Field Trip with Jane

Today was a totally fabulous and fantastic day. For the first time in a very long time, I dusted off my camera and met up with my pal Jane to take some pictures. Jane is an amazing photographer and it was really fun to see her work. She's not even a little bit afraid to get dirty. I heart her. Oh and note how comfortably she goes all bendy - that's years of yoga, people. It's impressive stuff.

We met in Soulard and headed over near the brewery to take some photos. One of my favorite things about being a shutter bug is that a camera provides a reason to connect with people I wouldn't otherwise. Within five minutes of popping off our lens caps, we had made a new friend. Meet Rockabilly Johnny. He drives this totally bitchin' vintage car, plays the stand up bass, and restores old cars for fun. He was kind enough to move his car to a more desirable location, model, and give us a tour of his shop. Viva la Johnny!

Johnny and his babies.

Baby got back.

After a quick tour of the shop, Jane and I meandered around the corner and met Larry, who was walking his three adorable pooches -- Dingo, Lulu, and their big beautiful black lab buddy. We made fast friends with this talented artist and he agreed to let us see his totally awesome studio. A short creepy elevator ride later (sorry Jane!) and we were 4 floors up. Larry has some kick ass stuff in his crib, including a mini circus tent!

Tiny Circus

Fantastic GIANT painting

Beautiful stairs that nearly caused a panic attack. SOOO STEEP!

What a fantastic photo adventure! We made two new friends and got some great shots.  Hanging with Jane is so much fun. I can't wait to go play with her again. :)

Pintrest = Buffallo Chicken Pizza

I have a confession. I'm totally addicted to Pintrest. If you haven't gotten yourself hooked yet, careful, be prepared to abandon sleep. Pintrest is a website that allows you to visually catalog things you see around the web, share your "pins" with others, as well as view and pin from others' boards. Besides the completely drool-worthy DIY pins, there is the never-ending food porn. OH.MY.GAWD. the fabulous recipes and impressive lick-the-screen photos are unbelievable. One I knew I had to make was the buffalo chicken pizza. I love hot wings, but eating chicken on the bone gives me the willies, so this is a great way to get the spicy chicken without the wing mess and the psychological freak out. 

Spicy chicken and ooey gooey cheese -- mmmm. I had to do a little improvising though since I didn't have all the ingredients listed in the original recipe on hand. For instance, when I checked the expiration date on our ranch dressing we were past the recommended "use by" date by six months. Whoops. So, I used Caesar and a small packet of ranch from some fast food joint that was stuffed in the butter compartment. I'm not sure what the original is supposed to taste like, but ours turned out great.

Buffalo Chicken:

In a saute pan, cook 2 chicken breasts in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Cool. Shred. Toss with buffalo sauce.

Buffalo Chicken Sauce:

3 TBSP Frank's Hot Sauce

2 TBSP butter

Melt butter in the microwave with the hot sauce for one minute. Stir. 

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

Pizza Ingredients:

1 thin crust prepared pizza shell

1/4 cup Caesar/ranch/blue cheese dressing

6 oz. Provel cheese

12 oz. buffalo chicken shredded

1/4 onion sliced

1/4 Parmesan cheese

Assemble the pizza in the following order: dressing spread evenly over crust, 1/2 provel cheese, buffalo chicken, sliced onions, remaining provel cheese, sprinkle with parmesan.

Next time I think I'm going to toss on some black olives and maybe some mushrooms. Let me know if you try it out or have your own version.