Katie's Pizza Adventure

Yesterday afternoon we got home from a trip to New York and I suddenly wanted to make pizza. Rafael was very nice and walked with me to the grocery store to get ingredients. Then I started my pizza adventure! I made two kinds of pizza - grilled and in the oven. This was my first time eating grilled pizza, but I had seen it and I wanted to try it. The grilling was really fun! I don't have a real grill so I used this cast iron stove top grill that Mom gave me for Christmas. It worked great! I just rolled out the dough and put it on the grill. I liked how it got so bubbly! I put some olive oil on top and flipped it over. I didn't get a picture because I wanted to put the toppings on right away so the cheese would melt. The grill marks look cool and they taste delish. I put on fresh mozzarella, regular mozzarella, tomato sauce, tomatoes, and basil. It came out light and crispy. Next time I think I'll put grilled veggies on the cheese instead of sauce. Maybe I'll add some goat cheese too. Raf and I both really liked it!

I also made pizza in the oven. I had made pizza before on a cookie sheet but I thought that the bottom got too hard so I decided to try something different. If I had a pizza stone I would have used that, but I thought a casserole dish would be similar. I didn't really know how it would turn out but it ended up being sort of like a deep dish pizza, but not so deep and without so much sauce and cheese. I rolled out the dough, put it in the dish, and added tomato sauce, chicken sausage, fresh mozzarella, and regular mozzarella and put it in the oven.Then I realized I forgot the tomatoes and basil so I took it back out of the oven and added them.This one took a lot longer to cook than the grilled pizza, but I think we liked it better. The crust had a really nice texture and tasted great with the toppings. I'll definitely make a pizza like this again.
I really liked my pizza making adventure! Thank you Rafael for being my loyal taste tester!

I <3 Keuka Lake and G&G

Mom and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa at Keuka Lake last week. We had so much fun! Everything was really beautiful.We drive to the lake on Pre-Emption Road. :) There is lots and lots of corn!
G&G live in Penn Yan. It's pretty and old. They actually live on the lake but the town looks cool too.We went to the Jolly Green Robber (ha) and got some fresh veggies. Here are G&G picking out corn:Mom liked it.Okay now off to the lake!We went in the sailboat, kayaks, and the big yellow boat!It's the oldest boat on the lake. Actually, not really. haha. But it is old. The lake was super beautiful as always. :)Here is Grandpa waving to is from the dock:Aw! :) We had such a good time. Thanks G&G!

Beach Time!

Rafael and I have been trying to go to the beach as much as possible this summer. We've limited ourselves to one day per weekend because I get sunburns too easily. We've been trying to go on Saturdays so I have Sunday to recover before going to work, in case I miss any spots with sunscreen, which can be embarrassing. Like around my left eye or my hairline.... omg. Aside from my mini sunburns we've been having lots of fun! One of our favorite beaches is Crane Beach in Ipswich. It's super beautiful! I think it's a nature reserve so there's no buildings, just lots of beach, dunes, and grass. The waves are small but it's still fun because there are lots of sandbars to swim or walk to. Sometimes they're under the water and sometimes they're not depending on the tide. The sandbars divide the water so some parts are a lot warmer than others. Sometimes Raf and I just sit in the warm parts and relax. Sometimes there are little ponds which are super warm. I think they're kind of gross, but other people seem to like them. (Like Raf haha.) It's so pretty and fun we never want to leave. I think that's how I end up with sunburns. Raf even managed to fit in some soccer time:Then we leave and go get some ice cream!

Ice Cream at the Farm

Rafael and I went to Crane Beach in Ipswich the past two weekends. I'll write more about the beach later. Both times we got ice cream at Russell Orchard on our way home. The orchard is so close to the beach, you can see the marshes from their farm. The ice cream is delicious! We ate chocolate chip:As we were eating we started to notice lots of interesting things around us, like signs to go raspberry and blueberry picking! (These are my kind of directions!)There was also some old red stuff:

Then we noticed the animals! We loved this fatty pig, he (or maybe she) weighs approximately 1000 pounds! His (or her) name is Big Boy! It seemed really relaxed (and not dead, like I was wondering). There were 3 pony's but I only got to take a picture of one at a time because this one was a bully:

I loved the cutie bunnies! This one in the hole was so pretty. They lived in the same house as the chickens, I think. Raf tried to pick up the strawberry rock. If I ever have a yard I want a strawberry rock.In case you didn't know, Raf loves ducks! He really liked these three buddies. They went around everywhere together! So cute. We really had fun at the farm. :) Maybe Rafael will take me back in the fall for some apples and pumpkins.... or maybe he'll take me again this weekend for more ice cream! xoxo

Happy Summer!

I've been trying to spend as much time outside as possible this summer. Sometimes I eat lunch at this park in the North End during work: It has beautiful views! I went one day to see the Tall Ships that were parked in Charlestown: I didn't know what to expect, but I thought they were really cool! There were all different kinds of ships. I don't know if they were all Tall Ships. I especially liked all of the flags. This is my favorite tree in the Public Garden:Boston is getting tropical!Are you surprised I started blogging again? :)