Fig Onion Pizza

In addition to beer bread, one can also make beer bread pizza dough. And if one happens to have been given figs on the same occasion that one has leftover beer for pizza dough, one can make a fig-caramelized onion pizza. The pizza does need some kind of acid/salt to balance the sweetness of the figs and onions so a balsamic reduction glaze drizzled over top would work well. We used manchego cheese, but goat cheese would probably be excellent too. Fancy, eh?

Beer

 It's been awhile since I've sat down with a beer (mostly since it's been raining and cold, and I only drink beer about once a moth), but I have been trying to force myself out of my comfort zone of Granville Island Winter Ale and Honey Lager. This has been a seriers of trial and error, with mostly error, in randomly selecting other local breweries to try. But this was a good week; I picked up two new beers and loved them both!

 Exhibit A: Whister Brewing Company's Black Tusk Ale. Reminded me of the GI Winter Ale but not quite as heavy. (Disclaimer: I know nothing about ranking beer or describing flavours, only that I do not like wheat beers and strong hoppy flavours in general).

Exhibit B: I also picked up Fernie Brewing Co's Sap Sucker Maple Porter. The idea of a maple syrup flavor in beer sounded delicious! And it was. Not sweet at all, but a robust, dark beer. I only wish it came in the single beer size serving since I am woefully inadequate at being able to consume more than 1.5 beers in a sitting. Make sure you have a spare cork on hand to keep it fizzy overnight for day 2, or company to help, if you are of the small beer stomach like myself. Sadly, both of these beers appear to be fall/winter beers, so I may need to stock up in order to keep drinking them through the summer!