Vegetable Stuffed Crust Pizza

My first memories of pizza was from when I was probably 4 or 5. We used to live in Bahrain, and there was this quaint little pizza place called Pick-A-Pizza. Just the mention of pizza would be enough to get my siblings and I into a frenzy. Daddy'd drive his three drooling runts there, and let us order the usual; usual only because there was only one vegetarian option! I remember the few things I loved about that place: the smell, the menu board (there were numbers against each pizza option, and if I remember right, we always ordered the No:5!), the anticipation of a yummy pizza, the high chairs, and Tina, the Manglorean girl at the counter. Since we were so little (read: cute), and visited so often, we soon became good 'friends' with Tina and the Sri Lankan Chefs. This meant free extra toppings, and sometimes even free pizzas! Since mumma and daddy didn't want to be indebted to these nice people, mumma used to make idlis (ya, thats what they said they'd like in exchange!) in bulk, and parcel them up for the drop-off.

Eventually, we left Bahrain, only to return a few years later. Fortunately for us, Pick-A-Pizza was still around, and still served the yummiest of pizzas. So we had another two lovely years of devouring yummy pizzas. When we left Bahrain for good, and moved to UAE, we were devastated, and all the pizzas from Pizza Hut, Pizza Corner, Pizza Inn, et al could not sate us like the good ol' ones from Pick-A-Pizza. The only other pizza that has come close to the Pick-A-Pizza yumminess is the deep-dish variety from Pizzeria Uno. Many years later, we visited Bahrain for a few days, and not only did we eat a couple of pizzas from our favorite pizza outlet, we also carried 8 large bad boys back with us to Dubai! YES! We actually brought back pizza from Bahrain! I bet those were the first few pizzas ever to get on a plane!

Happy New Year with Chocolate 'Cheese'cake!!

First of all, let me wish all of you who follow the Sauramana Hindu calendar, a very very happy new year!!

While my husbands side of the family celebrate the Lunar or Chandramana new year, my side celebrate the Sauramana one, and this works very well for me indeed. I say this, of course, because there is always something special prepared in terms of food on festival day, and so its a good thing to celebrate as many festivals as possible!! 

It recently hit me square between the eyes, that festivals, especially in the south, become attached to not only certain traditions and customs specific to it, but also to certain food preparations. You see or speak of these items, and your brain is already busy looking through its memory files to associate it with a festival.  And these food items I speak of, generally tend to fall in the dessert category. Laddus, pedas, payasam or kheers, holige, are all the usual suspects.

Now, I like to break the mould when it comes to practically everything, and this is no different when it comes to the food I cook. And so I set out to bake a dessert to celebrate the New Year with. The funny part is that I got my days and dates all mixed it up, and it ended up being eaten the day before Yugadi, but what the hey, eh?!