Pizza and Cars

Geniuses! You are all geniuses!

Per your suggestions, I reheated the leftover flatbread/pizza from last night’s dinner on my pizza stone and it was fabulous.

I just preheated the oven to 500 with the pizza stone resting on the bottom shelf, then added the leftover flat bread and baked for three minutes. Three minutes was all it took for a crispy flatbread that was just as tasty as the night before. It was a little extra work to preheat the oven with the stone, but 100% worth it.

On the side I also had some edamame to round out the meal. The two went well together.

How do you re-heat your leftover pizza? Toaster oven? Microwave? Or do you eat it cold right from the fridge?

The Ford Escape

This past weekend I had the opportunity to test drive the 2013 Ford Escape courtesy of Southeast Ford and Elder Ford of Tampa.

Recently Derek and I have been seriously discussing the possibility of upgrading to a larger vehicle, so the timing couldn’t have been better. We’re both currently driving tiny two-door Toyotas, which are great gas-friendly cars but they’re great cars that we’re starting to outgrow, especially with the possibility of expanding our family in the next couple of years. I love my car, but it gets old having to move the front chair to allow friends and family in the back. I hate having to go back there myself, so I always apologize in advance to any passengers I take on who have to squeeze through.

The Escape is Ford’s “Green Car,” with a few cool environmentally friendly features.

• The carpet is made of 25 recycled plastic bottles
• Seat and head restraints contain soy foam
• The vehicle offers class-leading fuel economy (30% better fuel economy than standard gas engines with EcoBoost engine)
• Climate control gasket made of 100% recycled tires

In terms of space, the Escape was quite an upgrade from our tiny cars. I’ll admit it was really nice not having to call a friend or family member for assistance when we brought home our new ottoman on Saturday. There’s no way this baby would have fit in my car, but it slid in the Escape with ease.

It was also nice for bringing my bike to the trail. All I had to do was lower the backseat and the bike slid right in.

One day I’ll have to shoot a video of how I get my bike in the back of my two-door. According to my friends, it’s quite the sight to see. The only way I can get it to sit right is if I squeeze in the car with the bike and maneuver it from there myself. I can’t tell you how many funny looks I’ve gotten while repeating that process.

The fully loaded Escape came with a number of other great upgrade features as well, including an A/C plug in the back, a push start engine with keyless entry (it was nice to just leave the “key” in the purse and not have to dig for it when needing to unlock the vehicle), bluetooth, USB plugs to connect my iPod, rearview video, heated seats, and a navigation system.

To put it simply, I was basically spoiled for the weekend with all the extra features. Are they what really make a good car? Nope. But, damn they are pretty damn fun.

What makes a good car is how it rides and how it feels, and the Escape drove like a dream. Thanks to the EcoBoost engine, the Escape was quiet and softly prred like a gentle kitten when ever I started it. She was so quiet, I often questioned if I really turned her on. She also gave a smooth ride.

We returned the Escape on Sunday and it was sad to see her go. We’re still a good six months away from committing to an upgrade, but she sure was fun to drive while we had her.