The family gift exchange and pizza contest seems to be becoming a bit of a tradition.

This year's contest is following the hallowed tradition of not declaring an overall winner. But, and you can trust me on this, I won. Everybody agreed that all of the pizzas were good but some just went over the "good" and slipped right into the "excellent" category. Such as my pizza. I used some sun dried tomato and pesto sauce on it and judiciously applied the remaining ingredients, taking care to maintain the pizza "look" that is so important to the judge(s). I also used some sun dried tomatoes I had in the refrigerator. (Expiration Date - Sheispiration Date, who bothers with that stuff? And nobody got sick.)

OK, on a more serious note. I won.

Brian's pizza took the coveted "best looking and most symetrical" award.

And it tasted good also. His was the only pizza with jalapenos and tomatos on it. Just the right amount. A suitable certificate may be printed out and presented later.

Tony's pizza was well received also. He cooked his on a pizza stone on the BBQ. Joey's pizza was also on the BBQ but without a stone. Both pizzas turned out exceptionally well, crust wise. Taste wise, I won. We were somewhat worried about burning the crust but they both came out very well. They were both very good pizzas.

Here's Tony with the BBQ pizzas:

The girls' pizzas were also very very good. Have I mentioned that all of the pizzas were excellent?

Mary and Pam had a flour-y time with their pizza.

David and Michael worked painstakingly on their pizza and it turned out (are you sensing a pattern here?) very very good.

After everybody agreed that my pizza was good we had the gift exchange.

Good company, great pizza, some soda, some beer, some Bailey's Irish Cream, Lots 'o laughter ... it's always a nice way to spend an evening with your family.

If you have a pizza contest, I'd be interested in knowing how it turned out. I can be reached at tmurray@surewest.net

NOTE: I'm wondering if it's possible to make a BAD pizza.