More Maple Leaves, A Quiet Two Days, and a Tasty Pizza Recipe

The past two days have been quiet on the sales front. It is the first time in almost a month that I have had no sales. This hasn't sent me into a panic though and as a matter of fact, it has been nice to be able to start listing my stamps earlier in the day and get more work done. I might yet get all of the Queen Victoria material listed before the month is out, which would be very nice indeed.

My meeting with John Martin last night was fantastic! We spent a couple of hours mostly chatting about my new business, his clients that we both know and general developments in the profession. It looks like it will turn into a regular monthly or bi-monthly thing. At least that is my hope. It will be nice to have someone that I respect to chat with every now and then about the business.

I am hoping to finish off the Maple Leaf Issue today and then get a head start on the Numeral Issue of 1898-1902. After that, all I have to list for Queen Victoria are the 1898 Christmas Issue, the 1899 2c on 3c surcharges, the Special Delivery Issue, the issues of the provinces before confederation and the revenue stamps. So If I can get into the Numerals today, I should be able to finish this by the end of this month. Steph and I discussed the backlog and it was decided that I would begin working late until midnight on Tuesdays and until 11 on Thursdays. We'll see how this goes.

For now, I can show you the rest of the stamps in the Maple Leaf Issue:

                            

                              

Each of the above stamps retails for between $200 to $500, but there are lots of stamps from this issue that are much less expensive than this. Some of them can be had for as little as 99 cents.  If you would like to check out my stamps from this issue, you can access them by the following link:

http://stores.ebay.ca/Pristine-Canadian-Stamps/Maple-Leaf-Issue-1897-1898-/_i.html?_fsub=1542790013&_sid=1009259433&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

I haven't posted a recipe in a couple of days, so I thought I would share one very tasty recipe that I made up on my own for pizza. You will need:

1 pre-made pizza shell, like a Boboli or some fresh pizza dough (either is usually readily available in supermarkets)
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese, preferably extra old as it is nice and sharp.
1 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange) sliced into 1/4 inch strips
1.5 cups of sauteed boneless chicken, bacon or sliced salami or pepperoni
1 large onion or 4-5 small onions
1 cup of pizza sauce (usually comes with the pizza shell)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar glaze or 2 tablespoons of good quality aged balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2-3 splashes of Worcestershire sauce

Slice the onion into rings and separate them. Heat some oil in a skillet and fry the onion rings until they start to become glassy. Then add 2-3 splashes of Worcestershire sauce and mix for 1 minute. Add the balsamic vinegar or glaze and the sugar. Mix well. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and cover the skillet. Leave this to simmer for 20-25 min. The onions will caramelize during this time.

If you are working with raw chicken, this would be a good time to slice and saute it. Same goes for bacon.

Just before the onions are done, preheat the oven to 425F or as directed on the wrapper for the pizza shell. Spread the pizza sauce on the shell, followed by the cheese, meat, pepper and finally the caramelized onions.

Pop it in the oven for 10-15 min. Let it cool for 5 min or so before slicing it and then enjoy! It is a knife and fork style pizza. It will likely be messy if you try to eat it with your hands.

This weekend looks like it will be a bit dreary with clouds on Saturday and rain on Sunday. But it has been very hot lately, so it will be nice to have a dry day that is not boiling. I think I'll take Steph to the Queen West Art Crawl at Trinity Bellwoods Park on Saturday.

Enjoy your weekend people!