ceramics: what to do with electric brown clay besides plates

I had dropped into the classroom the last period of the day, where kids were making boxes to house succulents. I promised Zan that I would bring my concrete planter of aeoniums for them to pluck and plant. Kids were also making ornaments, and there was a little bit of porcelain clay. I took a small ball of the white clay and rolled a very very thin slab. After making two dreidel ornaments, I could not find the bag in which to return the ball of porcelain scrap. And so I fashioned a spoon from it.

 

After school, I had slabs of Electric Brown leftover from making an herb planter comprised of 3 cylinder pots and a drainage tray. I was at a loss and didn't know what I wanted to make with those dark brown slabs, but in my clay tools bag was a clay mate's business card with info she'd written of a woman in her arboretum society who works for a florist and a caterer. That arboretum society member loved my little dark succulent pots glazed in white which I had donated to the group's plant sales. My clay colleague, Kathy had said my succulent planters were so simple, and I guess they appreciated the charm of the tiny pots made from the scraps of my Obsidian plates. I wondered if that woman had bought them, and so I decided to make more of those little pots because they would look good in multiples on a table.      

However, I think my slab bowls made yesterday are too shallow, which are fine for very tiny propagations. I need to cut out much larger circles to slump over the round plaster bowl molds we have in the ceramics classroom. And so the plan this Thursday is to mix plaster for another plate mold and to fill a small bowl that doesn't have enough plaster in it even though it's dried. And I think I'll make more planters like I made for Cecilia's niece and nephew, but not for the windowsill. A succulent planter just for a tablescape at a meal. A round mini cylinder pot with its own round drainage tray.

cook: arroz caldo

Every culture has their chicken soup, whether it be noodle or matzoh ball or rice. In Asia, that chicken soup with rice turns into porridge. Jook, Congee, Lugaw, or Arroz Caldo (what my mother called this gruel) is on the menu after Friendsgiving even if I have no more leftover turkey. I did, however, have two large quart jars of homemade turkey bone broth and two boneless, skinless chicken thighs. When I eat Asian meals, I really like to gnaw on skin and bones, which grosses my husband out, but white boy is now used to it. And so I stopped at the supermarket to pick up chicken wings. In a tablespoon of canola oil, I gently browned and crisped garlic cloves, sliced thinly, which I then removed from the oil and set aside. Into that oil in the same pot, I browned the chicken wings and sprinkled a bit of salt on them. 

 

And there was glorious fond at the bottom of the pot from the frying chicken wings and into the pot next went the chicken thighs with a pinch more salt to pick up some of that beautiful Maillard browning.

And oops, I added the cup of uncooked jasmine rice to toast in the oil that should have been added AFTER sautéing the chopped onion, minced garlic and grated ginger. No matter. I added the bone broth to de-glaze the pot and prevent burning and just let the aromatics cook down with the rice. I did remember to season in layers or add a little bit of salt to the sautéing aromatics.

And I let that bad boy boil furiously and then simmer to break the rice down into starchy deliciousness for an hour and a half. I added the chicken the last 30 minutes of cooking once I saw that the rice was glutinous in texture.

I remained busy during the simmering of the porridge by readying all the accoutrements--chopping scallions, browning chicken skins in the oven, hard boiling eggs, slicing lemons, and setting out fish sauce with the crispy garlic. Cecilia commented that my Arroz Caldo bar was very reminiscent of what goes on top of Pancit Luglug.

And just before serving, I added a few spinach leaves to wilt in the hot brothy rice.

Garnish your porridge with all your favorite toppings...

...and feel comforted and nourished as you eat a bowl of Arroz Caldo from your childhood memories.

cook: turkey bone broth

I was hoping for leftover thanksgiving turkey, but didn’t take any from either family and friends feasts—I knew they were wanting to eat leftovers too in order not to cook. And then last night, Cecilia did give me the giblets, a couple cups of dark meat and the bones and carcass of the roast bird, which I boiled last night for a couple hours.

Glorious, oily, gelatinous poultry bone broth. The contents in the pot above are going to turn into a base for another dish with its Jello-like consistency when chilled. At some point in my home cooking career, I'm going to have to attempt soup dumplings or xiao long bao, but I'm back at school and therefore have no time for pleating and crimping, let alone making from scratch, dumpling dough. For this week, a dish made from this bone broth is gonna be not quite soup, and not quite stew, but something in between as I will be reminded to cook it every time I open the fridge door and see these quart jars of aspic.

We did eat leftover turkey after all. I made a turkey potpie with the leftover turkey, giblet gravy, and mashed potatoes to which I added green peas. And leftover cheesy creamed kale gratin, which I had made again for Friendsgiving, but this time with only 2 cups of milk, 4 ounces of Emmenthaler and Gruyere cheese. Same roux with chopped cloves of garlic, butter, flour and nutmeg. Same big bag of kale. But the gratin was made with saltine crackers, crumbled coarsely by hand with the 5 teaspoons butter, a teaspoon of honey, and a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.              

 

This cracker topping turned out ¡muy delicioso!

I so love the vegetable-dominant mac 'n cheese without the mac. I wonder if cauliflower cooked this way would also taste delicious.

cook: pilipino pork skewers

T’was the night before thanksgiving, and I was gonna cook something that was not poultry in preparation for days of eating leftover turkey after the holiday. Those are my fond memories of childhood Thanksgivings--leftover stuffing, a little bit of mashed potatoes, and lots and lots of gravy poured over dry turkey breast. And this year, the husband and I came home empty handed of any turkey. That's another tale. But some nights ago, I took out boneless country style pork ribs from the freezer and marinated them overnight in a Filipino barbecue sauce of lemon lime soda, Jufran banana ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic--this sauce was leftover from a barbecue months ago and kept well in my fridge even if the soda was flat. I cut the meat into tiny bite sized pieces and pierced them on to bamboo skewers. I love an excuse to light up the charcoal grill in supremely cold weather. The pork caramelized, and the fat burnt and got what I call "Cajuned."                           

Roasted Brussels sprouts and baby carrots and steamed rice completed the meal.

I think the first time, I cooked this meal, husband complained about what I don't even remember...

But this time, he said it was good, and I've leftovers for a lunch or lazy dinner this week.

cook: beet & goat cheese salad and squash soup

Back to school. Back to work. Now that Thanksgiving week is over, I've got 3 more weeks to get into a routine of working out and eating raw as much as possible before winter break. I love that salad greens are their most crisp and vibrant right now, and so I bought a huge tub of arugula and steamed some beets to add to those peppery leaves.

 

Add some crumbled goat cheese and chopped raw walnuts...

 

…and balsamic vinaigrette plus a container of acorn and butternut squash soup...

 

...and I've got 2 of these meals for the work week, which I'll break up with avocado and sprouts sandwiches and a shepherd's pie made with leftover mashed potatoes and peas and carrot to alternate my lunches.

craft: friendsgiving decor

My two holiday storage containers are starting to empty out of all the holiday décor I've gotten bored with and given away, but I'll likely hold on to these Thanksgiving decorations until I'm in my 60s when they no longer look fresh and no longer "spark joy" for me. For now, I'll enjoy all their tackiness. I spent a pleasurable morning yesterday, finally painting the laser-cut plywood welcome sign. I made do with the colors of acrylic paint I had on hand, and I suppose I will bring the plywood pumpkin with me to the art classroom later next week to touch it up.

In the meantime, it'll do. I decorated with Jo the club house yesterday for Friendsgiving today. I hung the icicle lights on the Command Hooks I instructed Jo to bring, but ugh, she said she had other decorations like autumn leaves (I told Patrick they were leaves from an adult coloring book she had cut and colored in blue and red to which he said, Oh Lord!)and a hideous wreath of similar colors. I tactfully kept my mouth shut because someday I'll be that same little old lady whom hopefully the younger generation will indulge and won't say shit if they find my aesthetic hideous. I didn't take more pics of the decorated clubhouse because I inwardly cringed at Jo's embellishments. Tiny white lights are my favorite decoration and are so lovely in the dark of night. It was 3:30 in the afternoon when I pretty much finished hanging these lights.

Yikes, seeing them in my pics shows what a sloppy job I did. I was just in a hurry to get out of the clubhouse and away from Jo whom I find annoying AF.

However, I do love these inexpensive signs I bought at the hobby warehouse on clearance a couple years ago.

I'd like to some day find a sign similar to the two above with wood frame and black text on white that says, "Celebrate Fall Y'all." I'll probably have to make that one by learning calligraphy and finding another framed sign at said hobby store and paint gouache as well as the text on it. 

But in the meantime, my pumpkin sign looks all right in my eyes.

Oh my gosh. I went to Hobby Lobby on Thanksgiving morning before hitting up Target for saltine crackers. And I checked out the clearance fall merchandise that was marked down to 90% off. This hello fall laser-cut plywood sign was only 40 cents (which I'll paint next year)...                             

...and this thankful sign was only 70 cents!

Criminy! That's obscene, but I bought them because they do coordinate and because I couldn't have made them as artfully attractive as these mass-produced decorative items.

cook: bodega sandwich at home

It's Friendsgiving day for me and the neighbors, and I want a breakfast to hold me until 2:00 p.m. when the turkey will be served. I posted before about L.A.'s Eggslut type of breakfast sandwich, but really I'm longing to return to NYC and taste for myself an iconic bodega sandwich. Before Anthony Bourdain mentioned it on one of his t.v. shows, I'd read about the bodega sandwich being the mainstay for Gabrielle Hamilton in her memoir of Blood, Bones, and Butter. 

One website says:

Bourdain lists bacon, kaiser rolls, eggs, salt, freshly ground pepper, and slices of American or Swiss cheese as the ingredients. Cook the bacon on the griddle until done but not burnt. Remove the bacon and place the rolls in the bacon grease sliced side down until they have absorbed the grease and gotten a bit toasted. Place bacon on set aside rolls.

Crack the eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper. Pour on the griddle but remember you aren’t scrambling the eggs. It’s more like an omelet, so it can fit in a sandwich. Top the eggs with the cheese and cook until good and melty. Chop the egg and cheese to fit in rolls, place on the bacon, and top with the other half of the roll. Wrap the sandwich in foil for portability. Serve with a bad cup of coffee. 

I can't cook the bodega breakfast sandwich without that flat top and American cheese, which I never have in my fridge. Nor can I handle that much grease unless I'm hungover. I've been making do instead with a bolilo or Kaiser roll if Safeway has it, brown sugar ham or sausage and Cheddar cheese grilled on my cast iron because really I just wanna hop on a plane over to JFK and spend another long weekend in Brooklyn, specifically the Red Hook, to eat that sandwich. 

 

And this morning, I was even too lazy to break out the bigger cast iron and resorted to my oven to toast the bread, heat the ham, and melt the cheese. 

At least I oiled up my mini cast iron to fry an egg with firm whites and a runny yolk. 

I also suppose a bodega sandwich in NYC doesn't need the hot sauce either.

  

I liked my semi-lazy sandwich.          

But note to self. Bolilo rolls are better for a Cal-Mex breakfast sandwich.

cook: cheesy creamed kale gratin

Next up on a busy Thanksgiving morning and early afternoon was Sohla El-Waylly's Cheesy Creamed Kale Gratin. I was eager to use one of my brand new Dutch ovens. I had bought one-pound packages of kale already chopped and washed to which I added just a little bit of water to steam the vegetable. And the kale cooked down in volume considerably.

I took out the Gruyere cheese and chopped 5 cloves of garlic. I melted and heated the butter until foamy in the same pot that I cooked the kale, and then added the 3 tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper and nutmeg, and a dollop of Dijon mustard. 

  

I added the milk and cream (I was low on milk and so it was a cup of milk and a half cup of heavy cream). After simmering the liquids in the roux and whisking well, I added the shredded cheese. Too much cheese I think. I'm going to alter the recipe the next time I cook this by adding only half the Gruyere cheese and maybe a slice or two of Emmenthaler.  And aaargh, I had forgotten to sauté the chopped garlic, and so added it in with the steamed kale into the cheese sauce.

 

The kale and cheese sauce did become redolent with the aroma of garlic, whew. 

 

And so I started the cracker crumb or gratin mixture. I melted butter and added honey and Dijon mustard to the frothing butter and then stirred it into a sleeve of Ritz crackers. I should have used saltines which I didn't have, but I'll buy them before I cook this dish again for Friendsgiving. Yep I'm cooking this dish again with the other bag of kale I bought. And so next time use a bigger sleeve of crackers and a less buttery cracker.

 

I thought the dish looked yummy and needed to have been baked right then and there...

But instead I put the lid on the casserole which ended up steaming the cracker topping on the creamed kale dish and didn't allow the moisture to drive off. And so next time, leave the lid off and just pop the casserole into the oven to get even hotter and brown and crisp the cracker topping, which I won't add to the creamed kale until time to bake.

And so everything was packed up and brought to Morgan Hill yesterday for Thanksgiving with my husband's family which ended up being only me and the husband and his sister and his parents. So much food that I refused to leave with the potatoes and said they had to share their leftovers with the rest of the family coming over later, and I ended up tossing the nut crunch and the creamed kale. And that food waste kind of kills me as I try so hard to eat up leftovers, but I'm not used to such rich food. I've leftover shredded Brussels sprouts which I didn't dress and will become my salad for lunch with just plain walnuts and a few golden raisins and my honey mustard lemon vinaigrette. And for the next bag of kale, another creamed gratin with less cheese and more cracker topping for a healthier mac and cheese without the mac or the pasta being substituted by a vegetable that I'll cook in addition to mashed potatoes. I'm so grateful to have people to cook for. Happy Thanksgiving y'all.