Tale of the Pie: Padrino's Pizza & Family Restaurant

Before we have to change the name of this blog to The Beer Project, we fortunately have a pizza review for you. When we first walked into Padrino's, the savory aroma gave us pretty high hopes about the quality of the pie. Since it was a Lenten Friday, meat was off limits, so we decided to get a Sicilian in order to mix things up. In hindsight, that was a dumb choice, since Sicilians take much longer to make and waiting peacefully in a restaurant is not really the nibble's thing.

It's clear that Padrino's is definitely a local favorite. Everyone (with the exception of us) who walked through the door seemed to know at least one other person there. It was a clean and cozy little shop, with some cheesy old world murals on the wall (which Saucy rather liked).

Time for a Random List: The Top 5 Highlights of a Day Spent with a Two-Year-Old

So, the nibble turned two on Saturday. It's hard to believe it's been two years since he stole our hearts that blustery - and blizzardy - December afternoon. I was having trouble deciding on the better post to commemorate the occasion: sentimental thoughts on his growing up or tips on how to deal with the terrible twos.

But I decided to take it in a different direction. The truth is, the nibble entered his terrible two phase soon after turning one. And while I do not dare suggest that we are done with tantrums, he seems to be learning how to calm himself down more quickly as of late.

The nibble and I spend most of our days together, since I'm fortunate enough to have a career that allows me to do the bulk of my work when he's napping, when he's still asleep in the morning or goes to bed at night, when he's at the neighbor's or with my parents, and when the hubby's home from work. And while some ... most ... some days I'm about ready to pull out my hair by the time the hubby gets home, there is definitely no shortage of hilarious and rewarding moments in our day.

NYC Edition Tale of the Pie: Keste Pizza & Vino

Okay, so this one is going to be short and sweet. We were winding down our trip to New York (or perhaps in the nibble's case, winding up) and stopped for one final meal at Keste Pizza & Vino in the West Village for a few pies.

I don't know who was more tired or crankier at that point in the day - the nibble or Saucy. Either way, I have to preface this review by saying that Keste didn't receive the usual amount of attention that we would give to a pizza spot we were planning to review.

New York Edition Tale of the Pie: Max Brenner

Not a pizza shop, I know. But we did have a slice ... of chocolate pizza to go.

As Saucy mentioned, our NYC weekends once consisted of leisurely Saturday afternoons at the Brooklyn Brewery and Sunday evenings at the Blind Tiger. With a toddler in tow, grabbing a dessert to go from Max Brenner is more our speed these days.

Not that I'm using the nibble as an excuse for slobbing on a slice of absolute decadence in the middle of Broadway. As a true chocoholic, I was happy to leave Saucy and the nibble outside and sneak into the extremely crowded restaurant/chocolate shop to check out their offerings. Almost instantly, I spotted the chocolate pizza. Melted chocolate and toasted marshmallows on a pizza crust? Uh, one slice to go, please.

The wait for our pizza slice was at least 10-15 minutes, a bit longer than I expected. But it was freshly made, with piping hot chocolate and marshmallows oozing over all three sides. So rich, so flavorful and so delicious. And as the three of us stood there chowing down without a word, faces covered in chocolate smears, I thought to myself that this new sort of NYC weekend isn't that bad after all.

Max Brenner
(212) 388-0030East Village
841 Broadway (between 13th and 14th)
New York, NY  10003

Apparently, there is also one in Philly (for our local readers) at 1500 Walnut St. (15th St. between Walnut and Locust).

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/

Tale of the Pie Aruba Edition: Tomato Charlie's

If you've been concerned about the lack of new posts during the past week, don't despair. We have not abandoned the blog; it's just that several of us have been in Aruba celebrating Emmental's wedding. Now that we're back, we've got two pizza reviews and any number of random posts (how to survive air travel with a rambunctious nearly-two-year-old, slightly aimless rant about the Marriott beach bar waiter who tried to overcharge us for the $8.50 drink special of the day because they "forgot" to update the specials board from the previous day, Balashi beer in 50 words or less, etc.) coming your way.

Naturally, we had to give Aruba's pizza a try. Our first stop was Tomato Charlie's, located along the Blvd/Prominade at the Brickell Bay Beach Club (Palm/Eagle beach area). Saucy and I started with the Bruschetta while our friend had a Tomato Charlie's Italian Salad. We then shared a medium pie, half pepperoni and half plain. The bruschetta was pretty good, nothing that would knock your socks off, but a tasty little nibble. It was topped with shredded mozzarella, which was definitely a bruschetta first for me. The salad seemed to be lacking in toppings, a bit of a disappointment when considering the over $10 price tag.

Almost better than pumpkin beer ... Harvest Days at Merrymead Farm

In my younger days, before the turning of leaves and brisk mornings meant the arrival of pumpkin beer and Oktoberfest celebrations, fall was marked by the start of the cross country season and a sore right arm. You might be wondering what a sore arm has to do with the fall. The beginning of Harvest Days at my place of employment, Merrymead Farm, meant I'd be scooping pumpkin ice cream non-stop for at least four straight weekends.

Yes, the ice cream line is long. And you need to park a half mile away. But experiencing Harvest Days with the nibble this past weekend ... and that delicious pumpkin ice cream ... made it all worth it.

Merrymead is a great place to take the little ones any time of the year, as they can check out the cows, bunnies, donkeys, goats, a giant hog and other assorted small animals. And they can even watch a milking demonstration. The nibble asked us which cow was producing the chocolate milk.

How much does your toddler really understand?

Now that the nibble is 20 months old, the hubby and I are beginning to realize that we have to censor ourselves a bit more. And not just in the obvious we-don't-want-him-repeating-the-f-word sort of way either.

What I wouldn't give to find out exactly how much of our daily conversations he actually understands. He's extremely social and has always attempted to participate in our discussions - laughing when we laugh, making the same facial expressions and hand gestures, and chiming in with a few strings of babble. I remember when the hubby left the house headed over to Chap's at 8 a.m. for his free growlers on April Fool's Day (yes, that was a joke) and I couldn't stop laughing from the second he locked the door until he called me realizing it was a joke. The nibble couldn't have possibly known what was going on, but he laughed the entire time too. And that just made me laugh harder.

How to Land Your Kid in Therapy

My dad saved me this article ("How to Land Your Kid in Therapy") from the July/August issue of The Atlantic. A lot of food for thought, especially for someone who's only been doing the mom thing for 18 months and just now really getting into actual child rearing, as opposed to infant parenting, which is comprised primarily of diaper, safety, playtime and feeding duties.

Basic premise: Many parents today are so focused on "making their kids happy" that the children grow up without knowing how to deal with disappointment, defeat or life in general, and therefore, find themselves to be unhappy adults. She discusses a wide range of contributing factors, from the increasingly popular unscored soccer and pee week basketball games to running over to pick up and coddle your toddler the second he falls down.

Happy Half-Birthday to the Nibble

The other day, I went into the nibble's room to re-cover him before going to bed and I stopped for a moment to just look at him. When did he get so big? The crib that once engulfed him now looked crowded with him and his three stuffed animals (or his "beebies" as he would call them).

Everyone tells you that kids grow up before you know it, but I really can't believe he is 18 months today. Not that I'm mourning the loss of his babyhood. Sure, dealing with full-on tantrums and actual discipline is a bit more challenging than the feed, cuddle, change diaper routine, but it's also much more rewarding. He's a like a little person, with his own ideas, mannerisms and dance moves. One of his big belly laughs is all I need to put a smile on my face. And sometimes, the highlight of my entire day is watching him clap when we get out of the car and he sees we're at the playground ... even though we've been there a million times before.

The Freezer Case: Wegmans Thin Crust Specialty Plain Pizza

Okay, technically not a freezer case review, but close enough. You can find this "Thin Crust Specialty Plain Pizza" in Wegmans' prepared food section in a refrigerator case.

We were late eating dinner (which makes for a crabby nibble) and trying to get a few groceries when I decided to pick up a pie that I could pop in the oven as soon as we got home. We've had their regular (not labeled as specialty, whatever that means) pepperoni pizza in the past and always been pleased. However, it was a Friday, which means no meat, and you know I like a thin crust, so we decided to give this a try.