B-b-b-baking: Presenting on my Personal Passion for Pizza?

Hello lovelies!

It has been a month since my last post, and I apologize. Ever since I moved back to London for the final term of my program, it has been rather busy. I have something kind of fun to share though!

Today, I did a microteaching session for my Information Literacy class where we were required to teach "something" to a group of 3-4 MLIS/PhD LIS students for 20 minutes. Since we had the option of doing something creative rather than what would be considered academic, I tried to come up with a topic that I was passionate about, but could only come up with something to do with music or badminton. P, listening to my flurry of confusion over the phone, said something along the lines of, "well, you like food..." to which I replied, "I do like food..."

The end result? I taught the class about the different components to a good pizza! I had a lot of fun with it, especially considering how I got to make pizza~

I made 3 different pizzas - one made with regular wheat flour and yeast, one with wheat flour and baking powder, and one with gluten-free flour (therefore xanthan gum as well) and yeast!

All 3 were baked at the same temperature (450 F) for 15 minutes. I decided on a classic margherita, because well, it's one of my favourites. A margherita pizza is essentially made up of a pizza dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. Delicious. Also, just a few days ago, I purchased my first plants ever, which included a basil plant!

Hazel (the basil) and Phil (the dill), my new roommates. 

So far, the plant care seems to be going alright, but the aphids are starting to get a tad annoying...

What I have learned today about pizza:
- A good pizza is actually really easy to make! All it takes is flour, yeast, olive oil, salt, and then your choice of toppings!
- The taste and texture is substantially better if you leave the dough to rise overnight in the fridge as opposed to just baking it after 1 1/2-2 hours of rising.
- To give your pizza crust some real oomph, you can knead in some herbs like oregano! (I actually didn't learn this today - I learned it from my roommate, Kaitlyn who lived with me for the past 2/3 of my school year!)
- Fresh basil is the way to go. Dried basil is okay, but if you have fresh basil, it makes a huuuge difference!
- While pizza dough can be made with gluten-free substitutes, and you can kind of make it with leavening agents other than yeast, it just isn't the same...
- The yeast in bread products isn't what gives it the air pockets! It's the agitation done either through mixing or kneading. By doing either of these things, you are incorporating air and creating gluten, making the dough more elastic and flexible, and making more space for it to expand!
- It's not just in grade school. Pizza tastes good cold or hot!

This was what the "dough" from the gluten-free pizza looked like. Really, it was more like a batter than anything. In order to form the shape, I had to wet my hands with water and pat and spread it. It resembled something like hummus, especially when I drizzled olive oil over top...perhaps it could have turned out better if I had more experience with gluten-free baking/cooking...

The gluten-free pizza. Made with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour, yeast, eggs, salt, and olive oil. Taste was okay, but moreso because of the toppings. The dough was kind of cakey - not ideal for a pizza crust. It seemed that it just never crisped up.

The baking powder pizza dough. This took a lot of molding. Since there was still gluten in the dough, you could sort of knead it, but it broke kind of easily, and just didn't feel as nice in your hands (or mouth) :(

The baking powder pizza. Doesn't look so bad after baking. Taste? Eh...edible, but not the same...

The dough for the regular pizza. This was the funnest to work with because it was the real deal! I wasn't daring enough to throw it in the air and catch it while shaping it into a flat circle...maybe another day?

The best for last! A real, classic margherita pizza. Mmm...perfection (or at least pretty close).

The best part about making 3 pizzas to teach a lesson is that you have to test all 3 pizzas. Score. Can you tell which one is which? :P

The experience was really interesting. I haven't been exposed to the world of instruction very much, and hope I get more opportunities to do so in the future! Especially if it's about food...

In case you're interested, below are the accompanying slides from my microteaching session, (although they don't have as much content as my actual presentation did, because I tend to explain things a bit more myself and just use the PowerPoint as a visual).

The Science Behind a Good Pizza

And last but not least, the recipe...

A Good, Old, Classic Margherita Pizza (adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)
*Makes ~4 personal-sized pizzas*
1 package quick rising yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (plus extra for kneading, rising, and drizzling on top)
1 tsp sea salt
Tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat your oven to 450 F, and line a 6-8 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Meanwhile, add yeast, warm water, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir until sugar is dissolved, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave for 10-15 minutes or until foamy.
3. Stir yeast mixture a bit, then add flour, olive oil, and sea salt, stirring until combined.
4. Lightly oil your hands, and knead the dough for about 7-8 minutes until you can form a smooth, round ball.
5. Lightly oil the inside of the mixing bowl, place the dough ball in the center, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave for at least 1 1/2 hours in a warm place until doubled in size. (It's better to leave it to rise in the fridge overnight. Believe me.)
6. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Take one piece and gently stretch and shape it into a circle to fit your cake pan. Drizzle the top with olive oil, and brush to coat evenly.
7. Add tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil to your liking.
8. Bake for 15 minutes until the crust is browned and a bit crispy.
9. Remove from oven, slice, and enjoy immediately.
**You can choose to bake the other 3 right away, but they freeze very well. Simply wrap each piece in plastic wrap and stick in the freezer for up to 1 month. To thaw, leave in the fridge overnight until pliable, and continue from the second part of step 6.

Buon Appetito!

-M

Love for the Locals: Le Petit Coin Latin

10 years ago, my family made a trip to Montreal and Quebec City, back during the times when I reliably got sick on every trip we went on. My memories of Quebec were vague, but with some vivid images that I never forgot. There was one cafe in Vieux-Quebec that we went into on a miserably rainy day when I had come down with a bad fever, and my mom had to carry me. All I remembered was a red, wooden window frame with pouring rain running down the glass, yellow painted walls on the inside, and a brown ramekin of French onion soup that my dad was eating. 10 years later, we've returned, and I've finally gotten to enjoy the Quebec City I missed out on!

My family and I had brunch at Le Petit Coin Latin (8 1/2 Saint-Ursule, Quebec City, QC), the very cafe I remembered.

They have a picture of a giant fork on the inside of their door.

Le Petit Coin Latin! It's on a slanted road, as most roads are in Old Quebec :P

I like to think that part of the reason why the menus are so interestingly shaped is because of the slanted road, but I'm not 100% sure because it's actually slanted the other way... Still a cute touch!

The very booth that my family sat at 10 years ago, while I laid on my mom's lap passed out with a fever. All I could remember of Old Quebec from that time were slanted roads, a lot of rain, and a window frame painted red on the outside, and yellow on the inside.

I had my lunch with tea, of course!

The French Onion Soup I longed for... the broth is light, but flavourful. Delicious.

My smoked salmon salad! Shredded beet and carrot, slices of zucchini, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and capers were hidden beneath the generous slices of salmon lox. 

My brother chose the croissant with vegetables. The cheese melted all over it really made it look 10 times tastier than it already did!

My dad opted for the eggs benedict. Smoked salmon eggs benedict, that is.

Of the meals that you could get in touristy districts like Old Quebec, this was very reasonably priced. The French Onion Soup was $6, and the small Smoked Salmon salad was $9. And, it was all very very much worth the wait.

The waitress told me that their staff are usually travelling employees, so the turnover is rather high. New employees hang out in Quebec for a couple of years, and move on to another destination! I found it quite surprising considering how great their service is. My dad used to have business trips to Quebec, and always stopped by, noting that they've been remarkably consistent!

After finally tasting the tastes I missed out on 10 years ago, I ought to return! See you again in 10 years, Le Petit Coin Latin?

-M

Love for the Locals: Juliette et Chocolat

After completing the first 2/3's of my Master's, my family took me on a roadtrip in Eastern Canada for a week and a half. The stop I had been looking forward to for the past few months is Montreal, Quebec. P has been to Montreal a few times, so he recommended some places to me that he thought I would enjoy. I trusted his judgement considering over half of the things we do together involve food (and he's picked up on my likes and dislikes over the past year and a bit).
For my last dinner in Montreal (on this trip, because I am definitely coming back) we had some lighter fare at a quaint little place on the western end of Rue Saint-Catherine called Juliette et Chocolat (1626 Rue Saint-Catherine Ouest, Montreal, QC), also recommended to me by P, and further endorsed by friends. Rue Saint-Catherine stretches from west to east through downtown Montreal and is known to be the area for the city's nightlife.

Juliette et Chocolat offers a lighter and more cheerful vibe than the various nightclubs and trendy diners and retailers for the several blocks to follow. It has got to be one of the most adorable places I've ever been to. Everything is adorable! The little chocolate boutique, the restaurant...the red berets that all of the employees wear! Juliette et Chocolat is also probably more of a place for desserts given its chocolate bar and extensive sweets menu, but they do offer some savoury goods that seem just as delightful.

Juliette et Chocolat!

The shop counter where they sell various chocolate goods and desserts! The restaurant area is located to the right of it where I was sitting.

My Juliette et Chocolat salad. It had mixed greens, sliced pears and strawberries, creamy goat cheese, a dark chocolate vinaigrette and a spiderweb-like buckwheat crepe to top it all off! The dark chocolate vinaigrette was definitely different - it had the tart taste of a nice balsamic vinaigrette with a dampened dark chocolate after taste, so that the chocolate was the last flavour left on your tongue.

I also decided to get a small chai latte. Mmm... I used to not like chai very much, but it has really grown on me!

My brother opted for a savoury crepe, "The Spinach Complete" which came with egg, a choice of ham or turkey (he picked turkey), cheese, and spinach.

My family decided to share a "Chocolate Fondue Duo" where you could select two types of chocolate, and they provided you with a wide variety of fruit - apples, kiwis, pears, bananas, pineapples, and strawberries! We picked dark chocolate and white chocolate, because when you mix the two, you get milk chocolate, so really we had three ;)

I have a love for jars. They had various desserts in jars including tiramisu!

I would have liked to try one of their sweets after seeing the magnificent dishes past by me towering with whipped cream, but one thing about all of this French food is that it is very rich, which I am not used to.

I am sure that there are other lovely eateries and markets and shops and cafes that I hadn't covered in the 2-3 days I was here for. Montreal is such a vibrant place with a wonderful food and art scene! I vow to return (when I can afford that)! And when I do, I am definitely going back to Juliette et Chocolat~

-M

B-b-b-baking: Rappin' Crackerz

It's getting to that point in the term where I have to start using things up. Sadly, this is probably the last of my baking until the summer. I know...tragic, ain't it? I happened to have a package of wonton wrappers in my freezer since the potluck we had about a month ago, but because other types of protein went on sale at Loblaws, I stocked up on all of that rather than ground meat. I mean, I could have made fish dumplings by grounding up my fish, but I thought of this after the fact. I'm not so sure that I would have liked eating 40ish fish dumplings over the span of 3 weeks anyways.

I was trying to look for creative ways to use wonton wrappers, but all of the things I got were just different dumpling fillings and/or different folding methods. Turns out, what I really should have consulted was Pinterest. Believe it or not, but I kind of just got into the Pinterest-y thing last week. It's like Imgur, but for artsy craftsy people! Basically, it's great.

One of the pictures was of "Parmesan Wonton Crackers". I'm not thaaat big on parmesan cheese, nor did I have any, but the cracker idea? Genius. It's around now that I'd be getting the munchies while working on the remaining term papers, and even better, I'd actually have a snack food at my disposal! So, I decided to throw together what I thought would make a cracker out of a wonton wrapper.

What I learned today about wonton wrappers:
- Some people think of wonton wrappers as "pasta" (i.e. Martha Stewart), which I suppose in essence it is, but Asian pasta just sounds weird.
- Pinterest is apparently a good source for creative ideas for anything! Including what to do with a package of wonton wrappers that linger in your freezer.
- Wonton wrappers are commonly used for a lot of different party foods! I wonder what my family would think about putting things like artichokes and cheese or pizza toppings inside wonton wrappers :S

I kept doing batches of 6. Clearly, I could have been more efficient by using more pans, but I was down to my last sheet of parchment paper.

Snacky munchie food for the paper-typing blues :D

Wonton Wrapper Crackers
1 package of wonton wrappers
2-3 Tbsp of olive oil
Sea salt
Sesame seeds

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F, and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Lay out 6-8 wonton wrappers flat in a single layer on the pan.
3. Brush each wrapper with a bit of olive oil, then sprinkle sesame seeds and sea salt to your liking.
4. Pop in the oven and bake for 10 minutes until browned and cracker-like, but not burnt.
5. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Munch away!

I have a tendency to eat an entire bag of chips or popcorn in one sitting (P can attest to that), so I hope these last a bit longer :/

-M

Love for the Locals: Dishington's Tea Room

So, I got a Groupon a while back for Dishington's Tea Room, but didn't realize at the time that I'd have to take 3 bus transfers to get there. That was when I ended up going to The Bag Lady with Cat. I finally got the chance to go when one of my classmates, Heather offered to drive. Heather, myself, and another classmate, Elyse, went to Dishington's Tea Room for a late lunch/afternoon tea, and it was lovely.

Dishington's Tea Room (2485 Main Street, London, ON) is actually in a little area called Lambeth, which is slightly outside of London, but was about a 20ish minute drive from the University of Western Ontario campus, so it wasn't too bad. It looks like a little house, and it's actually a tea room on one side, and a gift shop on the other. Elyse said that it reminded her of her grandmother's house. Sometimes, I wish I had a set of European grandparents so that I could say the same. This type of place is so much more my speed compared to nightclubs and bars and pubs. It's such a relaxed atmosphere, and good food and company makes it even better!

Dishington's seems like a rather small operation, but it's these little local places that have so much character and somehow, the better food. They also serve high tea from 11am-2pm, but must be booked 2 days in advance. It seems like it'd be worth a try at some point! It comes on a three-tiered stand full of sandwiches, desserts, and scones, as well as your choice of coffee or tea!

After an adventure somewhere out on the highway, we made it!

The front waiting area. It was half tea room, and half gift shop, as you can see the racks of shirts on the right.

Waiting to be seated in the tea room! The lady in the pink shirt is the front of house and server. I wish I had gotten her name...

I took this when we were leaving because it was the end of the afternoon tea time, so everyone had cleared out. Good for me though!

Look at how cute the menus are! I love bows and ribbon... *_*

Their tea cozies were like little pouches rather than the ones that go over top and cover the tea pot. So cute!

Elyse and I shared a pot of Earl Grey...theirs is nice! Not too overly fragrant, and not too citrusy and instanty. Some day, I will learn the real terminology of a true tea connoisseur... 

Our table was right next to the fireplace. It's a real fireplace! It was so nice and toasty :) The trimming on the wall was so cute. It had pictures of various fancy tea pots with names of different kinds of teas like Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Darjeeling, etc.

The special of the day was a strata, which the lady described as a quiche without the pastry. I couldn't bare to part with my pastry, so I ordered a salmon-dill quiche. Everything on the menu came with a choice of soup or salad, so I picked the soup of the day - a carrot puree soup with apple and rhubarb, and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. It was sooo delicious...I don't know if cozy is a proper term to describe the texture of soup, but that's what it was. Mmm...

Heather let me take a picture of her food, ha. She also chose the soup of the day, but with the Smoked Turkey and Havarti sandwich. It had cranberry mayo (?), slices of cucumber, and romaine lettuce leaves on what they called "ancient grain bread". It looked delicious... it was going to be my choice if I hadn't gone with the quiche.

They had two dessert specials. One was a fudge brownie served with vanilla icecream, and I chose the other - a piece of carrot-pecan coffee cake with caramel drizzle and Devon cream. Although I won't be able to have any more dairy for today, it was so worth it. The streussel was done just right, and nothing about the sweetness was overpowering. Probably the best coffee cake I've ever had.

I stole a bite from Heather's rhubarb pie too, also served with Devon cream. The crust was not too thick or thin, and the pie filling wasn't too tart or sweet. Heather said it was easily the best rhubarb pie she'd ever had and she would come back for it.

I love finding these local eateries and sharing the experience with company. It just makes the whole package, you know? It would be even better if P was here, but until that happens, I'll have to manage with my London friends! If you have access to a vehicle or to someone with a vehicle, I would encourage you to try Dishington's for lunch or afternoon tea! 

-M