cook: salisbury steak for two & television for one

My accomplishment yesterday was vacuuming my grains and beans drawer. Yeah I only organized just one drawer, but I also assessed what I have (don't need more pasta as I try to limit gluten) and what to cook in the coming weeks (grain bowls for me, pasta bowls for hubs).

Last night though I cooked an All-American meal of Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.                            

And I reviewed Ree Drummond's recipe and luckily had all the ingredients in my pantry to go into the football shaped patties. 

And I decreased the recipe to just a little less than half a pound of ground beef for a quarter pound of meat per person. I suppose ground meat doesn’t resemble steak, and hence that’s why recipes call for shaping the patties into ovals to resemble steaks you can cut with a fork and knife. The French onion soup I cooked a few nights ago became the base for the steak’s gravy.

And so a tablespoon of corn starch slurry added to the soup and meat juices made for a delicious gravy even if I didn’t include mushrooms.

And there were no leftovers.  Yes!                       

But in looking at my plate above, I’m obsessing over the plates I’ll be making in the pottery studio this winter and pondering clay bodies and salivating over glazes at Coyote Clay. 

On this winter break I’ve been watching lots of t.v. Matrix Resurrection was a thoughtful revisit and of course had me pondering reality, mental constructs and choices. I feel like art is my rebellion against a constrained and mediocre existence. 

I’d also watched And Just Like That because Sex and the City (the series, NOT the movies which were excruciatingly bad)had reflected dating life in my own 30s even if I wasn’t a cisgender white woman in NYC; unlike my life though I never had those loyal female friendships. I am rather terrible at them though here and there I’ve enjoyed girlfriends from work or hobbies, which went away as I moved away or my interests evolved. However, the show is trying to rectify those inequities and unrealities of portraying only heterosexual white women by having a more inclusive cast and mirroring those cringey collisions of privilege and awkward, difficult conversations about sexuality and race. I have to laud it for trying to right some wrongs and make the lives of 50-something women more visible in popular culture. And for these women finding friends outside their all-encompassing life of dating and exercise/shopping/brunches. 

But at the same time, I loved the comedy and the glamor and the FASHION of Carrie Bradshaw’s world which is why I also lapped up the second season of Emily in Paris, which at least included an Asian best friend who can belt out songs that won the songstress her Tony and an Emmy awards. And the most romantic, iconic, and gorgeous settings of Paris.

I likewise loved Mindy Kaling’s multiculturally casted The Sex Lives of College Girls that addresses socioeconomics as well as interacial relations just as I had earlier adored Lena Dunham’s Girls, which was so narrowly straight and white in contrast. 

And if that weren’t enough HBO, I’m also loving the first season thus far of Issa Rae’s Insecure—and gawd why wasn’t there a show like this for my 20s and 30s to relate to about my own experiences of micro aggressions and outright aggression from white people? 

That’s a whole ‘nother discourse on race, gender and identity. Peace out.

cook: back on the bandwagon

Winter break was sort of a fail on cooking my own healthy meals though I did manage to run or cycle or dance despite hangovers (and that’s another fail--to get sober curious). For Christmas I rolled dozens of wonton egg rolls and bought lumpia for frying and was gonna make mini meatball sliders, but when we arrived, the holiday table,  was already laden with a crockpot of meatballs (did she think I was gonna flake?), empanadas, puff pastry stuffed with meats and cheeses, and lots and lots of cookies and chocolates as well as a dark chocolate Bundt cake. And so I left all the frozen meatballs and lumpia in my sister-in-law’s freezer as well as the brioche and butter rolls and marinara and mozzarella for the sliders I was gonna make. Patrick brought home his chocolate lava cakes and my liquors for the nutty Irishman cocktails. I did however pop into Maggie’s oven the macaroni and cheese I made beforehand from her mom’s recipe. Patrick will only eat Shirley’s macaroni and cheese, and I figured Maggie’s grandkids would also eat it with the ham that was also served. This mac'n cheese is so simple that I can do it without looking up the recipe: cook a roux of butter and flour with sprinkles of salt, nutmeg, dry mustard; add milk to make a béchamel to which I add grated cheese to make a mornay sauce before folding in the noodles to combine and then sprinkling more cheese on top. You could add buttered breadcrumbs, but Patrick likes his macaroni and cheese creamy. Probably because it reminds him of Stouffer's macaroni and cheese which he ate for years and years.  

And really all I have been eating over the vacation are carbs when I had the intention of eating salads like one I prepared with a steak dinner.              

But yesterday I did cook up the leek, celery, turnip in my vegetable bin into a split pea soup made with peppered bacon in my freezer, and half that peppered bacon was cooked with lots of chopped onions and frozen clams and seafood stock on sale at the supermarket into a clam chowder. Soups are my holiday gifts to the neighbors. And this Sunday, I'll be returning to my Thistle routine.        

Next year I’m just making salads and cooking vegetable sides for the holidays. But tonight a meat and potatoes and veg meal.

clay & cloth: holiday selling

I accomplished my goal of getting rid of a lot of my ceramics. But I still brought home mugs and a few bowls and a platter and stars.

And of course none of my quilts sold, which I resolved at the beginning to be okay with. Patrick messaged me that I need to find a better way to display them, but I also know that this isn't the right venue for selling them. I'll start maybe looking into the Kings Mountain Art Fair and submit an application for next September.

Patrick also said my quilts need to be much bigger to be utilitarian. And since I plan to use simpler quilt and more improvisational patterns, I will go bigger. I had one sea platter left that a jewelry artist said she would buy, and so I brought it over and asked if I could have the earrings below.

I love 'em and they're so light because they're some kind of fimo clay. I did have to re-pierce an ear lobe because I haven't worn earrings in years. I love the color palette which is so reminiscent of the desert and happen to be a color palette I want to play with in a quilt. 

cook: clean eating

Since I’m home for winter break and presumably have more time to clean and cook, I canceled my Thistle deliveries for the duration because I want to prepare raw, vegan meals myself. I was surprised that I liked the black bean chipotle salad in a jar.                

I can make aquafaba dressing, which is merely the water that the chickpeas cook in. However, one of my students gifted me for the holidays a small loaf of the sourdough bread her mother baked. Delicious with plenty of Irish butter alongside leftover bean soup.

The leftover sourdough bread was also delicious as a sandwich with leftover lemon roasted chicken and arugula from the garden with lots of mayo and a bit of Dijon mustard. And my alcohol cabinet is well stocked, for I found the chocolate liqueur I need for Nutty Irishmen cocktails for the neighbors and family.

Winter break is also a time for Hoovering through my leftovers like this hummus with generous drizzles of olive oil and plenty of hot smoked paprika and a bit of toasted pita.

While buying ephemera from Paper Source, I window shopped their cookbooks.

For sure I'll be looking for these titles at the public library to put on hold. I had put on old this Friendsgiving cook and was not impressed, so I'm glad not have purchased it. 

My goal over the winter break is to clear out my Thanksgiving décor...

....and to make hummus holiday bowls as Xmas presents for my neighbors as well as devise my own processes for making my own plant-forward meals during the school year.

clay: slow pottery

This plate emerged beautiful from its bisque firing.

 

I had said no clay club yesterday, and yet I had the 4 Obsidian plates and the 4 Speckled Buff mugs ready for glazing. Zan had asked me if I were going to pop them into the kiln ready for firing beginning in late afternoon and overnight in time for the pop-up. I said nope. Instead I put into yesterday's kiln, the tree ornaments without retouching them with white glaze, which I may regret.

Yesterday did end up being my clay club for 1 because I carefully glazed these 8 pots after all. And since they didn't go into the kiln right away, I can touch up bare spots that were too wet with water with a little more glaze. They may not get done until the brand new year, and hence the title of this blog post. But fast forward if you will to the next morning. I’m pleasantly surprised by my tree ornaments.                            

I will likely keep 2 of these ornaments: pasko and natale.

clay: cone 10 porcelain and glaze

I’ve still a bit of clay of the bag of Coleman porcelain I bought this past spring. I think I had quite a few fails such as a plate and a couple of trinket trays. I also made some pendants which I need to make into necklaces. There was a little vase that Zan thinks was in a part of the kiln where it didn't mature to cone, and so last week it underwent another cone 10 firing at Skyline College.             

I love it. The vase seems to have shrunk more and it definitely feels denser and heavier. The differences of before and after the second gas firing may seem subtle, but I feel like I can see the overlap more of the celadon blue and the Coleman red glazes.

I actually want to never part with this vase and therefore never sell it. It also inspires me to make more of these Coleman porcelain vases but with just celadons and the Marshmallow white glaze with a texture.

cook: sheet pan supper of lemon rosemary roasted chicken

It was a night off from the gym and for doing a bit of grocery shopping. Like Ina Garten's husband, Jeffrey, my Patrick also likes a roast chicken dinner, which is my go-to order whenever we used to go out to a restaurant for an evening meal. And so I had to buy the lemon rosemary spatchcocked chicken at Trader Joe's when it was that close to 5:00 p.m. and dinner has to go into the oven like now. Good thing I looked in my vegetable bin and saw the last of a bag of green beans. I also didn't want to have to bake or mash a potato because we just had mashed potatoes last week and wanted baked potatoes later this week to accompany the tri-tip I had also bought at Trader Joe's. And so sweet white corn with lots of Irish butter, my favorite, to the rescue.

I suffered a bit of sticker shock at a $50 grocery bill for a marinated chicken, a tri tip roast and two bottles of Chardonnay which would've been half that a couple years ago. However, I've always thought in comparison to Europe, we pay too little for food in this country, and it's made even more sense to me why food is so cheap given our system of industrialized farming and high-calorie, unhealthy processed food.        

In retrospect, I should have bought a whole chicken and butterflied it myself and then given it a good salt rub before roasting. Next time I'll opt for the more time-consuming and less convenient roast chicken. 

Not the usual meatless Monday, but a yummy and comforting supper nonetheless. Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday, and I'll be resorting to convenience again as I had bought two different seafood taco kits of shrimp and fish.
 

craft: a pop-up shop & pondering pricing

Before the pandemic, I would give ceramics away to friends and family or get rid them at the occasional pop-up sales we potters would host and run from our parks and rec community studio. I was exuberant the first time I earned a couple hundred bucks at the annual Christmas show and sale--yay! I could buy more bags of clay. It then became my goal to make enough money to pay for studio time or pottery classes. This holiday season, I was lucky to have a colleague invite me to apply to sell my crafts at an outdoor artists' fair. And she's kindly allowing me to set up my table next to hers.      

And so yesterday, I made an additional sign.                         

I also have a Square device which I need to test. I thought my objective at this sale was just to clear out pots so I could build more pots. That's still the goal. But in all the making of a sale banner and figuring how much to charge for my handmade ceramics and quilts, other goals have emerged. While looking at the pots I liked (and didn't like), I'm feeling like I have a brand or that my pottery has its own look or feel. Zan held up one of my mugs one day and said, "This says Anna." Whereas normally I sell my pottery to passersby who had no intention of buying ceramics at Central Park in San Mateo, I'll be able to check out other makers and see how they sell albeit in a still low-key venue for shoppers whom Zan would say are blue collar. The pots that I'm pricing higher are a soft test for a retail presence. Experiments in clay and their seconds will be $10 to $15, but the pieces I love and that I think express my hand will be $45 to $50. 

And the quilts, oh boy. There's no way most markets can bear the cost of making a quilt. People who don't sew and shop mostly from Amazon and warehouse and off-price department stores don't recognize the cost and quality of fabrics that are tightly woven, color-fast cottons. Nor do a lot of people know about the effort and hours of stitching, not to mention the learning and skills that go into those hours. For that woman who told my friend Patsy that she could buy my salt and pepper crocks at Target for just $20 for both, then I say, by all means, buy that automated-and-mass-produced uniform item made in China if that makes you happier than lovingly crafted, wabi sabi pottery. Seriously. Buy the fast fashion and save your money to later buy something created in an environment of joy, honor and respect.

The risk for this pop-up is so minimal, only $20 to set up a table, and most of the design for my marketing is in my sale banner, which was so fun to make. I also look forward in the future to writing  market literature to educate people about the value of an item that is made by hand if I decide to go beyond foot traffic and take my wares online. My Etsy shop, Handmade Hobbyist is bare, and that may be where I split the two creative outputs: from mud & fire for selling my ceramics and from fabric + thread for selling my quilts. Right now both hobbies are in the Etsy shop that's the same name of this blog and my table shop, clay & cloth, handmade + functional.

I've decided too that if I don't sell any of the "cloth" in my clay and cloth endeavor, I won't be disappointed. For example, I'm going to price the Frida wall quilt at $100. Ditto for A Forever Kind of Love or Til Death Do Us Part. There's a lot of competition on Etsy for quilts. I was rather overwhelmed when trying to figure out how to price my sewing. But I've made my throw or crib quilts so thoughtfully and to my tastes that I kind of hate to part with any one of them for less than $175. My definitions for success with this popup are not ambitious. If I come home with my more expensive pots and quilts, but have gotten rid of pottery I can't stand, nor bother to store, that's a win. And if I've made a couple hundred dollars, I'm golden.