Best. Neighbors. Ever.

I am so lucky to live down the street from one of the best cooks I know. 

Seriously, this man has mad kitchen skills. 

They invited us over for dinner and Scrabble (more about that later) the other night.  Of course we accepted the invitation - we love them, Scrabble and their food!

Pizza and paninis were on the menu, but not just any old pizza and paninis.  No, these were seriously gourmet. 

Let's start with the pizza.

He makes it in this fabulous cast iron skillet.

Now typically I am not a big fan of deep dish pizzas because they are so heavy, greasy and way too cheesey for my taste.  And inevitably I end up with an upset stomach.

This one however was a veggie deep dish pizza with a whole wheat crust.  AMAZING!  Of course everything was super fresh, preservative free and not a trace of grease anywhere. 

Isn't that gorgeous?!?!

Now for the paninis:

There were two types of paninis, one meat and one veggie.  Both were delicious. 

This first one reminded me of a club sandwich with turkey, pancetta, avocados and cheese in a ciabatta roll that was perfectly toasted.  (R must have eaten about 5 of these)

I love the grill marks on the bread.

The second was a veggie panini with portabella mushrooms, fresh squash and zucchini.  The sandwich spread was a combo of a pesto and a new yogurt sauce from HEB.  I'm not sure what exactly he marinated the mushrooms in, but they were out of this world.  I think I might have eaten 3 of these!

This picture does not do justice to this panini. 

I was a little too anxious to eat and rushed this shot.

After dinner it was time for the games to begin.  While he may have mad kitchen skills, she knows more about Scrabble than anyone else on the face of the earth.  She is good at this game.  I mean real goooood. 

I don't even try to win anymore.  I have accepted the fact that I will never win and just try to learn as much from her as possible.  She's very patient with me and for that I am extremely grateful.

Game 1's board

At some point during the evening the guys brought these out:

I love how the Scrabble board, 2- and 3-letter word 'cheat sheet' and official Scrabble Dictionary are visible in the background.  Always keep the important items close at hand.

We had a fabulous evening and so appreciate the hospitality of our hosts.  These two truly are the "Hosts with the Most".