Wood-Fired Oven ~ Block Base part II

Do I have a lot of updating to do!! I haven’t posted anything on the build since last August but that’s not an indication of what’s happening: I’ll try to speed-up the updates in chronological order to get you as fast as possible to the current status.
In September of last year, we raised the cement block foundation to 4 ½ courses. I decided at the last minute to add half a course because I wanted the floor of the oven to be at a comfortable height for me; I suspected that the plan I was following was a tad too short. I’m glad I did that.
We used type S mortar for the cement blocks and we filled them at the end with regular concrete mix with some small pebbles from the beach, as well as vertical ½” reinforcing bars at every corners and every other foot or so. As you can see, we put some recycled metal screen before the last course to avoid filling every cement block core all the way down to the slab. The spaces without the screen pieces will have a vertical re-bar in the cement block cores.
The lintels or iron angles are to support the last course above the front opening of the block base. I should mention now that the opening of the block base is NOT where the fire will be! Most of my visitors get confused but you will understand much better when the project is more advanced. Right now, it looks like a big square pile of cement nothings! Stay tuned!

I Stopped to Smell the Roses Tonight

Time to de-stress and enjoy the surrounding beauty! Very hot & humid today and probably not the best time to enjoy piping hot chipotle & cheese quesadillas, but oh boy, where they ever good!! So simple to do: the idea comes from my friend, chef Pat Forster, and they were a favorite menu addition to my BBQ party this summer. Take one can of chipotle pepper in adobo sauce and puree in food processor, smear a thin layer on a soft tortilla, fill half with your favorite grated cheese and then fold in half. You could make it a meal by adding roasted chicken pieces in it. Lightly oil the quesadilla before putting it on the grill to warm up. They can also be done successfully on a panini press and that's how I enjoy them, at work for lunch. And it's a margarita hidding in that tall lemonade glass, the perfect companion to spicy quesadillas!

National Corndog Day March 20, 2010

Have you had a corn dog today?

I Want Green Pastures instead of White Lawns!

Gardening season is almost upon us! Well, maybe it’s a bit delayed by the snowstorm we got last Thursday but nonetheless, it’s great to start planning the veggie garden. This year, I think I will step out of my comfort zone and try new varieties. Potatoes are the first thing on my mind: I love fingerlings but I’m too frugal to pay the supermarket prices. However, I have no clue of what to do to grow potatoes! Is there anybody with advice for me on how to grow (hopefully successfully!) potatoes?
Maybe my title for this post should have been Green Acres…..My life is starting to look a lot like it!

What a Chore!

Vacuuming is the very worst chore for me. And with the additional cat in the household, I find the need to vacuum more often. My my, what a nightmare. Billy leaves little balls of fur everywhere and they are difficult to pick up because they stick to your finger and won’t let go!! The electric brush of my vacuum gave out last week and I was glad to still have an old Hoover in the garage. This one’s electric brush is working very well but it’s so large and difficult to maneuver. AND it has old fashioned bag!! I got used to the bagless technology the last few years. A co-worker gave her son the New Dyson DC23 Animal version for Christmas and I have to admit that I’m green with envy….I’m very hopeful I will get one too with Northern Mama’s great giveaway! Good Luck to me! ♣

Meet Billy

In order to keep up with the single woman typecast, I added another cat to our household! Billy is a year old and was raised with a dog; that’s probably what attracted me to him. It shows good dispositions and that’s very important. Although he seemed quite independent and had no problem spending long amount of time exploring the outdoors, he also keeps close by if I’m outside or just follows cat #1, Nita around. Today was the day he was being neutered. That’s the responsible thing to do but I’m also hoping that will be the end of the spraying he’s been doing around the house to mark his new territory. So far, so good with Nita; although I must say this week was a bit more difficult: lots of fighting and loud meowing. I’m hoping we’ll all get along nicely soon!

Feb 12 2010

What's with this weather? No accumulation of snow so far and the lake is not frozen yet! I'm so afraid spring will never come because winter didn't happen!

This picture is from February 12th, but it's still the same today, other than being a gray-ish fall-like day.

Guilt

This is what guilt looks like! Guilt of leaving my cat alone for 3 days. Not available in Canada (yet), I saw this Fancy Feast cat food in St. Louis and decided to splurge for my cat nita! I hope she'll like it; all the flavors looks very good, human grade, but I also hope she won't like it too too much: I don't want to have to bring back cat food each time I travel to the States!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Cement Block Base

Last week, after modifying my plan a dozen time, I was finally fully satisfied and was ready to start, at last. But I realized that I really didn't know how to put the cement blocks together; I had plenty of witten material on the subject but felt I was missing something. So I placed an add on Kijiji in the Skilled Trade section, asking for someone to come by and graciously spend a couple hours with me to show me how. The first respondant asked me what I was doing and after a few missed calls and emails, came by Friday night. He arrived at the time scheduled and with all his tools! I was glad to impress him with how ready I was with my own set of tools! A very nice man, originally from Haiti, currently out of work from a call centre but obviously well versed in building with cement blocks. We did the first 4 blocks, as I intended, and he was then on his way.

On an unrelated funny note, we're both French speaking, but I couldn't understand a word of what he was saying because his French accent is so different than mine, so we spoke English to each other!

Yard Sale Loot

All that for only $1.00! Quite happy about my luck! I was ready to pay double but I gave the quoted amount gladly; it could be because I stopped by at 6pm and she looked like she was ready to pack everything in!

In the lot, there's a Henckles knife, so even if don't even use anything else, that was worth it!

But with those 24 small tart molds, no excuse not to try some tasty phyllo cups!

And how about that vintage cheese knife set? Cute! I might have to invite people over for a cheese and wine affair just to show them off!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Mock-Up

I did the inventory of the cement blocks I got so far and modified my paper plan accordingly. I have much more block 8X10X16 so the oven hearth floor will be slightly smaller than the Alan Scott plan, but it's ok. I laided the blocks to see if it all made sense and I think it will look good. I just made a slight modification to use the 8X8X16 block for the center pilar instead of the corners. The metal wash bassin will be the ash recipient and it's there to make sure the front opening is large enough to access under the oven easily.

In the meantime, I was able to acquire an old cement mixer: that will save me a lot of elbow grease! I will retake all the measurements, redo the mock-up and hopefully start the actually work soon!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Cement Pad

Finally done!! I came back from work on Tuesday and it was finished!! There are cute little bird footprints on it but unfortunately, they will get covered by the cement blocks and bricks; too bad they aren't at the other end where nothing will cover the cement.

I guess I'm somewhat of a control freak: it bothers me not to know exactly how the cement was poured and how the reinforced mesh was positioned inside but, I can't be everywhere at once and I need to learn to trust people. That's the tough one....

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Ready!

The gravel is packed, the frame is secured and I'm ready for the cement to be poured. Maybe tomorrow?

My neighbours are starting to ask when we'll have a pizza party! We all need to be patient; the oven will probably not be completed before next spring. But it's so worth the wait!!

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Taking Shape!

Now Randy, the handyman, finally got the form up. It's 14" above ground so it will be the same height as another deck I have beside the house. It does look odd, and big, in the middle of the yard but I'm hoping that once all is done around it, it should all make sense and look good. Everything is taking a loooonnnng time.....I have to learn to be more patient........and remember that to keep the cost down, I'm relying on Randy's help, on his time schedule.

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Now it's Really Starting!

Finally! The excavation is done but we were only able to go down 12" before hitting the shale rock. That could be a problem if I didn't plan to go 14" above ground.

I will also do some irrigation channels around the base to make sure there's no accumulation of water there in the fall and springtime. It's been quite flooded the past few years....

I read somewhere that the entire oven will weight 3 tonnes; hopefully, that's enough to keep the cement slab secure.