In honor of Father's Day, I decided to brave the grill for some pizza. Growing up, my father was cool enough to know that I can handle more than a cheese pizza. Pizza was the ultimate comfort food. My brother would often inject excitement to our lives by having an asthma attack, causing him to end up in the hospital on multiple occasions. My bratty self would be so jealous that he gets to skip school and I don't. Yes, I had great perspective back then. Ha! To appease my misery, and sometimes trick me into leaving the hospital so my brother can finally have his peace and quiet, my father would take me to Shakey's Pizza. I believe this place is still alive and well in the West Coast. My father's favorite pizza was called Manager's Special:my memory thinks it had onions, ground beef, green peppers, and I think ham. Take that cheese pizza!... Although, I would pick out the onions and the peppers, but I enjoyed the flavors that permeated the bite. I always thought that my father's bad-assery transcended beyond the walls of our home that they named a pizza after him. Yes, he is that bad ass. Another non-lame pizza my father introduced me to was this pizza called Mare: it had fish balls on it! No! It's not what you're thinking of sicko! It's fish meat processed into dumpling like balls. Again, in your face cheese pizza!
In honor of my father shielding me from a childhood of eating lame cheese pizza ( sorry cheese only pizza lovers), I decided to empty out my fridge and grilled up some barbeque, chicken, gruyere, feta, avocado, arugula, orange cranberry, flatbread pizza.
Phew! That was a mouthful, and indeed my mouth was filled with deliciousness.
Phew! That was a mouthful, and indeed my mouth was filled with deliciousness.
Thank you Papa for exposing my palate early to the finer flavors of life ( and giving me the option to skip out on trying that goat wiener delicacy...maybe I'll try it now?)
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and father figures!
