Finally, actual finished ceramics!

After many starts and stops, wrong glazes, blazing hot weather and the shop forgetting about my stuff, I FINALLY have my first batch of clay work done done done! I obviously have some things to learn and work on (namely, thickness of glazes and larger holes in pendants and beads), but overall, I'm really happy with the results. The mystery of glazes is that these two colors were supposed to be a very green green, and a blackish dark red. I got a gorgeous turquoise instead and something that very much approaches a wood color which absolutely supports the faux bois work.

I've definitely learned from mistakes and I will definitely get some more low-fire glazes to go with the pounds of low-fire clay I still have courtesy of my friend Karen Lynn Miller (check her stuff out here). I only wish I could buy smaller quantities of glaze rather than the big pints as it is rather expensive and it's really nearly impossible to know what you're going to get after firing. For example, as far as I could tell, the glaze that turned brown here wasn't necessarily supposed to have a matte finish. But there you go!

Now, to actually make jewelry out of this stuff!

Boomer decided to help me.

And help some more.

And still a bit more.

She wants you to look at this faux bois bowl.

The beads, which still need the firing wires taken out of them.

Lotsa meat/notso meaty.

I was wandering around the grocery store yesterday, hungry. That can be dangerous but it just resulted in a stop at the salad bar and a decision to make burgers for dinner. It did mean beef two nights in a row, but what the hell.

I found a more expensive ground beef on sale and bought it, despite a little doubt. I'm not keen on the very lean beef; to my mind, the flavor is often lacking. And it did turn out that my initial feelings were right, but it was still a burger and it tasted good, just not as good as it could have been.

As usual, I sauteed some onions and got them slightly caramelized before adding the beef. I had also bought a basting/marinade sauce and coated each patty with that before cooking which I assumed would take care of the salt (it didn't, really). I cooked them to medium and then topped with a slice of Swiss cheese, the onions and a teeny bit of my newly beloved sweet salad peppers and mayonnaise. A side salad and some baked beans (I confess to using canned beans straight from the can) rounded out the plate.

Tonight it was finally time for Meatless Monday since we've been quite meatful all week up to now. A tray of fried tofu, one of snow peas and a bag of bean sprouts from Jay International later, in combination with some sliced onion, chopped mushrooms, rice noodles and bottled kung pao sauce later and we had big bowls of stir fry. Yum.

And now it is time for my hot fudge concrete, with extra malt, from Ted Drewe's!

Let me stand next to your fire

I've had a huge stack of bricks in the yard for years. A while back I decided to dissemble the brick patio in the backyard as it had shifted and humps and dips had formed so that it wasn't exactly pleasant to walk on. I certainly didn't want to get rid of the bricks, so I just stacked them up at the bottom of the yard for future use. I've been thinking about building (and I use that term loosely) a firepit with some of the bricks and today, with its lovely temperature, seemed like the day. Since I was just placing and stacking bricks, not using any kind of mortar or anything, this was a pretty quick job. I started with some concrete blocks and surrounded them with bricks, adding a second layer on the inside for a sort of insulation. (I have no idea what I'm really doing, officially, but I figure I can't do much harm burning some sticks in my yard.) In the inside bottom, I poured a half a bag of river pebbles I happened to have, just to give some separation between fire and the ground. It seemed like a good idea.

We have three trees in our yard so there is no shortage of dried sticks and wood to burn. I started the fire with some tightly rolled newspaper, piling on some larger pieces of wood and kindling on top. Soon enough I had a pretty good fire going.

I love fire. I love playing in fires. I love poking at fires. I love burning things. Is this a bad combination? Time will tell, I suppose. Although I intended to eventually cook on this fire, initially I just wanted to kick back and enjoy it. I had attempted, just by eyeing it, to match the width of the pit with the grill grates that I had. Not so much, but it still works for the time being.

Foxy Brown is somewhat skeptical about the fire.

On the menu for the inaugural firepit meal was steak, fish and foil-packet potatoes. I threw the potatoes into the embers and covered them with a fairly flat chunk of ember for a time.

Then it was time to amp up the flames for the meat cooking. I put the monkfish in a small cast iron skillet with oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and covered it with foil.

After letting both of these things cook for a bit, I added the steak and did add a little wood to get the flames going a bit more.

I also pulled the potatoes out of the embers before they could burn.

I couldn't be more pleased with the food results. The steak was unbelievably delicious, cooked quickly and licked by the flames and infused with the smoke. The fish absorbed a bit of smoky flavor, which was a wonderful counterpoint to the lemon. The potatoes were nicely steamed and had a bit of smoke too.

I can't wait to cook over the fire again soon. I will have to get a bigger grate and some bigger chunks of wood to grill something that needs a slower, gentler cooking. Also, this is as close to campfire cooking as I'm ever going to get with the Boy in tow. And that's okay.

Sunday night - Chicken and green bean red Thai curry

I love green beans with red curry a.k.a. pad prik khing, so it seemed to make sense to combine them with chicken and coconut milk for a full blown Thai coconut curry.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 T vegetable oil (I use canola)
1/2 large onion, slice
1/2 inch of ginger, minced
1 heaping T red curry paste
1 can coconut milk (I used the 'lite' version this time, but I prefer the regular)
12 oz. frozen whole green beans, thawed (of course you could use fresh)
1 t salt
2 t sugar

Heat the oil in a wok till hot, add the chicken and stir fry until done. Remove from pan, leaving the oil. Add the onion and ginger and saute for a few minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the curry paste and cook for a few minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and stir till the paste is incorporated into the liquid, then add the chicken back into the pan. Add the salt and sugar, then cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes or so until the beans and onions are tender. Serve over rice (I used brown).

1 heaping T red thai curry paste

Thrift on the East Side

Today seemed like a perfect day to head to Belleville to check out some of their many thrift stores. I was home from work early, the Boy was off, and the weather wasn't too hideous. Results were pretty good, overall. Suffice it to say the Boy got a pile of books not pictured here.

First up, a older, but still functional salad spinner. Since a conversation on FB, salad spinners have seemed even more precious. And this one cost 12.5 cents.

I've always wanted a little hot water pot, but have never gotten around to buying one. For $1.50 this prettily colored one became mind.

One of the more practical things I've been looking for during thrifting is a springform pan. I haven't come across one in weeks and weeks and now today I find two - one big, one small! Cheesecake is back on the menu!

This little dish has a chip, but the blue and red color scheme was so pretty, I don't care about that dang old chip.

 My quest for wooden items continues and today was a banner day. First, this shallow (and quite large) salad bowl with matching wooden salad fork and spoon. I can't wait to make a big salad in this. It seems perfect for a Caesar.

And then, from Haiti, this cool serving dish. I don't know that this one is vintage, but it's lovely.

Five skeins of what is labeled as "rug yarn." It's 75/25 rayon/cotton though it feels a little itchier than that to the hand.

I think I'm going to experiment with putting a plant of some kind under this cheese keeper glass.

 I'm not sure what the intended purpose of this dish is. It is oven proof and has a lovely mod floral bird motif. I love the bright colors.

This teeny (about 2 inches) spaniel figurine might be used for a snowglobe. Allison?

These two scotties are just kind of weird. Sort of the Easter island heads of dog statuary.

And finally, a prettily embroidered linen table runner.

Eggs Florentine Pie

I saw the recipe for this eggs florentine puff pastry pie on the BBC Good Food website a few weeks ago. With the temperatures in the upper 90s at dinner time, there was no way I was going to turn the over on to make it, but I kept thinking about it. With a much more temperate day facing us, I began to think I could risk turning on the oven and proceeded.

It's a simple recipe, but even though I added garlic and chopped onion, it was still a little bland (a common problem with Brit recipes, I find), but still a nice change of pace. It's just a sheet of puff pastry, pre-baked for 10 minutes or so, then topped with spinach sauteed in olive oil with garlic and onion, then mixed with ricotta cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Back in the oven for about 15 minutes and it's done. To serve, I chopped up a tomato and some green onion to scatter on top.

While at the grocery store, I found a package of 8 or 9 very ripe bananas for 69 cents. Sold! Banana bread. At this point, I was giddy with the idea that it wasn't 98F and I was making bakng plans with abandon. I found a good looking recipe (I added walnuts) on Allrecipes.com  and knocked out a loaf.

While I had the oven on, and since, annoyingly, the two sheets of puff pastry in a box come in the same wrapper (so dumb!), I had to use them both up. Then it must be palmiers, the absolute easiest cookie in the world. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry atop 1/3 cup or so of sugar, sprinkle the top side with more sugar, roll up each long side till they meet in the middle, then slice approximately 3/8 inch pieces and place them cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake until the sugar is caramelized and the cookie is slightly browned. So simple and so very delicious.

The Boy Gets a Thrift Store Feeling

In an unprecedented move today, the Boy announced that he had a Thrift Store Feeling about St. Vincent de Paul. Thrift Store Feelings must always be obeyed so into the car we hopped. His instincts are good.

I'm slowly building a collection of wooden pieces, both mid-century and otherwise. Leaf motifs are very common, but this specimen is special because it's BIG. It's 22 inches long! I'm thinking it will be very good for a holiday cookie tray, perhaps a chip and dip sort of thing too. 

My love of gold and black glassware is well documented here, so of course I could not pass up these teeny round VIP glasses. They're only about 2 inches high.

Two 6 inch Aztec melmac bowls in gorgeous colors.

This little darling was abandoned up at the cash register and I snagged it before anyone else could grab it. How many vintage choppers do I have now?

I don't know why I'm crazy for vintage utensils, but I am and I use them all happily. For some reason, the composition of this photo reminded me of Grant Wood's American Gothic.

I almost walked right past this platter/bowl, as the colors are rather dark and I didn't notice right away that it was glazed pottery. That would have been a serious loss as this wonderful thing is marked '1959' and is 18 inches long. I can't wait to serve something in it!

The Boy's thrift store goals are nearly always books and he did all right. I didn't photograph most of his, but here's some of the loot. These editions were just too good to pass up.

And these! The decorating book is from 1965 and the children's sewing book from '66. If Allison Walker Rabbitt is reading this, that sewing book is for her!

I adore decorating books from the '50s and '60s. I'm not sure I could live with these designs, but I certainly love looking at them. Some favorites from the pages:

I particularly love the green and blue room, above. Because I married a giant, my dream of long low mid-century furniture will remain a dream. It's just not scaled to his size. But I can enjoy photos.

A few weeks ago I neglected to document a couple of thrifting finds. I love this tiered platter. It's plastic "crystal" and the top tier lifts off, revealing an extra little section for special treats.

I seem to be amassing a collection of funny little planters.

Now, to make some banana bread. Yes, the weather has finally broken.

EDIT: Catching up with some other thrift purchases...another set of black and gold glasses (and in three again; what's up with that?).

A couple of silk scarves, in an orange theme...

A pair of grey vintage sandals. I figure since roughly 1/3 of my wardrobe is grey, I should be able to make some use of these.

Four meals, including Meatless Monday

One day recently it must not have been suffocatingly hot in our house because I came home with a package of smoked chicken thighs and somehow zeroed in on chili as the thing to do with them. Yeah, I don't get it either, and I did it. I was searching around the web for recipes using smoked chicken and I happened upon someone mentioning chili and it seemed like a good idea. So, straight to the kitchen to put a pound of dried red beans in the pressure cooker, of course.

To start the chili, I sauteed an onion, a couple of little hot chile peppers I snagged off a plant at work, half of a green pepper I had in the refrigerator, and a zucchini (because it's my chili and if I want to put a zucchini in it, I will!). Once that stuff was all nice and softened, I added a large can of crushed tomatoes, a little bit of tomato juice, a heaping tablespoon (or more) of cumin and an equal amount of chili powder. Once the beans were done, I dumped them in the pot and left the whole mess to cook for a couple hours.

It was way too hot for chili, really, but it kind of worked.

Monday was hot. (Yes, I'm a broken record - I HATE this weather and I can't wait for it to pass.) I couldn't think of anything except a salad to have for Meatless Monday, but the idea for a taco salad didn't pop into my head until late in the day. Luckily, I had most everything on hand though I had to get the Boy to pick up some corn chips. A very easy, tasty and filling salad. I used romaine lettuce, a big ripe tomato (finally able to buy some decent ones!), a handful of frozen corn (it was thawed well before serving time), a can of black beans (drained and rinsed), some crispy fried onions, a few bite-sized chunks of pepperjack cheese, corn chips for crunch and Catalina dressing (or whatever the red stuff is called).

I found my favorite little boneless beef shortribs on sale again (almost a pound and half for around $3 - I love grocery store bargains!) and I wanted to make them very simply, seasoned and grilled. It was too hot for the outdoor grill, so I fired up the electric gizmo, threw some of my favorite steak seasoning on the little fellows and cooked them up to a nice medium rare (with a half pound or so left over for another meal, as you will see). In the meantime, I steamed some potatoes (in the fabulous Pasta Boat!) and put together another salad.

To use up the leftover beef (and to completely avoid any sort of heated cooking) I made another salad, this time with spinach, carrots, another big ripe tomato, slices of the beef, a little shaved asiago cheese, croutons and honey mustard dressing. I love a steak salad so much.