WOAH am I late on writing this post. I would say that I have no idea why that could be, but as I sit here on my porch, with my computer in my lap for the first time in a refreshingly long time, I realize that after spending an entire school year doing absolutely EVERYTHING (teaching, socializing, shopping) online, my computer and I needed a break. And so I took one. I’ve logged on briefly for a few work related things, but other than that my computer has collected dust on my desk for a good four weeks, and hey, maybe distance really does make the heart grow fonder, or maybe I’m finally rested enough to really get really excited about cooking and entertaining again, but either way, I’m back with updates on another fun dinner to share.

In May, my dad requested pizza as his “Menu of the Month” feature dish, and we had so much fun making it. I had done super simple pizzas once or twice before, but this time I stepped up my game and did some research on the best ingredients, methods and tools for my situation. Given that I have the worlds tiniest kitchen and oven, I decided to get a few pizza stones and cook them on the grill. I prepared the dough, sauce and toppings ahead of time, and then my brother helped me assemble the pies. My dad and I had fun having cocktails while tending the pizzas on the grill in my back yard. We made four all together, one with sausage, roasted peppers and garlic, one with blue cheese, figs and arugula, one classic mozzarella and basil, and one regular old peperoni. I sampled all four and remained unable to select a favorite. I added an amazing caesar salad from “Cook This Book” by Molly Baz (possibly my favorite ceasar salad to date) and a few large platters of grilled vegetables with olive oil and flaky salt- and that was all we needed. Except for dessert of course which was meant to be a pistacho plum crisp from “Dining In” by Alsion Roman, but, I could not find plums so it turned into a peach pistachio crisp and was still completely delicious. I didn’t even get a picture of it because I simply placed the entire pan in the middle of the table and we devoured it.

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Most of the evening took place in my back yard and let me say: I have a love hate relationship with my back yard. It has such potential, but it really is wild at heart and it’s taken me three years to reduce the weeds and vines by about a third. There is, however, a pretty amazing patio high up a hill with lots of tiny lilac trees, a giant mulberry tree and lots of purple clematis, so it was a pretty perfect place to drink limoncello collins and eat cheese while my dad went out to get a new tank of propane to solve my classic grill malfunction (thanks dad!) – at this point it’s almost tradition? At the bottom this hill is a pretty nice, large, flat yard which allowed me to set one of my favorite tables so far with lots of peonies right from my front yard, simple white plates and candles. I think it was pretty beautiful.

And really, that was the last dinner party I had at my house for quite a while! I didn’t do a menu of the month dinner in June. The end of the year at school got crazy as always, we had a few other family events and I started working at SCAMP again (yay!) and the month completely slipped away- but don’t worry! I have six months left of the year and a whole handful of people left to select a menu- I know myself, and I won’t be able to stay away from cooking for my family and friends much longer.