Christmas Eve Dinner - PIZZA!!

a little bit more pre-christmas eating! We had Pizza from Pizza Capers......



BONANZA


 pizza sauce with smoke house pepperoni, marinated rump of Black Angus beef, shaved ham, with mozzarella, smoked bacon, garnished with fresh herbs (Janets choice)




RUSTIC FRUIT & VEG mushrooms, onions, capsicum, pineapple, on a bed of ricotta topped with roasted roma tomatoes, garlic, herbs and cheese  (my choice - YUM!)







Italian Connection


Pizza sauce with smokehouse pepperoni, mozzarella, Kalamata olives, slow roasted tomatoes, fire roasted capsicum, red onions, parmesan, fresh garlic & herbs (not sure if this is the right one, but its my best guess!! This was Scott's choice)



VEGETARIAN


Our pizza sauce with loads of fresh, sliced button mushrooms, Kalamata olives, fire roasted capsicum, Spanish onions, golden pineapple, fresh garlic & herbs, garnished with parmesan (Gina's Choice)




THE ALGERIAN


Capers’ pizza sauce, topped with chorizo, fire roasted capsicum, Kalamata olives, baby bocconcini, garnished with cherry tomatoes, fresh garlic & herbs (Mum & Dad's choice)


For dessert, we had red jelly and icecream!!!!! Which I neglected to photograph in my excitement!!!!





We also had some of these Darrel Lea Christmas nougat's - we were guessing what flavours they were, as te box didn't have a picture guide to help us out!

Brewbakers, Albion!

A few weeks ago, I attended a bread and Pizza making calss at Brewbakers, Albion.  Owner, RIchard talked us through the many processes and calculations involved in creating the best bread ever!







These little balls of dough were so soft! We shaped them into pizza bases



topped them with a delicious selection of ingredients, and watched them go into the oven!





The pizzas came out crisp on the outside, yet soft and fluffy in the middle! Best pizza ever!!





We also had a go at shaping some bagels!!

I ate my bagel for lunch the next day - yum!




We also had a go at weighing out the correct amount of dough , and shaping into ciabatta loaf. Not as easy as it sounds!





We each took a just out of the oven loaf home! Miraculously, the loaf survived the drive home intact, and was enjoyed another day!

Now on my list of things to do is a visit to Brewbakers when the actual shop is open so I can try some more baked delights!!

Pizza!! - Dominoes.

a takeaway dinner from quite a while ago, but one that may well be repeated rather soon as we are moving house tomorrow......


A Meatasaurus for Janet


and a Vegorama for me - minus mushrooms, plus pineapple. YUM!!!!

Melbourne!!! Day 4 - home time

Our last day in Melbourne was a bit of a rush, since we were being picked up to go to the airport at 11am!

So we started the day with a delicious breakfast at Edelweiss Cafe



Janet had bacon and eggs, with lovely thick toast


and I had the Vegetarian Breakfast - which had mushrooms, hash brown, baked beans, tomato and toast!

Then we went for a walk around town - We stopped to take some photos of all of the grafitti in Union Lane -






And then we headed back to the hotel to wait for the shuttle bus.  and headed for the airport.  We had to wait in a long line to check in, and then we had to wait for a long time at the gate - we used up some time by removing some of the 27 layers of clothes we had been wearing so that our carry on luggage was correct weight :-) Since we knew there would be no food to buy on the plane (except pringles) we grabbed some lunch from the airport.

this vegie pizza was the only vegetarian thing I could find. Even the sandwiches all contained meat.


and Janet had a chicken sandwich.


and then it was up up and away, back home!!

Melbourne!!! Day 1 - Dinner

We went for a quick trip to Melbourne - we flew down with Tiger Airways, which had bargain priced tickets - it just meant waiting around at the airport for a rather long time after checking in.  Our plane left a bit later that scheduled, which meant we arrived in Melbourne a little late for the bus we had booked to take us to the hotel.  So as soon as we walked across the tarmac and out onto the footpath (yes, we never actually set foot inside the Melbourne Airport), the bus company was on the phone asking us where we were. We did make it onto the bus, so all was good! (We weren't the last ones on either!) 

After we checked into the hotel, we popped back out to find some dinner.  It was almost 10pm, on a Thursday night. We ended up finding this place situated quite nearby, opposite a Hungry Jacks and a Nandos (which was about to hit closing time).  We asked the lady inside when they closed and she said midnight, so in we went to Cafe Tono

We were the only customers, and they were in the process of mopping the floor. We ordered our food, and watched as it was created behind the counter.  The pasta sauce was freshly made for my spaghetti napolitana - the chef was whizzing up tomatoes and things with a stick blender right in the frying pan.  We watched the pizza being created, and as it cooked, the pizza chef was busy prepping more dough for future pizzas - he was making perfectly portioned balls of dough.

I was presented with a humungous plate of spaghetti.  Spaghetti Napolitana is one of my most favourite meals, and I am often disapointed, because the sauce doesn't live up to my expectaions (basically, I want something better than I can make myself!).  This time there was no disapointment - it was delicious! I only wish I had been able to eat the whole plate - but the large serve defeated me about 2 thirds of the way through.

Janet's meat lovers pizza was also a hit - the base tasted deliciously fresh, and it had a good amount of meat and sauce.  I was half wishing I had ordered a pizza, until I tasted my pasta!

Then it was back to our hotel for some sleep in readiness for the next day. (thats not our hotel in the picture - its just some pretty lights we saw on our wander)

Hell Pizza - at last!

There was much excitement when we saw that a Hell Pizza was going to open at Village Square Browns Plains.  This meant we didn't have to go to Darra for our Hell Pizza fix.  SO for months we droveand walked by without seeing a loto fprogress in the empty shop with the Hell Pizza sign on the window.  Eventually it opened, and well, we just didn't get around to going straight away. So when we finally got there it was a quite joyous occasion :-)

THis shop is bigger than the one at Darra, and has some booths inside, and quite a lot of seating outside on the footpath. We decided to eat our pizza there and then instead of driving home with it, so we sat at one of the booths.  We both ordered a "snack-size" pizza, which is the perfect size for one person.

Janet chose "Lust" ($9.50) - Bacon, cabbanossi, cheese, ham, pepperoni, salami.With the optional bbq sauce

I tried the "Sinister" ($11) which is a vegan pizza -Avocado, refried beans, black pepper, capsicum, jalepeno, onions, salsa, you can choose cheese as an optional extra if you don't want to stick with the vegan-ness of the pizza.  I skipped the cheese.

This was delicious -I loved the beans and the salsa on the pizza.  The jalepenos made it a little too spicy for my liking, but I could easily remove a few to lessen the heat factor a tad!  I love the crispy edge of the pizza bases at Hell - yum, yum, yum!!  

Out for Lunch - Luigi's, Sunnybank Hills

We went here for a Sunday lunch - it was the day after Janet's Party and we were very sleepy!

We started with some buttery garlic bread. Which was delicious, but unnecessary, since it filled me up way too much.

Janet tried the Meat Lovers Pizza (just for something different??? :-)  ).  It had a nice crisp thin base and a decent amount of toppings, without going overboard.

I had the spaghetti Napolitana, which had mushrooms through the sauce - chopped up mushrooms that I was able to eat with no dramas.  It was a nice thick, chunky tomato sauce, just what I felt like!!

Luigi's is in the Pinelands shopping centre on Mains Road. I'd go back to try the vegie pizza :-)

Dinner at home - Pizza

Some more home made pizza!!!

This is the vegie one - with grape tomatoes, pumpkin, zuccinni and "not-bacon" (with tomato sauce)

and the meaty one - with left over bbq sausage, cheerio, bacon & pepperoni (with bbq sauce)

and the cooked vegie version

and the meaty one!

A delicious and easy dinner!!

Pizza!!! - Lawrences Pizza, Crestmead

We took Shadow for a walk around the Berrinba Wetlands and decided to make a detour to pick up dinner on the way home. For some reason I remembered that Lawrences Pizza is located in Julie St, Crestmead. Otherwise, we would have been driving around aimlessly for a lot longer than we did! (I love my UBD!)

We ordered 2 small Pizzas - $8 each, and waited outside with Shadow - a puppy makes passers by so much more sociable!!

I ordered (surprise!) a vegetarian pizza - minus the Mushrooms and Olives.  They gave me some extra pineapple to make up for this - bonus!! This was a good pizza - not too cheesy, and with a good spread of toppings - I would like the sauce to be a bit more flavoursome though.

And Janet got a meat lovers pizza.  Janet thinks that Lawrences Pizzas are the best, but  I am still in the Sicillian Pizza boat - I like their sauce and base a little more.

We each ate half a pizza, and popped the rest in the freezer for another day.

Dinner with Friends - Make Your Own Pizza!!

Heres a good idea!! We went to our friends place for dinner and we had "make-your-own-pizza".  We used Pita bread as the base, and each made half a pizza each round (2 pizza trays and 4 people!!) There were so many different toppings to choose from - fresh tomato, mince, pineapple, onion, olives, corn, capsicum, pepperoni, other meat, squash, sundried tomato, cheese, and lots of sauces!

about to go in the oven

Just out of the oven

another round of pizza!

and then we played a bit of "Name that Tune 80's edition" in which Janet smashed us all.

Pizza!! - Sicilian Pizza, Browns Plains

Well, we finally tried Sicilian Pizza - it is on the corner of Browns Plains & Wembly Roads, so we drive past here very often, but have only just now discovered what we have been missing!!!  These are the best takeaway pizzas I can remember eating since we were in Vancouver.

Whilst the actual shop is not much to look at, the pizzas are fantastic!!  There was a big selection on the menu - with photos of the uncooked pizzas accompanying the menu on the wall.

Janet had this meaty one -"Tutta Carne" ($14) - Ham, pepperoni, bacon, chicken, mozzarella cheese,  it was topped with a swirl of bbq sauce which was a popular addition. Janet did ask for bbq sauce on the base as well, but when we got the pizza home, discovered it had tomato sauce on the base, so next time we will be sure to be clearer with this request!

My selection was called "the Gourmet" ($14) and was topped "Strings of spinach, ricotta cheese, marinated eggplant, capsicum and semi sun-dried tomatoes" The ricotta was a great adidition that I havent had on a pizza before - made it nice and creamy, and cut through some of the saltiness

my plate!

These were nice large pizzas, - we froze quite a lot of it and ate them at a later date - they were even better after being reheated in the oven - such a nice, crispy base, and delicious toppings.