Telling Stories

Currently, I am sitting in the Hyatt in Santa Clara, but I am in a reflective mood. Possibly because of the session I attended before I went to lunch.

This conference is Web 3.0, and I am volunteering. I thought it would be a good way to reflect and to be able to make YBK the best it can be, especially when we launch our site soon. The conference is mainly on semantic web, or having searches understand what is going on in an article or a website, and then connecting sites to one another to get as much information as possible.

I attended an online publishing session, and there was a panel there. One of the people on the panel was Ben Ilfeld. This guy is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Sacramento Press. But what he had to say was something that I found important.

“We need to think not only of a newspaper as having articles, but also focusing on the stories involved,” he said. I don’t know if these were his exact words (I wasn’t planning to quote), but it was the gist of what he was saying.

I realize that, in this current media age, we seem to forget telling stories. It’s not enough that you report the who, what, where, when, why and how; we have to paint a picture for our readers. We shouldn’t just be able to tell people. We have to show them – without thinking about how many keywords of this versus that there are.

I don’t know if I have gotten to that point at YBK. I have been trying to tell the story of my life to the best of my capability. For what are we without our stories? Where would be if our greatest stories were shattered by the fact that authors were more interested in finding keywords? That also goes for the greatest stories that were told by great journalists, whether it was long narrative pieces to the simplest story told.

I find that all foods have stories behind them, whether it’s how a piece of produce came to you or how a dish was developed. Food is more than what you put in your mouth. There is craft and artistry behind it, developed for countless centuries. It is up to us to embrace it.

This dessert has a very interesting story, ironically related to growing up in Northern California. Every once and again, our teachers would send us home with recipes – particularly if there was a lesson on fractions or some odd thing like studying the moon. Cookie pizza, from what I believe, came from a fractions lesson. This is a slightly updated – and open-ended – version.

COOKIE PIZZA

1 tube of cookie dough (see Quick Tip 1)
1 cup spread (see potential ideas below)
Candy pieces and/or fruit

Spreads:
Yogurt
Caramel
Peanut Butter
Chocolate spread, such as Nutella
Whipped cream

Candy Toppers:
Chocolate chips
Marshmallows (see Kosher Alert)
Sprinkles
Candied nuts
Candy-coated chocolates

Fruit Toppings and other crazy things:
Raisins
Sliced Strawberries
Blueberries
Sliced Bananas
Grapes
Sliced Peaches
Sliced Apples
Nuts
Coconut Flakes

Spread the cookie on a pizza pie pan or cookie sheet and bake according to package directions. If using candy ingredients, make sure to underbake by a couple of minutes.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes. If using a thicker spread (see Quick Tip 2), microwave until it’s a thinner consistency. Pour on top of the cookie and spread out using a knife or spatula.

Top with desired candy toppings and put back in the oven for about five minutes, or until the candy toppings are slightly melted. Allow to cool for five minutes and add fruit or other crazy things, if desired, before serving.
If you want a fruit-only pizza, use a colder spread and top with fruit once the cookie is cooled.

Quick Tip 1: Sugar cookies tend to work best for this recipe. However, feel free to experiment with peanut butter or even chocolate chip if that makes you happy.

Quick Tip 2: If using a colder spread, such as whipped cream or yogurt, you will not be able to pop your pizza back into the oven, let alone zap it. Instead, just top with whatever you want and serve.

KOSHER ALERT!: Normal marshmallows aren’t kosher. They have gelatin in them. However, you can get kosher marshmallows. Sometimes they will stock them in your kosher aisle, sometimes you have to search for them. They don’t melt like regular ones do, but they taste all right. However, vegetarians are warned: they do have fish gelatin in them.