Hi friends! I am back from March Break and true to its name, I took a break from work, blogging and Nova Scotia… but not winter. I thought I’d catch up with 5 things on a Monday!

1. Not gonna lie, I am loving skiing! We went to Sunday River for the week with our neighbours. If you have any interest in skiing, this is a great way to spend a week. The kids joined a week-long camp and were dropped off at 9:30 am – they skied all day, were fed, had a blast and we picked them up at 3:00 pm and skied home. Amazing. Do it and teach them while they’re young-fearless-dare-devils.

2. Wanted: A treadmill currently being used as your clothes rack. No joke, this weather is nasty and there has been a lot of complaining from drivers about runners on the roads. I have signed up for the Bluenose half marathon and the Cabot Trail Relay and I am itching to get out there so for now, maybe I should suck it up and run inside. Help!

3. Forever Young book club meets this week. Spoiler alert: I really loved this month’s book.

4. I am working through my 36 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I TURN 36 list and it’s a slow start. I have 5.5 items done so far (won’t tell you which ones) but I am sad to say I know not all thirty-six items will be completed because they closed the Oval. Boo. My friend suggested I change that one to “Try Boarder Cross” and check it off as DONE.

5. And finally, lets talk about Friday on a Monday. So I’ve kind of slacked off on Friday Night Pizza Night and not because of the company or commitment. I was a bit overwhelmed by how it should work and now that I have given the event a bit of distance, I think I have the best plan yet!

Attempt 1: Everyone brought their own pizza (either homemade and ready-to-bake, ordered or frozen and we we ate together but independently. The idea was simple but it didn’t feel very communal and in the end, it seemed more chaotic than anticipated. too many pizzas and not enough mouths.

Attempt 2: Mike and I pre-made homemade frozen pizzas with sauce and cheese and everyone brought stuff to share and decorate. This worked great because the pizzas were small and several fit in the oven at once. It felt much better but there were only 8 adults so even though there was a night of prep-work ahead of time, it wasn’t too difficult to make and freeze the pizzas.

As much as I prefer attempt 2 over attempt one, it is expensive and time consuming plus there is a lot of planning. We do not have a deep freeze so it’s hard to know how many pizzas to prepare and then have a place to store them. I wanted attempt 2 to work but at the same time, it felt as though the spontaneity and ease of FNPN was lost in all of the planning and work.

Enter attempt 3: Everyone brings their own cheese pizza – it can be a homemade one (like we make [see recipe below]), or a store-bought pizza and we will have a topping bar. You know, like a salad bar! The toppings won’t always be the same, but that’s where the spontaneity kicks in, plus, it seems like it’d be easier for us to provide all of the toppings so there is not too much of one thing and not enough of another. And by bringing your own base(s), you can eat as much as you have.

I hope the new plan sounds enticing. To make homemade frozen pizzas – which are easy and great to make ahead of time for any pizza night – simply roll out your dough and bake it for 5 minutes max (just till it is dry).  Once the dough has cooled down, spread the sauce and add cheese. Cover each pizza with saran wrap and tinfoil. Freeze. When ready to decorate, take out of the freezer! 

I hope to see you at the next FNPN! More details to come. I promise.