Pizza and Planes at Gravelly Point

We have not been to Old Town Alexandria since this uncomfortable heat wave hit at least two weeks ago. We have been taking our morning walk in the neighborhood park along the path that is covered in shade by the trees above. We thought this morning would be cooler - but it actually wasn’t. So we took a ride anyway - but more importantly to order from Vaso’s Kitchen. It’s a place we used to frequent when we lived on Capitol Hill. Now we always order pick up pizza, spanakopita, and chicken kabob after we walk along the Potomac River waterfront. Then we drive over to gravelly point and have a sort of picnic. This place is located right next to Reagan airport. Even though it was quite hot, we survived sitting in the car with the windows rolled down. We each had two pieces of pizza. All the while the planes are taking off above our head. On the way out you always know where you are because the Washington Monument guides you along the George Washington Memorial Parkway toward home. It was nice to get a break from our routine at home and take in the sights - and have pizza for lunch. 

Vaso’s Kitchen and Gravelly Point

It’s always a treat to drive to Old Town Alexandria. We have been visiting there since before we moved to DC seventeen years ago! When we lived on Capitol Hill We frequented the city for lunch at least twice a month. Now that we live in northern Virginia we drive in for a morning walk at least once a month. I oftentimes find a scene for the weekly photo challenge that I belong to. And oftentimes after we take our walk, we sit on the bench facing the Potomac River and order pick up from Vaso’s Kitchen. Then we drive over to the restaurant for the Greek pizza and chicken kabob and head to Gravelly Point. Then we park in the parking lot that is located next to Reagan airport, watch the planes take off and land and have a picnic of sorts. We always have half of the pizza and save the kabob for dinner. It’s usually pretty crowded there regardless of the time of year. We once walked along the trails there but I don’t care to walk on the same path as the bikes. But the views are great. You can see the Capitol building across the way. Since we rarely go anywhere anymore it’s a nice way to spend part of the day. It feels like being on a mini vacation. And for the first time this week it was finally warmer and sunny. Who could ask for anything more?

Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie

On our way home from visiting with family for Thanksgiving in central Virginia, we usually stop for gas at a large white building that houses several businesses about thirty minutes away. This time we first stopped to see a 400 year old white oak at the Oak Ridge Estate, and then stopped for a bite to eat at the gas station exit. It was highly recommended by our family to do both. The first garnered an image for my 52frames challenge this week, and the second was to get a humble pie at Dr. Ho’s. I’m not sure what the meaning of the name is, but it is located in North Garden. I had always noticed the place before, but we never tried it - until now. They have an extensive pizza menu, soup, sandwiches and other good things. The buzz about it is that everything is home made using ingredients from the surrounding farms, breweries and wineries. The crust is hand tossed, and we ordered the humble pie to go, along with a quart of potato leak soup and an Italian sub. It was interesting to watch the surroundings as we waited for the order. There were several people dining in and a steady stream of pick ups. When the order was ready we took it all to the car and enjoyed a couple slices of pizza with a hand tossed crust. Both of our adventures on the way home were worth the stop. There’s more to the white building than just a gas station. 

Brooklyn Bred Pizza Crust

A rectangular pizza? It doesn’t matter what shape a pizza comes in. It’s always delicious. We usually make ours at home using the round Boboli crust in both regular and thick styles. We have walked past the Brooklyn Bred rectangular pizza crust several times at the grocery store and finally decided we should try it. As we always put bread in the freezer, it was more difficult to find a spot for the unusual and larger shape. There are two crusts in the package, so we decided to try it out last week using the same ingredients except for the crust. It actually turned out pretty good, but I would never complain about any pizza. I would always drive to the pizza shop every Friday night with my dad and bring the delicious treat home. It was then and always will be a treat. We will probably go back to the Boboli brand because it’s easier to store and tastes just as good. But it was nice trying another brand. Since we no longer go to our favorite bistro pizza place, this is second best. 

Vaso’s Kitchen and Gravelly Point

We decided to do something different today. After our morning walk in the neighborhood we took a drive to cool down. On the way home we looked up Vaso’s Kitchen website - a favorite Alexandria restaurant - and ordered a Greek pizza, avgolemono soup, spanikotiropita, and chicken souvlaki for pick up. On the drive over to get it, we stopped by the house and got a soda. We would need it for when we stopped at Gravelly Point on the way back home to have an unexpected lunch date. Since there was more than enough food for lunch and dinner, we thought the pizza would be great and easy to feast on while we watched the planes take off from Reagan airport along the Potomac River. There were a lot of cars, and a lot of geese. There were even more pigeons and crows waiting for handouts. The whole time we were having lunch a few planes landed, but none took off until we were headed for the exit. It hardly mattered because even in the ninety degree heat it was tolerable under the cloudy skies to do something different. And it felt good. 

Slice - the Pizza App

Last week we ordered food from Assaggi through Grubhub. As it turned out, the restaurant wasn’t open on Memorial Day and when the driver went to pick the food up, he called to say it was closed. The app processed the order as usual and gave no indication about the place being closed. Anyway, it turned out ok as the charges were reversed. Yesterday I went to Assaggi’s website - to make sure it was open - and saw that they recommended using the “slice” app for ordering. What I read about it was that all the proceeds go to the shop, rather than the go between, so we thought to give it a try. We still prefer delivery to pick up as we are in the “at risk” age group and still prefer to play it safe. The app worked just fine and when the order was complete we got an email about it, and then a second one that the restaurant would be processing it. We didn’t get any more updates - like tracking the driver, etc - until the order arrived at exactly 6:15. We usually order more than just one meal so we can have some leftovers during the week and get away from having to think about what to prepare every night. That’s more like what our routine was before March 13. Anyway, the app worked well, the order was exactly on time, the food was prepared and packaged nicely, and we would do it again. It’s nice to be able to order from our favorite places, but it’s no fun messing around with the packaging and containers to avoid the “cooties.” I’m sure we are doing overkill, but we just don’t want to take any chances. Now we have enough lasagna, pizza, salad, and meatballs to last another couple of meals. It was worth it. 

Thermador Oven Home Connect App and Pizza

After more than three months of back and forth, we finally got a new replacement Thermador oven. We moved to Virginia and the new appliance in our condo took forever to preheat and could not sustain a temperature above 350 degrees after three service attempts and replacement parts. The new oven has a clock and timer and Wi-Fi - so of course I needed to hook it up to the home connect app. So I downloaded it, created an account and was ready to add the oven to it. And as is typically the case, the first attempt never works - but that doesn’t stop me. However, after wasting a lot of time trying to figure it out I quit for the day for my own sanity and would try again the next day. But at least we could now turn the oven on, watch the progress on the oven touch screen as it preheated - with a bell tone when it was ready, and watched the temperature actually reach 450 degrees. So we made a pizza after three months. It was good, but needed more time to cook. The next day I thought I’d try again to connect to the app. After a few more failed attempts, I called Thermador. Rather than have them walk me through the set up I asked if I could just reset the oven to factory settings and then start all over. That’s what I ended up doing. And it worked. Not that we would use the app much - but you can turn the oven on, set the settings, etc from the app. There are also other things you can do - like follow recipes. Honestly, I’m not the chef in our house and my husband wouldn’t use these things. In the end we probably won’t use the app much at all. But I needed to figure it out and I did. And that’s good enough.