The Strangest Pizza

During our time in Brighton, we went to a pizza place called Pinocchio. A family place with a typical Italian restaurant menu, nothing fancy, but honest food. That said, their trademark pizza, named (of course) Pinocchio Pizza, might have had the strangest mix of ingredients. It had mushrooms, olives, sweet peppers, prawns, anchovies, sausage and artichokes. So it was like a combination of two or three different pizzas. Of course, I had to try it. Quite an experience. Surprisingly, Wolfie wanted to try it, so I had to share a few bites. And he liked it too. Moral of the story: you can get creative with a pizza.

Green Vehicles

 Wolfie and I have noticed it during the school run: there seems to be quite a lot of green cars rolling around these days. We saw a couple of jeeps and I guess green is a normal colour for a jeep, but also "ordinary" cars. And all sorts of green: Lincoln green, forest green, olive green, lime green. But mostly forest green, I think. My son and I love green, but my wife doesn't. Anyway, back in 2023, we had noticed a high number of orange vehicles, this year green seems to be in fashion, at least where we are.

Military 1st(?)

 I don't know what the YouTube algorithms tell me about myself, but for the last few weeks, I have been seeing adverts about Military 1st, an army surplus shop that sells, among other things, combat clothing, outdoor clothing and tactical gears. Maybe because I like olive and forest green clothes? (Ironically enough, my wife hates green clothes.) But surely, YouTube cannot know this about me. Anyway, I had a look on their website. There are a few of their clothing articles that look nice in a totally unpretentious way and, well, green, but I don't do enough outdoors activities to order any. Still, it's kind of spooky to get such marketing every time I watch a YouTube video.

Guédille aux oeufs

 Des fois, on achète pas mal d'oeufs, alors je fais de mon mieux pour les passer. Longue histoire courte: on avait des oeufs, des pains à hot dogs, alors au lieu de faire des sandwiches j'ai fait... des guédilles aux oeufs. Un peu gentrifiées: j'ai ajouté des olives pour faire plus élégant. Et puis, le mélange oeufs et olives, ça torche pas mal, comme je l'ai découvert il y a plusieurs décennies déjà (une inspiration de ma mère, ou de notre aide familiale). Ce fut un succès: petit loup a maintenant un nouveau menu pour le lunch.

La pizza de l'Halloween

 Ma femme a fait une pizza pour petit loup,tirée d'une recette d'Hello Fresh. C'est une pizza de l'Halloween, avec des olives pour faire des araignées. Elles ont l'air vraies en plus. Petit détour nostalgique: la pizza était ce qu'on mangeait, mes frères et moi, avant de passer l'Halloween. Et c'est sans doute de la pizza que l'on mangera ce soir.

Pizzédélic

Lors de notre dernier séjour à Montréal, nous avons fait un petit détour nostalgique chez Pizzédélic sur l'Avenue Mont-Royal. Je suis étonné que ça existe encore, tellement les choses ont changé sur le Plateau, surtout côté bouffe. Une pizzéria sans prétention, ça m'étonne qu'elle ait survécu (touchons du bois). Les pizzas carrées ont fasciné petit loup, justement parce qu'elles sont carrées. C'est un design d'une époque révolue. D'ailleurs, je me trompe ou il n'y a plus guère Pizzédélic qui fasse encore des pizzas carrées? Enfin, j'avais l'impression d'être le temps d'un repas dans les années 90, lorsque je commençais à apprivoiser Montréal.

Olives farcies

Mes parents sont, comme moi et comme petit loup, friands d'olives. En fait, non,  pas autant, mon fils et moi, on exagère quand on mange des olives, ma femme doit nous arrêter. Mais enfin bref, nous tenons de mes parents pour notre goût des olives. Ils ont donc acheté des olives farcies il y a quelques jours. Farcies au fromage feta (mes préférées), au citron et aux oranges. Et, bien entendu, ma mère m'a envoyé des photos pour le blogue.

Simplified puttanesca

A few weeks ago, while I was alone at home, I cooked a spaghetti alla puttanesca, the first in a long time. I keep it simple: I don't add anchovies but sardines and I only put olives because I did not have capers. It was still delicious. I showed it to Wolfie via Facetime. As you may know, Wolfie loves olives just as much as I do. So he asked me to cook some for when he got back. So I made another batch of puttanesca, but without the sardines, so my vegetarian wife could eat it. And also because my son is not too keen on sardines. It was not as flavoursome, but he loved it anyway. Veggie Carrie, who is less fond of olives, less so. But all the same, it's a new family classic. Or father and son classic: simplified puttanesca. Although from what I read, this is pretty close to the original Neapolitan version, which is itself very simple.

Olives aux atocas

Mon père m'a envoyé cette photo d'olives farcies aux atocas. Bon, c'est une première. J'adore les olives, j'aime les atocas, quoique je les mange plus en hiver. Je ne suis pas certain que ce soit un mariage inspiré, mais j'essaierais bien quand même.

Les olives

Bon, c'est l'été nulle part, sauf peut-être dans notre assiette. Toujours est-il que j'ai acheté des olives au marché local il y a quelques jours. Des grosses olives, farcies (ou pas) à pleins d'affaires. Les olives, dont petit loup et moi sommes très friands. Pour moi, les olives se mangent tout le long de l'année, en apéritif, mais c'est sans doute typiquement plus estival, parce que méditerranéen. Dans tous les cas, c'est sans doute notre snack préféré, à Wolfie et à moi.

Improvised pasta

 My wife and my boy were away for the week, so I had to cook for myself like a bachelor. I have to say, I did not do too badly. I made a pasta variation from a recipe I had learned from my Italian friends back in my years at uni: pasta and salmon. I got a tin of salmon, mixed it in a bowl with fresh tomatoes (diced), spring onions (chopped small), some olive oil, basil and a bit of salt. Oh and I added olives just to give it a bit more colour, more flavour and make it even more mediterranean. Then I threw the pasta in. I had enough for three meals. It tasted delicious.

Whatever happened to the Veneziana?

Tonight, we went to Pizza Express for dinner, to meet my wife's friend who wanted to introduce her new fiancé to us. I always loved Pizza Express: the food may not be fancy, but the quality is always reliable. But recently, there is something that has been bothering me: the Veneziana, my go-to pizza when i go there, is no longer on the menu. The Veneziana has everything I love in a pizza: capers, olives, and well, that's it. They also give a discretionary 25p to the Venice in Peril fund for every Veneziana sold. Well, they still do, except for every mushroom pizza sold, because they don't sell Veneziana anymore.  My question is why? Why is it no longer on the menu? Because I don't care about mushroom pizza. I mean I really don't. And I am all for saving Venice, mind you, but I will donate to the charity directly rather than eat a mushroom pizza. In the end, the Veneziana allowed me to make a good deed while enjoying a dinner out. Since it is gone, I don't find the menu of Pizza Express so appealing anymore.

Des olives et des biscuits Ritz

J'ai déjà blogué sur ce snack en 2020. Enfant, c'était l'une de mes collations préférées: du fromage Philadelphia (ou un équivalent) sur un biscuit Ritz et une olive pour couronner le tout une olive, ce qui lui donne de la saveur. En 2020, je le recommandais pour traiter la mélancolie d'après les Fêtes (ou de fin des Fêtes), mais ça peut faire à tout moment lorsqu'on se sent mélancolique. Par exemple quand il fait trop chaud pour autre chose et que la crème glacée vous tombe sur le coeur. Les olives, c'est pas malma version salée du chocolat.

Italian style panini

 We went to a local café for lunch today. It was our first time there and we had been wanting to try it for a long while. I saw in their menu an "Italian style panini", which I had to try: mozzarella, chorizo or salami and olives. Now until Easter, as this is Lent, I try not to eat meat. Not out of religious devotion, but because it makes my wife happy. She is vegetarian, see. But I could not resist this panini. Not because of the meat, but because of the olives. And I have a complete faith in Italian style food. I'm a sucker for olives. My wife's judgement: "Oh you are such a bad Catholic!" Which has to be a great unknown line. That said, it's a bit rich for her to say: 1)I'm no longer a Catholic,and 2)she's never been a Catholic, so what does she know about it? Anyway, the panini was worth my impiety.

Veneziana Pizza

Last week for my wife's birthday, we went to Pizza Express. It is a sort of almost acidental tradition for her birthday: we often end up there, even when we don't plan it. But Pizza Express is always reliable: it serves good food at decent price, Wolfie is sure to enjoy it and we are never disappointed in the meal. It is especially true for me, as I always go for the Veneziana, so I know exactly what I am going to have. It has black olives, capers, red onions and 25p is given to the Venice In Peril fund. So I feel like I do my good deed of the day every time I go there and order it. And my wife is happy because it means that I eat vegetarian.

Time for olives

 There is a local food festival this weekend. It was cancelled last year but is going on this year. I went there quickly yesterday and we might go back today as a family for lunchtime. Anyway, I bought olives for myself and Wolfie, because we both love olives and buying special olives during special events is a daddy and son tradition. He got very excited. To be honest, the selection wasn't that great, but it's nice to eat olives all the same.

A bruschetta with a twist

As those who can read French might have known from a previous post, I recently made bruschette (yes, the plural is with an e, not with an s) for the family lunch. One of the things I learned spending time with Italians at uni, apart from a bit of Italian, is how to make bruschette: you toast a piece of bread, you grate a garlic clove on it, you then pour a bit of olive oil on it, then add a cut tomato, or some passata, then add grated cheese, preferably parmesan, then that's it, you have a healthy meal for you and your loved ones. You can of course do a few variations with bruschette and add different things. Which is what I always do with Wolfie: he loves them, but with olives. I put some one day on his, he won't have any without since then. Maybe I should do the same for my own bruschette, come to think of it.

The Ultimate Holiday Snack

I know we are only the 27th, but you might be, just like I am, in a state of post-Christmas blues already. Well, I might have the ultimate comfort food for you. It is a snack we used to have, not only during Christmastime, but it was part of almost every buffet of the Christmas holidays when I was growing up, at least in my memory. You take Ritz crackers, you spread some Philadelphia cheese on it, then top with an olive. Delicious, just filling enough when you feel peckish, and it puts you in a good mood.

La pizza de la momie

Que serait l'Halloween sans de la bouffe pour se mettre dans l'esprit de la fête? Outre les desserts de toutes sortes, on peut faire un repas du soir ou un lunch pour l'Halloween. La pizza a été durant des années le met du 31 pour mes frères et moi, avant d'aller passer l'Halloween. J'ai trouvé dans un magazine acheté il y a cinq ans cette recette de pizza à l'apparence de momie: on utilise des tranches de pain pour la base, des olives pour les yeux et des tranches de fromage pour les bandages. Je ne sais pas si c'est ce qu'on mangera le 31, mais j'en fais une fois durant le mois d'octobre afin de célébrer.

Missing the Friday sandwich treat

I don't miss much if anything from my last job, which I recently lost due to the pandemic. You know the drill, I often mentioned it here: not appreciated enough, not enough good colleagues, not enough of anything good. But there was one pleasant moment in my week: my usual Friday lunch treat, which I bought at a corner sandwich shop. I was lucky enough to have one quite similar to the one in my previous working place. Both shops served chicken baguettes and had olives as condiment. I varied a bit with the chicken, but the trimming was always the same: tomatoes, lettuce, onions and olives. And crisps on the side of course. I don't know when I will have a new job (touch wood it might be sooner than expected), where I will be back in an office even less, but whenever this happens, I hope there is a sandwich shop that sells baguettes like this one.