The finished product.....finally!

I've been conceptualizing this pool house for so long I almost can't believe it's finally finished and real!  Since we moved into the house eight years ago, it's always been our intention to build some sort of structure at the pool.....to in some way make it more a part of our home.

Never in all of those conversations over all of those bottles of wine did we ever dream it would end up this perfect.  It's everything we wanted.....and more!  We've actually been enjoying it for a couple of weeks, but just this past week did all of the little details come together.

And since my mother has been asking for pictures.........

Before.....

After.....

Before......

This is one of the changes that I'm most happy with.  This is the pergola coming out my back door.  It was covered in a heavy wisteria vine that constantly dropped leaves and just made the area a mess and eventually would have ruined the structure of the pergola.

After.....

I love it.  It's now a much cleaner, brighter area and lets a ton more light into my back room.  Plus I think it's a beautiful transition to the pool house.

Before......

After.......

Before.....

After.....

Disregard those two.....they're always trying to get into a picture somehow!!

Another one of my favorite features.....my herb garden.  Rosemary, basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley, mint, etc. five steps from the kitchen!!

The rest of the house was built just so I could have this.  I had to convince the architect to put it in.  He knew nothing about them but it's now his favorite part!  And mine.

We've already made a ton of pizza's in it and I've been experimenting with other things.  I'm no expert yet, but I'm committed to becoming one!

This was the very first pie.

And it was amazing!

There it is.  As I said, we couldn't be happier with it.  And I can't wait to share all of my wood-fired cooking successes....and disasters with you!  So.....what do you think?

TWD and BB Catch-up Day!

It's been pretty crazy around here for the past week.  All kinds of progress has been made in the pool house and we almost got everything finished in time for Memorial Day weekend.  I'll be posting the finished product later this week, but there was a minor punctured gas line snafu that needs to be fixed first.  Cross your fingers that it won't involve tearing out a stone wall.  Ugh.

This is what my driveway looked like most of last week while they were finishing up the landscaping.  Crazy busy, but it came out beautifully.

And while everything wasn't perfect, we were able to spend the weekend out there enjoying the pool, the pizza oven and the fabulous ambience that we've been looking forward to for over a year now!

And some beautiful sunsets!

And while I was too exhausted to actually post the recipes, I did find time to get them all made.

Let's start with last week's TWD selection...the Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie that was chosen by Spike of Spike Bakes.  As you can see from the picture, this was a disaster for me.  The one good thing about this is the crust.  I'll definitely use this crust recipe for something else in the future, but it won't be for this ice cream.  Disregarding the fact that my ice cream mixture was the consistency of soup by the time I poured it back into the crust shell, we just didn't like the taste.   Oh well.

Next up was Ina's Grilled Herb Shrimp that was chosen by Penny of Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen.  This was really easy to throw together, but it was at the end of a long day outside and I didn't have the energy to make anything to go with it.  It didn't matter.  These were perfect all by themselves.  And just as good the next evening thrown into some quesadillas.  I could also see tossing these into some angel hair pasta for a light summer dinner.  Very versatile little suckers!!  Check out Penny's site for the recipe.  

And to bring me up to date, today's TWD is the White Chocolate Brownies chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights.  (TWD is truly an international group....Marthe is from the Netherlands!!)  I kind of mutilated Dorie's original recipe here.  I DO NOT like meringue...at all!  So that wasn't going to happen.  And I was out of raspberries, so again....not happening.  I did have some white chocolate chips, so I threw those in instead.

These have more of a cakey texture than a brownie texture, but they were still pretty good.  I topped mine with some of Jeni's Splendid Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Cherries Ice cream and some fresh cherries.  If you want to see the finished product as it was intended, visit Marthe's site!

And if you'd like to cook along with us every week, pick up Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

TWD and BB Combo!

My mother pleasantly reminded me the other day that "You haven't posted anything on your blog lately."  Thanks for calling me out for being the slacker that I am, Mom!  However, you are right.  (Just this time).

Things have been busy around here.  We're getting down to the nitty-gritty on "the shed" as Mr. B likes to call it.  He called it that in front of our architect the other day.  Luckily he's a cool guy.....he just said, "Have you even looked at any of the checks you've been writing for this "shed"?  So now he calls it the "big shed".

Anyhoo, we're almost finished.  We probably would be but the stone contractor can't keep up with the stone masons.  They're laying it faster than it can be trucked in.  These guys rock.  HAHA.  Get it?  Stone masons.  Ro.....never mind.  We should be done well before Memorial Day.  Partay!!!

So, while I haven't actually been posting anything on time, I have been completing the assignments!  And I have the crappy pictures to prove it.  See.....

Both of these pictures suck but the Thumbprints and the Swedish Visiting Cake were delicious.

Especially this cake.  This was actually the TWD from a couple of weeks ago that I didn't think we'd like so I didn't make it.  Big mistake.  This is so simple (one bowl and no heavy equipment) and r.e.a.l.l.y. GOOD.  Like slap-your-grandma good. Perfect for a little snack with your afternoon coffee or tea, or if your a wino like me, it goes great after dinner with a little glass of Sauterne or Vin Santo.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

The BB selection, Jam Thumprint Cookies, was also really tasty but that dough gave me fits.  I don't know what was up, but I had a hell of a time keeping it together.  It just wanted to fall apart.  Especially after I refrigerated it.  So, while the cookies tasted great, they were a little too frustrating for me.

For the cake recipe, check out Nancy's site, The Dog Eats the Crumbs.  For this week's TWD, Chockablock Cookies, visit Mary at Popsicles and Sandy Feet.

Here's the recipe for the BB cookies:

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Recipe courtesy Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients


3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
Raspberry and/or apricot jam


Directions


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.

Pool House Updates

I think it actually might be Spring in Alabama.  Finally.  I almost hate to jinx it by putting it in writing, but everything is in bloom (my sinuses confirm) and temps today are reaching 80!!  WOOT!

Which means I'm getting antsy to get this bad boy FINISHED and start partying in there!

Can you believe how much they've gotten finished in all of this rain?  The structure itself is 90% done and the stone masons are finishing up this week.  It was a lot of effin stone and these guys are amazing.  I really love it.

The only thing left to do inside besides the flagstone on the floor is the cabinets and appliances.  I met with the cabinet maker last week and there's really not a lot of cabinets, so that shouldn't take long.

I get giddy every time I go out to see the pizza oven!  I can hardly wait to get that thing fired up.

Isn't she gorgeous?  I think I'm gonna name her.  I'm not sure what yet.  Has to be Italian, right?

That strip of dirt is going to be an herb garden!  What grows best with just a little morning sun??  Must research.

Freaky right?  When you walk out on that deck is like you're floating.  I can't get many people to walk out there without the railing!  

That view is your reward for being brave!!  

So we've made a bunch of progress, but I'm ready for it to be finished!

Or at least for some of the mess in the driveway to be gone!  Jeesh.

Pool House Updates

Last Friday a big old dump truck backed up the driveway and dumped this huge pile of stone.

I left to go run some errands and work out and came back a couple of hours later to this....

Damn. Fast workers. It's fun to watch them. It's like putting together a puzzle.....

Only harder. They have to take each stone and make it fit. And keep it level. So there's lots of hammering and chipping involved.

Plus they have to make it look random.

I don't think I could do it. I'll leave it to the experts.

And someone had to move a huge pile of those suckers inside. I'm glad I wasn't around to help with that. I would have faked an injury.

There's a lot of stone left to stack. It's going on the fireplace, the pizza oven, the outside walls, some of the inside walls. Everywhere.

Makes me tired just thinking about it.

I'm gonna go lay down.

Al forno

Here's how Wikipedia defines "Al forno".....

"In cooking, al forno is an Italian phrase describing food that is "at/from the oven". Baked pizza, breads and pasta dishes are often part of this genre.

Al forno is a term that described cuisine in Northern Italy which has the tradition of using wood-burning ovens and open-flame grills. Wood-fired pizza ovens have often been constructed by Italian restaurants that offer "al forno" or "furnace" to continue this tradition. This style has spread all over the Mediterranean in terms of becoming a bread, pasta, dough cooking technique. The brick oven has become a kind of symbol for "al forno" with its arched oven door and a wooden board upon which the food was put in and taken out, the wood acting as a kind of insulator."

I'm not sure when I first became enamored with al forno cooking, or pizza ovens, as they're commonly called. We've all seen them over the years in restaurants/pizza shops but I think I first started paying attention while sitting at the chef's counter at my favorite restaurant in Birmingham, the Hot and Hot Fish Club. Over the last several years of sitting there and watching them use their oven, I've become fascinated at all they use it for.

It ain't just for pizzas, baby! They used it for steaks, mini-casseroles, breads, etc. I don't think they even have a pizza on their menu!

But I really became hooked after our trip to Exclusive Resorts Tuscany properties in November of 2007.

In this beautiful Italian home was an authentic wood fired oven. I was so excited that we asked the chefs to dedicate a special night to teaching all of us how to make pizza's in that oven. They taught us how to light it, how to manage the coals, and most importantly how to make pizzas. I was sure I had taken a picture of the oven, but when I went back through my photos, I couldn't find one. The closest one I had is the one below.....the oven is directly to the left of the table.

I owe these two for convincing me that if I ever built an outdoor kitchen, I was absolutely installing a pizza oven.

And it arrived last week. All 1,300 lbs of it!!!

Of course, the contractor building the pool house had picked up the fork lift the day before, so we had to get creative getting it from the delivery truck up the driveway! Let's just say it took a village!

But we managed and were able to get it unpacked.

How freaking handsome is that??

Looks like a miniature igloo.

Can't you just smell the pizzas, breads, steaks.........

I'll keep you posted on it's progress!