communal feeding: friendsgiving

My porchetta style roast was delicious y’all. I panicked and cranked the heat toward the end, and then had to go to the clubhouse to decorate and rearrange furniture. While I was gone, my two hour timer went off. Patrick looked at the roast, cranked the oven even more and burned the fat cap. He felt bad about that and scraped off as much blackened crust as he could. We worried that an internal temp of 180 would result in overcooked meat or a dry roast, but I also worried about undercooked pork. We did let it go to 180 degrees Fahrenheit in a less thick part of the roast and the fat that didn't burn remained.

Then I sliced the rested pork and kept tasting--it was that delicious. Even Patrick kept breaking off bits of crispy fat and saying yum. I said wow you’ve never expressed that kind of pleasure over fat (he usually complains to me about it and gristle and leaves it on his plate). He said when it’s crackling like this, it’s delicious, too rich, but delicious. I then remembered that he does like crispy bacon. The pork was the perfect pink and tender and juicy. 

There were things I didn’t get done for the party. I never did hang my paper mum wreath, nor nailed up the icicle lights—which I merely draped on the window sill with the wooden signage I bought at Hobby Lobby. I bought pine wood signs with my favorite-style of lettering surrounded in pumpkin hues and motifs with homey sayings like “gather” or “happy harvest” and “welcome” that looked lovely. Because they were thanksgiving-themed, they were 75% off the day before the holiday which of course, I couldn't help myself from buying. I was in too much of a rush to take pictures of everything including my herb encrusted roast. Oops. Oh well. The food was DELICIOUS y’all. And I managed to capture a few images before we partook of dinner. Below Jillian is hamming it up in front of Chia and Jo and Nancy while Kathy played with the dogs and Helen and I took pictures.                       

Below are Nancy's dressing, her mashed potatoes and Cecilia's turkey gravy.

Kathy's spinach salad with fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and dried cranberries dressed with a champagne viniagrette (Girard makes an awesome dressing). Chia's homemade green bean casserole with thick sliced mushrooms and a brothy homemade sauce and lots and lots of crispy shallots.

Helen's canned cranberry jelly and store-bought soft dinner rolls. She also bought the flowers for the table, which I had put into small bud vases to decorate the long table along with many votive candles.

Cecilia's roast turkey and my roast pork. She said she only sliced 3 pounds off her 13-pound bird. And I sliced the same off my 6-pound roast. Some of the leftover pork went home with the guests, and I made bahn mi sandwiches and tacos as well as dog food for Sadie and Wallace.

I took some turkey to make a Thai red curry. I'm back to Thistle and am inspired to incorporate organic spinach and baby kale and grains like brown rice and quinoa into our meals. I was talking to Chia who loved the pork, especially the crunchy fatty bits. We talked about the gelatinous textures that Asians like that White people don't. She wondered if pork belly could be roasted, and so I had to mention J. Kenji Lopez Alt's All-Belly Porchetta. And I mentioned that I just went simpler with Epicurious's Porchetta-Style Roast Pork(which they got from the New York Times recipe which was buried behind their pay wall).

And after dinner even though I was tired and longing to send guests home so I could clean up the clubhouse, I wanna do it all again for a Xmas cocktail party. Next month, I won’t line up the tables, but will keep them separate for smaller congregations and conversations. All the food will be brought again by each guest and will be appetizers which is my favorite kind of dinner. I will clean up the bookcases in the clubhouse and get rid of some of the junk--trashy books, board games missing pieces, dusty old candles. I did leave my glasses of votives for the next party as well as the gold rimmed dinner plates and my Picardie glass tumblers. And next time, I will make a mulled wine which guests can go to the kitchen stove to refill their cups—the drink station can be there too. And food buffet style on the long light tables which I can again cover with green art paper. I’ll measure tables, so I can cut the paper to size. The ladies want to install a Xmas tree, and I ain't messing with that design decision. I'll nail up the icicle lights next time and start constructing giant snowball wreaths to hang with the twinkling lights. 

clay cloth cook & craft: a non buy black fri

My popup banner is done because I appliquéd the red heart before making a Waldorf-type salad of celery, Granny Smith apple, walnuts and blue cheese in a apple cider, Dijon mustard vinaigrette before thanksgiving with Patrick’s family EXCEPT for the grommets, which Joann’s was out of the kind I bought before and I bought some without the tool to hammer them in. DOH! I so didn’t want to go to any stores on Black Friday. I thought I would McGyver it.            

But I didn’t. My first priority yesterday morning was to pick up makrut limes and leaves from someone's door of my Buy Nothing Facebook group. Helen had given me Meyer lemons from her sister's tree, I had bought a bag of oranges, and now my citrus bowl runneth over which makes me super happy. 

 

And the morning became sunny and warm.

Maybe the temperatures here in Northern California aren’t as balmy as in the South, but I’m even more tanned from all my swimming than even my week in Kauai. And I ended up going to Joann's after the pool to buy some large grommets to finish my banner. I'm that much more ready for the popup sale of my ceramics. YAY. Once home from the gym, I prepped my porchetta. I snipped enough for a quarter cup rosemary from Cecilia's pot and two tablespoons sage from my garden. I threw the herbs, coarsely chopped into my mortar and pestle with six cloves of garlic, a teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, and ground. I almost forgot the zest of one lemon. I added olive oil to the grind to make a paste.       

I then used my boning knife which is super sharp to score the fat cap on the pork. And then herb paste. 

The recipe called for rubbing the paste all over the pork . Voila.

The porchetta roast is in my mother's pyrex bowl, covered in plastic to soak up the flavors overnight. However, when I and the husband were watching America's Test Kitchen's how-to of the same pork roast, the cooks added thyme to the herb mixture and THEN rubbed a tablespoon of salt AND baking soda over the roast. They also left it uncovered in the refrigerator for the pork to dry out and get even crispier for the roasting. And so this morning, I'll remove the plastic before I go to the gym and ponder whether to do high oven and then low for my roasting or go low and slow and then a blast of high for a crispy, crackly fat crust. My next priority yesterday after prepping the pork was porcelain.                  

There were some marks on the plates I needed to smooth out with a damp sponge and refine the edges with the green scrunge. I'm worried that I left them too long in their palm plate molds, which were pretty soggy from all the moisture in the clay. I hope they fire fairly flat in the kiln. And so the slabs are now flipped atop the palm plate forms under plastic. Zan's suggestion from looking at the texture of lines in the palm leaf plates was to use the tree texture on the underside. I used to love that texture and had made plates and vases with it years ago on porcelain, and of course that was a brilliant idea. I love a visually arresting underside.

I wished I'd align the plate in the form with the vertical lines of the palm leaf with the vertical lines of the tree texture. Oh well. Next set of slab plates. I also needed to make the hummus of the presoaked chick peas that I was too busy to boil during the work week. And wash the labels off the china plates I bought for Friendsgiving.                         

And then my wreath. Instead of using my glue gun like I had while constructing the flowers, I used the very sticky foam squares to adhere them to the round form along with the leaves and the ribbon. Paper Source does have some lovely creative kits.

This wreath had lain in my craft box now for a few years. I'm happy it's finally crafted and ready to adorn for the Friendsgiving decor tonight.

clay: mugs and plates + ornaments

While hordes shopped for their thanksgiving tables, I spent yesterday in the clay classroom. Zan made plates and spoons from Obsidian, Kacie glazed her Smooth Red mugs and bowls, and I rolled out white clay slabs after cleaning dark clay off the roller and my tools. Porcelain for plates and Bmix for holiday ornaments.

Not pictured is a dreidel with the text, oy to the world. I wish Zan had a menorah and a Star of David cookie cutters, and so maybe I’ll look for those shapes somewhere. I sneaked in a couple of speckled buff mugs from last Saturday’s make in the Central Park studio into Zan’s classroom kiln for a firing she programmed to start Saturday.               

And today I removed two my porcelain slabs from their palm leaf plate molds. I hope the other two don't get too leather hard and deformed.

craft: friendsgiving tablescape and first world problems

My neighbor, Cecilia kindly coordinated a Friendsgiving dinner for the other older neighbors who don’t have family anymore to join for the holiday. And so some of us will join our family on the actual turkey day, but host a Friendsgiving a couple days later. It’s our mitzvah, and I think I’ll suggest in our group text to bring a canned food that I'll haul to Second Harvest. Our dinner is to be a potluck, and so that sets the tone for something casual. YET Cecilia and I will be roasting meats--a turkey and pig (porchetta-style)--which will make for a pretty sumptuous feast and deserving I think of a more formal setting. I don’t want to eat off paper plates and cut meat with plastic knives. And so I went to the dollar store, and they were completely out of round stoneware plates and had only a few square plates. I pondered if I could get away with using just salad plates.

But then I spied these gold rimmed dinner plates at the front of the store...

and bought 12. And now I've learned that a neighbor has enough tableware, flatware and tablecloths for a proper Thanksgiving. Should I perhaps keep and store them in the club house for future gatherings? I had planned to lay down paper to cover the tables and decorate the table with small vases of flowers and tea lights. That's still the plan. But Michael’s called my home to say they canceled my order pickup of Kraft paper, tissue honeycombs of a turkey, pumpkins and acorns, and votive candles. Wtf?! Okay now I’m feeling the supply chain issues happening in industrialized countries and am worried I won’t have clay for ceramics. We’ve only Hawaiian Red and Navajo Wheel left in the parks and rec studio, and you betcha I’m gonna buy bags of each. Still these are first world problems. I watched Rick Steves recently host a program on the subsistence poverty in Guatemala and Ethiopia, and really our thanksgiving ought to include a philanthropy encompassing hunger and hope. And so I’m resolving to donate where $ is impactful and aligns with inclusiveness and justice because I have much to be thankful for example like….           

public libraries, which stoke all my reading habits….                                

friends who diversify our relationship portfolios and with whom we can connect when we can’t with family and who also share in our interests and passions outside of a romantic partnership. A friend asked if I had a gravy boat and gravy spoon for our Friendsgiving, and no I don't. BUT I  do have these awesome ceramic pitchers made by my friend, Patsy. I'm also thankful for….    

a husband who just by being in my life shows me his love. I truly appreciate him, and giving him a birthday present of learning how to make molded chocolates (those are praline and hazelnut ganache and caramel enrobed in dark chocolate)is just a small token of that thanks. And it makes me happy to see him find joy in his baking and gardening. I also deeply love….                        

this little girl. She especially gladdens my heart. How can I not start my day joyfully at seeing her little tail upright(it’s how we know she’s happy), confidently walking like she owns the world, or curled up contentedly next to the heater. All is right in the world when she is living her best life. And this pandemic has certainly put into perspective that experiences and people are more important than things.               

cook: sheet pan dinner, sorta

Sheet pan dinners or tray bakes if you're in the U.K. seemed to be all the rage some months ago, and I’m always late to a trend. All I knew yesterday was that I wanted roasted broccolini for dinner, and I didn’t care what kind of protein to cook with it. I decided on salmon which would thaw quickly on the kitchen counter and on which to melt a flavored butter, left behind from a previous grilled protein. Also leftover in my fridge were fettuccini Alfredo and zucchini fritters.  

I didn't cook the salmon on the same pan as the broccolini because I wanted the broccolini super crisp, not quite burned and the salmon very tender, medium rare. And so I coated the broccolini and the salmon with olive oil and sea salt, vegetables in a sheet pan and fish in a cast iron. And leftover sides remained in their storage glass containers.

I wasn't inspired to even use fresh herbs and just sprinkled Old Bay and black pepper on all the ingredients on sheet pan and cast iron.

Maybe next time, I'll roast a seafood boil of potatoes, corn, sausage and shellfish in a sheet pan. The lovely thing about such non-fussy cooking is just turning on your appliance and letting it do its thing. Crank your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and put EVERYTHING in (I didn't want to microwave the leftovers separately) and let it all roast, pulling out dishes as need be in order to not overcook or burn.

My favorite of the whole dinner was the broccolini. Unlike Ina, I used a much hotter oven and let the vegetable get a little char on it.

cloth: slow sewing night

I did a little clay club this afternoon because my greenware plate cracked (shit!), and so I broke the pieces up and put them into a container to reclaim. And rolled out another slab and ribbed it into my form. When I left the clay studio for home to get out of a dirty t-shirt, I still I had time to get some paint onto my banner before my meetup with the quilty ladies.    

The transfer markers for tracing paper suck! Doh!!! What works is putting the canvas over my light box with the text I want to trace in between. Tomorrow I hope to refine the outline even though the fabric paint is so gloppy and unwieldy to apply to the canvas. If you look more closely at the painted text, the edges look craggy. From far away, the text is readable. But still. The perfectionist in me wants to make it look neater. I'll touch it up more later tonight and maybe even trace my email or Instagram handle on it too. The fabric paint takes 4 hours to dry, and you can't wash the fabric you paint on for 72 hours. Sheesh. But right afterwards at Lynette’s home, I finally finished mending Martee’s favorite shorts.

Finally done after months languishing as a WIP in my embroidery tote. I texted Martee the pics, and she asked how much. I told her two Moscow Mules.      

Nancy had brought her mending book, and in it is a project for a sashiko scarf that's indigo and pink. It's so pretty. And so I wanna stitch it. Must remember to get this book at the public library.

Also I just want to stitch something other than my straight lines of the running stitch and crosses. There's some works in progress still hanging in my closet. A table runner. A couple quilts. The goal is to finish at least the table runner and sell it at my pop-up.