Fid Friday

Not exactly one of my birds, but defiantely something any parrot person can relate to.

Credit for pic goes to: http://starkeeper153.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=ichew#/d4655pa

Product Review: Tim's Gourmet Pizza

The German and I have made the decision to try and buy more of our food at the local farmers' maket during the summer. They have lots of wonderful vendors there, I have to get my weekly supply of BC cherries, and this week we came upon a new vendor that sells gourmet pizzas. Gluten free gourmet pizzas!

Tim's Gourmet Pizza can be found at numerous farmers makets in the Calgary area, and a full list of locations, as well as an online menu. They offer three sizes, however, gluten free crusts only come in the middle size, which does me two moderate sized portions. A guy with a hearty appetite, though, it would just barely do one.

At $15 a pop, they aren't cheap by any means, but as a once and a while treat, I think these are well worth it.

I forgot to take a picture before I started chowing down.

I chose the Spolumbo Sausage pizza, which, along with sausage, also has proscuitto ham, and cranberries. Mine also ended up having a few pieces of onion on it, which was probably just a mistake, but I hope they are more diligent when it comes to assuring cross contamination is avoided with the crust. I enquire more abut this the next time I see the gentleman at the farmers' market, and report here as an add on to the post.

The crust itself was the shining feature of this pizza, I've never had anything like it before and it was almost surreal. Buttery, and slightly crumbly, the crust almost melted into the pizza. It was wonderful, but I found it very rich, and it probably wouldn't replace thin crust pizza totally. Even if I wasn't gluten free, I think this crust would be a nice change of pace.

If you are curious about the very dark colouring on the bottom of the crust, Tim advises his pizzas can be cooked in one of two way: oven or bbq. It had been so incredibly hot here lately I opted for the bqq, and towards the end, I cranked up the heat because I got impatient. Follow the directions, and you should be fine!

Not a whole lot to say about the choice of toppings, except I didn't even notice there was proscuitto until I re-read the menu. The cranberries were a nice addition, and I appriciated the sweet pop every once and a while.

I would say a definate thumbs up for this one. A wonderful treat that beats any other frozen gluten free pizza I've had by leaps and bounds.

Fid Friday

This week's snapshot is Jazz and Lillith sharing broccoli.

Calgary Stampede 2012

Hey guys!

Yesterday, I went to the Stampede and while I forgot to take pictures of most things (I’m still new to the concept of taking pictures of all my food) I thought I might as well give you a quick recap of what I saw and experienced.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of awareness there seemed to be about the importance of gluten free and lactose free options this year.

The German and I split a MASSIVE smoked Turkey leg. Every year that I go to the Stampede I have seen these, and every year they are sold out of every size except “Cave Man” (really, I think it’s “extra large” but that sounds so much less dramatic) so I’m beginning to think this is the only size they offer. It was ok, the meat was nice, smoky, and tender, but it was very, very salty; we downed three bottles of water between the two of us. They may seem expensive at $15 a pop, but divide that by two people and it’s a decent deal for a filling meal on the grounds where a crappy cheeseburger will run you upwards of $6. There are a few stands that sell them on the grounds, but the good stand is in the same place every year; across the Corral about halfway in between the Coke Stage and the Saddledome. It’s hard to miss with its large cast iron smokers right next to it.

I had some “Sea Salt and Honey Peanuts” from a stand inside the BMO center called “Billy Dee’s” (apparently they are based in Ontario, even though I couldn’t find a website). These were actually really, really good. The bold salty and sweet juxtaposition was absolutely addicting, although at $6 for a fairly small portion I couldn’t justify seconds to take home.

The German got some french fries from a nondescript stand along the main midway section. Ok, but nothing special. Gluten free fries are actually not too hard to find on the grounds, just be sure to ask the staff inside if the coat the fries in anything, and what else they cook in the same oil.

After the concert I was attending got out, my sister and her boyfriend went to have a smoke, while my mother and I sought out the perennial favourite: the pineapple whip. In case you are unfortunate enough not to have ever tried one of these before, it’s basically a soft serve sherbet made of pineapple juice. Incredibly smooth, and not too tart, it’s a wonderful fat free alternative to ice cream.

Although I didn’t partake in any of the following items, they were available GF at the grounds at various stands throughout the park:

• Pizza
• Tacos
• Numerous types of Ice Cream
• Fudge
• Taffy
• Popcorn and Kettle Corn
• Smoothies

I'm still rooting for GF corn dogs some day! Cross your fingers for Stampede 2013!!

Fid Friday

Today's picture is Mr. Fry, innocently cannibalizing a piece of white meat chicken breast. I kid, this is actually normal and healthy for parrots to have small portions of lean meat. The protein is good for them!