Pizza and a Night in the City

After our wonderful run on Valentine's Day, we decided on a romantic dinner of pizza.

With such great results the last time we used Trader Joe's pizza dough, we were excited to try again with a new kind of pizza. This time, we went with white dough to go with a BBQ chicken pizza, inspired by my favorite "California Pizza Kitchen" dish.

This was such an easy pizza to make - we topped it with Trader Joe's BBQ sauce, mozzerella cheese, and chicken that had been sauteed and then covered in more BBQ sauce. We also sauteed some red onion to top the pizza and then, after it cooked, we liberally sprinkled it with cilantro. 

Cilantro has to be my favorite herb, which is funny because I hated it as a child. I always ordered the BBQ chicken pizza without the cilantro, and even got a free pizza once when they accidently put cilantro on it. Now I can't get enough of it :). 

We both loved this pizza! It wasn't the healthiest (5 WW points, or about 250 calories a slice, with the pizza cut into 8 slices) but it was divine.

Next time we'll have to try the whole wheat dough!

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To keep our celebration of love going, we embarked on part 2 of our Valentine's Day, by traveling up to San Francisco for a mini vacation in the city to see "Wicked".

We left for the city around 3pm, but unfortunately hit some traffic once we got close. Our trusty GPS directed us on a detour that got us safely to our hotel. We were staying at "The Phoenix," which would have looked more in place in Palm Springs than in the middle of San Francisco. It had a tiki/60s vibe, with a beautifully tiled pool and bamboo lounge deckware. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was a fun place to stay.

After settling into the room, we began searching for a place to eat dinner. We had tried to do this before we arrived, but we couldn't make a decision, so now we were in more of a time crunch. We made a couple calls without success, but then stumbled upon "Indigo," a small, intimate restaurant blocks from the theater.

They had a 6 o'clock reservation open and a wonderful "Prix Fixe" deal: $34.95 for an appetizer, entree, and dessert. Ed and I entered the restaurant, excited about its appearance and already looking forward to the meal.

(photo courtesy of google search :) )

It was a softly lit restaurant, full of happy diners. Ed and I both went for the mixed greens with blue cheese and toasted walnuts, which was delicious, and a fabulous pork tenderloin, in a red wine sauce, served over creamy polenta, with green beans. It was amazing! I am now inspired to make polenta :). We paired it with lovely glasses of Shiraz. For desert, I had panne cotta, and Ed had a trio of sorbet. 

Sufficiently (or perhaps more than sufficiently) full, we headed for the theater. We took a round-about route past city hall that eventually got us to Market Street (apparently we aren't the best at following directions), but got to the theater at the perfect time - about 15 minutes before the play. 

(Photo courtesy of tasithoughts.wordpress.com)

The sign outside was brightly lit and the front was teeming (to use on of my students' vocabulary words) with people. 

We pushed our way inside and headed to our seats. They were way up high, in the 2nd balcony, but we were in the center, with a nice (albeit far away) view of the stage. 

The Orpheum Theater (where Wicked is playing) is gorgeous - with an intricately decorated ceiling and a huge light centerpiece. I enjoyed looking at it as I waited for the show to start. 

(photo courtesy of "flickr.com/photos/ 88077630@N00/3339886669")

The stage itself was surrounded with a scaffolding of gears, and a huge dragon towered over the stage. 

(photo courtesy of www.flickr.com/photos/ krissatin/2385008200/)

I was very excited to see this play, as I had been really into the music for a while in college. I know all the songs by heart, but didn't know the story line that tied the musical together. Ed was fairly unfamiliar with the musical, so for him ti was all new. 

Overall, it was a great production! The performers were excellent and the set was well made and enjoyable to watch. I was happily surprised by the ending (which I won't give away). It was so much fun to have an evening out!

We had a lot of fun living the city life for a night, but it does feel nice to be back to our quiet reality :)