Made it to Rome... But then we got lost. :-)

Rome is such an amazing city it's hard to explain. We've been here only 10 hours but already I can see that 7 days will not be long enough. We walked around tonight for 5 hours after eating a late lunch/early dinner. We found the Plazza del Fiore which was THE race course for Rome... Think Ben Hur here. Then we continued to the Pantheon. It's hard to believe that people without a real crane or any current machines could accomplish such an amazing architectural feat. It is HUGE and the design copied for the Duomo in Florence, the capital in Wash D.C., and many many more domes across the world. We just stood in amazement in the dark. The connections to today are clear!
On the way back to the apartment we got lost.... Again! But eventually found our way home with help from the Carbinieri and shop owners. Ahhhhh, a bottle of local red wine, bread, cheese bought in the local market around the corner along with eggs, yogurt, and tomorrow the big outdoor market in Campo de Fiore.

Latest Stop: Firenze! That's Florence for most in America

Flew in from Munich/Bavaria and family via AirBerlin yesterday. Got I about 3:45 took a cab from the airport. Very nice cabbie, 20E +1 for our bags. Good thing we did, would NOT have found the Il Bargello B&B on our own.
My MINI would feel right at home! But I'd have to thin the paint down as the streets are soooo narrow you need thin paint to negotiate!
The place we're staying is 4 flights up....NO elevator. Just fine but its a workout! The building is from the 1400's!
Walked around to get out bearings and scout out a perfect place for dinner. Found a little grocery for snacks and wine for the terrace later.
There is a little pizzeria JUST ARIUND THE CORNER (Leo's) - WOOD FIRED so its awesome! Talked to the guy running the oven about my oven. How cool!
We climbed the VERY narrow steps to the roof terrace, opened the bottle of prosecco and did our homework for today that will begin shortly with buying our Firenza Card which will give us 72 hour access to 50 museums and all the public transportation our hearts can handle.
First one will be the Accadimea which houses David and a few other oddly assorted artworks :-)! Then on to the Duomo which if it all works out...we will climb to the top for awesome pictures.

Kuchlbauer Tower and a brewery tour

See the pics? This is probably the most beautiful brewery in the world. Hundertwasser was probably the first "back to nature" architect/artist beginning in the 50's. He HATED straight lines thinking them an affront to nature and natural man. He faced all his buildings with colored plaster and tile telling a story in the process. I will be taking some of this direction when it comes time to tile and decorate the wood oven this fall/winter/spring.
And, yes.... They make and pour some awesome beer there too!

Our Autobahn experience and a day in Salzburg

We are on vacation, a long one. Right now we are in Bavaria visiting family. What an experience! Family I haven't seen in 45 years and other family I've never met.
Yesterday we went to Salzburg, Austria. We drove on the autobahn. I was watching the speedometer (I was NOT driving) at the steady speed of 140 Km. The English conversion for this is around 89mph. Normal.
The autobahn is soooo smoooooth, and fast! About that time a red Ferrari BLEW by us. Now this car looks fast just sitting in a driveway.... Believe me.... On an autobahn it looks a LOT faster! It was probably going 200 Km which is around 124mph.
My question... WHY would anyone in America, with our 70mph max speed want a Ferrari? They belong on an autobahn where they can live free and really be driven the way they are supposed to. Once you experience the speeds here, keeping a Ferrari in America is like caging a tiger.
We are having a great time! Yesterday Salzburg with 7 churches one dating back to 1244, A walk through the catacombs, walking through Salzburg's BEST shopping street (no cars allowed) . The hilltop fortress (which we walked UP to see- there is a fanicular but we poo-pooed THAT) and for dinner.... wurst mit brot and weiss wein. Today... Walking tour of Landshut with family!
What an experience!

I am trashing my gas grill!

I was sooo stinking tired of my gas grill! Friday night I bought two beautiful rib steaks. I made a wonderful rub and while I made salad, potato and grilled asparagus I prepped the steak. I put them on the grill (low-indirect heat) set the table on the deck for a very nice dinner. When I got back to the girl ther was a total flame out, both steaks fully engulfed. Crap! I have HAD IT! While there ARE reasons to have a gas grill, good food is NOT one of them.
While at the fair on the last day last night there was a vendor selling Traeger grills. I admit.... I have looked at them for many years. THIS was a golden opportunity. He made me a screaming deal and I loaded the Junior into the MINI and brought it home. It is in my breezeway waiting for me to put it together. It smokes AND BBQ's!
I CAN NOT wait to get started!

Last day of WORKING at the Puyallup Fair

I JUST worked 13+ hours at the Fair. I had a great time but am VERY tired. No one was scheduled to do demo this morning and by chance I brought my demo kit.
My demo kit contains LOADS of pearls of many many types and all the silk I should want to do pearl knitting demos. I started doing my surprise demo at 10am and finished at 5pm. That's 7 HOURS of demo. I finished 3 necklaces, 6 bracelet strands, 6 pairs of earrings and tagged and bagged them all. I talked and shared with a load of people (probably >1000)! It was GREAT! Then I worked in the jewelry counters from 5pm till 11pm.
I LOVE watching people but man.....tired.
Tomorrow..... Going to do one last demo in the Hobby Hall from 7pm till 9pm. Come out for the last day one last chance and say HI.

The Puyallup Fair and working

The BIG Puyallup Fair started last Friday. I have some of my jewelry for sale at the very cool Artist In Action store. It's been loads of FUN but is very tiring. If all I had to do was this (which I totally love) it would be great. I also have a job that's REALLY demanding doing Infection Prevention for a large healthcare system. ALSO VERY cool! Hey, anytime you can have a positive impact on healthcare....its A VERY GOOD THING!
Both wonderful.....but together...... I'm tired. NOT as tired as Grad School :-). Last night I worked at the fair until 10pm. Then I had to make a meeting at 7 am today. Tonight....NOTHING! I went to Tacoma Boys (yaaaayyy TB!). ...got some wonderful Ahi Tuna and made poor, neglected Wayne a great dinner of shished tuna, onion, pepper and tomato with grilled radicchio salad, rice and grilled corn. Ahhhhh, nice dinner, both work sites are good!
Jewelry is selling well...good news with infections, good dinner and wine. It's all good!
Ahhhh, TGIF in about 1 hour.

For those who care..... I'll be doing demos of pearl knotting and just fun jewelry design at Artist In Action this Saturday from 1-6pm and then in the Hobby Hall from 7-9pm. Come by and say HI!

Artist In Action at the Puyallup Fair

I was accepted into the Artist In Action (AIA) Store at the Puyallup Fair this year. I'm selling some of my jewelry most of which is hand knotted freshwater pearls and unique things like fossils, semi-precious stones, amber and other very cool items on a strand. I was in AIA as a fiber artist selling hand spun yarns and hand woven items about 20 years ago. This feels almost like a home coming.

I love sharing what I do. Tomorrow I'll be demo-ing at the Hobby Hall from 4:30-6:30. Pearl stringing and knotting is the order of the day. Stop by and say HI! I'll be working on the set I'll be wearing at the NEXT family wedding next year.

ahhhh, the FUN side of yeast

I am so amazed at the power of yeast. The fun side of yeast, actually. The NOT SO FUN side of yeast is what I deal with at work...meaning infections. NOT SO FUN.

Yesterday I made 3 beautiful loaves of whole wheat sourdough bread and 25 pizzas for our Quality Department Gathering yesterday. We, of COURSE used the wood fired clay oven. It worked beautifully and was a lot of fun.

The bread and pizza dough began a full week earlier. Here's the story:

Many years ago I started making bread....BEFORE the OVEN (BO). I used the yeast I bought at the store and all purpose flour. It was pretty good....hey....ANY bread made at home is better than almost anything you can get at a grocery store - at least then. NOW....people are asking for better bread and stores are responding with better bread. Excellent crust with good crumb and it even tastes good. STILL not as good as home baked.

THEN...not so much - 20 years ago. So, I started making bread when I had the time (at the time I worked part-time). With 3 boys and a husband you can imagine how long it took to disappear. It was pretty good! There were a few times when I ran out of time and didn't get around to actually baking the bread. The dough took on a life of it's own.....while I wasn't looking. It started smelling soooo good....sour.....like sourdough. Now I KNEW about sourdough but hadn't made any. Golden opportunity! Knocking the dough down, reformed the loaf and baked. WONDERFUL! So, research into sourdough told me (at that time....a trip to the library) that I needed a save some dough and keep it for a starter for next time. RATS....baked all of it. Further research said to try again. HEY, the miners and loggers in the west had been doing this for years without going to Safeway....I could too. So, tried it again.....old dough BUT it tasted different. WHY.....a different strain of course! This one was better in fact. OK, I saved some and kept it in the refrigerator. I re-used the started the next time and always saved some in a glass jar in the refrigerator - for next time. Awesome. Sometimes it would die.....sad. NO Problem.....make a new one. Yeast is cheap! AND.....turns out my kitchen has it's own strain......for bread. I leave a mix of water and flour with some sugar open in a bowl and it automatically grows a strain of yeast that is perfect for bread. You might say my kitchen is COLONIZED with the perfect sourdough yeast.

See......yeast....the fun, yummy side.

The sourdough bubbling away

The loaves resting and rising in the bakers cloth

Today....I'm starting an other batch of dough to bake some bread for our yearly family gathering tomorrow. Took some of my trusty starter out of the crock I just bought from King Arthur Flour (the best flour - bar none). It's solid with red accents and has an honored spot in the back corner of the refrigerator. Mixed up a "Biga" of the starter with warm water, flour and sugar. Let that sit in my warm kitchen overnight.....oooooooh, magic happens! It's nice an bubbly! Added some more warm water, more flour, a bit of honey....olive oil and salt......mixed it up.....covered it again to grow/rise. More magic....Now it fills the bowel! I'll punch it down, take it out and mix in more flour to turn it into a nice soft cushy ball. Turn it into a well oiled bowl and refrigerate it overnight (tonight). In the morning, I'll divide it up into loaves - 3 or more...depending. Let them warm and rise in my linen bread cloth. About 3 pm I'll fire up the oven again. When it's about 500 degrees F the loaves will go in and I'll spray some water into the oven. This will INSTANTLY turn to steam. (It's important I don't have my face near the door - super HOT steam) and close the oven door. After 10 min I'll peek and maybe turn the loaves for even baking. Close the door again and wait about 20 more min. Check the loaves by tapping. They should be nice and toasty brown and when tapped....sound hollow. Take them out....let them cool (about 30-40 min). Then they're ready to slice to use with my goat cheese, fig and balsamic jam, and honey........ahhhhhh.

Are you drooling yet?

More PICS to follow!

Stacking up a good supply of fruit/alder wood

We spent most of the weekend working with wood. Storage, cutting, stacking.
Last winter we had a week-long ice storm. Sadly, we lost many trees. Our plum trees were total losses. We cut them down the rest of the way and didn't have time for much more, just piling in a mound in a corner of a field.
This weekend we finished the job. Wayne built a very nice wood storage box and we set it up near the wood fired oven so I don't have to walk or carry so far for wood. Sooo nice!
We cut all the wood into smaller pieces and carried and stacked it in the new wood shed.
Friday the whole Quality Department at work will be here for our summer gathering. We'll be making a LOT of pizzas in the wood oven.

Then....the next Sunday we're having our annual Harris Gathering and golf party. Extended family and all our new family and future family will be here. I still haven't decided what to cook, probably not pizza. Maybe a nice roast. I WILL be making bread.
The nicely stacked wood will certainly come in handy!

Neighbors Night Out: BIG gathering

Last Tuesday we had about 30 people at the house for Neighbor's Night Out. This is a way for neighbors to get together to know each other and come up with a plan during a disaster and hopefully to stop break ins.

We had a great time. I started making pizza dough on Friday (sourdough) and made some scratch red sauce (2 types-spicy and not). People brought toppings. We had SOOOOO MUCH FOOD!

I started the oven about 4:30 and had it nice and hot (about 700 deg) by 5:30 when I put the bread in to bake so we could have fresh bread for munching before dinner was ready. Mmmmmm

I'd already flattened the dough into rounds to make stretching easier. I was aiming for 10in pizza. I showed everyone how to stretch the dough on cornmeal, they topped with what they wanted and then I used the pizza peel to slide it onto the hot oven floor.

This was the FIRST TIME I did this for soooo many people. One lesson learned: Make at least 2 pizza making stations.

Here are a few pics: (taken by our neighbor Rick - I was too busy cooking! THANKS Rick!)

Too much fun

Our Neighbor Trip telling people about NNO

We had soo much food left over! Wayne helped me put it all away but the refrigerator is FULL!

Andy and Tammy are driving down tonight to watch the meteor shower. We have DARK skies and it promises to be spectacular.

The menu: PIZZA! This time not in the oven, but on the grill. Not as much fun but then not as hot.

Full Day of Wood Oven Cooking

Started the oven up at 3pm and eventually got it as high as 965F! That's HOT folks! I think the cherry wood was nice and dry since I put it in the oven at the last burn when it was still warm. Started hot and just got hotter. In fact too hot to bake the chickens I planned. Put the first (beer can) chicken and flattened chickens in at around 700 deg. Pushed all the fire/coals to the back of the stove. It was still too hot but we had time constraints.... So in they went with foil tenting.

2 full chickens, cooked and cut into juicy pieces

LOTS OF SIZZLE RIGHT AWAY! Went in at 4:15pm. Turned them every 15 min. Still got pretty "crusty" but sure smelled good. By 5pm both hit internal temps of 140 deg. At 5pm put in 5 soaked ears of corn. They got hot fast and by 5:15 they were ready....too ready. Even though I turned them the sides toward the fire burned.

Smokey, caramelized corn

Hmmmm what to do? Cut the good side off into a bowl and add butter. Mmmm, perfect! Nice and smokey flavor, caramelized sugars with butter!
Add a green salad.
I cut the chicken up to a platter, opened a bottle of white wine and we sat down to eat.
Dessert: S'mores! Took SECONDS for the marshmallows! Oven still around 500 deg.

Marshmallow perfect

Holy Cow! What can I do with all this heat???
Cook more!

Roasted garlic bulb perfection

Left over swordfish steak... Just waiting in the refrigerator, more garlic bulbs, added vegetables to the chicken giblets and onions to roast for stock, left over dough from last weekend for flat bread, and finally... As those temps hit 400 deg....made some buttermilk biscuits. Seriously.... At 9pm. (at Wayne's request)

Giblets and vegis roasting

Residual cooking temp!

Now... Finally... Done for the day. It's 10 pm. Oven is still warm and the coals are dying down. The plan: put in not-quite-dry- wood to dry for a great fire next time.

Smore assembly

Now, Sunday morning: checked the oven. It's STILL warm. AMAZING! oven is full of VERY dry wood just waiting for the next burn.

Finished Smore

Biscuits!

Pasta with grilled swordfish and corn sauce

Whoa... It's been a while since I made some scratch pasta. I had some basil that need to be used...... Flour.. Check. Egg.... Check. Basil.... Check. Salt and pepper... Check. Food processor....CHECK! LET'S GO! (see pics and earlier posts on how to do it)
Swordfish in the freezer, one piece of corn, peas from the garden. Don't forget the cream and white wine. Swordfish grilled, pasta rolled cut and cooked. Sauce cooked....Pasta dressed and then played.
Time to EAT!

(Even enough for lunch tomorrow. PLUS enough ready-to-cook pasta just waiting for the next meal.)

Why wouldn't you make your own pasta?


marinating swordfish

ahhhh, the pasta...waiting to be cooked

perfect grill marks on the fish, pasta, more colorful than the pic,
very tasty too!

Popsicles!

My Zoku Popsicle maker arrived Friday. It was on the porch when I got home. Hmmmmm, what can I make? Last night i used it! I put it in the freezer Friday night I had 1/2 a small watermelon and a mango in the refrigerator. PERFECT!
Cut both into bits, put in my food processor. Added juice of one lemon, and couple tablespoons of cane syrup. (this keeps ice crystals from forming. I use it in sorbet too).
It turned into a very fragrant slurry of fruit pulpyness. I then poured this into the three slots for Popsicles and fitted the handles. The first batch of 3 pops took about 5 min. The second took a little more than 10. They popped out nicely and I wrapped them in plastic wrap. We each had one for dessert and there are 4 left!
Yummy! Can't wait to try more.

First Loaves Of Sourdough From the Oven

Started this sourdough LAST Sunday. It proofed over night on the counter and then I put it in plastic proof containers in the refrigerator. Here we are 6 days later.

Took the dough out of the frig and formed it into individual loaves. (company tonight).

Fired up the oven and got a temp reading of 600 deg F on the floor.

Pushed the hot coals to the back of the oven and put in the first two loaves. Sprayed with water and closed the door.

About 10 min later peeked in and sprayed again with water. This INSTANTLY turns to steam, so I had to stay back. Closed the "door" again. Mmmm, sure smells good!

I now have 6 perfectly crusty loaves of sourdough bread I'll be serving with dinner tonight.
Dinner will be a rolled/stuffed flat iron steak, roasted vegetables, green salad (made with herbs and lettuce from the garden, and the bread.
Totally awesome!

Here's the sequence of pics:

Just out of the oven

The dough as it came out of the frig

a peek as they bake

Strawberry and Blueberry Sorbet

It's going to be warm and sunny today! Let's make a sorbet for dessert!
How about strawberry and blueberry sorbet? I was going to make typical strawberry shortcake but.... I'm tired of the same old thing.

Time for something different for me. Plus I had strawberries, lemon, and blueberries and just a bit of cream in the house.

Here's the recipe:
1 clamshell of strawberries (hulled)
1 clamshell of blueberries
Juice of one lemon
1 cup simple sugar syrup
(this is equal parts sugar and water brought to a boil to dissolve and cooled)
1/4 cup cream (optional)
That's IT!

Put the berries in a food processor, process, then add the simple syrup. Process just a bit more and then add the cream.
Put all this in your ice cream/sorbet device. I have a very simple Donvier hand crank ice cream maker. You put the bowl in the freezer until the interior is frozen, put your concoction in the bowl, crank until frozen. Very simple. Takes about 30 min from start to finish.

This really only creates a "soft serve" sorbet. You can serve right away but it' pretty soft. Once it's done take it out of the device and put the sorbet in a container to put in your freezer to harden.
After about 2 hours it ready to serve by scooping out of the freezer dish.

YUM and very nice on a hot day! See my pics below.

The strawberry/blueberry mix

The Donvier Ice Cream maker

Served sorbet

Sorbet in containers for the freezer

Mojo de Ajo... aka...garlic sauce.... aka... SAUCE OF GOLD

Slow Roasted Garlic Mojo de Ajo
Makes about 3 cups (made with 2 cups of oil)

INGREDIENTS
4 large heads garlic (peeled cloves)
2 or 3 cups fruity olive oil- enough to cover
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Break the heads of garlic apart, then mash each clove (a fist against the side of a knife is what I do) to release the clove from its papery skin; if using already-peeled garlic, scoop the cloves into a heavy plastic bag and use a rolling pin to mash them slightly.

Stir together the garlic, oil and salt in an 8x8-inch baking pan (make sure all the garlic is submerged), slide it into the oven and bake until the garlic is soft and lightly brown, about 45 to 55 minutes.

Add the lime juice and and pepper flakes. Return to the oven for 20 minutes for the garlic to absorb the lime and turn golden brown. (If you’re using the larger quantity of oil, ladle off 1 cup—no garlic cloves—and store it in a cool dry place for use in salad dressing or sautéing.)

Using an old-fashioned potato masher or large fork, mash the garlic into a coarse puree. Pour the mixture into a wide-mouth storage container and refrigerate it until you’re ready to enjoy some deliciousness. The mojo will last for up to three months as long as the garlic stays submerged under the oil.

Use just the oil for salad dressings. Use just the garlic mix for marinades of meat or fish. It truly is a "Sauce of Gold" and turns everything delicious.

4th of July Dinner

This is my beer can chicken going into the wood oven. The floor temp was ONLY 550 degrees. I used the stand I bought many years ago. It holds a can...in this case an empty can of Pepsi that I drank and then filled with beer. Put the chicken and beer in on the stand in an disposable aluminum baking dish, added an onion and 4 bulbs of garlic all nicely rubbed down with olive oil.I pushed the burning wood to the back of the oven, place the dish in the oven, blocked the door with bricks (I don't have a door made yet) and set the timer on my iPhone for 30 min.Checked it at 30 min. OOO, a bit crispy at the top and a pice of wood had fallen into the dish. Bummer..... I wanted to eat the onions! I rescued the garlic though.Turned the dish and put it back in for 15 more min.Came out PERFECT! A bit too crispy at the top. Lesson learned: put a foil hat on the top. Also...move the wood so that it can't tumble into the food.It was soooo good! No time for pics....take my word for it.;-)

Final plaster layer and HOT fire!

Seriously...a VERY hot fire!

900+ degrees is BIG TIME HOT. Loving it and used it for dinner on Sunday.

Sculpting the Oven and First Plaster Layer

Once again, RAIN. But that didn't stop me from working on the oven. Before we went out for breakfast I added to the chimney, making it taller and wider in order to allow it to accept the stove pipe. Then we left for breakfast. While we were gone it actually dried...well a bit. The next step was to cook up some wheat/rice paste to add to the sand/clay/wood chip mix. This makes it "sticky" enough to sculpt it. I decided to make a Sun/Moon/Stars design. Wayne's an amateur astronomer, we are always aware of where the stars and planets are along with the equinox and solstice. Seemed fitting AND it I like it!

OK, the sculpting is done...adding the plaster

  So, you can kind of see what it looks like from here. I'm actually adding the first plaster layer here.

Further along in the plastering

The actual plaster layer consisted of VERY fine silica sand, clay, wheat paste, and of course water. I mixed it up with a drill mixer until the drill couldn't take it any more. :). Last step...adding poly fiber for added strength. The consistency is like POI. Yes, that gluey starch from Hawaii.

I took handfuls into my handled bowl and started smearing it on the layer before. It went on nicely! Perfectly sticky by hand. No gloves here...nothing but fingers and hands. Kind of like pudding.

Evening update: Even though it's raining....looks like it's drying.....S-L-O-W-L-Y....which again....it's a good thing.

Weather forecast is that the sun will come out tomorrow. Yaaaay! 
Tomorrow....second layer of plaster and then even possibly the third. WITH COLOR!

Top of the Oven