Pizza, Movie and a Magic Show

Friday nights in my home is a normally a no cook night and after leaving work early, due to gastric problems I was more than thrilled when Keithon asked for pizza for dinner. Sadly in Memphis there only a handful of place that have vegan cheese and only two places that have vegan cheese in midtown. So we headed to Trolley Stop Market since we haven't been there in awhile.  Trolley Stop is cool because the vast majority of the products are locally grown by farmers, they also have locally made items and they carry a lot of the products from the farms for you to take home. Trolley Stop is not a vegan restaurant but they do have a vegan and vegetarian section on their menu that is nothing to scoff at.

  Another great thing about Trolley Stop is they have no clue what portion control is and I learned this on my 1st visit. I ordered a calzone that took me three days to eat. So on this visit I knew better. Keithon and I opted for the build your own 10 inch pizza. This was more than enough for just the two of us. We loaded our pizza with mushrooms, black olives and spinach. The dough at Trolley Stop is deep dish style so it is thick and soft.

  Trolley Stop has made a few changes since my last visit as well. The bar has been extended and they now have a projector to show movies. To our surprise they are testing Fridays as a family night. Last night's movie was Monster's Inc. Keithon owns this movie but he wanted to stay and some of it. I didn't mind I used that time to type my blog post.

Along with the movie there was also a Magic Show! Who doesn't love a good magic show. Now I have been to magic shows before but this was my 1st time seeing a show that was up close and EVERY trick included me! (Ok maybe more Keithon than me but I did get to do one trick.) Tim Friday is not your normal magician oh no! He performs sleight of hand magic up close! For the life of me I can not explain how he turned the two balls he put into my hand to four when I opened my hand. I actually squealed like a child. Keithon on the other hand was the calm one when Tim Friday pulled a playing card from his wallet that Keithon wrote his name on. Mind you the wallet was in his back pocket zipped! Keithon just looked at me and I told him "son I can't explain it". I love that Tim really enjoys his craft. He really involves whoever he is performing for. Plus he actually remembered and pronounced our names correctly! He is a great magician and an awesome performer. Check him out Friday night's at Trolley Stop from 6:30 till 8 or on the first Thursday night at Tin Roof in Nashville from 11pm to 1am. You won't be disappointed trust me.

So if you are in the mood for a good slice of pie or a Magic Show stop by Trolley Stop. The food is great, farm to table and the magician is sure to bring a smile to your face.

My oh my what a pizza pie!

Normally Thursday nights I'm off "mommy duty" but last night Keithon was home so I decided to make his favorite dinner, PIZZA. Thursday is Ramen night but that's a soup and we know Keithon hates soup. Plus i'm not going to waste my "good" ramen on him! When I say ramen I'm not talking about that madness you get from Kroger for 29¢. But  anywho back to the pizza.

I attended Vegfest a few weeks ago and I picked up a few new release cookbooks as well as attending a few demos by the authors.  My favorite demo by far was by Annie & Dan Shannon, authors of the blog Meet The Shannons. They are so cute together that they almost make me what to remarry. ALMOST people almost! The dish they made is from their new cookbook Betty goes Vegan. It is the vegan version of the classic Betty Crocker book! Now we have all seen this classic book in someone's kitchen, now there is a vegan verison!

I have always hated Macaroni Salad or anything mayo based for that matter. Its the eggs. Cassi has always hated eggs, they are gross and they stink. So when they said the dish there were making was Black Pepper Tofu Macaroni Salad. Instant disappointment but they were just so cute and convincing that I gave it a try, after sniffing it of course. It didn't smell like mayo and it was freakin awesome! Anyone that can get me to eat a mayo based dish has my vote and a space on my bookshelf. So when Keithon picked the Margherita Pizza I threw caution to the wind yet again.

I was a little weirded out because it called for capers. I love capers but capers on pizza I wasn't to sure about it but I followed the recipe as written minus a few mistakes. Hey i'm still human. I discovered, after Keithon made the pizza sauce, that it didn't call for a tomato sauce. Since it was made I used it on mine, but Keithon followed the recipe right down to the capers.

The Shannons did it again! This pizza was amazing. The capers, garlic and sliced tomato are perfect together. The capers added the perfect amount of salt and bitterness. I prefered the recipe as written verses my tomato sauce based one. The recipe calls for Dayia cheese but I used my TJ cheese.

If you don't have a copy of Betty Goes Vegan get it! I call myself a pantry cook because if its not in my pantry i'm not using it or a may borrow it from Bianca. ( yes I have borrowed a tablespoon of a certain ingredient) Betty goes Vegan is a pantry cookbook, which I love and it is as thick as the original Betty Crocker cookbook. I'm sure if Betty was vegan she would be proud.