field trip: linner@pogu

Weekend scenes. I only sold $50 worth of my pottery, but selling wasn’t really the point. Really I just wanted to get rid of pots that were sitting in my storage rental. If I could only get rid of boxes of fabric just as fast. I gotta start sewing too. Maybe a business pop-up called Clay + Cloth is in my future. That Saturday, I gave a lot of ceramics to fellow ceramicists, and then brought what was left in the box to the parks and rec for those potters to pick the pots they wanted and sell the rest at their pop-up as my donation to their studio. Looking at all those different pieces also helped me to figure out what I want my voice as an artist to be. I also took pics of my favorite pots by fellow makers. I admired Sam’s bananas...

and wind bells...    

and a fellow potter’s bear mug.

I even had time this weekend to trim pots that weren’t really leather enough for trimming, but I went with it and they’ll be more cute banchan bowls for glaze play and white vessels for my tableware line.

I let Patrick cook our stay at home steak night dinner this weekend though I cooked the sides to add some plant forwardness. Besides baking a potato, I made a Broadway pea salad, water chestnuts and bacon and white sauce not pictured...        

...and roasted golden beets.

More salad components for weekday salad lunches.

And instead of spending a Sunday in Santa Cruz because we’re doing a long weekend stay by the beach instead, Cybil and Lyra and I went to lunch-dinner aka “linner” at Pogu, the restaurant in the middle of Jagalchi. I ordered a soju melon cocktail and the 30 dollar abalone and rice.    

 

Cybil ordered the same cocktail and the beef and rice bowl while Lyra went for a Grand Marnier soju cocktail and the seafood and soft tofu soup and rice meal. I tasted Lyra's soup and said, I would do that and loved her citrus soju drink.

Later at the sushi and oyster counter, I ordered a half dozen of the steamed oysters (kept the shells for a crafting project I told them we'd do in Santa Cruz) while Cybil had a beer. Then we went to the bakery called Basquiat to eat slices of whipped cream layer cake slices baked with rice flour. And then the long walk through the mall to the Japanese dollar store where I bought macrame hangers for future plant pots I'll make and my favorite Hi-Chew candy and a cute notebook to jot in. And then to another favorite bakery of Cybil's so she could buy custard tarts and Lyra a boba tea while I was disappointed that I didn't get a mochi matcha donut for later though I did buy Patrick a trendy Dubai chocolate bar. T'was a full afternoon of enjoyable companions and fun eating adventure.

cook: panini picnic

I’m off this morning to sell my wares. And so I made sandwiches for me and Meral for, I hope, a productive Saturday.    

The upscale grocery store near me mailed me coupons for free 1 pound organic chicken breasts, and so while there I thought I would also pick up their Italian panini for lunch the next day. Alas the store was out, and so I decided to shop for its ingredients instead: Acme baguette, porchetta on sale, basil and soft mozzarella balls. I made the pickle butter first. I didn't have cornichons, but I did have small dill gherkins and a bucket of my husband's spicy pickles. I softened the butter by letting it sit out and come to room temperature, and I think I chopped about half a cup of 4 small gherkins and 1 spicy dill spear. I also sprinkled garlic powder, Old Bay seasoning, and shook Crystal hot sauce on to the butter and then added the finely chopped pickles and probably 2 tablespoons of fresh dill. Using a hand mixer and a medium whisk were so messy! I should have used a bigger bowl and let the butter soften more. Instead I mixed with my soft spatula. But pickle butter done and ready to construct panini.

Besides my pickle butter (which tasted awesome by the way) and porchetta, my mise en place included ciliegine, Kerry Gold cheddar, and leftover charcuterie of dry salami, salami with fennel, and capicola. 

I cut the baguette into 4 and sliced in half. I used the spatula to spread the pickle butter on both sides of the bread.

I decided that the sandwich didn't need cheese as it was already so rich from the butter and meat and kept it simple to just those two ingredients.

Italian panini next. Olive oil and balsamic glaze to soften the bread and then fresh basil leaves on top as the first layer.

The next layers were balls of mozzarella on one bread half, and one dry salami, one salami with fennel, and one capicola slices on the other half.

Lastly, I wrapped the sandwiches in plastic wrap. I hated the smell of the plastic wrap, which is what Patrick also uses to wrap our Christmas tree for storage. And so next time, I'm going to use parchment paper and aluminum foil instead since I can’t find cellophane either. I have yet to taste the sandwiches, but had tasted all the individual components. I know the paninis will be fantastic when I am starving later.   

cook: sashimi rice bowl

There's a new product at Costco: sashimi! Don't get me wrong. I love their usual prepared wasabi tuna poke AND spicy or sriracha mayo tuna poke, but I also love hamachi and salmon in my raw fish rice bowls.

For my lunch bowls, I added to the sashimi, grilled salmon belly, wakame or seaweed, edamame, pickled ginger, green salad dressed in Asian sesame dressing, avocado and cucumber sushi (for the rice factor), and as always, sliced scallions plus a sprinkling of furikake as well as drizzles of wasabi sauce and sriracha mayo. My favorite fast weekend lunch.

cook: chile rellenos

I snapped these pics off an IG reel because I like that the recipe calls for much less oil.

I watched the making in her video, and the cook did all the usual that I do when preparing Chile Rellenos. Roast or broil the peppers and steam in a covered bowl before peeling the skin and removing the seeds. Lightly dust with flour and then fill the peeled and de-seeded peppers with cheese of your choice--you bet I'm going to buy Mexican cheese when I pick up the Pasilla peppers. Then separate the whites from the yolk and whip the whites before gently folding the yolks into the stiff peaks. But she added just a tablespoon of oil into the pan and put the batter down first before laying the prepared pepper into the egg cloud. Next she maneuvered spatulas to cover the pepper like you would a quesadilla before lightly browning.

 

Oh wow. This preparation and method looks so much easier and less oily.

Look Ma! No rack needed, nor are the fried egg-battered peppers pooling in grease on the baking pan.

I could do this. I make my own chile/enchilada sauce to enrobe the egg-covered peppers before baking in the oven for a few minutes to further heat and melt cheese. But first I had to go to the grocery store after work to pick up an American panini for lunch the next day, and there was Pliny the Elder beer there. My friend, Bob raves about this beer, and so I picked up a bottle to drink with cooking and dining.  I broiled the peppers and put them in a bowl and covered with a plate to steam and then peeled and removed the seeds. I also sliced planks of Oaxaca cheese to tuck inside the peppers. 

I dusted the cheese-filled peppers with flour, but in retrospect, I don't think that was necessary and could make this recipe gluten-free if necessary. What takes the longest is the separating of yolks from whites, whipping the egg whites and then folding in the yolks. And then the excitement began. I put a tablespoon of oil on to the cast iron and poured the batter onto the hot oil and pan and let it set in the heat. I then laid the pepper on one side as if filling an omelet.

And then folded the whole caboodle as if it were an omelet. Next pepper....

And cooking each individual Chile Relleno instead of pan frying all four in the pan took longer. However, the outcome is superior. I didn't bother with draining and instead laid and squished all 4 peppers into my homemade chile sauce.

While cooking the peppers, I was also refrying frijoles with onion and garlic in bacon grease and then adding chopped cilantro. When the peppers were in the oven and the beans were simmering in the pot, I cooked buttered corn but added chopped jalapeno, chopped cilantro, and lime juice. Yep, definitely can make a gluten-free Mexican meal.

Patrick declared the Chile "Rellanos" (his pronunciation and why do non-Spanish speaking Americans do that?) restaurant quality, better than the raw Chile Rellenos he was once served at a fancy Mexican restaurant. That was a crazy dining experience at Flores San Mateo, and that is why I do so much home cooking.

clay: decal fire dish

Clay Body: Bmix

Glazes: Blushing Pink overglaze

Method/Firing: Hand built slab/Cone 5-6;decal firing of commercial gold luster waterslide-release decal

The pictures here unfortunately don't do justice as I just discovered that the outline of the pink flowers and green leaves are gold luster.

Love it, but it'll be for sale at a pop-up sale on May 3rd.

clay: strange-colored fruit

Clay Body: Speckled Buff

Glazes: Blushing Pink (dipped), Mayco Stroke 'n Coat Fruit of the Vine

Methods/Firing: Hand built, Cone 5-6

The end effects don't replicate the colors of a pomegranate. 

I think I wanted to replicate in some way the Cone 10 of Flambe or Coleman Red, but I'm not unhappy with this lower fire temperature of Blushing Pink and Fruit of the Vine. I wish I'd used some kind of red underglaze or overglaze--which sometimes burn out. More glaze play needed.

clay: air plant pots

Clay Body: Reclaimed (BMix, Speckled Buff, B3, Red Velvet) 

Glazes: Majolica

Methods/Firing: wheel thrown, Cone 5-6

 

These pots are only 2.5" to 4.5" high; and throwing tiny vases are perfect for playing with shapes.

clay: sea mug in celadons

Clay Body: Laguna Frost porcelain

Glazes: Amaco Deep Sea Celadon, Amaco Seaweed Celadon, Amaco Sky Celadon, Amaco Aqua Celadon

Methods/Firing: Hand built, texture roller, Cone 5-6

cook: chicken & sausage gumbo

I had a chicken and sausage gumbo at Empty Bowls, and so I knew for the Lenten season, I wanted to make a seafood gumbo and even bought the Holy Trinity ingredients. However, I also had two thigh and drumstick, bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces and decided instead to buy a package of Andouille sausage and more chicken wings while at the grocery outlet. The gumbo all starts with the roux: equal parts butter and flour, which at the beginning starts as a thick paste, but gets a bit liquid as it slowly heats. While my roux slowly got dark and which I kept whisking to prevent it from scorching, I diced onions, a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, celery and carrots.

 

An hour later after vegetables were chopped, the roux was chocolate colored, and so I started browning the chicken and dagnabit, I scorched a little bit of the chicken. Since I had already turned off the heat of my roux in order to not let that scorch and ruin the taste of the gumbo, I removed the chicken and scraped off bits that were burnt as well as washed my Dutch oven. I then resumed frying and there was now a lovely brown fond on the bottom of my pot.

 

In went the vegetables to which I added bay leaves, fresh thyme, sprinklings of Old Bay seasoning and salt and then water to prevent scorching again of the Dutch oven and to de-glaze it. Once the vegetables were softened, I added more water, chicken broth, the roux and the chicken (not pictured) and more sprinklings of salt since I didn't season the chicken, and oh shoot! I forgot to brown the Andouille sausage and so squirted olive oil into the bottom of that sauce pan, which I had cleaned after scraping all the roux into the bigger pot. I sliced the Andouille sausage and browned over medium high heat.

 

I likewise de-glazed the bottom of my sauce pot with water after frying the sausage, which also had a nice fond and which I de-glazed and then dumped the water into the Dutch oven. People who ask me my recipes say I am always not telling them a key ingredient because their dish didn't turn out the same. And yes, I forget sometimes to mention a key ingredient. In this instance or blog, I failed to mention the 8 cloves of garlic I almost forgot, but mashed in my mortar with a pestle and added much later to the vegetables. Since I didn't have the gumbo file powder, I used Old Bay. And then I let the pot simmer covered for 35 minutes and then left the lid aside to simmer another 10 minutes.

  

For the last 5 minutes, I added sliced okra to further thicken it and just because I loved its bright green color.

I did not add cayenne powder to the gumbo because of Patrick and a neighbor like him who can't handle too much spice. However, the Crystal hot sauce remedied that.

In the same pot in which I had cooked the roux and the sausage, I lastly cooked rice. Atop the rice, the gumbo soup was perfect. The weather is not too cold, nor too warm, ideal for Louisiana cooking. Gumbo is a dish I would make again for the Hawaiian potlucks as I can toss it in a crock pot to keep hot and there is always steamed rice to go with all the mains at their parties. But I think for the next Lenten Friday, I want to cook shrimp étouffée, which will likely elicit a complaint of stew again?