Pizza Tuesday

Once again, it is pizza season here on Gunflint Lake! Each week, we fire up the bread oven to bake some tasty treats. It takes about six hours of stoking to get the oven hot enough for the bread and pizza. Late in the afternoon, we gather outside around the oven.

First we put in the ciabatta, a sourdough bread that is similar to foccacia. This bread generally bakes in about eight minutes, if the oven is hot enough. We still haven't hooked up the computerized monitor that will tell us how hot the oven really is, but we estimate it to be in the high 500's to low 600's. Once this bread comes out of the oven and has cooled slightly, it practically disappears off the table. We cut it in to chunks, eat it plain, put butter on it, dip it in olive oil with fresh herbs---anyway we do it, it is so delectable. If there is any leftover, we use it over the course of the next week to make panini sandwiches, or as buns for our venison burgers. And if there is any left after that, if it has gone stale, Moses and Jethro, the donkeys, absolutely love it. They have been known to try and take my sandwich out of my hand, because they love ciabatta so much. They don't get it very often, because it usually is long gone.

Next we gather up the pizza dough, and start to roll crusts out. We like to pre-bake the crusts in the oven for a few minutes, and then pull them out to put on the toppings. Once they are covered in sauce and other fixin's, they go back in to the oven to finish off. All told, it probably takes five minutes per pizza. They get cut up right away, and those, too, disappear in no time. We joke that if you help to make a pizza, then walk away while it is in the oven, you may miss out on it.

It is always interesting to try new toppings for the pizzas. We make a fair share of the traditional ones, with cheese and pepperoni, but we also like to experiment with new ideas. Some of the best taste sensations have come out of this casual creativity. Last week we tried one that went over very well with some folks, while others would have nothing to do with it. Instead of traditional red sauce, we spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the crust. Next we sprinkled crisp bacon bits, carmelized onions, chopped chipotle chiles (only a few--they are hot!), and some asiago cheese on the crust. Two minutes in the oven, and back on the table. I thought it was fabulous. Sure, it wasn't one that would entice me to eat several slices, but as an appetizer, it was great! I love the mix of savory flavors on one like this. Many others agreed, and we ended up making a second one.

I have no idea what kind of pizza we will be making this week, as it all depends on the ingredients on hand at the time, and the creative minds around the preparation table. No matter, it all gets eaten, and often in a blink of the eye. We are firing up the oven on Tuesdays this summer, so if you would like to taste the wares from the oven, give us a call! 1-800-338-7230

Oceanfest 2007

This years Oceanfest was a bit hit and miss as far as the weather goes, but we were lucky and hit all the good weather! Friday (schools day and free for everyone right into the evening) was a complete wash out - we gave that a miss and went in on Saturday afternoon. Lovely. We were going to camp there but by the time we thought about it everywhere was booked, so my advice for next year is too book early.

The ground was packed and there's plenty to keep everyone occupied - bike and skateboard displays, lots of stalls selling everything from jewellery through to surfboards, and of course my favourite, the music stage and beer tent. There is nothing better than sitting in the sunshine with beer and listening to live music (I might have mentioned that last year.) The Lantern FM Radio people were there with their big purple bus, they had a dalek with them and Dr Who even came out to have his photo taken with my children.

Other things for children to do include the climbing wall, trampolines and bouncy castles.

This year you could even paint a bus!

A favourite occupation of many teenagers we saw, mine included, was to see just how many freebies you could collect from various stalls. We managed a t-shirt, four bags with various goodies inside courtesy of the Devon recycle people and EA games, a magazine and a frisbee.

My husband enjoyed the ladies volleyball on the beach!

Northam Burrows

OK, technically this is still Westward Ho! beach, but we're at the Northam Burrows end. Entered via a toll road in the village of Northam between Appledore and Westward Ho! the burrows are now a site of special scientific interest. Behind the pebble ridge is a large expanse of grass land peppered with sheep and golf courses.

We went to Mum's today to say 'Happy Birthday' to my grandad. Blink and you missed him: so after a cup of tea and a slice of cake, minus the birthday boy, we headed off to the beach with my sister and her family. The tide was in so the only possibility of finding sand was to go to this end of the beach. It was lovely - nice and warm, with a cooling breeze and the sea just a stroll down the sand, not a five mile hike. The water was even nice, once you got used to it. And when the kids had had enough of jumping waves, digging in the sand and climbing the pebble ridge, it was off to the other side for Hocking ice-cream. Excellent!

Dartington Crystal

Dartington Crystal has been making glass in Torrington for forty years now. They have a lovely visitors centre, a huge shop and a restuarant that sells fresh, made on the premises, food. We spent a couple of hours here today, mostly 'doing' stuff. There are factory tours where you can see wine glasses, vases, etc being made and the bonus is that kids go free! Having said that, the visitors centre is set up with activities for the children to do that will hit your wallet more than an entrance fee might have done.

Today I took four children, my three and a friend: three decided they would paint a glass, and one wanted to make a necklace. Both activities cost �5 per person. The glass painting was fun, and took about 30 mins. They have to paint on an outline, then heat it, then paint the glass and heat it again. The necklace making took slightly less time but was fiddly and definately required adult help. My recommendation would be to paint the glass then leave it drying while you do the factory tour.

The factory tour is not so much a tour as a walk through two rooms on an elevated corridor. The first room is the most interesting. You get to see the whole process from taking the molten glass out of the furnace to blowing and shaping it and then the final product going off somewhere to be finished. All four children watched in fascination before declaring that they wanted to be glassmakers when they left school! The second room is just a packing room. The kids weren't impressed with that.

Other activities we didn't have a go at today were glass blowing, and making a hand cast in glass. We've done the hand casting before. It's a great keepsake, but it is popular so you have to book that one.

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Tapely Park Gardens

It's Bank Holiday Monday and the weather man got it wrong. It didn't rain! So we seized the oportunity to go out for a few hours in between late Spring cleaning and ended up here at Tapely Park. I have driven past the entrance to this house more times than I can count and this is the first time I have ever been in. It's situated on the top of a hill just outside Instow and the views out over the estuary are stunning.

In its advertising Tapely Park describes itself as a sustainable stately home in the making. I'll have to take its word for it, I spotted little evidence, but then I wasn't really looking. It cost �4 for adults and �2.50 for children, so is relatively inexpensive, but then it doesn't really have that much to offer. It's a nice walk around the gardens and there are a few cows, sheep and pigs to look at but that's about it.

We started our visit with a walk around the lake, which was quite pretty, then went on to explore the formal gardens. The tea rooms are quite pleasant, and the cakes very yummy. Then it was off to find the play area. When they said 'tucked away' they really meant it, but the kids had fun once we found it and it was sheltered enough for my husband to lie down in the sun and go to sleep!

Before we went home we tried to find the monument, erected in memory of one of only three officers to survive the charge of the light brigade (I had to smile when I read that he was killed in another battle only ten days later - sorry). But a distinct lack of sign posting meant we had to give up. We could see it in the distance, trooped across a field full of thistles and horse poo, found a gate into a field full of sheep but with no obvious path across. Shame really, cos the monument used to have a granite obelisk on it, but when it was shattered by a thunderbolt in 1931 they make a labyrinth out of the pieces. It looked quite nice in the brochure - just too far away.

Teenage Moose

Springtime is often when I get to see what I call teen-age moose. These are the young ones who have just been sent off to be on their own. They are sleek, muscled, and they have long lanky legs. That is one reason that they remind me of teenagers. The other reason is that when I encounter them on the road, much like new young drivers, they don't always know what to do! If it is night-time, they seem to get confused and veer around on the road in front of me. I always stop when I encounter a moose on the road, and I find it helps if I turn my lights down to low beam, or even to parking lights for a moment. This seems to help the moose get its bearings and then figure out how to get off the roadway. Then I can turn my lights back up and continue on my way. Last Wednesday morning, we were headed down the trail towards town, and spotted these two teens in the road. Fortunately, we had the camera ready, and Robert snapped this photo before they headed in to the woods.

On the way home, I spotted a small bear on the edge of the Mayhew swamp. He, too, looked like a young one that had been bumped from the homestead, to make way for the new little cubs. It has been a while since I saw a bear in the woods, doing what bears should do. It was a good thing to see.