Tag : Reader Friendly

Well, this is something different to put on my blog.

Okay, a bit of background, I was having a few people over. Decided to make pizza and like they say: Necessity is the mother of invention.

I wanted to offer my guests something different and if I could, make something they had never quite had before. Thus, this pizza was baked. Just as a quick note, I have been baking for quite sometime now so these days I do not measure anything anymore as I just go by sight and taste. As such, I am going to defer to you to do a bit of the same so you can match your tastes. Also, since I ended up making more, not all pizzas were exactly the same but more so to match my guest’s tastes. Also, I am going to try to cut the recipe down to just the one pizza you see above. So let’s jump right into it:

INGREDIENTS

12 X 8 inch metal baking pan

White flour as needed (3 cups)

2 1/4 tsp. of quick-rise yeast

2 1/2 tsp. of sugar

1/2 tsp. of salt

1-2 cups of water, weather/humidity dependant

1 large yellow pepper (or red, not green)

1 bush of kale

1 broccoli stem with florets

2 tomatoes

3-4 already cleaned heads of garlic

3-6 stalks of  cleaned Gai Lan (chinese broccoli)

4 ounces of minced lean grounded pork (more if you want to)

Garlic powder

Tandoori powder or sauce

Yellow curry (powder)

Paprika

Can/bottle of tomato/pasta sauce, 425g+ — Get one with herbs included for extra taste. 😉

Good quality olive oil

Pink Rose Salt

Optional:

Green Onions both the bulb and the stack

Fresh cloves — not dried

2 cups of 50/50 grated cheese, either Old Cheddar, Swiss or Mozzarella, although I hardly ever use Mozzarella. That’s for pizzas I buy when I am out.

Oyster sauce as dipping sauce. Add a few drops of water to mild the saltiness.

DIRECTIONS

Take 2 cups of the white flour into a large mixing bowl, make a doughnut, thus you can see the bowl in the middle and in it add the 2 1/4 tsp. of quick-rise yeast, 2 1/2 tsp. of sugar, 1/2 tsp. of salt 1/2 cups of water and mix. You want a consistency where all the water is absorbed and the flour is NOT sticky but a touch bouncy. If you press your thumb on it and if you can see the exact indentation, then you have used too much flour. Add water or flour as needed to get this consistency while you continue to mix. Once achieved, knead for 10 minutes, and lightly coat with flour if it is still too sticky. Put aside and very gently brush oil on the dough as to not let it dry, cover bowl and work on the veggies.

Chop your veggies as per taste. Take your tomato sauce, which for the pizza above I used between 1/3 – 1/2 of the bottle/can  and mix with yellow curry to taste. Remember that curry goes a long way so you do not have to use a lot and you just want a hint of it. Put aside.

Take your pork and mix in the paprika and tandoori to taste as well. The same as above goes for the tandoori, you do not need too much. Once the pork is evenly marinated, put aside. You can either quickly sear it for a few seconds on a hot pan before putting on the pizza or you can put it raw, trust me, either way, it will be fine.

Evenly yet lightly, oil your baking pan, take the dough which should have risen a bit and knead it for an extra 2 minutes. For an extra crispy pizza add one extra 1-2 tsp. of extra olive oil on the pan, disperse evenly. Flatten your dough on pan, add your sauce, a touch of pink salt and powdered garlic to taste followed by the cheese on top. Add all your veggies and sprinkle the pork, in tiny bits as the top layer.

Quick note: If you want your veggies to be more crisp, then layer your veggies from heaviest to lightest, weight-wise. If you want otherwise, reverse the order.

Preheat up your oven to 425F and place your pizza in. If you want crispy, leave in for 20+ minutes. For a bit softer, then for about 17+. Don’t worry about the pork, if you sprinkled as mentioned, due to its small individual size, it will cook through.

Take out, cover for 5 minutes with a cloth, take out of the pan, serve and ENJOY!

Let me know how it goes!

Ever since I was a kid and started burning eggs while learning how to cook, I realized I truly enjoyed doing creative works. As such, and finally, 15+ years later I decided to try my hand at photography. As luck would have it I got a Canon A-series camera a few years ago as a birthday gift. For those who do not know, the Canon A-series are known for having a lot of manual options for the price. They are pretty straight to the point and although you would not  utter their name in the same sentence along DSLRs,  one cannot deny that for a budget camera and if you want to stay away from dumb-proof-yet-boring point and shoots, they about the best option you can have.

I remember I took some nice shots with that camera. Then it got stolen. Sadly during a move, the bag my camera was in *disappeared* from within my moving truck. A call to the moving company proved fruitless.

A few years ago, I managed to save enough to buy a new camera, another Canon, this time an A640. A 10 megapixel camera which again like my previous camera was heavy on the manual options. So I started shooting again. I would have to say some really nice pics came out of that. You can see them here on my Flickr! Which I am very proud off! Specially since my camera just stopped working and I do not think it is financially feasible to send it back to Canon for repairs.

BUT! Before the camera died, I was able to take a few more shots which I did enter in the City of Toronto Photography contest, and was able to earn a Honorary Mention for my work. Although monetarily speaking I get squat, I am truly proud to have been honored and that is proof that at least, photographically speaking, I am not burning eggs anymore.

This is one of my first *real* paintings where I actually tried to convey a message. The ‘Sandman’ is a piece where the observer might not be sure at what exactly they are looking at. Whether it is a wineglass or a hourglass, a surreal bowler hat adds to the anthropomorphic work and asks to be open to interpretation. In one, it might be a glass of red wine while if the latter, the contents of the hourglass seem to be spilling onto the ethereal.

All of the paintings are done in watercolor as I find the medium interesting and most importantly, fun. The idea of creating has always been a pleasure of mine and painting is merely another tool, a gateway in which to let some of those ideas that linger inside all of us a path into the real world.

I used to be more into poetry when I was young (read: early 20’s) heck, I ended up writing over 50+ poems! Some of he later, non-romantic ones have found their way in here but for the most part, I have kept it a poem-free zone as I tend to cringe when I read blogs which are 100% poetry. However I am thinking of putting some of the best ones up, you know just for kicks. As I have been feeling pretty creative in the last couple of weeks. Not only through painting but through some more serious matters which will eventually be making their way up here. So until then, feel free to ponder and give your two cents on the painting.

A few weeks ago, I attended a star-studded and relatively new European Film Festival held in the glorious…well, actually my ancient-locally-owned independent movie theater about twenty minutes from my house… and on top of that, the screenings were free. So…maybe it was not all that but you really couldn’t go wrong with that.

Anyway, one of the last flicks I saw was a pseudo-historical tale called El Greco (PS:. You can watch the movie for free off from that link) that’s based on the actual life of, El Greco –one of the most influential painters of the western world, and no, I did not make that up. Which reminded me of exactly how bad my paintings are however, since I have never claimed to be in the same league and I love doing them –did I mention that painting can also relieve stress?

So, I decided to keep on going. I find it to be an excellent hobby which is useful as a ‘stream of consciousness’ exercise that preps your mind and focuses it into the right frame for any other creative projects. With that said, this little work over here is called ‘One Tree Hill.’ I know, I know, no pivotal proverbial peek into the human condition. Although I have been told, if you look closely at the blue sky lines above where they meet the red sunset that you can actually make out the shape of fishes on a stream. Personally, I do not see it but hey, the more seriously people take me ‘dashing’ on canvases, the closer I am to one day selling one. *I hope*