The Real Canadian Pizza

Dear Gourmands,


Today was wrought with great discoveries. 


I discovered that Boyfriend Hipster is wonderful to Christmas shop with, found the perfect gift for the Parentals, and explored the contents of our fridge to create the perfect pizza. Because it is the season of giving, it's about time to share this fabulous recipe with you. All the ingredients are of Canadian origin, except for the olives. I whipped this up in half an hour.


Ingredients

• 1 Pre-made Flat Bread (I used PC)
• 1 Tb Spoon Butter
• 1/2 Onion, thickly sliced
• 3 Cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 Tb spoon Maple Syrup 
• 3 Tb spoons Soft Goat's Cheese (Chev)
• 1 Fillet of Smoked Salmon
• 1/4 of a Red Pepper, thinly sliced
• 5-8 Olives, pitted and split in half
• 2 Tb Spoons of Feta
• 1 Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 Degrees (or according to the instructions on the package).

2. Using a medium sized skillet, melt Butter on medium high. When butter is bubbling, add Onions and Garlic. Stir often. When onions and garlic begin to brown, pour in Maple Syrup. Turn down heat, cooking mixture until the onions are supple. 

3. Using the back of a spoon, evenly spread Goat's Cheese on the Flat Bread. Pull pieces off the Smoked Salmon Fillet (I just used my hands), and layer on pizza. Layer all other ingredients, crumbling the Feta last. Bake until cheese is melted, about 11 minutes.

4. Finish with a splash of Balsamic Vinegar. 

Tis the season for a fashionably bigger belly,
Arctic Hipster

When Peanut Butter Attacks!

Dear Aspiring Bakers,

Sometimes I really don't think. But mostly, I think I'm thinking, but I'm really not thinking at all about the eventual outcomes of my actions.

Why this sudden realization? Peanut Butter Death Squares. I was commissioned to bake for our grad Christmas celebration, and obviously being very conscious of what I was doing, signed up to make a dessert. Now that may not seem like a bad idea, especially because it's a fairly easy task. However, I managed to mess up a recipe with only five ingredients, then practically kill one of my friends with a severe nut allergy.  The squares which were suppose to be consistency of a cheesecake bar, softened so much after I'd taken them out of the freezer that they became a mass of peanut butter an icing sugar. I had left my serving platter out (and far away from the rest of the food, as well as my severely allergic friend), hoping that by some miracle the temperamental squares would magically be eaten before they melted completely.

As per the usual, things didn't work out the way I'd hoped. At the end of the night I came back to the buffet table to find the majority of my squares massacred with a pair of tongs. The chocolate on top had been broken up by an attempt to cut the stacked portions apart, there was peanut butter mash smeared over the table, and I was certain someone had given up on trying to be delicate and just dug in with a spoon. In other words, my dessert was a fail of epic proportions.

Tragic? Perhaps, depending on your perspective. I like to imagine that I succeeded in not killing my friend with the nut allergy, instead of thinking about her obvious shunning of me the entire night. Either way, I won't be using peanut butter any time soon.

Rest You Merry,

Arctic Hipster

Sweet things only take up a moment of your time

The fact I'm trying (emphasis on Trying) to cut back on the baked goods for the sake's of my family's and friend's health, has left me feeling a bit bitter lately among other conflicts. Although this last week has been hard, and does not seem as if it will get any better, I'm hoping in making a list of sweet things today will feel a bit more....sugary. I'm writing quickly considering tomorrow is the first day of dance rehursals for " Charlie and the glass elevator: Micheal Jackson tribute". Most pleasant things take only a minute though, so here goes...

Reasons to smile...

Tonight my family and I embarked on an adventure to purchase orange juice
I almost can put my feet completly on the ground in the yoga position of downward facing dog
We received our information package about the child in Africa we are sponsoring
Her name is Febby
Today "The Guitar Playing Hippie" and laughed at yet another inside joke
We have inside jokes
I adore him...even more than cookies.
Found an amazing recipe for spicy mexican brownies
Had no homework tonight
It was twenty two degrees... IN SEPTEMBER!!!
There is a breath taking sunset right now
My dad just called me "Macadamia Nut"
Mom read from "Ink Spell" using her teacher voice
I just thought of the "David HassleHoff Contest" on Megan's blog, then remembered her cooking.
Nichola, the italian exchange student said Hi to me this morning


Tomorrow is a brand new day, and honestly there is nothing that could be sweeter.


Arctic Hipster