I guess you could say this was my last day of gallivanting here and there. Yes, my vacation ended today. Tomorrow it's back to the old grindstone. Wasn't sure what to do for my last day, but yesterday while visiting with Krissy at the farmer's market, she asked me if I'd like to try out this new brick oven pizza place south of Durand. I said sure. We planned it out that I would take off from my house by bicycle (solo) and ride all the way to Durand and meet Krissy in Durand by 5 pm. I was pretty close. Actually pulled into Durand about 4:15 pm. Wow, the wind was a challenge today. Dealt with 25 mph wind gusts out of the west. That meant head winds at times and cross winds all the way down to Durand. 30 miles today.
So Krissy and I found this place in the valley called
Stone Barn. It's south of Durand near Nelson. The first thing I noticed when we drove in and parked, wow, 2/3 of the vehicles had Minnesota license plates. Please don't get me wrong Minnesota friends, but this spelled, "yuppie" all over the place.
Basically, it was an old barn converted into a pizza place, but no waitress/waiter service. You just go up to the counter and order your pricey pizza and also ask for your cold beverage. You are given a number and then go and grab your table, inside or outside.
There it is, their claim to fame, a brick oven.
Here was the first pizza we ordered. We actually ordered a second pizza, but I forgot to take a picture of it! Ok, here's the food critic in me. The pizza was tasty, but I wasn't prepared for the ultra thin crust. If you know anything about baking, you just know that you cannot put a lot of toppings on an ultra thin crust because the crust won't support all that weight of toppings. What we found was that the outer pieces of the pizza were somewhat crispy, but as you worked your way into the center, the crust became soft.....too soft for Krissy and me. It felt like I was eating a pizza made from a thin flour tortilla. What really bothered me was that the pizzas were very pricey. I realized that we were basically paying for the atmosphere and not the actual quantity of the food product. Everyone else around us seemed extremely familiar and happy with this place, but Krissy and I walked away feeling skunked. I guess it's yuppie verses country gals!
Like I mentioned, the atmosphere of this unique pizza place is beautiful, but not price worthy for two hard working women like us. In fact, the guys in my family have talked about making our own brick oven for baking pizzas and breads. I might have to investigate that idea.
I love to try new places, and I was thankful Krissy asked me to join her today since Bike man took off again for a lake workshop in Northeast Wisconsin. Of course he had to take off on his bicycle as well. Today was a 73 mile ride for him and tomorrow will be around 60 miles. He'll head back home with friend, by car!!!!
Woke up to a cool morning. The temperature hung around the low 40's. Procrastinated getting out on my bike until 11 am. By then, the clouds cleared and we had beautiful blue skies and sunshine. Rode solo today since Bike man was busy with a major landscaping project.
With full gloves, skull cap, Capri tights, toe shoe warmers, smart wool socks, arm warmers
After 8 hours of work, the wall was coming together nicely. Of course I feed the boys all day long. I Kinda felt like one of those Amish wives who feed their hard working men all day long with home cooked food!!!! It was the least I could do for all that hard labor.
