Redland Rambles

No, it doesn’t have opossum in it…  but it’s Possum Trot Robert Barnum’s own ‘creation’.

Robert has been bitten with the smoking bug, big-time. Since he put some eggs next to whatever else he was smoking on his specially-modified barbie, he’ll smoke just about anything! …and no, he tries not to inhale 😉

So, last Thursday, he invited Marian (who, unfortunately, got called in last-minute to work),  plus the whole crew from Bee Heaven Farm to enjoy his Possum Pizza. Hani & his wife also joined us. This was a ‘make your own pizza’ affair, for which he provided balls of dough, a couple of sauces (homemade, of course), shredded cheese and an assortment of toppings. This time, he had both a whole wheat and a white flour dough, and the toppings included pepperoni, sausage (sliced), a seasoned ground meat of some sort (no, not ‘possum, I told ya already!), bacon, ham, sliced smoked eggs, corn, green pepper strips, peas, hearts of palm (from the famous drive-by harvest – see BHF’s blog about that adventure), King mushrooms, and probably something else I’m forgetting…

We all trooped over there after winding down a long day of weeding and transplanting tomatoes on the farm, bringing freshly-brewed tea and ice, to join some of Robert’s homemade Antidesma (bignay) wine. We met his other guests, a couple of who drove down all the way from Ft. Lauderdale to partake of the goodies. I’d say it was well worth the drive!

Since only one of our group had any real pizza making experience, our pizzas were anything but round. To help slide them on/off the smoker, Robert fabricated pizza peels out of some scavenged hardwood and thin pieces of scrap aluminum – with a generous dusting of corn meal, those pizzas rolled right off. With a not-so-generous dusting, they kind of  stuck on their way to the smoking shelf, and they got even more warped. Oh, well – master pizza makers we’re NOT, but they still ate well.

After partaking (and sharing) our creations, Robert surprised us with some of his exotic fruit ice creams – this time it was Monstera (aka Ceriman) ice cream, and a Passion-Allspice ice. And to finish it off, a small glass of a thick, after-dinner lychee wine that left us all mmmmmming.

Early-birds that we are, we were finished by 8:30pm, and meandered on home to bed. I think we encountered a grand total of 3 cars on the way home. Only in Redland!