clay vacation: a new studio and treasure island adventure

I impulsively became a member at another clay studio for the 3 months of my summer break. I will more than likely continue that membership during the school year even if I can't make the Monday through Friday open studio hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and avail myself of the 6 p.m. to 9 p.m hours Monday through Friday instead during my work week as well as the weekend hours of 9 a.m. through 6 p.m. Whew! That was all for naught as I just learned that open studio hours change to accommodate corporate events and retreats and private clay instruction. Never mind, I'll figure out studio hours as I go. I inaugurated my new stint with 4 of these platters.

And made 4 rimmed bowls to coordinate with them. But instead of getting another bag of Laguna Brown, which appears more black than brown, I’d like to play with a bag of Laguna’s Red Velvet. But I’ll probably end up getting a bag of Bmix with grog and make planters glazed in the studio’s Copper Red, which is now what I want to adhere to these platters. 

It was a social Sunday with the husband to visit a friend who lives on Yerba Buena Island. We first drove to Treasure Island and started the day with lunch at Mersea with this view of the San Francisco skyline.

From Yerba Buena, there are spectacular views of the Bay Bridge entrance at the East Bay side...

 

...as well as opposite views of the Bay Bridge going west into San Francisco.

 

Our friend, Roseanne also had us walk the little park near her condominium and townhome and flats complex, where we took in more panoramic views of the East Bay as well as Hiroshi Sugimoto's sculpture, Point of Infinity.

 

Here's what I found about the structure from the San Francisco Arts Commission: 

“The concept of infinity is a human invention. The point of infinity is a paradox, but should it exist in the natural world, it must be in a faraway place beyond the edge of the universe, or maybe it is no more than an illusion born inside the human brain. Nonetheless, ever since its birth, the human race has persisted in seeing this illusion. We call it art.” explained artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. “The form of the sculpture is created from two converging hyperbolic curves that get closer and closer but never meet. In the material world, it is physically impossible to make a point that reaches all the way to infinity. What I can do, however, is suggest infinity by making an approximate point that can exist in the material world as a mathematically modeled structure with a 21-millimeter-wide tip.”

Starting at a width of 23 feet at the base, the sculpture rises to a height 69 feet (21 meters) and tapers to a diameter of 7/8 inch (21 millimeters). Eight glass fiber reinforced concrete panels compose the base of the sculpture to a height of 18 ½ feet, and then seamlessly transition to mirror-polished marine grade 316 stainless steel that rises another 50 ½ feet.

The sculpture acts as a monumental sundial, evoking the Tower of the Sun sculpture from the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. A stone marker will be placed in the plaza to mark the precise location of the noon shadow on the spring and autumnal equinoxes. While referencing the grandeur and innovation of the 1939 World’s Fair, Sugimoto’s sculpture is an elegant and contemplative reflection on the concept of time and humanity."

The views from the apex of Yerba Buena were spectacular that sunny Sunday.

      

And there still remains a military prescence in this Coast Guard station.

 

We also toured the townhome model and were not impressed with a 4 floor layout--even if we were young and agile, who wants to drag groceries from the basement garage up a flight of stairs and then climb another flight of stairs to the living room? However I did take note of this ceramic bowl on the dining room table.

    

Its shape is organic, and I love it and want to make my own version. 

And I may not re-create that texture or use gold luster, but I like the line work on this bowl. Here's a rooftop view from the townhome, and so you'd have to climb two flights of stairs from the kitchen to the rooftop to do your grilling. 

The views from all around on Yerba Buena and Treasure Island are lovely, and I'm glad our friend, Rosanne is loving her luxe life. She has worked hard for so many years, and it's wonderful to see her luxuriate in her hard won lifestyle. In the meantime, Patrick and I noodle around in our tiny condo, but I'm inspired to get rid of more stuff and get more minimal. Meals too have become simpler as my life revolves around the ceramic studio and quilting this summer, and I rely on salad noodle bowls for lunch or dinner.

And I'm just noticing now this tenmoku brown rim on my Japanese noodle bowl. I want to do that on my ceramics! Maybe I need to paint porcelain slip on my dark clay stoneware on which to adhere decal work and then edge it with tenmoku glaze. Yes! On those platters, one idea of glaze is the copper blue with tenmoku on the rim.

cook: asian fried rice

I needed brunch and wanted to use up a package of Chinese bacon in the pantry and leftover rice and Spam (which Patrick opened for Sadie to entice her to eat) in the fridge.                                 

 

Ugh, the bacon grossed me out a bit as it was grisly and I used tweezers to pluck out hairs. I needed scissors to cut the pork skin. I'll never buy this product again though I do like their Chinese style sausage. And before I started frying the rice, I decided to also make a Korean banchan of bean sprouts. I first washed the bean sprouts before blanching them in boiling water for just one minute.

 

I also cleaned up the scallions that were in my fridge. Into a small bowl, I mixed a mashed clove of garlic, fish sauce, sesame oil, sugar, a pinch of salt, and toasted sesame seeds and then coated the bean sprouts with the dressing.

 

Since I was cleaning out my fridge, I also blanched what was left of baby bok choy and then tossed it in a sauce of red miso paste, garlic clove, gochuchan, sesame oil, a pinch of sugar, and toasted sesame seeds. Both vegetables also got tossed with green onions and chives. I coated the rice in sesame oil and mixed up soy sauce and gochuchan with the juice I squeezed from the kimchi I had chopped up. It was not spicy enough, and so I added sriracha to the sauce.

 

I could not do without these sauces though I'll need a spicier brand of gochuchan in my Asian pantry.

Finally it was fry time. First the Chinese bacon, which I then removed and then the spam, also removed, and then added into the pan, the kimchi, followed by the rice and the sauce. Frying took at least 20 minutes to get the rice dry enough before adding the browned meats.

I prepared a lunch plate for Cecilia before finally tucking into the fried rice and bean sprouts and bok choy and kimchi.

 

I was proud of myself for eating vegetables and my fridge clean-out, but what to do with the rest of that Chinese bacon? I've a carton of Chinese deli chow mein, but I wish I had some more baby bok choy to fry with the bacon to add to the noodles.

cooking: memorial day et al

I'd actually been cooking breakfast lately: a poached egg atop one buttered English muffin and strawberry or apricot jam atop the other with a cup of Earl Grey tea. 

And relying on convenience foods like Stouffer's meatloaf in gravy though cooking macaroni and cheese and roasting Brussels sprouts from scratch for meals in the last couple weeks of school.

But one night I did go all out on making Asian noodle bowls. I marinated and skewered pork shoulder. I had just enough Vietnamese marinade leftover from my last grilling adventure.

I let the pork marinade overnight.

 

I prepped the lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, mint, Thai basil, scallions, cilantro beforehand and made nuoc cham while grilling the pork.

 

I had also boiled rice vermicelli before assembly. And Patrick said the bowl was too full of vegetables.

 

And so there were enough leftover vegetables and grilled pork the next night plus some shrimp for another meal the next night.

And it's been a week since these noodle bowls for dinner...

...and so I'm thinking of grilling a couple of the pork chops that are thawed in the fridge again for a noodle bowl because I've still mint and Thai basil too. And maybe use the other pork chops for bahn mi sandwiches because I forgot to bring the Đồ Chua to my brother's last Sunday. And in the meantime, these flowers are shedding pollen all over the table.

Ugh, I'm not feeling well because of bronchitis from the nasal dripping and sneezing from allergies and stuck at home and lamenting how much making I want to do.