Well I guess I shouldn't complain if I'm so gratefully busy in the studio that I can't keep up a timely post on the blog, but I still miss the meditative quality of meandering through a post, revisiting an experience or a recipe and having an open-ended conversation about ... whatever. I'm much better at the 'immediate' chronicling that is available on
Instagram and
Facebook, but writing in the blog is kind of like writing a letter, long-hand. It connects me to the subject in a way that the passing shot and comment only touch upon.
Alas, major phone updates have squelched the time I set aside to do a nice, chatty blog this morning, but I am determined to cross at least one thing off the 'home-work' list, so here's a little combo of things that have been insta-posted with some notes, and maybe even a recipe or two. Kind of my "year to date in pictures":
I started the year off with color, and the bounty of my local farmers in western North Carolina has helped me keep a very colorful menu. Breakfast salad is one of my favorite meals, morning, noon, or night! Mixed greens, roasted veggies, an egg - hard, soft, or over easy, maybe some pickled veg. Endless options!!
Testing new forms for a restaurant client led to this lovely bowl, now a permanent add to my inventory rotation. It holds another favorite - oven roasted vegetables. Get your veg cut for even cooking (based on how fast they roast), then lightly massage them with coconut oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, turmeric, and any other spice/flavor you like. Roast at 400 degrees until tender to your tastes.
More testing of forms for restaurant ware, and of course they must be tested! Because I don't make 'flame-ware', my ceramics must be heated with the oven, so the baker isn't for restaurants (but for home use, it works wonderfully!), but the square plates are one of the forms I'm playing with, and this one has become a favorite in the studio kitchen (as was the quiche!).
My friend Kay sent me a counter-top Spiralizer, and I have been having a LOT of fun with it. The colors of the season continue, and it was delicious and looked great on a test plate for the restaurant ware, too!
Pots in Action! I am so grateful to have met and to be working with Chef Younes and his wonderful partner, Emma, and to have designed work for their fabulous restaurant,
Tandem, in Carrboro, NC. I was able to taste their delicious creations on my own creations, as well, when I made a delivery this spring. I'm looking forward to making more and new forms for them this year!
We have been feeling the heat of summer, here, and since I found my popsicle molds, I've been having fun coming up with refreshing treats. These "Raita Pops" were a blend of bananas and yogurt, with a dash of maple syrup for the pop base, with cherries and blueberries dropped into the molds to make a patriotic pop for July 4. In the freezer now: watermelon, blended with a ginger lemonade.
More July 4 celebrating, this time it's the annual "Waffle-palooza" to celebrate a studio mate's July 4 birthday. I don't have it at my fingers, but I will share my version of this really good, gluten-free waffle. I tested it out to make on the side, for the GF members of our studio, but it was so good, I decided it should just be 'the waffle', and it was scrumptious!
A new trend swept across social media: Sweet Potato Toast! It calls for cooking slices of sweet potato in a toaster. I tried it, and it works great, although it's kind of a time-suck to keep re-toasting, and depending on how evenly your toaster toasts (mine, not so much), flipping the pieces for more toasting. Enter my faithful Foreman Grill, and I have the same great results, with grill marks, even! Just slice evenly - don't put anything on it, just grill/toast it. I've used it as a crostini, a burger bun, and in this lovely shot, the base for an eggs benedict with a lovely cashew hollandaise (I may have posted that recipe already, gotta check). LOVE the sweet potato!
I love it when clients share pictures of my pots in action! I loved making this 'tree' dinnerware set with service pieces for this lovely couple, and now I want to be invited to dinner - looks yummy!!
And my most recent fun with food and forms continues the color-fest! A smaller, test version of the restaurant ware is perfect for a couple of colorful tacos. Tacos and/or nachos have become my favorite way to deal with smaller amounts of ingredients or left-overs. These lovelies were seasoned flounder with leftover sweet potatoes, tomatillo salsa, avocado and a quick slaw of red cabbage and carrots marinated in lime, lemon, and ginger, with a bit of salt. The leftover juice from the watermelon/ginger lemonade blend for popsicles made a great margarita base, too!
As I was in a post-holiday break cleaning fit earlier this year, I discovered I have a lot more of these pieces than I thought I had, and where I might just take some of these home and enjoy them myself, I also discovered I've done a good bit of that over the past year, so there really just wasn't room, but what to do with all of these lovely pots that just don't quite have a home? 
Joining me will be my friend Dawn Dalto, who has made some beautiful ceramic creations in her day, but she also, in a former life, owned a bead shop. She has beads...LOTS of beads. 
She's going to bring ALL of her beads and join me next Sunday at the Home Sale - glass beads, beads by the piece, beads by the strand, vintage beads, beads big enough for buttons and small enough for weaving. She has the beads!!!
