Warming My House

flowers
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.

We had a housewarming party on Saturday...confirming that party prep is my absolute favorite activity in the world. On Friday morning, as I left Trader Joe's with my arms full of baguettes and flowers I felt tres francais and very content despite the busy day (of cleaning) I had ahead of me. (The flowers in the picture were actually a gift - I know I'm cheating - but they are still so fresh).

Cooper, of course, can't quite grasp that all of the list-making and grocery shopping and chopping and sweating and cooking in the days just before the party are actually why I love having parties. He insists that I should rely more on other people to bring food. But what fun is that?

Naturally, I neglected to take any pictures of the food, the decor (we staged the party in our barn-like garage - lots of pumpkins and little white lights), or guests. I'm forgetful when I'm having too much fun.

I made tons and tons of food - most of which was actually eaten by the end of the party. Lots of success stories, but maybe none quite as successful as these little treats from Giada De Laurentis - gorgonzola pizzettes:

(They are super easy - as long as you don't worry about making the pizza dough rounds perfect. Mine were as misshapen as they come...but anything that involves tomato and basil looks pretty anyway)

Ingredients:
8 oz. purchased pizza dough
3 oz. crumbled Gorgonzola
3 oz. cherry tomatoes, quartered (I used halved grape tomatoes)
2 tsp. extra-virgin olie oil
1/4 c. fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

- Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
- Roll out the pizza dough to 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2 to 2 1/2 inch diameter cookie cutter, cut 18 circles from the dough (I improvised here...and my circles weren't so circular)
- Arrange the circles on a heavy baking sheet (I wiped mine down with oil first)
- Sprinkle the Gorgonzola over the circles
- Top with tomatoes, pressing them gently into the dough
- Bake until the pizzettes are golden brown, about 10 minues
- Drizzle the pizzettes with oil
- Sprinkle the basil over the pizzettes
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper

And serve!