Another Pizza Oven

Not outdoors, but one of the best. The owner makes all his own cured meats--hence the pig's head which reigns over the operation, taking precedence over the friars and the Virgin Mary in the little niches on either side of the oven. My grilled asparagus salad had a perfectly cooked egg on top--all done in this oven.

A few years ago, a little market was built about a mile down the road from us. Within its walls, it had a wood burning oven, a sushi counter with its own sushi chef, fresh local produce, a butcher and a fish market, a deli counter with sandwiches and salads and a bakery with good coffee. We walked over there in the morning a few times for coffee. They were extremely nice to the neighborhood kids who would drop in after school or on weekends for pizza or a sandwich. Apparently they just didn't get enough business to keep their doors open, because they closed just a few months after we moved here.

A sign has appeared saying, "Farm to Table--coming soon", but not much else has happened. It seems that while people like the idea of eating locally produced, organic food, they aren't willing to pay for it. We are awaiting developments….

Tomorrow, after Anne and Harold head back home to Corvallis, we will be planting petunias in pots, verbena on our hill, and the padron pepper plants we bought at the Tierra vegetable stand today. It occupies a newly rescued big white barn which was moved from the path of progress, otherwise known as an "improved" freeway off-ramp.
They often host taco dinners showcasing their chili pepper jam, and pizza and music on Fridays. The pizza is provided by another favorite place of ours, Caffe Rosso, which also has a traveling wood burning oven.

It does seem a bit redundant to build our own pizza oven, not to mention a hassle….