Gypsy living creeps in from time to time out in our garden...
Gypsy living is hard, beautiful, lots of work, charming and fulfilling.
I grew up with (and still have) a grandma who cooks on a wooden stove.
By choice.
I follow the steps she takes to get her wood stove hot, roaring, then coals.
Graduated levels of twigs and wood to bring it up to flames.
Then perfect little sizes of wood to keep it going.
I use a mini stove, she has a full size.
The men in my family used to have weekends of wood cutting.
A true sport in our family.
Perfect piles and piles of fresh cut wood walls...
Lining the 100 steps down to my grandparents' house.
They use a massive fireplace as well.
At my grandma's house, keeping the wood stove burning all day is akin to breathing.
You have got to keep it hot, because once you let it cool down or burn out, you are done for.
Unless you are done cooking.
I carve out a whole hour to get my stove up to par before I even think about cooking on it.
A kettle of water let's me know how hot we are getting.
A wonderful day for warm sips and cooking on the tiny stove.
It's during such cooking, that a kettle of boiling water becomes a luxury.
A whole kettle of boiling water.
Lemon ginger...
Mmmmm.
Warm, spicy.
Lemoney.
Thank you kettle.
Oh yes, and black tea for Mister Lovee...
I wanted to make a really rustic simple sweet treat for Mister Lovee.
Chopped up some apples, and put them in a pot with butter and brown sugar.
Oh, and a dash of salt.
Desserts always need a little salt to enhance the flavors.
Smells soooo good.
Miles hides under the gypsy wagon.
He hadn't done that since he was a baby.
I don't know how he got in or out because he is so huge now.
The family enjoys, while...
I keep the flames going...
Time for some savory, while the apples cook.
Oh and, some tortilla making for sure!
Make sure the stove top is hot hot hot for tortilla making.
I used wheat flour for my tortillas.
Sometimes I use oat flour by grinding my own oats in the food processor.
I have only ever used standard large oats, and they work awesome.
And of course, you can use all purpose flour as well.
Want the recipe?
Okay, here you go.
Homemade Tortillas
2 cups flour (your choice of flour)
(plus 1 extra cup of flour for dusting and rolling)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
( I use extra virgin olive oil)
The trick to these turning out?
Don't knead your dough like crazy.
Or at all.
It makes the dough too tough.
I just mix it all up with my hands until everything is nicely incorporated.
But I never knead after that.
Next trick?
Use plenty of flour for dusting your counter and rolling pin, with each tortilla.
This will let you roll a paper thin tortilla.
(Make your dough balls smaller than a golf ball)
Then simply place on a very hot griddle/pan, let bubbles form, then flip.
Put inside a towel, and keep going until you use all your dough.
You'll get about 10 tortillas.
The scent of fresh tortillas on a hot stove, awesome.
So authentic.
The aroma...
Then, put your fave toppings on and munch.
Make quesadillas and more - whatever you want.
I opt for fresh tomatoes, avocados, lemon juice, beans and corn.
So crazy good.
So fresh and delicious.
Lovee wanted apples on one (okay 3) of his tortillas.
They actually tasted quite lovely.
Especially since the tortillas were wheat.
Warm apple wheat treats, and hot tea in the gypsy wagon.
Mister Lovee was beyond delighted when I took him away from chores to join me.
He was so happy, and really enjoyed himself.
Yay!
We both laughed at how far he'd have to go to find a woman making tortillas on a little stove outside.
I told him he was my only customer and had to pay up ;)
It was good fun.
A wonderful gypsy day.
Mister Lovee went off to play his bass for the evening...
While I enjoyed the scent of apricot branches burning in the stove, and the sun setting.
Not to mention the warmth from the little stove.
Perfect for a mild winter evening.
Perfect timing too, because the next day crazy rains swept in.
Which made me happy for a bed indoors as well ;)
Gypsy dreams abound!
Love, V
