Nothing is immutable, but some dogged traditions seem as though they are.

In our family it is the unfailing-Saturday-night tradition of making a pizza for ourselves. The bread dough is prepared early in the day and then sits complacently oiled in a covered bowl, awaiting roll-out in preparation for loading the top with the ingredients we prefer, and those are fairly standard for us.

It's a simple bread dough, basically a touch of sugar to raise the yeast in warm water, flour, salt and a sprinkling of olive oil...but then I always add wheat germ and bran before the flour and the following kneading process.

As for the toppings, simple enough; tomato paste, sweet basil, oregano, "pizza" spices, sprinkled with mozzarella, topped with tomato, green, orange, yellow, red bell peppers, mushrooms. And for my husband's half of the pizza, pepperoni slices.

This time we thought we'd do something different for a change, to challenge our palates - not that we ever completely tire of the same-old. We'd do a Mediterranean-themed pizza. We topped the crust with tomato paste and herbs as usual, and a sprinkling of mozzarella, then anchovies, olives, goat-cheese-feta, broccoli, green pepper and chopped Vidalia onion for extra zing.

Not bad, but no cigar, either. I ate my portions quite contentedly, my husband picked at his. Good thing the grapes we had for dessert were fresh, crisply sweet and mouth-wateringly juicy.

Next Saturday ... same-old.