The best thing about all the mile swims and canoe paddles are the calories burned and thus the calories I can consume. Two Saturdays ago was cloudy. I thought I was late when I saw paddlers in the canoe, but that was the 8:30 open practice coming in.
...it was a belly buster of a bowl of Chinese sausage, tofu skins, chicken and cilantro wontons, bok choi, green onion, cilantro, garlic, seasoning sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Prior to my next swimming and paddling session, I fueled up with an omelet of chorizo, cheddar cheese, green onion, cilantro, sour cream and lots of chipotle hot sauce. Rather than flip it, I broiled it to melt the cheese while also toasting an English muffin I lavished with lots of butter. Glorious.
And yesterday's practice included more stroke technique as well as some tempo work on a gorgeous sunshiny Saturday.
And the club had the most ever number of canoes in the water for practice: 6, and so 6 coaches plus 30 novice paddlers.
And during these past rainy weekends, I’ve been window shopping home decor. I loved this turntable I saw at World Market. 
Nope, I ain't collecting vinyl again. And I admired these linen-covered storage boxes and this wicker basket at Target.
I ended up leaving the store only with Swiffer. I'm getting better at not buying yet more stuff.
And no ceramics though I did stop by the studio to pick up the silicone flower molds and talked to Meral a bit. I decided to get a pedicure because I'm starting to wear flip flops to practice, and it was a good call for me as I got to sit in the massage chair as the nail tech was trimming my nails, pushing cuticles, sanding and buffing my calluses, and then massaging my calves and ankles and feet. It was so relaxing, and the bonus was sitting in ANOTHER massage chair as I waited for nail polish to dry.
On St. Patrick's Day, I got up at 9:00 to pop my marinated lamb roast in a 275 F degree oven. I had used a Serious Eats recipe from Kenji Lopez Alt, but a similar slow-roasted boneless leg of lamb with mint gremolata from D'Artagnan looks even better because of the addition of thyme and orange zest and the green sauce. However, I can recall from memory the ingredients in the marinade/rub: garlic, shallots, anchovies, rosemary, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, olive oil.
After resting, I put the lamb roast back into a 500 degree oven for 10 minutes. Not too burnt as I'd feared.
I drained the pan drippings, but couldn't find my thermometer. Cecilia lent me her thermometer and brought me an iced Irish coffee. Delicious!
And this week I look forward to carving a kurinuki cup. I compressed and wedged a slab and then hollowed it out into a thick cup.
I also admired Zan's snake pin and hope to make the same. And I've been looking online at other examples of kurinuki. These carved out boxes are GORGEOUS. I love their assymmetry...
Here's the roast after 2 hours, which could have done with 20 minutes less. I scraped off that crust I had rubbed on because I didn't want it to burn. And I let it rest for 30 minutes.
I flipped over the roast. It's beautiful to my eyes.
I abandoned making a pan gravy and turned instead to the side dish I wanted to accompany the roast lamp. I made a pea puree from Recipe Tin Eats. I minced shallots, garlic and julienned fresh mint. I also had at the ready chicken broth and frozen petite peas. The recipe called for a lot of butter! Kerrygold to the rescue with what was left, almost 8 tablespoons to sauté the shallots and garlic.
I used probably too much broth and felt like I overcooked the peas, taking away from a more vibrant emerald color. However, the puree was delicious, and though the dish looks like baby food, the neighbors ate it up. I had lots of lamb leftover for dinner, and so I made a gravy with the pan drippings, mashed a potato and sautéed Swiss chard from the garden with minced shallots and garlic. Dinner success.
...and I particularly like the textures on this box.
I've a bunch of white quart crystals that I think would make lovely knobs for these imperfect boxes. But let me not get ahead of myself. I want to make a cup first.
And I just bought a few glazes which are not especially interesting on a flat surface, but just may stand out on a bunch of different planes. And then I will make boxes which will not necessarily look like a cool chunk of rock though those are pretty too.
Okay last but not least.
Fucking beautiful right? The epitome of wabi sabi.
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