Ponchos, Pizza, and Precipitation

We have a pretty large collection of ponchos.  Like "hoarding" large.  Because we (really just KEV!!) are hoarders.

And there is nothing I can do about it.

Except be thankful that I am dry during complete downpours.

They are also fun to wear in the shower when you just don't feel like getting clean.

Not that I would know anything about that.

So, do you remember when I posted about "greatest moments"?

Well, this story is about one of those moments.  And it is pretty great. 

Mainly because it involves pizza.  And grilling.  And Kev.

We LOVE anything to do with grilling.  ANYTHING.  And it pretty much ends up being the exclamation point on our week.

Except for we had never grilled pizzas before.  And pizzas just happen to be our favorite food OF ALL TIME.  So, we made a plan.  We watched cooking shows (specifically Alton Brown's).  We read blogs.  We studied.  And planned.  And dreamed.

Then we picked a night to finally do it.

And it DOWN POURED!

Fortunately, rain is NO match for Kev when he is ready to grill.....

He donned his poncho like any hard core chef would do.

And then he did the "Monster Mash".

At least that is what it looks like he is doing in the picture.

We laugh in the face of rain.

We decided to make four different pizzas.  A tomato and basil.  A cajun shrimp.  A pepperoni (organic) with peppers and onions.  A wild mushroom.

The base for all of them would be a fresh tomato sauce ( that I made) and fresh mozzarella.  Oh... and whole wheat pizza dough.  Of course.  I bought two "balls" of dough at Publix.

Kev split them up in to four pizza crusts....

Watching him roll out pizza dough is pretty fantastic.  He is a natural.... and should have managed a pizza place.

Oh... that's right.  He did.  And we fell in love there.. just in case you have forgotten.  :)

While he rolled out the dough, I prepped the "accessories". 

The shrimp was marinated in olive oil and this magical substance...

Courtesy of our Syracuse relatives.  ( I never thought I would be so happy that I had relatives in Syracuse until I became acquainted with delish food from The Dinosaur)

Each crust was coated in olive oil and this....

Garlic Gold Nuggets.

Heavenly.  And necessary for a perfect pizza crust.

I chopped.  I diced.  I cooked onions.  I gathered up every single thing I could think of.

And then I put on my gear....

And realized that I have NEVER cleaned the mirror in the kitchen bathroom.

Oooops.

And we headed out in to the storm...

In case you haven't figured it out by now.  We are HARD CORE when it comes to food.  Kev even set up our card table so we would have a place to set all of the food.  If there was a game show where a team had to prepare a meal in insane circumstances.... WE WOULD WIN.  Hands down.

The procedure pretty much went like this...

Kev grilled one side of the crust.  When it was ready he flipped it over.  I was waiting with sauce and brush in hand.  I brushed the sauce on... he placed the sliced mozzarella... and we both placed the toppings.

It grilled for a couple of minutes more.  He removed the pizza.  I ran it inside UNDER my poncho.

And we laughed the ENTIRE time.  Because it was hilarious.

Low and behold, the shrimp pizza just so happened to be our favorite!! It was AMAZING!  And the cajun spice worked like a charm...

The tomato basil was my second favorite.  Mainly because I'm obsessed with basil and fresh tomatoes.

The other two were super yummy.  But didn't make the "favorites" cut.  I had a slice of each and then may or may not have gone back for more.

Because that is how I roll.

We are already planning our next grilled pizza adventure.  Maybe some pineapple will be involved?  Maybe more of a veggie pizza?

All I know is that we had so much fun!! It was definitely a highlight of our summer!