Certain phrases inevitably elicit a Pavlovian response of joy—for instance: take the day off; no, you eat the last xx [piece of cake, hors d’ oeuvre, whatever floats your fancy]; I got a present for you; there’s an ice cream social today—you get the picture. Like most things, we learn the happy response young and cultivate it over years that include innocence, puberty, attempted return to innocence, “growing up,” and ultimately trying our darnedest to experience the simple joys wherever we can find them. That’s a whole lot of set-up for the following: PIZZA PARTY! And to borrow from one of our recent dinner party guests, “Woot!”

From giddy childhood excitement over Little Caesar’s (“Pizza, pizza!” and Crazy Bread so wrong it was right), to sitting in a Pizza Hut (for real, sitting inside) with a Personal Pan and Book It! pride, to nights spent visiting with family in Connecticut sharing a pie at the Berkshire, it was clear that, like with most foods, more goes into a satisfying experience than just ingredients—let me explain…Since my youth, I’ve discovered mind-blowing pizzas in Italy, New York, Chicago, and right here in Atlanta (Antico Pizza, for crying out loud). But, every once in a while, nostalgia trumps all and it doesn’t matter if it’s gourmet or if it’s just alright, I want to be back around the table with my mom, dad, brother, and whatever pizza we happen to have, covered in sauce, gooey cheese, and ridiculous grins. I’ve always said that there are some foods you just can’t eat around people who don’t know and love you—I’m real messy, so this includes BBQ, ice cream, large sandwiches, most Mexican dishes, and pizza. No matter how food-soaked I am, though, I’m always smiling.

And this brings me back to pizza. It makes us happy when we’re little, when we first learn of the term “Pizza Party” and all of the free-wheeling, cheese-laden yumminess that the event implies. It makes us happy when we’re in college, when we learn that it’s freaking cheap, satisfying, and everywhere. It makes us happy when we’re adults and we discover it on fancy menus, when we find that “flatbread” is just code for inexpensive, delicious option. And John and I aren’t there yet, but I hear that it makes us happy when we have kids because, ahem, it’s cheap and you can disguise vegetables in there. WHICH IS THE BEST PART, RIGHT? You can put whatever the crap you want on that pizza and it’ll be fine. Well, mostly. Use discretion, ok? Or, if you don’t want to use discretion, do some of these things.

Speaking again of a lot of set-up…So, we had a pizza party recently and it totally rocked. I highly recommend it for a dinner party. Buy some crust (we got whole wheat ones from Whole Foods pizza department). Ask folks to bring whatever they want to put on that sucker. Break out your baking sheets (or, if you’re like us, break out your embarrassing number of pizza implements, from cast iron to pizza stones…). And bam! Fast, easy, good, and as fancy as you want it to be. We went kind of fancy that night (tuned Pandora in to Italian music and everything)—Pizza One: homemade pesto, thick mozzarella from Atlanta Fresh, and sliced tomatoes. Pizza Two: saucy marinara, goat cheese, salami, and mushrooms. It was a small dinner party, but if you planned this puppy on a large scale just THINK of the pizzas…and you could even go crazy-like and make dessert pizzas (goat cheese, peaches, and honey; Nutella and banana; a gazillion other good things…). But we made gelato.

Why did we make gelato? Cause we have an ice cream maker and it’s awesome. What’s also awesome? Fresh strawberries. So we made strawberry gelato. Making gelato, ice cream, frozen yogurt, any frozen concoction, really, is ridiculously easy. With the right recipe, there are few ingredients, no-fail instructions, and super-impressive results. Just remember to actually keep your ice cream maker’s freezer bowl in the freezer at all times. Otherwise, you’ll be real sad when you get ready to make ice cream and have to wait 24 hours. Even if your bowl’s in the freezer, you’ll need to read ahead in your recipe to make frozen things in a timely fashion. But if you do your homework, it’s really simple to knock out frozen desserts with little effort. Or, if you hate effort, go get you some Morelli’s or Westside Creamery.

If you don’t hate effort and you do love to party, go make some pizzas and gelato. Whether you decide to go fancy or not, it’ll be super-fun for everybody—even for those of us forever covered in cheese (is there any other way?).