The Wood-Fired Blog

A Girl and Her Dragon – Quest Night #2: The Re-Cheesening

May 19, 2016Posted by Kylie H

Yes, I have gone to the dark side of cheesy (haha) blog titles. Last time it was an incomprehensible pun, this time it’s some sort of movie rip-off. The Re-Cheesening sounds like last year’s failed horror reboot, but hey, I like it.

Humor aside, this was my second Quest night with the pizza oven, and it went amazingly! I learned from my mistakes last year, and got the fire up to 600˚ before the first guest arrived. The attendees were all friends and relatives of friends, snapping up pizza on their way from exhibition and presentation. The fire was hot, the pizza delicious, and my crew top-notch.

Quest night happened a month earlier than normal this year, something I only realized about a week before the actual event (admittedly I have the situational awareness of a small child, so they probably announced it far beforehand). After I started breathing again, I put together a list of ingredients and organized my workers for that night. Said workers were my father (who loves cooking and may take over the business when I go to college), my Uncle (who can parallel park a rack of jet skis, long story), and my sister (whom I bribed with pizza).

Crew assembled, I ordered dough, bought vegetables, and explained to the coordinator why my set up had to be outside. Nueva’s record with the fire department is already less than stellar, and I wasn’t keen on explaining to the Head of School why the entire event had to be evacuated.

We drove the oven to school, parked it, and set up. Then the windstorm started. Next thing I knew, my poster board was flying off. Normally this is to be expected, but at the time it was attached to a chair. The other kids, ensconced safely behind glass and wood, watched me chase down paper plates, table clothes and, in one memorable instance, the entire oven (always remember to double check your feet and make sure the wheel is off the ground).

Eventually we set everything up (thanks to a gratuitous use of duct tape), and began to cook. I’m not shy about using seniority to grab a spot right in front of the oven, especially as the sun goes down and the temperature drops. (Much to the amusement of my Scottish uncle, who scoffs at what passes for weather in this temperate clime.) This means that I’m cooking pizzas and talking to passersby at the same time, but it’s well worth it.

My spiel is an updated version of last year’s. As guests pass by I explain to them my Quest. I talk about Forno Bravo and the Fire Within, about health department licenses and ingredient sourcing and the wonders (and I mean the wonders) of fire starter. I ask, half-jokingly and half-seriously, why there’s a different sales tax for every city (it makes accounting difficult when you’re just starting out), and I receive a rather coherent and sensible answer involving police and fire budgets.

People eat pizza, listen attentively, peer at my (covered in tape and slightly worse for wear) poster board, ask questions, send their compliments to the chef, and generally act both interested and pleasant. It’s a lovely evening. In between the cooking and the chatting I manage to nab a cookie off of the catering set up, pairing it with a pepperoni garlic pizza and some more talking.

Come the end of the night, people’s appetites begin to wane, and so I begin roaming the halls with plates of pizza trying to get rid of the last few slices. My friends try it, some for the first time. I press pizza onto grandmothers and uncles, cousins and brothers. The kitchen staff asks for a plate full, and I leave another few slices at the security station for the watchmen. My last piece, with bell peppers and mushrooms and a single string of onion, goes to our headmistress, and we’re done.

We go home, sauce stained and tired. I still have my apron on, and everything smells like wood smoke and tomatoes. (In fact, one wing of my school will smell like madrone wood and baking dough for the next few days, a side effect of the heavy wind.)

You can learn more about Kylie’s mobile catering business at www.agirlandherdragonpizza.com .

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