Tommy's Pizza

Connor and I recently agreed that Tommy's is our favorite pizza place in Columbus. Dante's and Iacono's round out the top 3. The sauce and cheese at Tommy's both beat out Iacono's. We picked Tommy's over Dante's for two reasons. First, is the location. We love the pizza, but it's too far away. Secondly, they don't offer chicken fingers. Ian hates pizza and loves chicken fingers, so chicken fingers are a must-have for any family dinning experience.

Connor's 9th birthday party

These are pictures from Connor's birthday party, not to be confused with his birthday dinner. The kids always get a special meal on their actual birth date and then a family party on the weekend. We had friends and family over for pizza (Domino's) and cake.

Nothing says class, and practicality, like boxed wine.

Connor's birthday cake! I made this.


For Connor's third birthday, my dad gave him a snake that he found in his yard. It was elegantly presented to him in an old bucket. Connor wasn't scared of the snake, rather offended by the gift. He promptly dumped the snake in to the yard and stomped away. This year, my dad gave Connor a brown paper bag containing a mystery gift... Make sure that you read the poem stapled to the bag...


What could it be? The anticipation was almost too much to take....


It was a bag of mushrooms from my dad's yard!

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Connor and I ate at Donato's last week. He had a Big Don Sub. He reported that it was "uh, like... it's good or whatever. I guess it's okay." He only ate half of it.

We also ordered a pizza. This pizza photographed really well. It looks like it should be tasty. It actually looks like it was ordered from a mom & pop type of pizza place. This is what makes Donato's pizza so deceptive. It looks like it comes from an independent place but it tastes like chain restaurant pizza. It's okay but not great. Connor commented, after one bite, "uh, yeah. I don't like this very much. It looked good but it doesn't taste good."

Recent

I made this Barbie cake for my cousin's 21st birthday. It's a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and a layer of strawberry jam in the center.

Broiled cod, mashed potatoes, beans, and carrots from The Columbus Fish Market.

Homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.

Homemade pesto, mozzarella, and tomato pizza. I would just order this for takeout from a local pizza place, but no such place exists in Hilliard Ohio.

Carsonie's in Upper Arlington

Tony and I went to Carsonie's in Upper Arlington for the first time last night. The high point of the meal was the pizza that we split as an appetizer. The dough was fresh and thick, but not too thick. The cheese and toppings were good quality and plentiful enough. We will definitely go back for the pizza.

The pasta dishes that we ordered were just meh. Not bad but not great. I am a stickler for al dente pasta and was disappointed that my penne was over cooked. The sauce was good - roasted red peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and a light cream sauce. Tony had Chicken Carsonie, which is actually just chicken Parmesan. I cannot recall one single time that Tony as dined at an Italian restaurant and not ordered chicken Parmesan. I think that pigs would fly, hell would freeze over, and the Earth would stop turning if Tony ever ordered anything but chicken Parmesan at an Italian restaurant.

Other notes: Carsonie's has Peroni beer on draft. They score extra points for this. The stromboli here looked amazing. I will definitely go back to try it.

quite possibly the best pizza ever

Thawed loaf of frozen bread dough and homemade pesto

Campari tomatoes and fresh mozzarella

Bake and serve

pizza

Homemade pepperoni pizza from a couple of nights ago. I also made a whole wheat, pesto and tomato pizza but I overcooked it a little because I got distracted doing other stuff. Whammy. It wasn't picture worthy.

Food from last week

We ordered lunch from Plank's on Parsons Avenue while at work on Friday. This pizza was good, but not like I remember it. The crust was really sweet. Not in a bad way, but the sweetness was a little distracting.

This is a white pizza that I made on Thursday. Connor was fascinated that I had cracked the secret code to Papa John's cheesesticks... I didn't tell him that the secret recipe involves only pizza dough, garlic butter, mozzarella cheese, and provolone cheese. I would prefer to maintain the air of mystery.

Yummy.... Chicken and cheese quesadilla with spicy salsa and a whole wheat tortilla.

Not to brag or anything, but I make really awesome pizza. Here's a ricotta, provolone, and pesto pizza with crushed red peppers.

NYC - PIzza

There is nothing quite like authentic NYC pizza. One of my favorites is Frank's Trattoria @ 1st Ave and 21st Street. I make a point of stopping there every time that I am in town.




The pizza at Adriatic's is great too, but not as good as Frank's. They are only a few blocks apart. Adriatic's is 1st Avenue and 18th.



I can't remember the name of this pizza place, but it is a few blocks outside of Times Square and Ian and I have stopped there in the past. It's good, not great.

Father's Day cookout and some other pictures

Grilling out at my dad's on Father's Day. Grilled chicken marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, brats, hot dogs, potatoes, and corn.


Eating dinner at my dad... Guess what's in that big coffee can on the table? Think about.... Do you have a guess yet? It's a big pile of dirt and worms! There was no fishing involved with our Father's Day cookout, but my dad felt it appropriate to keep his big tin of worms on the table during dinner.

Here's lunch at Jimmy V's in German Village with "The Bosses". I had a grilled chicken salad, Boss 1 had a Greek paninni. I can't remember exactly what was on her sandwich other than the fact that it involved olives. LOTS of olives. I can't stand the sight or smell of olives, so I had to quit looking at the sandwich as soon as I spotted them. Boss 2 had a bowl of soup, but I cannot recall the specifics.

Dinner at my dad's a couple of weeks ago. Domino's pizza and wine.



Have we discussed Romeo's pizza yet? I don't believe that we have. The Minuteman Pizza near us was recently bought by the Romeo's pizza chain. The kids were devastated when they found out about it. Minuteman is their favorite pizza. Romeo's is pretty much the same as Minuteman, but maybe a little bit better tasting. Logic and taste buds be damned though. My kids hate Romeo's just because it isn't Minuteman.

Connor's 8th Birthday Dinner and Other Stuff That I Forgot to Post

The kids always get to choose whatever dinner they want on their birthdays. For Connor's 8th birthday, he picked Papa John's for his party and Skyline for his actual birth date.



Ian began his meal with a Spongebob ice cream treat from the cooler.




He then moved on to his mad science experiments. It started off with him crushing oyster crackers and added pepper and him politely asking everyone to try his "recipe". I obliged him. It wasn't that bad.



Then Ian started to get fancy. He took a little chili off of Connor's plate and some cheese from mine and added that to the cracker and pepper mix. This is where I had to draw the line and refuse to try his new "recipe".



We eat a lot of pizza. Here's some pizza from Jet's. Tony loves this stuff. It's not anywhere as good as a mom & pop type of place (Iacono's, Dantes, etc.) but it's good considering that it's from a chain.



Every few months I decide to make lasagna, mostly because of a grudge that I have with myself. My mom makes kickass lasagna and mine always turns out just okay, at best. Somehow I manage to dry it out during the baking process no matter how much sauce that I start with. This was no exception.



Tony was off of work last week and asked me to get him up a Big n' Tasty from McDonald's on my way home from picking Ian up from school. I can't even think the words "Big n' Tasty" without giggling a little. I don't know why, but it just cracks me up that Tony requested this sandwich.


This is a chicken pita from My Big Fat Greek Kuzina. Tony and I ate there a couple of weekends ago after David's 30th birthday party. I'm not going to lie to you, I was already pretty drunk when got to the restaurant (and by pretty drunk, I actually mean very drunk). I don't really remember whether this was good or not but it looks yummy.

100% Health Food and Awesomeness - 05.03.2009

I bet that you are speechless at this very moment while you view the majesty that is the Stewart Family Refrigerator. Olivia always refers to my fridge as "the Jenga refrigerator and freezer" and she's right... There's a delicate stacking technique that allows me to fit so much junk and randomness in to one household appliance.

Here's a few highlights from refrigerator (the day after Connor's birthday party):

• Tons and tons of leftover Papa John's pizza
• Leftover Donato's pizza from the day before Connor's party. I don't know about you but when I know that I will be ordering a shit-ton of pizza for a party the next day, I always have pizza for dinner that night too! For the first time ever, I can honestly say that I am sick of pizza.
  
• There's a bag of leftover White Castle's on the third shelf from the top. Olivia got a flat tire around 10 PM the night of Connor's party and I had to drag the kids out to pick her up. On the way back, we picked up a late night snack from WC.
• On the top shelf, there is a huge container of cookie dough. Connor loves this stuff.
  
• There are at least 2 loaves of whole wheat bread and 2 packages of English muffins in my fridge at any given moment.
  
• The drawer located under the second shelf from the top is packed with tons of fun stuff including multiple kinds of string cheese and dozens of containers of Papa John's garlic dipping sauce.
  
• My three favorite drink mixers are on the top shelf - Diet Sprite, light cranberry juice, and sour mix.
  
• In the bottom drawers I can spot a couple of heads of lettuce, tomatoes, french onion dip, and 3 packages of Kroger brand American cheese.
  

Happy Birthday (Party) Connor! 05.02.2009

I'm just gonna put it out there... I can be controlling, obsessive compulsive, and anal retentive about a lot of things. I'm not this way about everything, but there are a few things that always send me over the top in search of perfection... These things include - but are not limited to - holiday entertaining, planning my kids' birthday parties, decorating for Christmas, and searching for hard to find toys and video games on Ebay. Typically, I start the planning process for my kids' birthday parties about 8 weeks in advance of the actual birth date. 4 weeks before the birthday, I have a final plan. 3 weeks ahead of time, invitations are in the mail and all party supplies are bought. The last 6 months have been pretty crazy in our house - ranging from numerous illnesses, my back injury, another back injury and a trip to the ER for me, back surgery, Tony's work schedule and schedule at the recording studio, and all of the normal kid stuff. Add in to that mix a very demanding 2 or 3 weeks at work and the result is that I didn't have time to over-engineer Connor's birthday party like I typically do. This actually worked out for the better. We had a smaller party this year, at home, with just close family and Connor's 3 best friends from school and the neighborhood.


My dad stopped by before the party with a Blue Jackets shirt for Connor. Connor's favorite player is Rick Nash... I love that my dad buys Connor adult sized sport jerseys and tells me to make sure that I wash the items on hot so that they shrink.


My dad also gave Connor a Blue Jackets foam finger, which Ian immediately confiscated and declared to be his.


Fruit, veggies, a can of Diet Pepsi, and my grandma's arms.


Papa John's pizza always seems to be a favorite with kids and it's cheap. Connor loves their cheese sticks, so I ordered plenty of those too.


Birthday cake and cupcakes from Sam's Club. I won't lie to you, I really like Sam's Club cakes. I'm not a cake snob by any means and their cakes are cheap, sugary, and tasty. (Note: I did attempt to bake two cakes myself for Connor's birthday. The baking went just fine, but I ran in to some technical difficulties with a can of black airbrush frosting. I didn't like the way that the airbrush effect looked, so I got frustrated and ran to Sam's right before the party and was lucky enough to find Batman cupcakes. Thank you to Tony for not saying "I told you so" after I gave up on my homemade cakes... He warned me before I made the cakes that I was out of mind with what I had planned, but was nice enough not to bring it up again after I threw the cakes away. For the record, things went wrong when I tried to airbrush on a LEGO Batman character with a handcut sencil that I had made. The airbrushed color ran everywhere and generally looked like shit.)



All of the adults were pretty beat after the party, and Tony fell asleep on the couch for a while. He always sleeps better when he has his favorite Webkinz and Barbie car with him. Also, that last sentence was a total and complete lie. I though that it would be funny to put toys on Tony, take a picture, and post it on the internets for all to see. Hehehehehehehe. I'm an evil genius!



This is my 4 year-old cousin Emma. She's the most adorable little girl on the face of the planet. She helped me decorate Tony with toys and loaned me her Barbie car for the photo.



My cousins Dylan (7 years-old) and Emma spent the night with us after the party. Connor and Ian love having them over and are always excited when friends can stay the night. I put the air mattress in the living room for them and somehow all 4 kids and my dog were all able to fit on the queen sized bed. I cannot believe how late these kids were able to stay up, especially after running around for about 8 hours straight earlier in the day. They finally all laid down and went to sleep around midnight.

Wait for it.... Waaaaaait for it... I'M BACK!

I am way behind in posting updates. Last week was a busy week. Between work and trying to get things ready for Connor's birthday party, I didn't have much time for my normal internet tom-foolery and antics.

Here are a bunch of random pictures, in no particular order, from the past week.


Cheese and crackers... Connor eats both, Ian just eats the crackers.


Connor eating a Ritz and cheese "sandwich". Ian is eating a Ritz crackers and a lollipop. Gross, right? Yeah, totally gross.


This is our mailbox. Someone drew all over it with sidewalk chalk... Hummm... Ian got a new box of sidewalk chalk recently. I wonder who could have vandalized the mailbox? It certainly couldn't be my sweet and innocent Ian.


Reason number 2,098 that Ian is awesome. He stood behind me and took this picture while I was paying for pizza the other night. I love this picture.


I steamed these vegetables and then didn't eat them. Sometimes the smell of steamed broccoli really bothers me. Once this was cooked, I just couldn't eat it because the broccoli smell was too much for me at the time. Oh well.


Trip to the Hilliard skate park. Ian rode his scooter and Connor rode his skateboard. S8T or die, dude!