Pizza Dough and Bee Stings...

What do raw pizza dough and bees have in common? A Sunday morning in my house...

It all started off like any regular Saturday night, Henry (my new-ish beau) and I sitting on my couch wondering what to do. The weather was getting cool and it just seemed like a cozy, stay-in night, but instead, we decided to take Dave (my new temporary roomie) to a great neighborhood Italian joint, Pasquini's. Pasquini's has several locations throughout Denver, whatever neighborhood you live in, you're bound to have one pretty close. When the weather gets cold, I always crave Eggplant Parmesan from Pasquini's, it just makes me feel warm from the inside. Pasquini's is a wonderful place for a date or just hanging with family and friends. They have wonderful food, literally everything on the menu is wonderful, and you can't beat a restaurant with a wine list full of bottles for $15 which are actually good.

The four of us (Henry, his daughter Zoey, Dave and I) arrive at Pasquini's, which had a wait but not unbearable, about 30 minutes. We decide to sit at the bar, socialize and enjoy a bottle of wine while Zoey enjoyed chocolate milk and played with raw pizza dough. The restaurant does this great thing for parties with kids, they give the kids a heaping helping of raw pizza dough to play with so the adults can have "adult" conversation. Our waitress came to the table to take our order, and I of course, ordered the Eggplant Parmesan with the Pomodoro salad. It hit the spot; warm, delicious and so fresh. The meal I selected paired perfectly with the red wine. To finish this decadent meal, we ordered the Chocolate Candle. This dessert is rich and rewarding; it has a hard chocolate shell with soft velvety chocolate mousse on the inside, yum-yum. Soon after completing the Italian feast, we left for home with not 1 but 2 heaping helpings of pizza dough in tow.

One short ride down the street and we arrive back at my house. In the house, Zoey placed her pizza dough on the side table, or so she thought. Low and behold about 2 minutes later, we discover the dough is gone. Did we only think we brought the dough from the restaurant? Did we leave it in the car? Or is it someplace lost in the house? After we exhausted all of our options, we look to the cute little 17 pound Pug, Monty. Of course he couldn't have grabbed all of that dough off the table without making any noise, and even if he did, he wouldn't have been able to eat it all that fast - not to mention right in front of our eyes. We finally decided to call off our search for the dough, and write it off. We wrote it off until about 3am! I awoke to a horrendous sound. Sweet, sweet little 17 pound Monty was barfing in his kennel which produced a smell I wish to never smell again.

It quickly became apparent where all the raw pizza dough had gone once I opened the kennel and Monty bee lined for the door with pizza dough barf hanging out of his mouth. I continued to deal with the effects pizza dough will have on a little pug until, well, today. Once the rest of the house woke up at about 8am, he was still getting rid of the processed pizza dough, from both ends. As the morning progressed Monty began to smell as if he was drunk from beer, this was courtesy of all the yeast he had in his system. I found out from some early morning Internet research that raw dough can mix with the warm insides of the stomach and create a sticky, stinky situation. Yummy, beer was brewing inside his little stomach. It can also make them feel drunk...what a surprise. Needless to say, the poor guy was getting rid of the dough in as many ways possible and we had to suffer! Then, the bee entered the picture.

On one of Monty's many, many trips outside to the bathroom a bee attached itself to his side and hitched a ride right inside my house. Once inside my house the bee decided to make a nice little home for itself inside my pajama pants. Please don't ask how this happened, but somehow, the bee snuck up my pants leg without me knowing. The bee snuck up my pants and stayed quiet for a few minutes, it was the moment I decided to go to the bathroom that the little shit decided to release his anger. Yes sir, the bee flew out of my pants and stung me on the inner thigh when I was going to bathroom. Wow, I haven't been stung by a bee in quite sometime but it really hurts. I came the unfortunate conclusion that I must have had some bad karma coming my way. Aside from the horrendous gas that smells like a rotten brewery, Monty seems to be doing much better.

After such an event filled Saturday night and Sunday, my plans for cooking a gourmet meal for friends went straight out the window in favor of a much easier take-out meal. this may have been due to the Benadryl I took after the bee sting as well. We decided to order food from Jerusalem. This place is wonderful and inexpensive, really some of the best food in Denver. It is one of the few restaurants in the neighborhood that is open 24hrs. a day, perfect for a college area. Jerusalem has a plethora of items on their menu (importantly, no raw pizza dough), but for a first-timer, I highly recommend the Combination Super Dish. The Super Dish will give you a taste of the most authentic dishes on their menu. The Jerusalem crowd is eclectic, mellow and somewhat college biased. If you are looking for a great meal to impress visitors or just some late night grub on the healthier side, don't miss Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a great ending to a hectic weekend for me. If you're in the mood for an authentic neighborhood night, don't miss Pasquini's. If you're in the mood for affordable middle eastern food, you would be a fool to miss out on Jerusalem.



Stay tuned to the next blog posting, for the top ten bars in Wash Park, Platte Park, DU and South Broadway.