Instant Pizza in 20 Minutes! (My Very First Try)

I've been trying to shop in a smarter way nowadays,
Back then, I'll just grab whatever I want at the grocery store,
But time is different now,
My wallet is getting skinnier (seriously!),
And I don't wanna let go all these organic goodies down the aisles...
Plus I've got to save some $$ for my dream camera,
Ahhh...life can be tough....

So now I'm always searching for a bargain - by stocking up my kitchen cabinet when things are on sale!
Canned corns, canned soups, and occasionally some fresh meat,
There's always this thing called freezer to store them,
What a wonderful invention!

One day, I came across discounted premade pizza crust,
Looks interesting because I've never made pizza myself,
Ended up I brought 2 of them home, one extra just in case I mess it up!
But I'm so glad my first try turned out a total success!

Ingredients?


1 can of refrigerated pizza crust
1 sausage (use any flavor you like)
1 cup of frozen spinach
Some mozzarella
Some parmesan
Some marinara sauce
Some red pepper flakes

How?


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (or simply follow the instruction on the package).

Line up some parchment paper on a cookie sheet and roll out the pizza dough on the top,
Smooth out the surface and make the edges thicker and higher,
It helps to prevent the sauce from dripping everywhere while baking.


Meanwhile, remove the casing from the sausage and break it into small pieces,
For the spinach, thaw it according to the package instruction and drain out all the remaining liquids.
Remember to grate some parmesan cheese that we gonna use later.

So first I spread out some store bought marinara sauce over the crust,
Add the sausage pieces along with spinach,
Just spread them out evenly.
After that, break the fresh mozzarella cheese into smaller pieces by hand and sprinkle them all over the dough (I love mozzarella),
We also need some salty flavor for the pizza; some grated parmesan will do the trick,
Just add as much as cheese you want,
It's a pizza! Don't be afraid to go bold!

Into the oven for about 15 to 17 minutes or until the crust turns slightly golden brown,
I opened the oven door and took a picture while the pizza is still baking,
I know I shouldn't let the heat out...but...it was so tempting...-

Sprinkle some red pepper flakes before serving, Tabasco works well too!

You can play around with the recipe,
It's pizza! Just toss whatever things you can find in the fridge or anything you like on it,
It'll never taste bad, trust me!

Cindy's Rating: 7

Not Your Everyday McDonald's, This one in Downey, CA is Ooold!

I'll just assume that everyone has been to McDonald's at least once in their life time.

This fast food giant is everywhere,
Started out from America and gradually ventured to every single continents,
It's on TV commercials, printed advertisements, radio stations, internet and more,
Now there are at least 30,000 McDonald's in the world,
But this one located in Downey, California is different,
It's old, very old; in fact, it's the oldest operating McDonald's on earth! 

The mascot is different from the familiar clown,
Back then, it was more like a "bun boy!"-

The letters are too small to see from this picture,

But it was saying something like served over 500 million hamburgers!

The golden arch-

The golden arch sign was different back then too,
It got a line across the golden arch-

I read it somewhere that the arch shape was originally designed for supporting the building.

Menu-

This place didn't change much over time,

The menu is about the same with several original items,
You can't find new stuff like McFlurry or McCafe here.

Another view-

French fries-

I also had filet-o-fish, chicken nuggets and other stuff,
But you all know how these food looks like right? No need to post more food pictures here.

Small museum entrance-

This door was used for the first McDonald's University.

Inside the small museum-

Started out with a big sign telling the history of this place.

The multi-mixer-

McDonald's used to make many milkshakes all at once with this machine.

Some oldies-

This is what I called the "bun boy" mascot-

Very first guy dressed up at the clown (still looks kinda creepy to me)-

One of the wall displays-

I like this clown mascot, looks chubbier-

Swing by if you every happen to be around the area,
Just fun to see the oldest McDonald's still operates here with little changes.
By the way, there's a new McDonald's just about 2 blocks away,
Guess people still need their fix for McCafe and McFlurry stuff huh?

Cindy's rating: 7 (what a historical site)

McDonald's
10207 Lakewood Blvd
Downey, CA 90240
(562) 622-9248

Some reference sites:
http://www.downeyca.org/visitor_mcdonalds.php
http://www.mcdonalds.com/