Tony has left the Haven

Since today is the one year anniversary of my last posting of any kind, I think it is about time to officially call it quits.

I am taking my okra and going home.

Still Too Lazy to Post...

...but I did upload almost 80 pictures from recent travels to Italy, Greece, and Turkey (where I am currently located).

They are located HERE

Hope you enjoy them, and I promise I'll get around to writing something one of these days...

Oktoberfest 2009…

It all started out so promising. We had toured Kloster Andechs the previous afternoon.

The evening before we caught the train into Munich and had a great meal at the Hofbräu Haus. I had the milzwurst (spleen sausage).

On the day we went to the fest the weather was beautiful.

We were in a nice tent…



We had a good group of guys…



A cute waitress…



And good seats by the band…



There were pretty girls...



Some less than pretty women...



And lots of cleavage...



But by the time we left the second tent … some 8 hours later … for some reason … things got a little dark and hazy …



And I picked up some cold bug while I was there and have been hacking up liters of phlegm ever since. But today, phlegm or no phlegm, I’m flying to Italy. A buddy and I will be spending a long (4-5 day) weekend in Florence and the surrounding areas.

Starting in the beginning of November I will be living and working in southern Turkey for about 6 months, after which I will return here.

Maybe I can build another pizza oven there…

Just a Little Test...

Hot girl dancing at Oktoberfest...



... oh, the test part was whether this embedded video would work.

I guess it did, here's another...



I'll upload some pictures soon.

Surgery (minor, but with a hammer)…

As you may recall, there were a number of cracks forming in my beloved pizza oven. Well, last weekend I decided to do something about it. I started to open up the cracks a bit more with a hammer and chisel. I soon realized that the hammer was unnecessary, and completed opening the wounds with just a chisel. After I thought they were sufficiently open I washed them out with a hose. I did this to get any loose material out and also to help the patch bind (hopefully anyway).



Now these cracks, once widened, were only about an inch or so wide. They did not go all the way through. I think that most of this cracking was within the insulation layer because we had a higher clay to sand ratio in that layer.

I had some extra insulation layer mud, so with my wet hands I packed everything in. Now my oven looks like it’s got a big scar…



Once it dried the scar tissue was not as apparent, but you can still see it from up close. Tonight I’m going to try it out again, and we will see if the cracks return. I’m sure they will, I just hope they are smaller.

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to Kloster Andechs to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Hill, and tour their brewery. Then Thursday we will take a train into Munich for the Oktoberfest. We have reservations in two different tents this year, so I hope things don’t get out of control.

I’m sure everything will be fine Mom…

No, really…

I’ve got it all under control…

Just in case though, I’ve emailed you the Western Union number of the Munich Criminal Courthouse…

And I hear that bail here is pretty high, so I’ll understand if you can’t get me out by Chrsitmas.

Pizza Realized...

We finally cooked a pizza in my new backyard pizza oven, and I must say it turned out very well. Here's an action shot of a pie cooking...



And here's a picture of the first finished pie...



I had bought some dough from a local pizzeria, but made the sauce myself. We didn't get too adventurous with the toppings, other than adding some New Mexican green chillis.



We had the thing blisteringly hot, which expanded the existing cracks and brought out some more.



I think many of these will close up when it cools, and I will try to repair the larger ones by adding some more clay mix into the seam.

I must say that I am quite pleased with the way they came out, and everyone there said that it was delicious.



At the end we did get a little more adventurous and added some kimchi to one of the pies. By then it was just Eric and I left, and we were both pretty full. But we went inside and watched some college football and still managed to eat half of the kimchi pie.



On it we had: sauce, kimchi, spicy Italian salami, basil, and cheese...

and it was wonderful!

Pizza...

We will be attempting Pizza tomorrow...




...today however, is a training day.