cook: breakfast for dinner on repeat

I’ve cooked Denver O'Brien potatoes before, but breakfast-for-dinner bore repeating because of the wonderful breakfast my neighbors treated me to on my birthday. I had heirloom potatoes in my pantry that Patrick brought home from the community garden as well for my clean-the-refrigerator meal. Green bell pepper (de rigueur for this dish), tomato, ham, cheese, onion, garlic mise en place on my cutting board.        

 

I also had strips of bacon intended for a Cobb salad which never happened, and so that was going into the dish also. In the bacon fat, I fried the boiled potatoes. I thought they were red potatoes, but the flesh was yellow and tasted like Yukon Golds.

 

Once the potatoes were crisp, in went the bell peppers and then tomatoes and onion and garlic into the cast iron.

 

Next the ham and green onions and lastly the cheese and more green onions sprinkled on top.

And this was my cooking really for the week because Patrick is complaining about too many leftovers in the refrigerator though that includes the macaroni and cheese to go with the grocery store fried chicken for Friday dinner.         

I've one serving left of the potatoes for a fried egg for another dinner this week while I make breakfast sandwiches with the brioche buns in my cupboard and ham and cheese still in the fridge.

cook: asian invasion in my kitchen

Did I mention that it's hot as heck in the Bay Area? Despite my kitchen being as warm as an oven, I needed to not let vegetables molder and decided that they needed to be tempura.

And if I was going to batter and fry kabocha, sweet potato, eggplant, and broccoli, I was also going to make chicken karaage.

I must've stood over hot oil in a skillet for over an hour already, and there were still lots of vegetables to be cooked.

I got it done and there was Japanese food to share with all the neighbors. All that frying because I still had half a kabocha squash in the fridge leftover from a previous Japanese dinner.

Patrick brought home more eggplant, and I still had the zucchini and yellow squash that I hadn't fried as tempura. Thai was next. All the ingredients below turned into a chicken and vegetable green curry with jasmine rice. I also happened to have a lot of peppers, both bell and chili to add with the Italian basil into the curry...

 

....but then Cecilia said I needed to thin her Thai basil plants when I said I was adding the Italian basil and holy basil to my curry and sharing with her.

 

All that herbaceous goodness definitely amped up the flavors of my curry. I wished I had remembered the kaffir lime leaves in my freezer, but.... 

....Cecilia said my green curry was the best I'd ever made and it made for a good lunch the next day at school.

I also still had a couple of pork chops from the bahn mi I made the previous week, which tonight turned into Vietnamese noodle bowls. Cecilia grilled shrimp and culled more Thai basil and mint from her garden while I tossed the leftover chops in Golden Mountain seasoning sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and lemongrass. I also chopped Napa cabbage and cucumbers and shredded carrots along with cilantro and green onion.

 

The surf and turf proteins along with the rice noodles and vegetables melded deliciously with a Laotian coconut chili dressing.

And Cecilia wanted to make noodle bowls for the neighbors, but thankfully they declined and so I have what's left for my lunch at school today.

coziness: on my reading radar and the promise of tinned fish

Even though the Bay Area is hot as hades this past week, I've been pondering fall and winter and all the making I'll do once the off-season outrigger canoe paddling practices are over after November 16th. I've been paying attention to what stories and books I'll want to listen to and read. I'm reading Claire Keegan's "Foster" right now and pondering whether to subscribe to the New Yorker for perhaps just 4 weeks. And I checked out the Mary Gaitskill book yesterday from the library.

Because of Instagram book recommendations not only from the New Yorker, but also the Library of Congress, I also put a hold on the two science fiction dystopian novels and decided that I don't want to read the nonfiction book a slow sewing club member suggested.

I also put a hold on American Mermaid below, but forgot to put a hold on the original Bambi. And so I just put a hold on the story electronically. I also just put a hold on an author recommended by Ann Patchett's Instagram from Parnassus Books because I just finished her audiobook, Tom Lake.

And before I Christmas gift any books to children this year, I thought I'd preview The Dictionary Story, of which I'm thinking for Charlie in Pennsylvania and my nephew Josh's kids.

 

I also just checked out the following from the public library.

I held an impromptu happy hour with just wine and baguette and triple cream brie. Cecilia brought out smoked brislings, which I loved, loved, loved, and so now I'm on a tinned fish kick. I bought a bunch of canned octopus, mackerel, cockles, scallops as well as sardines at World Market, where I also indulged in a birthday gift of napkins embroidered with sardines as well as an Ooni cover and cookbook. Yesterday was my birthday, but my neighbors are buying me brunch as my party this morning and off I go.

canoe + clay: stressful week = weekend warrior

I was burned out by my job and menopausal malaise before the Covid pandemic that I almost quit to run away. I also didn’t do much pottery though I was running and not eating a lot. I then came to my senses because my teaching comes with this great promise and perk of a comfortable retirement income if I can do it with some longevity. I've stuck it out. Four years has elapsed, and I’ve since gone through both a full evaluation and an expedited evaluation. I was lucky to realize the need to not muck it up and the need to just suck it up and power through. It’s stress time again, and so I’ve been working out and doing a lot of pottery to offset the anxiety and worry.  I’m still a little sore from this past Saturday’s ocean paddling. 

You can’t see me in this clip because my steers person and coach, Bel is wearing the Go Pro camera on top of her head—that’s Bessie in front of her, and in front of Bess is Gary, and I’m in front of Gary. I’m in the 3rd seat! I’m always in the 5th seat in practices and competition, and so this time I’m behind the iako within the ama, which meant I had to call. Hut! I was shouting at every 13th stroke to which there was the response of hoo! Practice was different, and I loved it. 

I also got busy in the clay studio. One of my former students reached out to me to donate pottery to her reunion fundraiser, and so I hand built this sushi platter. There's an inscription at the bottom, Miss Lapid says hello.                             

And during that stressful last week, I went into Clay Life and made this air plant manse.It was tottering a bit, and so I took it outside yesterday, and ground the bottom on concrete surface, which righted it nicely.

I set the air plant mansion on the greenware shelf for candling, and since I had scraps from the sea platter, I made a sea mug too.

It's got an Isak Dinesen paraphrase about salt water as the cure for anything: sweat, tears, or the sea. Gotta love that ball point stylus for punctuation marking. And because Patrick was laid up from his knee replacement, I went into his garden and harvested all these tomatoes and boiled sauce and made marinara with lots of onion and garlic in order to empty out the fridge a little.

The refrigerator and freezer are over full again because I bought chicken thighs and ground beef and a steelhead trout (it had a styrofoam tray which was the form for my platter), and so the plan this week is to cook chicken karaage and kabocha and sweet potato and eggplant and summer squash (which I'll have to procure from the produce store because the summer garden has none) as well make an instant Dan Dan noodle sauce. I'd also like to go the clay studio and make some text mugs that say, solve the problem; carry on; don't be a rat bastard. Those were things I used to say in my English class that I don't know if my former students will remember. Hopefully all the busyness will temper a very stressful observation and evaluation meeting over the course of the week.

cook: deux petits cochons bahn mi, part trois

I've been making bahn mi for a few years now, and I take lots of shortcuts. I don't bake. The French-Asian baguettes with a crispy flaky rice flour crust can't be baked in the dry air of California, nor do I make my own Vietnamese pork sausage or pate though I do roast pork with Asian ingredients and make the Vietnamese pickle of daikon radish and carrots.  For this weekend's sandwiches, I bought bread and pate.  I’ve been liking Trader Joe’s baguettes which are only 2 bucks a loaf and turn out very crusty when reheated in a 400 degree oven.                                       

And while buying whatever pork is on sale at the supermarket, I picked up my favorite brand of pate, of which there was only one left of the non-country style along with pork loin chops (alas no pork shoulder country ribs).

And so this afternoon when I got home from the grocery store, I rubbed the pork loin chops with Sichuan salt and then poured a garlic and lemongrass marinade before slow baking in a 350 degree oven the next day.                         

Cecilia baked petite baguettes when I told her I was making Vietnamese sandwiches. We made a bahn mi each for us and Patrick and the neighbors, which got rave reviews. Here is the last of these sandwiches I've been eating for weekday dinners. Yes, I like it overloaded with cucumbers, jalapenos and cilantro besides the two porks and do chua and Kewpie mayo and hoisin sauce.

Bonus! I've got leftover pork and pickle for rice noodle bowls, and I made a pork bone broth for noodle soups.

clay: air plant mansions

Last year I admired the shelves Zan built with scraps from her slab plates. And I'd been wanting to make similar ones. I made a white one which fit the one air plant I made, but then ordered more air plants and en masse, they were a lot. I've so far made 2 of what I call their mini manse. For air flow, I started using the mini cookie cutters at the studio to make decorative vent holes. And they're a fun palette on which to test glazes. The one below is my favorite so far.

  

I installed its first "resident" earlier this week. I'm pleased. I like the contrast of the tips of the Tillandsia Red Abdita with the glassy turquoise.

I faced the plant outward to get more sunlight, and so I'm glad I made the shelf vented in order to peek at the plant from the outside.

I hadn't anticipated the darkness of the following combination of the glazes below, but I like it! The green of the air plant contrasts more with its new home.

 

Meral commented that she liked the blobby run of the glazes. Thankfully I didn't not put too much glaze to ruin a kiln shelf.

 

Last night, I finished building one with 3 shelves that can house even more plants. If I've time, I may return to the studio to sand the rough edges, but will be okay with glaze to cover over the clumsy attachments. I also attached lugs so that it can hang. I've already dreams of what glazes would look good on these kinds of shelves. I will probably glaze the big shelf with Coyote Fire Opal.

canoe + clay: huli practice + bowls

I've had weekends of firsts in the past couple months. I paddled in races in the San Francisco Bay, first around Alcatraz and then again around Angel Island. I learned sea kayaking rescue in Richardson Bay in Sausalito, which was very hard, so hard that huli practice in the bay off Coyote Point in my hometown this past Sunday was easy. Or rather easier. 

And I'm hooked on open ocean activities. My friend, Nicole with whom I learned to sea kayak is deciding our next sea kayaking trip. 

I've also spent Sundays in August and September learning to throw. This past weekend, the kiln gods delivered our first efforts at bowls. This one might have been my least favorite. I think I wished I had put my fingers in the glaze bucket and just splashed on the second glaze rather than dip and then drip. It's okay. 

The bowl now contains all the stampers at the library.

I was also meh about this deep blue. Again I'll try the finger splashing the next time I layer on another glaze on to a dark blue.

It's holding rubber bands at the library.

On this next bowl, I had letter pressed, Waiter, there is a fly in my soup, so I knew I wanted glaze with transparency.

It's my favorite bowl, and I can't wait to adhere an iron oxide decal of a fly on it.

I might donate this bowl to the Vallejo High School Class of 2005 Reunion's fundraiser.

This bowl was another favorite of the bunch.

I do love the turquoise glazes.

The Blushing Pink instead of looking pink on top of the Teal Appeal adds a depth that's giving me ocean vibes. I'll repeat these glazes again because there are more bowls to come. I threw 2 plus a vase this past Sunday. 

The other first this past weekend was the first time I ever solved my favorite New York Times puzzle, Letter Boxed.

It was only recently when looking at the "Yesterday" solutions that I knew these puzzles could be solved in 2 words rather than the 6, 5, or 4 words suggested. Such a good end to a very fun weekend.