Now That's A Pizza Pie!!

While we were in Chicago last week, I made it my mission to find authentic deep-dish Chicago Pizza. Less than a block from our hotel, we found Gino's East. Gino's is the true, authentic deep-dish pizza! The crust is made with corn meal, only a little, and has a yeasty flavor, but is very light and airy. A-Mazing! This pizza is the best I have ever eaten in my life!!! And this body knows pizza!! This is a "small" pizza, by the way... We were over stuffed and there were left overs!!

Authentic Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza.
The best pizza I have ever eaten in my life!!

Oh yeah, baby!!

This is my favorite picture of the pizza. I now truly understand the expression "pizza pie." It shows how thick one piece really is. If you look at the crust closely, you can see that the crust is very airy, lending to the perfect bite of crisp bread. Also, the sauce was not put directly on the dough, under the toppings. Instead, their secret sauce (the most amazing marinara sauce I have EVER eaten) was poured on top of the finished, completely baked product. Did I mention that the wait for this pizza is 45 minutes? (which the server warned us about when we ordered.) But, since we had traveled over 10 or more hours to get to Chicago, we figured another 45 minutes was worth it... And it was! Next time we will NOT order an appetizer, but will instead suffer in hunger as we wait for our deep dish master piece, so that we can eat even more of it!!!

Our Wintry Week.

The Doric Building
608 Chestnut Street, Winona Lake, IN
This is where we lived for 5 years. According to this picture, we lived in the left side of the building, town house style. We had to cover the windows with plastic and quilts to keep warm. Very drafty. Looks like the current tenants are doing the same!! Our current house is sooooo much more comfortable!! Thank you, Jesus!!

Winona Lake
(last week...)

The Boat House
This is one of our favorite restaurants. Best eats: the Black and Bleu Burger and fillet mignon. It is not too pricey or ritzy. Very comfortable and casual. I highly recommend it if you are visiting The Village at Winona.

The dark circle on the lake is a ring of birds. The ducks and geese hang out together and keep the ice from freezing. Their own wintry sauna?

I took this picture of Winona Lake because there are foot prints on the ice. One could look at this and think about the people who traveled there, their stories... what they were doing that day. Or perhaps think about how serene and beautiful the snow is... Me? I think.. what the hell are they thinking walking on an ICED-over lake?? What's worse is when they drag out the shanties, drill a hole in the ice (how smart is that???), then sit on the ice and wait for a fish to bite!!!

We stayed in Warsaw with my in-laws for a week. Brandon's little brother, Clayson, had his Eagle Scout Ceremony, which went very well. And our baby niece Reagan Olivia Judd was dedicated at church. Our "nephew" Griffin Terris Roe turned 1 year old!! We had some of his birthday cake. (His mom and dad, Lori and Terry, are very close friends of ours. Their daughter Keely Marie is our "niece" and a sweeeeet heart!!!) We were planning to come home on Friday, due to a commitment I had on Saturday; however, Mother Nature had other plans. A huge winter storm blew through. Schools and even businesses were closed on Friday. You know that if they close schools and businesses up there, then the situation is BAD. So, we made a wise choice and stayed one more night!

And, yes... It is oh, so good to be HOME!!! Where the temperature is 55 today, 60 tomorrow and we don't have to put plastic and quilts on the windows!

Coming this week: Pictures and commentary about our trip to Chicago: Authentic Deep Dish Chicago Pizza. Oh my!!