pizza – Life of kk

food, Italian, pizza

You Say Pizza, I Say Ahbeetz

November 6, 2025 littleshoeprincess

I think my last post brought the mood around here down to near depression level, so I thought we’d lighten things up.

Let’s talk about pizza.

Oh, delicious, cheesy, salty, crispy pizza. I don’t think a more perfect food exists. (Prove me wrong)

Living in Connecticut means being able to enjoy the best pizza any time you desire.

My perfect pie looks like this:

It’s a mozz, bacon and black olive pie. Perfectly thin and crispy, salty from the bacon and olives, gooey from the cheese. Well done but not burnt. Minimal bubbles. If given the time and elastic waist pants, I could probably eat the entire thing myself. (Seriously, just look at that pizza! If your mouth isn’t watering you are made of stone!)

New Haven pizza is the only pizza, in my opinion. You’ve got the big 3: Pepe’s, Sally’s and Modern (my personal favorite). But then, as you slowly move away from Wooster and State Streets, you still are surrounded by amazing pizza joints. Olde World (our Friday night go-to). Fuoco. Ernie’s.

Non-New Haven pizza? You have no place here.

Square pizza? Um, no.

Deep dish pizza? Why is it so thick?

Chicago-style pizza? Is this a cake?

Pizza is good hot, warm, or cold out of the fridge. And while you could eat it any day of the week, I feel like Fridays are the traditional pizza night.

Much to Mr. KK’s dismay, I am a knife and fork girl when it comes to pizza. At least the first two slices. Then, once the pizza is at it’s optimal stand-up-on-its-own temperature, I’ll pick it up. I’ll leave you guessing if I fold oversized piece in half.

And, sure, I could call it pizza like everyone else. But I prefer to call it by it’s proper name: Ahbeetz!

Life, Maine, NaBloPoMo, Patio, pizza, Travel, Vacation

It’s Blog Writing Month!

November 1, 2022 littleshoeprincess

Happy November 2022!

How did we get here? How is it time to stress myself out for 30 straight days again?? Why don’t I write blog posts all year and just post them daily during November?

All great questions!

Each year I like to kick off the month with a little recap of what the last 12 months have looked like over here, just so we’re all starting from the same place.

First, some statistics:

Number of vacations and getaways: 4
Number of decks built on the house: 1
Number of coyotes living in our backyard: 1
Number of poolside cocktails enjoyed: not enough
Number of trips to Target: too many

And now, here’s the 2022 recap:

We kicked off the new year and resolved to get back to living life!

We were putting 2020 and 2021 behind us! We hosted our families, had delicious surf and turn for dinner, played games, and then watched the ball drop in Times Square 17 times so that I could take a video of Little Mister counting down – on the first year he stayed up until midnight!

I tried a Meal Kit for a hot second.

The meal kit I chose had a “healthy eating” theme, so right there my expectations were set relatively low. The kit itself was…fine. I felt it took a long time to create dinner, longer than it would have if I were just making something on my own. Also, the delivery day for my zip code was Fridays. And since all rules for eating go out the window ~~Thursday~~ Friday night until Sunday night, this was not a good option for us. Those are prime ordering take out and eating out days, I would just feel too guilty having “healthy” food in a kit going to waste in my fridge.

I made a cutting board wall in the kitchen!

We remodeled our kitchen 10 years ago before we moved in. And since Mr. KK starts to hyperventilate when I mention something like refreshing the backsplash or getting new bar stools, wall decor felt like a safer option. And voila! Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for the cheap & chic cutting boards that don’t fall off the wall!

We made pizza in our new pizza oven!

We received this amazing ooni pizza oven from family for Christmas. Once it was warm enough outside, we had our first make-our-own-pizza night on the patio!

We used store-bought dough for our first run out of the gate (knowing we’d likely burn half of the pizzas) but we eventually got the hang of it. It was one of my favorite nights this year because we hung out as a family, had some yummy cocktails, got our hands dirty making pizzas, ate way too much pizza, and watched a movie outside. Perfection!

We lost our first tooth!

This was a BIG DEAL. This tooth was loose for so long…I thought we’d have it forever. I know Little Mister was nervous to lose it outside of the house, and as luck would have it, he lost it at camp, eating pizza (at least it was enjoying one of his favorite pastimes). It flew out onto the floor and he was able to put it in a bag and bring it home.

And we had to make sure the tooth fairy visited (who makes a killing these day, I will say!). So not only did we put our tooth out for her, we wrote her a handy note to make sure she knew exactly where the tooth was!

Pro-tip: if you’re going to start the whole tooth fairy scheme, get the tooth pillow that hangs on the door knob and is easily accessible by parents when the child is sleeping. None of this “under the pillow” business.

We went to Disney World!

This will be its own post because I have so much to say about Disney, but what I can say is that 8 was the perfect age for us. We were so excited to go to the Animal Kingdom that we spent TWO WHOLE DAYS there. You read that correctly. TWO DAYS. Hakuna Matata!

I ate my favorite lobster roll in Portland, Maine!

This is the best lobster roll on the planet, and it comes from a little lobster food truck called Bite Into Maine, at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

I eat a lot of lobster rolls during the summer. I like to try them wherever I am. But this one here, will always be my favorite. They also have a hot option if you prefer a Connecticut style, but the cold Maine-style is ah-may-zing.

We went on our annual family vacation!

That’s right, we packed up the parents and hauled them off to Cape Cod! We experienced a 100 degree 100% humidity heatwave the first 4 days of the trip, so thankfully the house had the most amazing pool which is where we spent all of our time.

Mr. KK and I had our annual vacation Cribbage tournament (he won as usual) and the cocktails and beers were plentiful!

That’s a quick wrap. Welcome to November…a post a day for 30 days.

Challenge accepted!

NaBloPoMo, New Haven, pizza

We are pizza snobs. #sorrynotsorry

November 9, 2019 littleshoeprincess

Every state has something they’re known for: BBQ, lobster, cheese, potatoes…

I’m proud to live in the state that is known for having the best pizza on the planet. (It’s Connecticut, btw, NOT New York).

Unless you are gluten free or can’t eat dairy, I feel it’s safe to say you like pizza. And you’re particular about your pizza. Maybe you’re a deep dish lover. A New York-style die hard. Or a Sicilian pie is where it’s at for you. Whatever the case may be, there’s a style of pizza you like and to you, it’s the best there is, and no one is going to tell you differently.

For me, that pizza is New Haven-style pizza, that is only available in New Haven, CT.

What is New Have style pizza? Or should I say, apizza? (pronounced a-beetz).

It’s a thin crust pizza cooked to crispy perfection in a coal-fired oven that’s as hot as the sun.

As for toppings, they can vary. There’s the classic tomato pie with grated cheese, the white clam pie (add bacon and peppers and make it ‘clams casino’) and everything in between.

New Haven is home to the three heavy hitters of the pizza world: Frank Pepe’s, Sally’s and Modern. And if you’re familiar with them, you are loyal to one of them.

For us, we’re a Modern family. Their clams casino pizza (on the left in the photo: white pie, mozzarella, chopped clams and garlic, peppers and bacon – and we add hot cherry peppers – is to die for).

The tricky thing with the New Haven pizza scene is that none of these places deliver. So if you’re not in the mood (or have the time) to drive down to New Haven and stand in line for a table, you have to find other options.

Let me tell you, with a 5 year old, we order pizza a lot. And we’ve have had some BAD pizza trying to find our “local” pizza place.

Our test pizza, the our favorite pizza to order from places that aren’t Modern, is aptly (self) named The KK Special. The KK Special consists of sauce and mozzarella, with sausage, black olives and ricotta. This is an especially difficult pizza to master, as you need to find not only the balance of the toppings, but you must ensure you have a crispy enough crust to hold up to the soft ricotta. (If you deliver a soggy pizza, you are one and done).

It took some time, but we’ve found our neighborhood pizza place. They only do take out – not a table to be found in the place. Only downside: they don’t deliver. But it’s THAT good, that we will throw on a coat and boots and leave the warmth of home to go and pick it up.

Olde World Pizza is amazing. And, it’s consistently amazing, which is a very appealing attribute for a pizza place to have.

Here are tonight’s selections:

For Mr and Mrs KK, the pizza on the left: eggplant and meatball.

And for Little Mister, his favorite: bacon, spinach and black olive. (Pretty impressive for a five year old).

And you must have beer with pizza. No arguments.

And if you don’t eat so much pizza that you can’t breathe, you’re not doing it right.