Riemer Family Adventures: Happy Valentine's Day

For as long as I can remember I have made homemade pizzas on Valentine's Day. I know the tradition dates back to when Josie was a baby but I believe it goes back to our first or second Valentine's Day together. I'm not sure where the tradition came from but I had my favorite pizza dough recipe (and don't think I ever copped out and bought the store bought variety) I had the yeast and the oil and the flour and as each child came the recipe doubled.

And as the children came we also had the tradition of making heart shaped, sugar cookies in the shapes of hearts and frosted pink or red. My sister Kim always did this with her kids and I'm pretty sure as I started she stopped because her kids had gotten too big.

Well, it was Valentine's Day here in Berlin and I knew I didn't have my Kitchen Aid here, nor my dough hooks and I didn't want to mess with the Back Pulver - which is supposed to be baking powder but isn't really. And I knew dealing with yeast here with my limited knowledge of German and my limited kitchen tools and my limited time, really now that I'm in class all day was going to prove problematic.

Luckily Marty and I spied these little bad boys at my favorite after school drop off/before German class hang out - Lidl, the cheap, discount grocery store. And it was as if they were calling my name, they were even on sale for 1.15 Euro per pizza. Score.

The kids both had friends over on Valentine's day so they helped with our cookies. Unfortunately, I could not find heart shaped cookie cutters anywhere!! But things had already been set up for Easter so we opted for "Spring/Valentine's cookies" in the shapes of butterflies, eggs, rabbits and tulips. The cookies are really just a vehicle for the frosting anyway, right? Also, no rolling pin, but my large Hydro flask worked pretty well.

Josie helped me with the pizzas. The boxed package came with a rolled up dough and a small jar of sauce. That was it. Thankfully Marty

alerted me to the fact that nothing else came in the package. so I bought toppings. I would have just assumed that at least there was cheese in there. He was familiar with this type of mix because apparently back in the 70's Chef Boyardee put out a similar item. His dad, being frugal, always bought the boxed pizza with JUST sauce, not the more expensive one with cheese as well. It wasn't until Marty was in middle school did he know that pizza typically comes with cheese and toppings.

So, in honor of his nostalgia and love for just sauce on his pizza I make him a huge helping of just sauce pizza. Have been doing it since this tradition started.

It was a lovely Valentine's Day complete with heartfelt, homemade cards. Happy Valentine's Day from Berlin!!!