Hey all, sorry about the week-long hiatuses recently. I’m still trying to get into the groove of working full-time and living at home, and as such have been finding it hard to blog.

But anyways, this weekend dinner happened.

You know the drill, once in awhile you just need to have a pizza party. Saturday was one of those days. And, since I believe pizza parties are synonymous with socializing, it was perfect that my friend Alan was in town from Montreal to help prepare dinner.

Doesn’t he look like a piece of Microsoft clipart in that right-hand photo?

Now you should know that when it comes to food, I refuse to make the same thing twice (okay, except black bean burgers and other truly delicious concoctions). This kitchen motto especially applies to foods like pasta and pizza, where the traditional serving method of tomato and bread must (a) be avoided or (b) be creatively spiffed up in one way or the other. And so, the evening became a gourmet pizza party. Heck yes.

In addition to three types of cheese (a mozzarella ball, provolone and goat cheese – really, the most expensive part of any pizza), Alan and I had a whole pile of toppings to choose from.

With so many options available, I suggested we draw sketches of our pizza (I like visualizing food on paper), though this exercise quickly dissolved into a lesson about the components of DNA (seriously, don’t give a chemistry masters student the chance to draw diagrams), reminiscing about graduation after-parties and a conversation about Nunavut food prices (something that I’m actually reporting on tomorrow).

And so, when pizza making time finally came around, it was time to improvise.

We ended up making five different kinds:
1. White bean sauce with yellow/orange peppers, mozzarella, goat cheese, oregano and sliced Italian sausage (inspired by a white bean stew I saw on the Internet);
2. Tomato paste with peppers, shaved chicken and artichoke with mozzarella;
3. Alan’s “Italian style” pizza with tomato basil sauce, red onion, portobello mushrooms and Italian sausage;
4. Pesto with sautéed portobello mushrooms and red onions, inspired by this former Hilary Makes creation; AND our most creative and off-beat pizza of the evening…
5. A banana pizza with hot sauce, mozzarella and balsamic vinegar, the idea for which was snagged from Alan’s banana omelette recipe (yes, actually a thing). We weren’t originally going to make this one, but after my dad made such a fuss about not wanting banana on his pizza, we had no choice but to go against his will.

PS: I am typing this blog post on my new iPad!! Exciting, huh? The keyboard is pretty much the same size as the one on my MacBook, except there is less force required to tap the keys and my iPad doesn’t overheat on my thighs while I’m sitting on my bed. It also has autocorrect just like my iPhone, so that when I’m too lazy to capitalize words or add apostrophes to things, it fixes them for me. Correctly or incorrectly, I’ll never tell. Damn You Autocorrect, anyone?