Palmabella's Passions

On Saturday, we ran a few early morning errands, and by 10:30 we were off to Los Angeles. Our first stop was a bead shop, where I purchased beads for three new pieces of jewelry: some red coral to mix with my black coral beads, three strands of beautiful yellow citron stones, and some peachy polished nuggets. 30 minutes in and out! We arrived at Dennee's lovely home by 1:50. She and Ubaldo had prepared some delicious appetizers and a chilled bottle of prosecco we shared on the patio. We had a brief, but fun visit before heading to the Slow Travel GTG at Mozza, 5 minutes away.

We spent two hours with "old friends" Marcia and David, Juday and Bill, and Carole. Today we also met new friends, Roy (Carole's husband), and Robert and Peg. Though we were at two tables, we were able to connect with everyone.

We started with wine and some shared Tuscan bean bruschetta. I enjoyed a Tokai, while Brad had Dolcetto. After much deliberation over choices, and anticipation, it was finally "Pizza Time"! Here is my "Bianco" with fontina, smoked pecorino and crisp sage! Check out Nancy Silverton's thin bottom crust with a terrific high edge too!

The pizzas we had included Brad's fennel sausage with carmelized red onion and panna, Carole's fungi misti, fontina, taleggio and thyme, Marcia's goat cheese, arugula and bacon, Robert's Margherita with mozzarella di bufala, (rumor has it he ate TWO pizzas after running 12 miles that morning), and a couple of duplicates.

Dessert consisted mostly of gelato (David tried the meyer lemon gelato pie), and biscotti. I had caramel gelato, sitting on a pizelle with a drizzle of caramel sauce and very salty peanuts on top. It Tasted like a sea salt caramel! What a lovely break from a week of dieting! (I SO deserved it after a horrible visit to the dentist yesterday!)

Here are the food photos of the pizzas and dessert:

Here are photos of the pizza.