June 4, 4.11 p.m. [View larger]

[Continued from Thursday's post]

At three in the afternoon locals started to arrive at the Lake City Farmers Market. It may have been too early to eat but Mike Dash was already firing up his oven-on-wheels to cook some "authentic Neapolitan pizza." It was so hot outside and even hotter next to the 900-degrees oven, but he didn't seem to mind. "I love food, I love fire, and I love community," he said.

Dash, 59, left his career as a business strategy consultant years ago to begin his catering business. He traveled to Italy to learn about pizza "from the guys who invented it," he told me as I held up my sketchbook and started to draw. "I had one-on-one private lessons with Enzo Coccia, the guy who knows more about Naples-style pizza," he said.

For a guy like me who usually gets his pizza delivered at home from Domino's, watching a pro like Dash handle the dough and turn it into a delicious looking pizza was fascinating. "The pizza cooks very fast and then all the flavor gets sealed inside," he said.

A moment later, the pizza was done. "Here, two minutes and two seconds," he said with a smile of satisfaction.

Lake City Farmers Market
Thursdays, 3 to 7 pm, June 4 through October 29, next to the Lake City library at NE 125th and 28th Ave NE in Seattle.