Weeks after the president of Iceland started an international crisis by saying he wanted to ban pineapple as a pizza topping, an American woman has shared another story of pineapple-on-pizza discrimination.
Ali Johnson tweeted last week that she ordered a pizza with pineapple on it and instead received a pizza with every topping but the fruit, with a note scrawled on the pizza box’s top. “Couldn’t bring myself to put pineapple on it. That’s gross. Sorry,” the pizza man reportedly wrote. A $5 bill was taped next to his message.
Jonson’s tweet quickly went viral, and has since been retweeted nearly 68,000 times with more than 184,000 likes.
Did this really happen? And if so, why did they tape $5 inside the box, which is probably a health violation? Is this viral marketing for Big Pineapple? All legit questions with answers that we may never learn.
But we do know that pineapple on pizza isn’t so bad.
One of the most ubiquitous foods associated with cannabis is pizza. From the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Jeff Spicoli, the stereotypical smoker is also a big time pizza eater. In New York, pizza is just a part of life, so if you tried to use pizza consumption as a marker for cannabis use, you would have an estimated 1.6 million per day. What’s better than pizza? These mini cannabis pizzas!
Pizza is part of my blood, and now being Italian and actually being an anthropomorphized pizza is a meme, which makes perfect sense. Pizza is only just over a hundred years old, and it was carted over through the Seaport same as my paternal Neapolitan ancestors, where it has become one of the most famous foods in the world, not just Italy and New York, or amongst cannabis users.
Having tried some of our legendary shops’ frozen offerings, I was sorely disappointed. Though an Artichoke Basille’s slice fulfills a specific need for carbs and cheese that’s coded into my DNA, their frozen pie was abhorrent, just like most frozen pizzas I’ve tasted with these bonafides. Take my advice, you can do better, and you’ll have pizza for tonight, and a few left over for days when you’re desperate. By shaping eight pizzas out of one dough ball, you’re getting the added bonus of working on your developing pizza skills that only the few and the proud possess.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Make Ahead Mini Pizzas
Danielle Guercio 2010
Yields 8 6-inch pizzas with 10mg THC per serving
Dough:
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp yeast (active)
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Sauce:
1 can crushed tomatoes
½ oz extra virgin olive oil
½ oz cannabis infused oil*
6 cloves garlic, minced
A few slices of onion
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar
Pepper to taste
Pecorino or Italian cheese rind (optional)
Other supplies:
Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil for drizzling
Parchment paper
Freezer bag or container
Silpat (optional)
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Start with the dough. You can do this the day before if you want to eat pizza faster around dinner time. I use a bread machine to knead dough, which you can sub with a stand mixer or dough blade with a food processor. The bread machine not only kneads the dough, but it allows the yeast to activate and gives you the first rise, knocking out a few of the steps for you. If you’re not using a machine, allow yeast, water, sugar, salt, and oil to proof in a bowl for 5 minutes until you see lots of air bubbles. Then you can gently mix in the flour and knead until it forms a ball. Allow to rise for 60 minutes.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
After the first proof, gently punch down and divide the dough into small balls, you can make 2 large pizzas or 8 small pizzas with this recipe.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Form into balls by gently working the edges underneath the mass, lightly tucking them inwards. Allow these to rise for 30-40 minutes with a towel or greased/floured sheet of plastic to protect them.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
While the dough is rising, build your sauce in a heavy pot. Sautee garlic in the olive oil, not the infused oil, until just translucent, being very careful not to burn it. Drop in your tomatoes, spices, and the cheese rind if you’re using one. The rind and a slice of onion will flavor the sauce without adding particles into it, you’ll pull them out before serving. Allow to simmer uncovered on lowest heat in the background while you work on the dough. Now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Shape balls into pizza crusts by pressing the middle to a ½” to ¼” thickness. Use the tips of your fingers to press that thickness outwards. Repeat this until the center thins out and you have big puffy edges. Now you can pick up the dough (use your knuckles to avoid holes) and pinch it your thumb and index finger on both hands while moving it circular. Think that you’re working on a record spun vertically while you make it an even thickness, leaving some puff for the crust. Each one should end up roughly 6 inches wide.
If you’re eating them right away, you can build your pizza on the raw dough, but I always pre-bake, since home ovens don’t perform like special pizza ovens. If you’re freezing them, the pre bake will give you a sturdier crust that will hold up to handling and reheating. You may need to use a fork to poke a few air vents in the center. Bake in cycles, par-baking a few at a time for 7 minutes.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Drop the oven to 350 and turn the heat off of your sauce. Remove cheese and onion and discard. Now you can add the cannabis oil and stir well. Put one or two spoonfuls onto the crust and spread around. Last and most importantly, hit it with a generous amount of fresh, milky mozzarella cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven and on the doneness you like.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
For a bit more crisp on the cheese, try letting it rest in a paper towel lined colander while you make all the other parts to draw out some moisture. New York style is when you can see crisp bubbles in the cheese like a stock photo pizza, Neapolitan style leaves the cheese and the crust softer, especially towards the middle, with serious charring on the edges. At home you may have to settle for choosing between crispy or soft.
Cool completely if you’ll be packing them up for the freezer, simply fold into some oven safe parchment paper and seal tightly. To reheat, remove from freezer and put on cookie sheet with paper still wrapped. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and enjoy!
*Cannabis Infused Oil
Decarboxylate 3.5g of finely ground cannabis at 225 degrees for 20 minutes in a tightly sealed, oven safe container.
Put in lidded mason jar or vacuum sealed bag with cannabis and two ounces of canola oil. Heat in water bath just under boiling for at least 1 hour. Strain and store in a clean container in the fridge for 1 month or freezer 6 months.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Pizza is one of the most iconic foods to eat when you’re high, and that’s because it’s portable and oftentimes affordable. It’s the food of my people, the Italian immigrants, and making it with the best ingredients you can reasonably acquire is how they do it in the motherland. By making in bulk, you’re saving money in the long run. Getting lifted by eating one is finally combining two of the most seemingly obvious things to combine, especially visually undetectable: weed and pizza.
At Salt Lake City’s Gym Jones, only clients who have completed a grueling and arbitrary workout designed by one of the gym’s trainers earn the right to a t-shirt bearing the facility’s name. That’s right: Only people willing to intensely workout for months are able to wear a Gym Jones t-shirt.
The excellently-named Bobby Maximus, who works as Gym Jones general manager and training director, detailed the process recently in an essay at Men’s Health. A Gym Jones T-shirt—the one many of us are wearing in the video above—is never bought,” he wrote. “It’s always earned.”
“The T-shirt has become a symbol of what our community means: Only though continuous, dedicated hard work do you ever reach a worthwhile goal—not just in fitness, but also in every other aspect of life,” he added.
Some people earn the shirt after just three or six months of high intensity workouts, while others spend years training without ever getting one, according to Maximus. “But eventually, when I see that the person has truly excelled, overcome, and built radical fitness, he gets his shirt,” he said.
So what does a test for “radical fitness” look like? Check out the video below and learn.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has been challenged to determine whether a company has the right to terminate an employee for using medical marijuana off the clock.
Cristina Barbuto, who uses cannabis to treat Crohn’s disease, told Advantage Sales and Marketing when she was hired about her participation in the state’s medical marijuana, but she was fired back in 2014 after testing positive for THC during a random drug screen. Her attorneys argue that the company crossed a line because she was simply following doctor’s orders and the laws of the state.
“If the patient has a condition, and the patient and the doctor have arrived at a course of treatment, recommended by the physician, legally prescribed by the physician, the employer should not be inserting themselves into that relationship,” attorney Matthew Fogelman told the state’s highest court.
But legal counsel for Advantage Sales and Marketing retaliated against this claim, saying their client adheres to the drug laws outlined by the federal government, which still considers marijuana an illegal substance. Furthermore, Attorney Michael Clarkson argued that there are no laws on the books in Massachusetts intended to protect employees from being disciplined for using medical marijuana.
“If you look, for instance, at New York, the statute finds that anyone who is entitled to a medical marijuana card shall be deemed ‘disabled’ under the New York civil rights law,” Clarkson said. “Nevada law requires that employers specifically accommodate medical marijuana. That’s not true here.”
The Supreme Judicial Court is considering a variety of scenarios pertaining to the lawsuit, including how an employee’s use of opioid medications was any different from medical marijuana. So far, the court has not yet revealed a verdict.
A similar case was heard a few years ago by the Colorado Supreme Court, which resulted in a victory for a company that fired an employee for off-duty medical marijuana use. Ultimately, the justices decided that since marijuana remains illegal under federal law, medical marijuana patients were using the substance at their own risk.
“Therefore, employees who engage in an activity, such as medical marijuana use, that is permitted by state law but unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute,” Justice Allison H. Eid wrote in the opinion.
Lawmakers in some legal states are now pushing for legislation aimed at protecting employees from being fired for using marijuana. Until the federal government changes its policy on the herb, state-level laws may be the only hope medical marijuana patients have in avoiding the unemployment line.
Canadian marijuana advocates are reporting that Marc and Jodie Emery, Canada’s “Prince and Princess of Pot,” were arrested at Pearson International Airport.
What makes these two marijuana royalty — and what’s going on with their arrest?
They’ve earned the title: The pair own Cannabis Culture, a chain of marijuana shops, as well as Cannabis Culture magazine and Pot TV. Jodie ran for provincial office as a B.C. Marijuana Party candidate in 2005 and 2008, as a candidate for the BC Green Party in 2009 and 2013. She’s an outspoken marijuana legalization activist, appearing on television and in print to defend legal weed.
Her husband Marc is also a strident political and social activist. He ran for the Libertarian Party of Canada in the 1980 federal election, ran as a candidate of the Freedom Party in Middlesex, and has been heavily politically involved in campaigning for marijuana legalization as well. He sponsored the Vancouver Tokers Bowl for several years, and launched “the Summer of Legalization” tour in 2003, traveling to 18 cities in Canada to openly smoke in front of police stations in protest.
So yeah, they’re kind of a legal weed power couple. And they’re no strangers to run-ins with the law, either. Marc’s gone to jail a few times, once for “trafficking,” or passing a joint to someone in public. He was sentenced to five years in prison after a raid of the BC Marijuana Party Bookstore and Headquarters in 2005.
And now, the trouble’s back — or it never left. According to the Vancouver Post, around 8 a.m. on Thursday, a dozen police officers raided Marc’s Cannabis Culture. Global News reports multiple raids of dispensaries happening simultaneously.
There isn’t yet a clear reason why the Emerys were arrested this time, but it’s putting them, as well as legalization efforts in Canada, back on top of the public’s consciousness.
Alex Olson, professional skater and fashion designer (he owns the label BiancaChandon), recently made a vegan curry for Munchies. The 31-year old gave up eating animals years ago when he was playing hooky from school and shot a lizard in the eye , subsequently watching it die a slow painful death. That would do it.
He was also asked whether or not he watches cooking shows. He said he’s watched Rachael Ray, even though he’s annoyed by her “crazy expressions” when she tastes something.
The ingredients of Olson’s coconut-based vegan curry are basic: onion, garlic, curry powder, potatoes, etc. Seems you can easily whip it up in about five minutes, sans prep. Olson is shy about eating on camera, so we’ll never know if the dish actually turned out okay.
Here’s some great news for fans of David Grann’s fantastic book, The Lost City of Z: A new trailer for the film based dropped this week. Based on this clip, the film seems to have everything in it that made the book such a great read.
You have Percy Fawcett (Charlie Putnam) explaining his insane vision of discovering a lost city in the Amazon to his wife (Sienna Miller), and later you see flash floods and dozens of blow darts in South America, plus beautiful shots of the jungle and flashbacks to World War I—all complimented with a sweeping score. The film is out in the U.S. on April 14.
Ever heard of an orange shower? It’s quite simple. Take a hot shower, and when it’s nice and steamy, peel and eat a cold orange. In fact, rub it all over yourself without a care in the world. The result is supposedly intoxicating and transcendental.
The origins of this theory are fuzzy. Some believe it started with a 2016 Reddit post in which someone asked the question: What’s something unconventional everyone should try out? A user by the name of PHOTON_BANDIT answered with this whole orange shower thing, which he says he learned from a counselor at an Italian youth camp back in 2005.
Tearing apart a cold fresh orange with your bare hands, just letting the juices run over your body. Not worrying if your going to get sticky, or anything. Just ripping it in half, and tearing into it with your teeth like a savage cannibal who hasnt eaten in a week!
It’s believed PHOTON_BANDIT (account since deleted) is 25-year-old Willis Young, who runs the sub-reddit r/ShowerOrange. He tells Tampa Bay Times why the orange shower is so amazing.
It’s the cacophony of sensory stimuli. You have a cold orange from the freezer, plus the hot water and team. It brings out the essential oil smell you get from oranges. It’s a nice carnal thing. You can tear into it and let the juices run all over.
The orange “movement” picked up steam this past February when John Krewson of Men’s Healthwrote about its magical effects, saying “it’s the most completely healthy mind-body-soul activity a person can indulge.” He says not only is the aromatherapy an essential start to your morning, but destroying an orange in the shower taps into your natural wild side:
It’s the most primal part of your day, the best opportunity for letting the ancient preverbal part of you out to run around, before it’s time to knot it up behind a tie and send it out in public again. You will, inevitably and willingly, force your evolution to social animal.
People are still talking — and posting photos — about their experience.
Robert Kelly, a political science professor at Pusan National University, was in the middle of a very serious interview on the BBC about the on-going political turmoil in South Korea when some unexpected visitors wandered into the live shot from his office.
First, a young girl, maybe three years old, opens his office door and confidently struts into view in a bright yellow shirt, her arms swaying back and forth. She walks right next to her dad.
BBC
“I think one of your children has just walked in,” the BBC anchor chimes in. Kelly tries to push his daughter back, only for another of his children—a baby in a little walker thing—bounces into the room to be with his big sister.
Kelly does his best to stay focused with the commotion, but unfortunately for him things only get worse. Next, someone who appears to be the child’s mother comes flying—sliding, really—into the room in a clear panic. She grabs the kids and tries to leave, but the door has shut behind her, so she has to reopen it as she literally drags her children out. Then the baby’s walker gets stuck, forcing her to turn him around.
Finally, she’s out of the room with the kids, with the door shut. But then from the hallway, BBC viewers can hear the children crying and screaming.
A church in the Chicago suburb of Rogers Park has figured out a way to make churchgoing a little more fun. Gilead Church has partnered with a brewery to make their own beer.
Rev. Rebecca Anderson tells DNAinfo that the presence of beer makes sense, since the mission of the church is to use food and storytelling to bond parishioners.
“For so many churches and so many parts of the Christian tradition,” says Anderson, “Communion is this very somber, weighty, serious thing,” adding that “there’s not so much conviviality of Communion anymore.”
Enter “Balm of Gilead” Session IPA, made by a professional brewer named Eric Plata, specifically for the church.
“I was super interested. I was on board, like, almost immediately,” he says. “This is the chance to be a part of something a little bit unique.”
The beer is less than 5-percent alcohol, making it the perfect antidote for stuffy Communions. Plus, it creates an extra layer of bonding, since members of the church are the ones who hand-label the beer.
Says Anderson, “Christianity is so damn serious. And there are ways where the stakes are high, when you’re in a hopeless place and you have a faith that gives you energy … but there’s also a way where Christianity is supposed to be a joyful way of life, and there are so many ways of doing it that aren’t joyful.”
The church plans to throw a beer release party on St. Paddy’s Day, March 17.
