I’ve known Emily since we were in diapers, literally. Our parents were best friends so we grew up together. If I had a second sister, she would be it. I don’t remember cooking with her when we were kids. In fact, the only time I remember consuming anything when she was around was that time I tried some bubble-gum flavored mouthwash that had been fermenting under her bathroom counter for a few years. No, what I remember about spending time with her is a night of trying to learn morse code, annoying the heck out of her mom by speaking pig latin, that time she tried to get her fifth grade teacher fired, when we went on a walk and she literally went on strike and sat on the curb with her tiny outstretched hands begging for  money, our Babysitter’s Club library, AND oh, the American Girl dolls. I had Addy (the African American slave doll) and she had Felicity (I think- either way, her doll was white). Strangely, our role-playing almost always ended up in some sort of situation where Addy (my doll) was cast off the fort into the raging ocean waters of Emily’s backyard and we had to resuce her. Kids are so weird.

I will also note that she was my co-conspirator on the last day of fifth grade. I was riding the bus home to her house aso I snuck my parents’ copy of “The Joy of Sex” into my backpack so we could learn it all. It’s the last day of fifth grade! It’s time to get a little rebellious! Go wild! One of my nosy friends asked why I had brought a backpack (since it was basically a blow-off day) and started to look inside. I think that might have been the first time I threatened to punch someone. After school, in an empty house, what actually ended up happening was that we were petrified of her mom coming home and catching us, so…we didn’t learn much because it’s hard to learn from a book that you keep closing and hiding when a car drives by. Before you blame me for being a weirdo kid, don’t. Blame my parents WHO KEPT IT IN THE BOOKSHELF IN OUR LIVINGROOM. It was practically begging to be looked at.

 I know what you’re thinking- those stories have nothing to do with food. I don’t care. You’re either with me here or you’re not.

I mentioned that Emily made us some delicious homemade pizza while we were in D.C. Fortunately for you bing-bongs, I snagged the recipe from her. So here it is!

Ingredients:

–Whole wheat dough with crushed red peppers baked into the crust (She bought this dough that was already mixed and rising in a bag from Whole Foods. Alex and I had never seen it before here, but we had also never looked. So…maybe it’s available and maybe it’s some special D.C. thing that only trendy people have access to)
-Organic mixed variety cherry tomatoes
-Arugula (this is one of the newer vegetables I’ve started eating)
-Goat cheese, asiago cheese, and parmesan cheese mix (my first time with goat cheese!)

1. Spread out the dough on a cookie sheet.

2. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and place flat side down.  Lay on the arugula and cheese. There’s no sauce on this pizza- the tomatoes bake down and get all gooey and delicious.

3. In her own words, “Pop into the oven for 15 minutes at 425 and then broil for 3-4 minutes to really melt the cheese!”