cook: lamb wonton and tofu soup

It’s been rainy and cold, very very chilly for the Bay Area that all I’ve wanted to do is sip hot tea and soup. And in the spirit of that endeavor of cooking even more soup, I made lamb wontons in the afternoon. I chopped green onion, water chestnuts, and straw mushrooms. I also ground garlic in my mortar and pestle and added it along with soy sauce, Maggi, fish sauce, and ground lamb into the mixing bowl. Next the filling and crimping of the won ton wrappers with my lamb mixture.

I had stopped by the Japanese supermarket and bought two Soon Tofu soup kits--hot for Cecilia and extra hot for me. Weekday soup coming up.

 

And for Sunday supper, it was a grilled Jack cheese on sourdough and tomato basil bisque.

I swam A LOT last week. My workouts are happening 4 days a week instead of just the weekends, and I'm hoping to add walking and then running into my routines. My life is pretty much work, art, exercise and sleep, and I'm digging it.

cook + clay: saturday in the park

I had half a quart of the sweet potato lentil citrus soup leftover from slow sewing night plus a small sweet potato and half an onion and 3/4 full container of vegetable broth. I didn’t have enough bandwidth for another recipe and decided to just extend the soup. And so I sautéed the onion and the sweet potato and added the vegetable broth and the leftover lentil soup, but also sprinkles of garam masala, a can of coconut milk, a can of heritage yellow eye beans, and kale from the garden.

 

The soup took on a whole another flavor profile, being less citrusy. I gave a couple pints to Meral and Cecilia, and I ate it for dinner along with leftover arugula salad with Point Reyes blue cheese and walnuts, which I liked even better than the beets and goat cheese version.

 

I also ended up drinking a whole bottle of rose wine and volunteering not only to make more decoration posters for a St. Patrick's Day party, but also to cook an Irish stew. And so I've got to remember to buy lamb shoulder and leeks....and do I add potatoes and cabbage to the stew or perhaps make a Colcannon instead?

Last weekend, I finally made an herbed goat cheese and ate a little bit of it on a crostini. 

But Cecilia said it was fantastic as a pizza on flat bread, and so I bought focaccia after clay studio yesterday. And so that's my plan for Sunday supper with this goat cheese spread.

And clay class went differently. I finished this sculpture bookend started last weekend.

And I can see already that I'll need to sand it next Saturday.

And I'm so glad I bought these cast iron pots at Costco because they coordinate beautifully with the hot pad I bought at a Palm Springs museum last spring.

I'm feeling the Midcentury vibes and wanna channel that aesthetic into this week's art assignment.

art 300: composition

This second main assignment for my 2-dimensional design course had very SPECIFIC instructions for creating 5” x 7” Bristol paper panels. One geometric shape touching all four sides of the paper, one biomorphic shape touching all four sides of the paper, one biomorphic-geometric shape touching all sides of the paper and then variations of two shapes on the panel touching each other, not touching each other, overlapping each other, touching ALL or SOME edges of the panel, and so on. And we had to submit thumbnail sketches, and I was at an utter loss. And so I went back and read directions and studied examples. Oh! Funny but after I drew and painted my panels, I finally got feedback, like my thumbnails were all wrong and that I needed to read directions.

 

And got feedback that these halfway done shapes were looking good and don't forget to paint two coats of white on some of them...

I was most flummoxed on how I was going to compose the four panels of my geometric shapes. And I played around and liked some of the geometric "surprise" like when a white edge lined up with another white edge to form other geometric shapes. OH! That's why the instructor was so specific with shapes touching edges, and I felt like I was finally understanding ground--fore and back--while moving around panels and playing with composition.

It was so fun to paint and think about final shapes while working on this second main assignment that I went ahead and glued down 4 panels to a large sheet of Bristol paper which I then trimmed down. I've still got to touch up with more paint these panels and then photograph them again to adjust orientation and crop and see what lighting photographs best, but they're pretty much done. I was gonna try to use all 4 different geometric shapes, but chose the negatives of one of them because I loved how the white and black lined up with other panels.

On my biomorphic shapes, I ended up painting another 2 panels of the overlapping shapes, and so I've 2 extra panels to play with on the next main assignment. But I kept imagining flotsam and jetsam from a floating kelp forest on a Martian planet.

And I ended up painting the orange biomorphic and geometric variations with purple, which I later realized were the same colors as the Fed Ex logo...but I like it and think it will go well with the red and white and black in another composition which I know will be next but in a radial manner.

Just like with building a house, you never end up with perfect squares, and you jimmy construction, I had to do the same with these compositions and tried to hide lines where panels joined up with more gouache. I am hoping the photo app will hide the joint lines more.

cook: lentil soup

I had originally planned to just buy a Stouffer's lasagna for slow sewing night, but it's Ash Wednesday. Quite a few of the women are Catholic, and I know that one quilter is vegetarian. And so I thought, vegan lentil soup! I looked at one recipe, and then the New York Times had in its food newsletter a lentil soup that included sweet potato and citrus. Alas that recipe was behind a pay wall, and so I found this one with sweet potato though it includes fresh rosemary and thyme and no citrus, nor interesting spices like curry powder, turmeric, cumin, and cayenne. And so I devised my own concoction with aforementioned spices and sweet potato and coconut milk and orange citrus and kale from the garden and then will garnish with fresh cilantro and lime wedges. Last night I chopped a small yellow onion and grated ginger and threw in spices to sauté later with garlic. Luckily I shopped over the weekend and bought vegetable stock.

And I had a tangelo and tangerine still in the fruit bowl.

 

I rushed home after school to sauté and simmer. I needed to leave for the gym...

 

...and resumed cooking soup after my swim. And finally my soup looked ready to puree half in the blender.

And dinner was leftover crispy chicken wings and broccoli and celery with bleu cheese dressing.

Ugh, I am not feeling well and a little nauseous probably because of the glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, which is too bad, because I was feeling high from endorphins and really powerful after my pool workout. 

cook: how to dinner when uninspired

I’ve been so obsessed with clay and 2-dimensional design that I haven’t been too interested in cooking dinner. On a Monday, I wandered the aisles of Trader Joe’s, looking for inspo, and picked up the pesto marinated chicken breasts…

 …and the frozen Fettuccine Alfredo…   

and told the husband to harvest lettuce from the garden…             

I also bought dill, chives and basil to finally make this herbed and sundried tomato goat cheese spread for crostini…                

and pruned my Valentine’s Day bouquets…                         

These flowers have lasted a while, but maybe we won't have to buy bouquets for much longer...

because temperatures this weekend were such that I could be outside in just a t-shirt and no puffy jacket. And with spring also comes a Cone 10 firing.

Made these 2 Black Mountain plates yesterday, and 4 were already in the kiln for bisque firing. I already know I'm going to glaze them with Marshmallow before they get loaded into the gas kiln.

clay and cook: a butter dish and korean cuisine (an attempt)

After Galentine's Day brunch, I did Saturday ceramics and brought home my finished butter box.

It's too large. I need to make it again, about an inch shorter in length. But for now it will do.

 

I bought from Costco what I thought was Korean barbecue meat. Nope. It was some ridiculously large plastic container with pouches of meat in encased in their sous vide pouches of which you had to dump out the broth and then sear the steak and then sauce it with additional pouch contents. I saw later on the box a white guy and thought, oh no fool, you don't know the flavors of good Korean barbecue. But then again neither do I. I tried to re-create some of the banchan I've had at Korean restaurants with the bean sprouts and cucumbers.

At least the kimchi was amazingly delicious and authentic. And my Valentine present arrived in the post yesterday. 

Dessert was the rest of my Chardonnay and an exquisite milk chocolate truffle. 

celebrate: galentine's day

It's been a good week. I made it to the swimming pool on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday last week though I cancelled the gym Saturday morning because of a Valentine brunch with all the neighborhood women. Yesterday at work, I made a couple posters and cut out a bunch of hearts with handwritten compliments to decorate the club house.   

I put butcher paper on all the tables and then let Jo go to town decorating with more ribbon, doilies, and candles. I wish she was into fresh flowers and not so much into dollar store décor, but whatever. I'm trying not to be bossy and less of a micromanager.

And after swimming, I cooked TWO breakfast casseroles: kale, bacon, egg and cheddar for Helen to bring and chorizo, pinto, egg and jack enchiladas for my contribution. I didn't eat my dinner--an avocado and sprouts sandwich--until 8:30. And yesterday morning, I brought an extension cord to turn on the twinkling lights and to pop the casserole in the oven in the kitchen and crank the heater and the fireplace to warm the club house. Tables were all decorated, but table placement made no sense to me. Nancy wanted folding tables brought which would have made sense if she hadn't used the regular tables to hold more potluck dishes and desserts that she placed at the end of the long tables like below.            

Next year, I'm arranging tables like I did at Thanksgiving...lined up for people to gather and eat family style. I moved one table down from the carpeted area next to the bench seating and could see the annoyance on Nancy's face. And yeah she should have brought the folding camp tables a day beforehand to set up for plates, cups, utensils, napkins, and desserts. 

 

But Galentine's Day is no longer my event to host, and Cecilia did awesome in inviting the community and at telling guests, anything and everything when bringing a dish to the potluck.

 

I just wanted to eat this bread pudding aka French toast casserole and baby potatoes and the bacon that Katie brought all morning.

 

And I loved that the British neighbors brought the meat rolls and the heart-shaped scones with clotted cream and jam.

 

And I did get a little bit of everything, including what I cooked like the strata and enchiladas.

 

The courtroom judge in the group asked me what chili peppers I used, and I replied none, just the enchilada sauce but perhaps the seasoning in the chorizo provided the flavor. Phyllis the gluten free neighbor appreciated the corn tortillas I used instead of flour.

I didn't partake of too many desserts.

  

The watermelon bowl was giving me ideas for the ceramics studio later.

 

I like that Cafe Olivia became an additional gathering spot and from where Cecilia could greet incoming guests. 

All in all, a successful "meeting" as deemed by Cecilia, who liked that I made Olivia the hostess on paper, literally.