All the way, with one exception

Today I'm celebrating National Pizza with the Works except Anchovies Day!

I'm not sure how such became an observance on the calendar, but I'm always glad to celebrate with a pizza!

• I grew up in the country. In my teenage years, Sunday night was often a pizza night. If you were lucky, you'd get a ride into town with some others in the church youth group to the Pizza Hut.
  
• My Grandma Mac knew how much we loved pizza and would buy frozen pizzas to keep in the freezer for us grandkids when we would go visit her. As a young adult, she would also suggest that we stop by the local Pizza Hut when I would drive her into town for her doctor's appointment, rather than swinging into the Sonic, her usual stop on the way home.
  
• My Aunt Pat also bought frozen pizzas, but she would "doctor 'em up" by adding more sauce and pepperoni to the top.
  
• At our house, we made "homemade" pizza -- right out of the Chef Boyardee box and, of course, adding our own toppings. I later learned how to use spices with tomato sauce to mix my own pizza sauce. I also now own a stone baking dish for making pizza.
  
• When in graduate school in Aggieland, we'd often work after midnight at the main data center to use the mainframe computer systems to run our programs for free. (Yes, there were days when you were actually charged for your time on the computer!) On many of those nights, we'd call the local pizza joint and request a delivery. We would rotate who had responsibility for standing guard down in the locked lobby -- watching for the delivery guy.
  
• In my first year at work, my team would go out to lunch each Friday. We often would eat at the Crystal's Pizza, mostly because some of the girls wanted to watch All My Children in their theater room during lunch.
  
• When my folks moved to a town in south Texas and I would visit on holidays, we'd often order pizza. I'm pretty good at remembering numbers -- and I had a standing bet with my Dad -- he'd pay for the pizza if I could recall the phone number of the local Pizza Hut up the road. I'd always win! Today when I visit home, Friday night is pizza night. My brother and his family come to visit Mom and we all order pizza -- but they have switched to Domino's now. I really miss Dad and always recall that bet when we order pizza.
  
• When going to the farm on vacation, it's a long drive to town for pizza. So, occasionally we would buy pizza from the counter in the back of the local little video rental store in the next little community. Funny, we started noticing that brand of pizza in most of the local gas stations. Now, at the farm we just buy frozen pizza, which is as good or better! Or, plan a drive into town....
  
• I frequently order pizza with my friends today. We all have favorites. We typically order from I Fratelli (where they say you should never trust a round pizza) for home delivery while we watch a movie or something Tivo'd. We occasionally go to the restaraunt in Valley Ranch also. We often go as a group to Vito's also. They have largest pizzas I've ever seen. A small is huge. I can generally only eat a single slice, but sometimes two. It's a popular place for us pageant folks, who need a place to unwind after a long rehearsal or to celebrate after a performance. We've almost filled up half the restaraunt at times. I've noticed that we all have favorite toppings. Anita likes everything, but would rather not have pepperoni. Jeff likes everything, but he'd really prefer a pepperoni pizza. Ginger always orders Canadian bacon and green olive. I like it all -- but if ordering on my own, I will order the works or a pepperoni/beef combo. We often get multiple pizzas with half-of-this and half-of-that. It's a lot of fun!
  
  Thinking about this holiday, I recall the numerous times that I would order pizza "with the works" and then quickly add "except anchovies." I'm not sure that they even have anchovies as a topping selection at my local pizzeria. I've never tasted an anchovy on a pizza and have never seen one. I've learned from Wikipedia that anchovies are in a family of small but common salt-water fish. An anchovy is a small green fish with blue reflections. They are noted as an important food fish, both popular and infamous for the strong flavor. They are a key ingredient in Caesar salad and Spaghetti alla Puttanesca. Because of the strong flavor they are also an ingredient in several sauces, including Worcestershire sauce and many fish sauces. They are marketed in small tines, either as "flat" fillets or rolled around a caper. They are quite salty. They are also marketed in jars and tubes as a paste to use in making sauces. Anchovies are also used by fishermen as bait for larger fish, such as sea bass and tuna.
  
  Well, I like Caesar salad and use Worcestershire sauce, but I still don't think I'm ready to put a little bait on my pizza tonight. I'm trying to cut back on salt anyway -- and a little achovy from that tin has 150 mg of sodium in it.
  
  If you're a 24 show fan, here's a great video about pizza delivery that you will enjoy:
  
  As posted on YouTube by 24HourPizzaDelivery
  
  Hopefully you have great memories too of days and nights enjoying great pizza. Have a pizza today and celebrate life! I plan to do just that! Post a comment and tell us about your favorite pizza.