Now that I live in Chicago, getting out to Stockholm, Wisconsin for A to Z Produce and Bakery Pizza Night isn’t as easy as it was when I lived in Minneapolis. I went to the number one favorite earlier this season after going to a wedding in Mankato. I had another great opportunity to go last week after a work training at Bluff Country Co-op in Winona, MN. The training was scheduled to end on Tuesday afternoon and was located just an hour from Stockholm! I coordinated with my parents to pick me up from the training and drive out to A to Z together to meet K, John, and the kids for Pizza Night.
It was a beautiful evening when we arrived. The weather felt more like summer than like fall. K and John had managed to leave Minneapolis earlier than we left Winona so they made the obligatory Stockholm Pie Company stop and loaded up on various slices before the shop closed. They also took the lead on setting up our area and getting started on visiting the animals and eating some snacks.
Once my parents and I arrived, we immediately got to business. Dad brought out the chip and dip, Mom brought out the bubbles, and I studied the menu to pick out an exciting combination of pizza. I saw a bbq beef option that I had never seen before and a Thai Basil pesto option. The Italian Garden was on the menu, but one thing I enjoy about the Italian Garden pizza is that it is a little different every time. This week it featured eggplant along with many other vegetables harvested that week. I had also seen some Instagrams post highlighting the peppers being picked and roasted, so I ordered the Sweet and Spicy Pepper Pizza and posed with two of the Farmers that I knew had been involved in the preparation.
I am not sure exactly what happened with my ordering formula. Maybe we ate too many snacks, or maybe now that we are all trying to eat healthier I need to adjust the proportions. My formula that usually results in some leftovers, ended in mostly leftovers! We ordered 5 pizzas and left with almost 4 complete pizzas. It certainly wasn’t because they weren’t good. I was fortunate to be with two people that appreciate eggplant, so that was a welcome addition to the pesto pizza and the Italian Garden pizza. I was also with two big beet fans, so I felt it was necessary to order the Beet Pizza. The Sweet and Spicy Pepper pizza was perhaps a little too hot for the kids, but the olives on top were easily picked off as a treat for Archer and Zadie. The Beef one was a crowd favorite. I asked Farmer Ted if there had been any particular inspiration to make this one as I hadn’t seen it before. He smiled and said that the inspiration was that he was cleaning out his freezer.
There was a good crowd for a September Pizza Night, but it was much quieter than one of the high summer nights of July or August. It was slow enough that I was able to have some conversations with the people I knew on the farm. And I even got to spend some time with the next generation of Pizza Farmers. Robbi and Ted have a grandson who spends a lot of time right in the mix of things on Pizza Nights.
The evening went by quickly. Archer and Zadie had time to explore, see the animals, and bond with my parents, who can never seem to have enough honorary grandchildren. But darkness cut short some of our activities. On top of the earlier sunset, a dark and formidable storm appeared to be rolling in. Lightning could be seen off in the distance and the sky darkened as the wind picked up. Our weather apps told us of a tornado warning in the area and we all started to feel that it was time to pack up. The threat of a sudden downpour encouraged us to pick up all of our pizza picnic accessories in record time. We even managed to get a quick photo shoot and one last bathroom break in before the rain started coming down. I wasn’t feeling too concerned, because I knew that Mom, Dad, and I just had a quick drive down the hill to Spring Street Inn where we had reserved a room.
I had envisioned that we would get back to our room and play some board games before bed, but we were all so tired out that we simply ate some leftover pie and went to bed as the storm continued on outside.
By morning, the storm had passed and it was looking to be a sunny, beautiful day. Before leaving back to Chicago, my parents and I took a drive across the train tracks to the banks of the Mississippi. It was such a cool excursion! We saw pelicans lined up along a sandbar. And we saw several eagles fly by and one perched almost directly above our heads.
Our time in Stockholm was special from start to finish. As K was saying, even when we have doubts and consider canceling, it always ends up being totally worth it.
