Part birthday party, part housewarming party, Beka and Carl welcomed a flood of friends into their their new home for a B.Y.O.T. (Bring Your Own Toppings) Party. The couple has recently relocated to Snow Camp with plans to start up their own poultry and egg operation here in central North Carolina. They will be working in conjunction with Braeburn Farm, who is locally know for their grass-fed beef, and their new home is located on a corner of the farm property.

Given that a large number of the guests were farm workers and the rest where locavores, foodies and local farm supporters, you can imagine all the delicious pizza toppings that showed up.

This is the pizza Nate and I made. I had the brilliant idea of going to our local food co-op and grabbing toppings from their salad bar. That way we could have lots of different toppings and buy small quantities that were just the right amount. My half was chicken, spinach and artichoke with alfredo and ranch dressing for sauce and a bit of homemade smoked pork (thanks Ross) to give a kick of bacon-y taste. Nate also added peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli to his side.

It came out looking like this. Yum. It disappeared quickly and we got compliments on trying something different for the sauce.

Speaking of unusual pizza toppings, check out this little masterpiece. Steve and Ross made a desert pizza topped with raspberry jelly, dates and melted brie cheese. Seriously good. You should try it.

Aislinn and Cole brought roasted veggies and fresh greens for a seriously serious vegetarian pizza plus some decidedly not vegetarian pepperoni that I think was made by Gaicomo’s of Greensboro.

Knowing that several guests had recently celebrated birthday’s, party hosts Beka and Carl surprised them with homemade lemon cake. In case you’re wondering, that is in fact a harmonica stuck around Carl’s neck.

After leading us in a rousing round of Happy Birthday…

For all our entertaining and delightful friends who attended the event, you can find additional photographs of the evening here.