Potterpizzaversary!

Background
Two years ago, on the July 4th weekend, we drove for two days in a Uhaul to move Aine and all her things up to Illinois. We arrived on Church street late the second day, unloaded the truck, and set up house. Exhausted, we didn't feel like cooking dinner and didn't know the local restaurants well enough to order carry out. We bought a frozen pizza and ate it while watching a comfort movie, one of the Harry Potters.

One year ago, on the July 4th weekend, I moved up to join Aine in Illinois. We drove a Uhaul for two days and late the second day, we unloaded the truck, this time doubling the amount of stuff in the 500 square foot Church street apartment. Exhausted from the weekend's activities, we decided to celebrate the successful completion of the move by cooking a frozen pizza and watching Harry Potter.

This year, we decided to mark the one year anniversary of my move and the two year anniversary of her move with a Potter and Pizza Night.

I asked Aine, do you want to get another frozen pizza or make our own, hoping she would opt for the frozen pizza. She said, let's make our own!

Homemade 'Za
We wanted to do this right, so we bought a pizza stone to have that authentic brick oven experience. I used the pizza dough recipe that came in the Oster Recipe Booklet and used whole wheat flour.

Taste of Home had a good pizza sauce recipe that I mostly followed. I omitted the fennel seed and cooked it for ten minutes instead of an hour and it produced a very tasty sauce.

Il Recipe:

• 2x 15 oz cans tomato sauce
• 12 oz can tomato paste
• 1 tbl Italian seasoning
• 1 tbl dried oregano
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• .5 tsp salt

We wanted different toppings on our respective halves. I wanted the traditional pepperoni and jalapenos. Aine preferred mushrooms, savoy spinach, and feta.

While I chopped the veggies, Aine, a pizza-making veteran from her Sewanee days, rolled the dough.

Crankles stood guard.

After we assembled the pizza,

we put it in the oven (400 degrees for 15 minutes). Here's how it came out:

Homemade pizza on a whole wheat crust. Our third annual Potter and Pizza Night was a success.

Grad to the Bone 
Earlier that day, a courier arrived with paper proof of Aine's hard work and tireless scholarship. She now has her long awaited diploma for a Master of Arts in Classics.