Panago on Steveston Hwy, Richmond

Ben and I went to Garry Point Park for our morning walk. It was quite a breezy morning especially when we were near the water.

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The meadow at the Garry Point Park. The flowers are sparse.

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The land here does not look fertile.

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A gaggle of Canadian geese hanging out in the park.

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We walked all the way to the Imperial Landing Park. There were people fishing on a pier.

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After our walk, we decided to get pizza for lunch for our boys. We had bought a couple of Panago certificates from a friend in support for her daughter’s dance team. The certificate is $10 each and entitles for any medium Panago Pizza. (more…)

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Pizza Garden at Aberdeen Station, Richmond

Ben and I went for our daily walk during his Christmas break.

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We ended up at the new Aberdeen Square. We wanted something light for lunch saw saw this new Pizza Garden across the Aberdeen sky train station.

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The signage says it Pizza Garden serves authentic Neopolitan style pizza.

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There were quite a number of ready made pizza on the display counter. (more…)

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Danny’s Market, corner of Garden City & Francis, Richmond

It was a gloomy and showery fall Saturday. The boys do not want to go out to eat. Moreover, there is a hockey game at 1:00PM.

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So, we settled with Danny’s Market pizzas since Danny’s is having a Customer Appreciation Special advertised in the Richmond News paper. This offer is only for pick up only. It took about 30 minutes for the order to be ready for pick up upon order.

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Danny’s Market is an east Indian convenience store. It’s a longer timer in the corner of Garden City Road and Francis Road. Danny’s Market is famous for their screamers. There is a couple of tables in the store for people to eat in. They serve pizza, samosa, pizza pockets, hot dogs, garlic twisty bread, sandwiches, etc. I also saw a sign that says Danny’s chicken coming soon.

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We brought home two large pizzas from the coupon deal.

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The first pizza is Butter Chicken Pizza.  It has a mild butter chicken flavour. Nanzaro commented that … (more…)

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Lunch Box Idea: Easy Pizza

Pizza is ideal for lunch box as it is flexible in the combination of vegetables and meat that you know your kids will like. In order to make a healthier version, try to use whole grain pizza crust. You may even substitute the pizza crust with Indian naan bread like this Naan Pizza or with Italian focaccia bread or ciabatta buns.

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We made the pizza with two types of crust, i.e one with a regular pizza crust and another with focaccia bread. The focaccia has more flavour to it but then the pizza crust is more crispy.

Ingredients

  • 4 whole wheat flat breads such as Italian focaccia bread, ciabatta buns or Indian naan bread
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) pizza sauce
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) sliced button mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) sliced red pepper
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) sliced onion
  • 1/4 cup (75ml) chopped olives
  • 1 cup (250ml) shredded mozzarella cheese or soy cheese
  • olive oil for brushing

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Alive Magazine #275, September 2005

Serves 4

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Chicago: Giordano’s World Famous Stuffed Pizza

After the visit to the John Hancock Center, it was time to get a bite. A real bite. Enough of popcorns no matter how good they are.

So I walked a few short blocks south to Giordano’s Pizzeria.

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Giordano’s Pizzeria is famous for their Stuffed Pizza. For a while I was confused over Deep Dish Pizza and Stuffed Pizza — just the same thing with a different name. My friends insisted they are different and I gotta try both.

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Ordering was an intimidating affair. I was not familiar with the menu and the folks who took the order were taking orders very fast. They did not seem like the type who will spend time explaining the menu to me. This is Chicago, this is not Vancouver.

Whether you are eating in or having it to go, you order from the same counter. There were just a lot of people milling around the area either waiting for their to go order or for a table.

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So the timid Ben stood back in a safe distance and take his own sweet time to try to decide what he wanted.

The first item on the menu is usually their best selling item but it’s only cheese. It was cheese, cheese, cheese, and cheese options on top.

Then it was the “Special”. Hmmm … OK maybe the special. I was thinking the Spinach would be nice because it does take away the sourness in the tomato sauce. Shrimp would be great too as it will be sweeter. Tropic Delight … oh, it was hard to decide. Vegi — out of the question for a sworn meatatarian like me.

I finally decided to go with the “Special” simply because it is the priciest … and hence fully loaded.

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It was a nice casual dining area. The pizza took a while to come to the table. It was OK as I … (more…)

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Making Pizza from Scratch: Sausage, Fennel and Olive Pizza (Part 5 of 5)

Out of the four pizzas that the seniors made in the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors, I like this most. Perhaps, it’s the cooked sausage and sauteed onions and fennels which gives this pizza a lot of flavours. Joyce, Karen and Sydney worked together to make make this pizza.

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Although I’m not a fan of olives, I find that the taste of these black olives is quite mild. I love the sweetness from the sauteed fennel and onion and a hint of spiciness from the Italian sausages. This Sausage, Fennel and Olive Pizza gets the thumbs up from me.

Ingredients

  • 2 Italian sausages
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 pizza dough
  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce
  • 1/3 cup black olives, sliced
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

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(more…)

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Making Pizza from Scratch: Roasted Garlic, Mushroom and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza (Part 4 of 5)

Hugh, Frank and June made this Roasted Garlic, Mushroom and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza. We took a short cut using jarred roasted red peppers instead of roasting the peppers ourselves. However, we still have to roast the garlic. This require a bit of time management as the garlic takes 30 minutes to roast and you need to let it cool down before you can squeeze them out from the husks.

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The Roasted Garlic and Roasted Red Pepper add sweetness to this pizza. However, I find that the rosemary is a bit overpowering.

Ingredients

  • a pizza dough
  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce
  • 2 heads of garlic
  • 1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
  • 2 cups sliced mushrooms
  • 3/4 cup sliced jarred roasted red peppers
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

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(more…)

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Making Pizza from Scratch: Margherita Pizza (Part 3 of 5)

Lorna, Christina and Paul made this Margherita Pizza in the South Arm Cooking Club for seniors. The original Margherita Pizza is made with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil.

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Margherita Pizza is another easy to assemble pizza. It only needs some mincing and slicing.

Ingredients

  • a pizza dough
  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (we used shredded ones instead of sliced ones)
  • 2 thinly sliced roma tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup sliced basil leaves

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Making Pizza from Scratch: Pizza Sauce (Part 2 of 5)

Carol and Margaret were incharged of making the Pizza Sauce in the South Arm Community Kitchen for seniors. This recipe is adapted from Gourmet. It makes about 2 1/2 cups of Pizza Sauce.

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Ingredients

  • a 28-oz can crushed tomatoes in puree (about 3 1/2 cups)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large non-reactive saucepan, bring the tomatoes puree and oil to a simmer.
  2. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes or until the sauce is reduced to about 2 1/2 cups.
  3. Season the sauce with salt and cool to room temperature.
  4. The sauce can be kept in the refrigerator, covered for 5 days.

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Making Pizza from Scratch: Pizza Dough (Part 1 of 5)

Someone suggested to make pizza from scratch in the South Arm Community Kitchen for seniors some time ago. So, finally Stella and Charlene organized for a pizza making session for the seniors.

Due to the time constraint, Charlene prepared some pizza dough ahead of time. She prepared four pizza dough as the seniors are going to make four different kind of pizzas. Hurray!

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Does’nt the risen pizza dough look lovely, soft and smooth? Nevertheless, Charlene did show the seniors how to make pizza dough from scratch with the help of Joyce, Karen and Sydney. The recipe is adapted from Gourmet. It makes enough dough for two 9 inch pizzas. However, the seniors are going to make a large rectangular pizza instead of two 9 inch round pizzas.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup warm water (105-115F – it should feel like warm bathwater)
  • 1 package active dry yeast (about 2 teaspoons)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for oiling dough

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