Gourmet Pizza For The Gourmand

Good day, little reader(s). I am Reema Mk. 2, master chef extraordinaire. I've been training for weeks and weeks to perfect my craft, no longer satisfied with food that looks like someone coughed up a lung. While my predecessor Reema has failed to achieve this goal, I feel that, with this latest entry, I have achieved my long-sought dream.

Tonight's epic meal began just like any other in this household. I lay on a couch, deep in thought and pondering what I could possibly cook for dinner. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, it came to me: pizza! It was a genius idea, and I certainly had all of the ingredients. In addition, I've made pizza from scratch several times before, so it would be a piece of cake for me to cook it.

So, I assembled all of my ingredients.

After preparing the dough, my lovely assistant Tess added just enough tomato sauce to quench our ravenous appetite for the unfortunate red vegetable.
I felt that the frozen pizzas we found in the freezer would be a wonderful touch, and boy was it ever. Not only were they an excellent model for what my own pizza should look like, but they had been in the freezer for a couple of months and needed to get eaten.
Unfortunately, at this stage of the creation process my gourmet pizza doesn't look especially appetizing. But delicious? I think so!
After adding the only cheese that we had in the house--muenster--I added a few herbs and spices. The first herb is actually a product called Herbamare, which we got when my vegan cousin wanted to make Tofurkey palatable for the family. I also added cilantro and basil for that extra bit of flavor.


After cooking in a 425 degree oven for about ten minutes, one can easily tell that I'm quite excited by this ample fete. Unfortunately, it would seem I put a little too much muenster on my pizza, and some of it melted off. Luckily, I had the foresight to put a large baking pan underneath my pizza stone in case such a thing would happen. And how was this pizza? Just ask my lovely assistant!
The word "delicious" comes to mind. Mmm mmm good.

Feeding Moi!

This, dear readers, is an adventure in Fettuccine Alfredo! It is my entry to Presto Pasta Nights over at http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/
Recipe calls for
3/4 pound fettuccine
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
Generous dash white pepper
Generous dash ground nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Make your fettuccine in boiling water
Mix heavy cream and butter until butter is melted and it boils a bit, then mix in white pepper, salt and nutmeg, then mix in cheese and remove from heat. Mix cheese until blended.
Drain your fettuccine and then poor in the sauce, then mix in the parsley. Garnish with a fresh sprig of parsley and voila!

This past weekend, I went on a short road trip of sorts with my mother, grandmother, and mom's neighbour, Anne. A good time was had by all, taking in the beautiful scenery and stuffing ourselves full of awesome foodstuffs. Here are a few of the highlights:

Veggie sushi! It was made fresh a few minutes before I bought it. It had avocado, lettuce, cucumber, and carrot, which is never a combo I've seen in sushi before. I'm still not sure if there were chives in it too, but it doesn't matter because it was tasty.


The mini-macaron in front might look familiar to the two of you who've read this blog before, as it's a smaller version of the gorgeous chocolate macaron I raved about back in December. The same bakery that shows up at the Brewery Market in Halifax every week was also at the Market in Kentville, and because we were there earlier than when I usually go to markets, they still had plenty of pastries left (though all the big macarons were gone, sigh). Anyway, the mini version might just be better than the full one, since it has a much thinner layer of ganache but the addition of a piece of VERY good dark chocolate, which added new textural and flavour dimensions. YUMMY.


Also yummy was the exquisite chocolate-pistachio sable something-or-other. It was almost too beautiful to eat (emphasis on "almost"). I was quite glad I chose to eat the blackberry garnish last, because the clean taste of the fruit washed away the buttery richness of the ganaches very nicely. The ganaches were almost too rich; it would have been better if there had been less. The flavour of the sable cookie couldn't stand up to its toppings because it was far outnumbered. That's a shame, since the cookie was very good on its own. As a whole, though, I was very pleased with the delectable pastry - it was worth a foodgasm.

Mmm, spanakopita. One of my absolute favorite Greek dishes, if not my most favourite of all. It tastes like summer.

And now, for some nature shots, because the Annapolis Valley is beautiful:

My First Sushi

Had you told me 3 years ago that one day I would be suffering from a serious jones for some sushi, I'd have laughed in your face. "Not only did I hate my first piece of sushi so much that I immediately named it one of my least favourite foods," I would have scoffed, "But I also cannot stand to eat seafood." I know, of course, that it is possible to eat sushi without getting seafood involved, as I did then, but if you eat sushi for any length of time you are bound to encounter fish at some point.

But Reema made me try it again... and again... and again, and the next thing you know it's one of my favorite meals, and I'm ordering king crab, lobster, and Alaska rolls without breaking a sweat.

Fast forward to about three weeks ago. My friend Travis is coming for a visit, and he likes sushi just as much as I do. Granted, he'd only eaten it once before - at a dinner where all three of the contributors to this blog were present, actually. Anyway, while cleaning in preparation for Travis' arrival I had found my sushi set. At that very moment I decided it was time to make some serious California rolls - because really, who DOESN'T like those?

Though attempting to make inside-out sushi was not as much of a success as I had hoped, it was still pretty yummy. I'm going to do more research next time.

I highly recommend the "Sushi Day" blog (see sidebar) if you're interested in making your own maki. It is totally worth the effort. We didn't get too creative with the recipe, but making up your own maki is a fun time.