host + clay + cook: pi day potluck

Evite has some of the best designs for invitations, and this "card" inspired the party I coordinated last Saturday because the date coincided with 3.14.

 

 

With the ribbon awards done, I made party decor.

 

Instead of gingham red tablecloths, I covered the tables with kraft paper on which the guest could set their pie and write down what kind of pie it was. And look at what one can do with toilet paper cardboard tubes.

That crafting turned into more banners of pi spelled out to 10 digits and an "In Pi Crust We Trust" as well as these signs.

 

I had Jamaica juice I had made for last Sunday's baby shower to serve as a beverage...

....and cooked a cottage pie the evening before.

 

I skimmed off some of the gravy for guests to pour over their serving of cottage pie. And my friend, Cybil showed me a pic of her Hatch chile cheddar apple pie.

 

Turnout for my pie potluck was about 20 people, and there were too many Costco pizzas.

 

But I loved the cuteness of my decorations, and that apple chile cheddar pie as well as a banana cream pie from my favorite diner, Heidi's was delicious. I am grateful to everyone who came with pie and partook, but I am pooped on party hosting for 2026.

clay: pi day blue prize ribbon refrigerator magnet awards and other w-i-p

Clay Body: Laguna Frost Porcelain

Glaze: Amaco black velvet underglaze, Amaco downpour + sky celadons

Method/Firing: Slab built/Cone 5

I've still Frost porcelain:). And this time, I had made Pi Day blue prize ribbon refrigerator magnet awards for a potluck contest party. The slabs took ever so long to cut out and impress, and I made the ribbons in two clay studio sessions. I started these in February and a few weeks later managed to get both sets of ribbons glazed and fired and then epoxied magnets to the back of them.

 

And as much as I loved them in their leather hardness, I don't mind these ceramics in their finished glaze. 

But wait there's more. I spent an afternoon hour at the high school pinch potting which turned into these spoons.

And now I wanna just make more spoons...

clay: urn vase in progress

I hand built a cone 10 urn vase with coils and then slabs for the pedestal at the high school. 

The clay was so wet that I had to store it upside down for the pot to dry out a bit more because it was sinking into its pedestal.

 

And oh my, I poked a hole while digging out a groove. But I've refined it enough methinks and the pot is finally on the greenware shelf for biscuit firing. 

At the community studio, I've either got to grind down drippy glazed mug I made or toss it and then re-make, gather my biscuit clay stamps and finish glazing a milagro glazed heart. But my refrigerator magnet blue prize ribbon awards for Pi Day potluck and contest are done. That though is another post.

dine: la ronda or peruvian cuisine

My meals at home have been routine and boring. Last weekend's rotation was a bagel with cream cheese, lots of dill, capers, red onion, lox and lemon for breakfast and grazing on leftovers for lunch and dinner while cooking a Bolognese sauce for hours.

 

But a couple Fridays ago, one of my husband's colleagues wanted to take us out to dinner and since, I've no idea how to cook Peruvian, I chose that cuisine as the restaurant of choice. I had to have potatoes, and I had to have something with Huancaina sauce. And if you're going to eat Peruvian, then a ceviche too. 

Betsy did not partake of the grilled beer heart, and my husband declared it only okay. I ate and shared what was leftover with my friend, Cecilia who says this is her favorite. 

And of course, I said we should get something shrimpy and garlicky that both Patrick and Betsy would enjoy.

There were leftovers, which I gave to Cecilia, and now remembering this meal, I want Peruvian dishes again.

cook: lunar new year hotpot

Technically the year of the horse celebration ends March 3rd (tomorrow), and so my friend, Cybil and I got together to clink glasses for a happy lunar new year at a hotpot restaurant I’d never visited before. Cybil chose the herbal stock while I chose the traditional spicy. For proteins, I knew I wanted lamb, and Cybil said we should include pork too.

I'm all about the vegetables, and I liked this variety of napa cabbage, chrysanthemum greens, corn, red bell pepper, and kabocha squash. But we accidentally ordered extra tong ho and that was totally okay.

 

Cybil also said we should add a seafood, and since I like mussels, we ordered the shellfish. For a starch, we chose regular noodles.

 

What I liked about these noodles is that they remained al dente even  while simmering in the broth longer than a my usual 3 minutes.

Cybil also ordered her favorite wood ear mushrooms, which I also love. 

 

We had so much food leftover after stuffing ourselves.

There was so much pork and lamb leftover to bring him, which Cybil made me take since she said Jesse would not eat it. I made sure to eat all the mussels, not wanting to bring it home to perish in the fridge before consuming. The restaurant even packed our leftover broth! Golly was it a great leftover meal a couple nights later.

cook: honey chipotle chicken wings

Saw a recipe in the New York Times and decided to make it because I had chicken wings in the freezer, sour cream and lime in the fridge, chipotle sauce, honey, lots of spices and garlic in the pantry.

OMG, the honey chipotle sauce is deeelicious.

 

I will totally make this snack again.

The orange juice and zest and lime totally amp up the flavors, and I think cilantro would be delicious too.

cook: vegetable lentil soup

I was feeling cruddy over the weekend and cooked a fortifying soup.

I'd been slipping on assessing my fridge and cooking only with what I have because we had pizza and Chinese takeout, but I think I saved the celery, leek and onion from moldering in my fridge and finally used the can of lentils in my pantry.

I discovered that I like my vegetables in my soup to be a bit al dente or still have some semblance to their original crunch. The carrots and celery in this soup will be too soft for my liking on reheating, but hopefully the addition of Swiss chard will make the soup toothsome again.

host: galentine craft party

One year I organized the neighbors to host a Galentine's potluck brunch which became an annual thing for a couple years until I wearied of it and said someone else had to organize. I did host a Lunar New Year party the next year, and I'm thinking for the future maybe an Empty Bowls/Lunar New Year fundraiser for Second Harvest in Februarys when I get better at throwing bowls. The neighbors instead of celebrating Galentine's Day made the event a baked potato bar for Saint Paddy's Day. However, I missed celebrating hearts and love and friendship. And so this year I decided to bring the girlfriends gathering back but without enforced brunch and in the evening focused on crafting valentines and keeping the party small. 

I think the girlfriends who I knew liked crafting had fun. I taught them how to weave Swedish hearts, and my Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes were a hit. 

Nicole brought Valentine-themed Jello desserts.

Even though it's been over a week since Valentine's Day, I'm celebrating love for the rest of the month. I couldn't help myself and bought this heart-themed borosilicate glass teapot...

...and matching teaglass.

Preet had brought samosas to the party, and the two leftover became a midmorning snack.

And on the actual February 14th of this year, hubby got me flowers and Chardonnay while I got him a t-shirt. This is romance in my 60s.