How about we start off today’s blog with some good news. . . the winner of the Ninja Blender! I loved reading each and every one of your Christmas stories!
True Random Number Generator: Min: 1 Max: 100 Result: 64
Erin
Love ya, Biz. I think it would be hard to delete the DVR. Just one more thing that breaks my heart for you. My favorite Christmas memory is the last one I had with my maternal grandmother. She had been sick for a few years and that Christmas was the last time I saw her before she passed away. Fast forward to October and she slipped away before I could get up there. It’s the biggest regret I have in life, that I couldn’t get up there to see her before she died.
Erin – please send me your mailing address to mybizzykitchen@gmail.com. Congrats!
So yesterday was a tough day. I haven’t read all the comments to yesterdays post, mostly because I didn’t want to cry at my desk, but this weekend I will. One of the things I’ve done is to just . . . keep busy. It seems if I slow down and take a breath, the reality sets in that Tony’s not here. So strange. Over the weekend I met up with Hannah, her boyfriend and their friend (and mine!) Melody with her son Carver. I decided to go to Pilot Pete’s because the restaurant is an a small municipal airport. He didn’t seem too interested in the planes when I brought out my tablet and he started to watch a Mickey Christmas! Courtney, have you ever taken your boys there?
The food was surprisingly really good! We split the friend calamari, and Hannah and I both got the pulled pork bbq sandwich – it was so much food, I probably ate 1/3 of the pork sandwich.
Mel’s son REALLY like his mac n cheese – I love this picture of him!
Thanks Mel for the loot too – you didn’t have to give me anything, but I am loving the lipstick!
And I brought out a few of my hundreds of snowmen.
Sunday I spent the afternoon at my Mom’s for our Christmas with my sister and her family and Hannah and Jacob. My Mom is going to be spending Christmas in Austin with my brother. Sadly, I had charged my battery to the DSLR and promptly left it in the outlet at home, and my iPhone battery was about dead. Dammit! I brought all the meat and cheese! The secret to my mac n cheese? Shredded butter over the top before baking – it gets a nice bread crumb crispy topping, but super creamy underneath. And Hannah and I being goofy!
I also made this Christmas tree . . .ball appetizer! I found it on pinterest – I’ll link to it later, but it’s basically homemade pizza dough, wrapped in mozzarella cheese, baked and then dipped into marinara sauce – really good!
And Hannah and Jacob gave me the cutest bag! I put this on Instagram and there was interest for people wanting one, but this is a one hit wonder and its all mine! 
So my oven died on Friday and I went and bought one on Saturday and it was delivered last night. It is so nice it makes my kitchen look even worse than it normally does!
It’s a Frigidaire – it has a convection oven, an internal meat thermometer and a ceramic cook top. I literally didn’t want to use it because it was so pretty, but I broke it in with . . . pizza! Duh! Hannah, Jacob and my Mom went in on a gift for me – something I’ve wanted for a while – a baking steel! It’s super heavy and it needs to heat up to 500 degrees for 45 minutes, but it was worth the weight. The crust was perfect!
That picture doesn’t do the pizza justice, but it was delicious! I haven’t been sleeping well lately, and I woke up late this morning. I’ve literally got 10 minutes to get ready and out the door. No problem! Only 1 1/2 more work days this week – woop! Make it a great day!
Hi Biz-I meant to post this yesterday and just realized I never hit enter. 🙁
I am new to your site – have recently been diagnosed with type II and stumbled upon your site. I came here thinking I would find some tips and recipes about managing my diabetes but instead found the wonderful love story of you and Tony. I am in the Chicagoland area also and lost my Italian Dad a few years ago at the young age of 67. Tony’s passing was similar to my Dad’s in several ways and my heart goes out to you. Although I don’t know you, I just wanted to let you know I am thinking of you today…
That is so nice of you to reach out to me! Yep, we did have a love story! We basically met online, talked for a couple weeks, met, moved in together within three weeks and married within six months of meeting. This 22nd of December would have been our 14th wedding anniversary.
It’s funny because I never married Hannah’s Dad and I just felt like I could be a person who could go their whole life without getting married, until I met Tony – online no less! Did you read this link?
http://www.mybizzykitchen.com/the-second-person/
Sorry you have the sugars too – I manage mine with insulin, but I’d be happy to help you with any questions – my email: mybizzykitchen@gmail.com. Hugs!
The bag, the mac and cheese photo, the pizza – all good things. All good things. 🙂
I love your new oven – so awesome!!!
Glad you got your snow men out:)
Just got home from work (yes, I worked until 9PM) and now I’m craving mac ‘n cheese, bbq, and an antipasti platter! 🙂 🙂
Emailed you about the blender – HFS!
I am certain that Tony broke that oven for you so that you could get a new one. I’m sure it’s his Christmas present to you to keep you Bizzy in the Kitchen! 😉
Thinking of you, Biz. Lots.
Hugs.
We got a new stove two years ago, right after the oven died while cooking our Thanksgiving turkey. I was the same as you were and had a hard time wanting to “dirty” it by using it, but of course I did…and I will say, the new one is easier to keep clean. Ours is a Frigidaire, too. 🙂
So sorry for you, biz. My husband died suddenly from his first heart attack when he was 48 and I was 47. We had 2 kids in college and an 8 year old daughter. It’s been a long time now- that 8 year old has her master’s degree, a husband and a 7 month old baby. The first year is definitely the hardest and you will eventually not think to call him or listen for the garage door opener but you will always have good memories. It does get better. Keeping busy is a good thing and I waited 2 years, sold the house and moved to a new state but I had no family where we lived when J died. I also got a dog soon after he died. One thing that I wish i had done was to save his favorite shirts and have a memory quilt made. I did save a few things but not much else and to be truthful, it would have just been stored away. I’ve never looked at any of it since I packed it….the quilt would have been something I could have used and cherished. We were married 26 years.
Oh my goodness, so sorry for your loss too. That’s a great idea about the shirts! For now I’ve been wearing them around the house, but to have them turned into a quilt is an awesome idea. Thank you Nan!
That stove is gorgeous…I can see you cooking up a storm with that baby. Never heard of the baking steel….sounds interesting. Food looks delish and that antipasta salad would be something I might like too. Must try that ball tree sometime, looks like fun. Oh and your snowman display is awesome!!! Merry Christmas Biz…..love your new bag too!!!
Thanks so much Louise!! Merry Christmas to you and JP!
This post made me hungry! That Christmas tree looks so delicious. I want to make that. Your snowmen made me smile
Thanks Kim!
You are the third friend to get a new stove in the last week. Must be the season for them to break down. I dislike my stove and wish it would just stop working (well, maybe not ’till after Christmas lol!). I want a new stove!!
I would have really liked to switch to a gas stove, but it would have cost about $500 to move a gas line and I frankly didn’t have the luxury of waiting for that to happen with Christmas so close – I’ll let you know if I like the internal meat thermometer!
Oh, the things that will be created in that new oven!!!! Woo Hoo!!!! I thought of you last night, Dennis got a gift from some friends, called “Amazeballs”. They are apparently steel balls that you freeze, and they keep a drink cold without diluting it…but the word AMAZEBALLS is, and always will be yours! <3
Ha – love that my catch phrase made it across the border! 😀
Oooh grrrl, that’s a spiffy new stove! I have one with the same kind of cooktop, but mine only has 4 burners. If you look on the bottom of your oven, you might see some feet that you can adjust to raise the height of the appliance to match (or get closer) to the height of your counters. We had to do that when we put ours in. =)
The pizza steel is wicked cool. I’m going to look into that.
Merry Christmas, Biz. ♥
Thanks for the tip on the feet – I’ll check tonight. Merry Christmas Krista! 😀
That bag is really great!!!!! As for the pizza, you make it look so yummy, I can only imagine how good it tastes!
Thanks Jan! 😀
The bag from Hannah is adorable! I’ve never heard of a pizza steel, but now that you have shared I must investigate. Sur La Table is a store that I love to dream shop in, but haven’t in several years.
A sign of a true cook is one who doesn’t mess around when the stove or oven breaks – it’s immediately replaced!! Is that a warming drawer in the bottom?
No warming drawer, just storage – but its convection if I want it, it has one burner that can boil water really face AND the built in meat thermometer – testing that one out on Christmas Day!
3 yrs ago, our oven died right before we were going to remodel the kitchen. So, we had a brand new slide in oven in a really crappy kitchen. The kitchen was so bad, the cabinets didn’t have doors( J’s ex took them all off before she moved out, while J was in Iraq).
I had to laugh Randi – because two of our doors are missing! They just broke off and we never replaced them. 😛
mmm. Pizza
The oven looks great! Love that you broke it in with pizza!
The bag is awesome. What a great gift!
Hugs.
Thanks Andrea – hope you have a wonderful holiday!
It’s good to see you enjoying some special time with your family and cooking up some of your magic in the kitchen! I love you’re antipasti platter – I just love all those different nibbles and that mac/cheese looks wonderful! Keep your chin up through the holiday season as best you can, I know it must be so difficult to find joy, but remember it’s out there for you! Merry Christmas and Peace – Lynne.
Thanks Lynne! After the holidays we should definitely pick a Saturday or Sunday to meet each other half way for lunch!
I would definitely buy one of those bags – it’s awesome! Love the new stove, those tops are nice and easy to clean. I’ve never heard of a baking steel before – how does it compare to a pizza stone? I hope you have a great day! Cold, rainy, and foggy here – sure doesn’t feel like Christmas. 🙂
Check out this video Christine – I loved how the crust came out on it – its pricey though! That’s why Hannah, Jacob and my Mom went in on it together – I believe it was around $79. But for how much I make pizza – I’ll definitely use it! Curious to try breads on it too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk786qxqfL4