I eat food so I can grow up to be a doctor.

"We eat food at home so I can grow up to be healthy and strong and a doctor."

So quoth the 3 1/2 year-old daughter of my coworker today when she came to visit Mom at the office. I wish I had known how easy it is to become a doctor; I wouldn't have tried so hard in school. I feel like such a chump.

On to the food reporting (sorry to keep you waiting, Elaine):

Tonight we went out for pizza. OK, you might think that, this being only my second day of blogging about cooking healthful and tasty and easy weeknight dinners, I have failed as a blogger. That I have failed as a practical, realistic cook. That, most importantly, I have failed Elaine.

But no! This was not just an ordinary screw-it-I'm-too-tired-to-cook-we're-getting-pizza go out for pizza night. This was the opening night of the new Two Hippies Pizza restaurant a mere 0.6 miles from our house, on a strip of 24th St. that is dominated by McDonald's, Circle K, a PayDay Loans getup, and a creepy cell phone repair shop that advertises exclusively in stenciled spray-paint signage on faded plywood boards.

Two Hippies Pizza, complete with hippie bus

Two Hippies is, I hope, an indication that this stretch of Central Phoenix might actually start attracting some signs of life and promising retail that we so desperately need. And Nate and I will gladly--selflessly, even-- help support this local business by eating their pizza. We are true martyrs.

They have a few quirks to work out (they haven't nailed down the menu, and the place doesn't have AC, which will be a challenge a few short weeks from now), but they are excited to be in the neighborhood and they serve a mighty tasty pizza with handmade dough, fresh local ingredients, and cheap, creative menu items (our bill tonight was $11 for two sodas and a 12-inch pizza). We heartily approved of our meal, even if they violated Nate's cardinal pizza rule of not allowing stray Beck-toppings to invade his naked cheese half (the offending creatures tonight were the well-known miscreants, black olives).

Oh God, the OLIVES!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!

The pizza in question was half cheese (and wandering olives) and half Mediterranean (roasted red peppers, black olives, anchovies, zucchini, and feta cheese). My half was excellent, and I have a new favorite pizza topping: anchovies. Yum, salty fishy goodness. The feta was supposed to be goat, but it didn't arrive in time for opening night. The crust was thick and soft on the inside with a good crisp crunch on the outside. Perfectly baked and piping hot. I look forward to sampling their other combinations.

The Hippie in his natural habitat. He is actually playing with his iPhone here, but that didn't seem very Hippie.

So while we didn't cook at home tonight, we did go out and support a local neighborhood business that we hope will be the beginning of all sorts of excitement in the neighborhood. We'll be back on track tomorrow.

And since I'm already a doctor, I wonder what I'll become if I keep eating food? The president, maybe? (Oh goodness, I hope not...or at least, I hope someone fixes the spill in the Gulf before I get to the Oval Office...)