Hi. My name is Rubik...and I'm a pizza-holic.

Actually, I think I'm just a "don't-wanna-work-for-so
meone-else-my-entire-life-aholic", so several years ago I decided that one day I would want to open my own business. I somehow decided on opening a wood-burning brick oven pizzeria, which I think was based largely on the following: 1) my adoration for pizza since my corpulent childhood, which included almost weekly visits to Cici's, and 2) my first experience eating brick oven pizza at Grimaldi's in New York (which was quite an upgrade over Cici's)

Sometime in the summer of 2005 I decided that I should build a wood-burning brick oven so that I can practice making brick oven pizzas prior to opening the pizza shop. The "plan" was to work in corporate America for 10-12 years, build some capital, advertise for 10-12 years by telling everyone that I encounter to keep an eye out for "Rubik's Pizza", and perfect my business plan/recipes/etc so that when the day comes I'll be ready to hit the ground running.

...So back to the oven - I googled "how to build a wood-burning brick oven" and it just so happens that there is this guy living in Australia who mails out CDs of detailed plans for how to build your very own brick oven!


This is the guy who sent me the plans that have been sitting on my desk for over 5 years. This blog is a means for me to hold myself accountable and build this damn oven once and for all in 2011. In the next week I plan on splitting up all the steps in building this oven and assigning myself weekly tasks.

So far I've got a hole dug in my backyard, and a frame built, and now it's time to pour the concrete...except I've never poured concrete before. Last year one Saturday I decided "ok! I'm ready to figure out how to pour concrete!" So I went to Lowe's and told the guy at the project counter how big of a slab I was trying to pour. He ran some numbers and told me I would need an entire palette of concrete mix...at which point I figured I was in way over my head.

So here we are today, and I still need to pour concrete. I looked for instructional videos on YouTube and found this unenthusiastic goober:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq_1ZEgVbH0&feature=related

I've considered just hiring someone to pour it for me...but that's kinda like cheating. If I did that, why not just hire someone to build the whole thing? I think I'm just going to order two cubic yards of concrete mix (that's how much the Australian dude in the picture said I'd need), buy the rebar, then just go to town this weekend. What's the worst that could happen??

Here's what the finished product is supposed to look like: