Our last day in Orlando was a “Cabana Day.” We rented a poolside cabana at the resort, and spent the day hanging out, swimming, playing ping pong, and building sand castles.
Of course, since we were in Florida, there was an afternoon storm that closed the pool for a bit, so we headed inside to the arcade, where we played Skee Ball. Turkey was the champion…he even hit the very rare “100!”
We found another hotel guest to take one last family picture:
And then picked up some surprisingly delicious pizzas from the hotel diner for dinner:
The children had a fun time playing with their lightsabers, and I thought they looked really cool through the screen in the room:
One last look before bed:
Up next: A very long and exhausting day of driving.
Today we wrapped up the first-ever Markel Family Tour di Pizza!
Last year, we came up with an idea to try lots of different styles of pizza from places we don’t normally frequent. We decided the perfect day to start this event was on MAR10 Day (March 10), and we decided to kick it off with Jet’s Detroit-style pizza, which was delicious!
On Friday I made Chicago-style pizza, since there’s just no place around here that makes it as well as I do. This was definitely the most familiar item on our list, but you can’t have a Tour di Pizza without stopping in the Windy City!
On Saturday we had the craziest day of our experiment with California-style take and bake pizzas from California Pizza Kitchen. Their pizzas are pretty small, so we tried three varieties…the ever-controversial Hawaiian, shrimp scampi, and California Club. Even though they were unusual as far as pizzas go, they were all delicious (although the shrimp scampi variety did fall apart a bit in the oven!).
Since I had some time on Saturday, I made the perfect dessert to accompany pizza…cannoli! I don’t think I could have made them any better…the shells were perfectly flaky and crispy, and my work to thoroughly drain the ricotta paid off, making the filing just right!!!
Yesterday we tried New York-style pizza from Papa John’s. I don’t know if it’s because I have a bias against New York-style pizza as someone who grew up in Chicagoland, or it’s just that Papa John’s isn’t my thing, but this was my least favorite pizza of the event.
We wrapped up our Tour di Pizza today, 314 Day, with St. Louis-style pizza from the hometown favorite, Imo’s. I’m not going to lie…this generally isn’t my favorite type of pizza (it’s a crust thing…I like something with more substance than a Saltine), but I do really like that they use provel cheese, and it’s not so bad for a special occasion!
Since today was also Pi Day (convenient that we could have pizza pies for dinner, don’t you think?), I made pies for dessert to cap off our dinner event…s’mores and chocolate hazelnut, with decorations courtesy of Bunny:
This was a really fun, silly thing to do for a few days, and it also gave me a break from making dinner for a few nights, which was really nice!
I have done fancy Valentine’s Day dinners in the past, but this year, I decided to do something fun. Make-your-own pizzas is always a big hit around here…this year, I found pizza bagels to use as the base for our dinner, and they were amazing! We also had a nice selection of toppings…two cheeses (mozzarella and Provel), mini pepperoni, green onions, mushrooms, and olives. Add some festively colored strawberry Crush, and Valentine’s Day Funfetti cupcakes for dessert, and I think we had a very nice family feast!
There are some summer days (like all of last week) where you just don’t want to turn on the oven. This cold pizza is a good dinner option for days like that. If you don’t like horseradish as much as I do, feel free to cut back the amount.
4 oz. cream cheese with chives and onion (from 8 oz. tub)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. creamy horseradish sauce
14 oz. prebaked Italian pizza crust
8 oz. deli roast beef, cut into bite-sized strips
1 1/2 cups plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup shredded romaine lettuce
1/3 cup zesty Italian salad dressing
In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and horseradish sauce; mix well. Spread evenly over pizza crust.
In medium bowl, combine roast beef, tomatoes, lettuce and dressing; toss gently to coat. Top pizza crust with roast beef mixture.
Last year, I heard about “National Pie Day” at the last moment, so I just made a quick fruit pie for dessert. I thought I’d have a little more fun with it this year…in addition to a French Silk pie for dessert, we had a Chicago-style pizza (pie) for dinner. It’s always fun to have a themed meal!
Next up is Burns Night on Sunday…I really love any reason to celebrate!
