister because I'm sick".

Kept Victoria away--

as we snacked al fresco and discussed the importance of a healthy diet and keeping our body hydrated.

Tonight I bathed her in a warm Eucalyptus bath, then massaged her little body with lavender oil. I hope this sickness passes us quickly and doesn't take any more victims in this household.

Just so you know

Jacob & Me

11 years ago.

When Jacob and I first started going out, he didn't know what he was getting himself into.

I warned him about me. It went a little something like this:

"There's something you should know about me Jacob. I'm very, very choosy... I'm also very, very suspicious, very, very irrational, and I have a very, very short temper. I'm also extremely jealous and slow to forgive. Just so you know."

Quote from "A good year"

Many years later, to this day- he remains inlove with that silly girl... and me? I love him more than ever.

Happy Valentines Day Darling~

Queen of Hearts

Not to be confused with the the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in wonderland"

Queen Victoria

This little Queen has adjusted at home wonderfully

she's doing what a 2 1/2 month old baby does

lots of cooing, tummy time, eating, sleeping, and pooping!

Oh, & how our hearts are full of love for this darling child

Don't, Shhhh, NO!

I want to eliminate three little words from my daily vocabulary:

"Don't, Shhhh & No".

These three little words seem to always creep out of our mouths, when we're speaking to Estella.

I constantly hear myself telling Estella: "Don't do this, don't do that", "shhh, shhhh, SHHHH!", or "No, NO, NO!". And its bothering me, a lot. She'll look at me with those beautiful big brown eyes, in confusion and hurt. And at the end of the day, my heart hurts.

I hope I haven't ruined her.

I read a poem in one of my parenting books, it caught my attention. It now resides on the fridge door... as a daily reminder.

If I had my child to raise all over again.

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.

I would do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eye off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

By Diane Loomans