comfort: winter hygge

Yesterday morning, Cecilia commented that my home looks very Pottery Barn in its décor. I like to think that my home does not look contrived and commercial and instead reflects that Scandinavian aesthetic of hygge. Not an austere but rather a homey style of beauty married to function. Not too much decoration but just enough. In other words, I want my home to evoke simplicity but also a warm invitation to settle in and linger. My winter décor started with adhering gold leaf to my kiln-baked holiday trees: I swabbed the stars with rubbing alcohol and then messily adhered gold leaf on to the stars with adhesive and tweezers and my finger tips. I brought out my wooden “HOME for the holidays” sign that I bought during the pandemic--I had stuck white letter stickers that read "QUARANTINE" above the HOME for the holidays and then removed the stickers just last year. The natural wood looks charming with my two bottle brush trees.     

I moved my pears next to my favorite candlesticks which I had lit at our Feast of Seven Fishes. I also adorned our tv mantle with a white and blush poinsettia.

And I’ve loved my holiday table settings of my Heath stoneware. Again more candlelight with tea lights underneath my holiday trees and the tapers aflame on the contemporary candelabra during dinner.

I've promised loved ones and friends more of these candelabras and holidays trees next year. It was a good evening capped off by a glass of Chardonnay, cuties and a kumquat cookie. Then I removed the tablecloth for the laundry and let the winter décor remain.

I should stay in and enjoy these creature comforts, but I want to return to the ceramics studio this morning and refine the candelabras, which I hand built last night.

cook: a feast of seven fishes

Annually since the pandemic, my husband and I host a good friend, Roseanne for a a holiday dinner. If not an expensive rib eye steak and fancy or elaborate side dishes of Potatoes Anna and creamed spinach, then an Italian cioppino or a French bouillabaisse or a Spanish paella. This year, I invited Roseanne to our annual supper and impulsively called it a Sunday Feast of Seven Fishes. 

I'd pondered the different types of seafood for a stew aloud when Patrick exclaimed, that's not a feast of seven fishes. Because of Mr. Has-An-Opinion-for-Everything, I instead planned multiple courses of seafood for dinner. My cold starters would be dishes of shrimp cocktail, a salmon crudo, and California sushi bites. For a warm second course, mussels in garlic butter sauce (I'd be cheating and microwaving the frozen shellfish from a box bought at the warehouse store) and grilled calamari alongside squid ink pasta tossed in a shallot and lemon and wine and cream butter sauce. My final steaming hot course would be my usual fennel and saffron cioppino with whatever fresh white fish I find and scallops and crab. No need to unbuckle belts or wear loose pants, I was making courses small and the opposite of stodgy with all the fresh seafood and probably a bright, simple green salad, one I once enjoyed at the Basque Cultural Center with a garlicky and vinegary dressing and maybe topped with a little citrus quick pickle of fennel and red onion.  I went to the ceramic studio and worked on a few projects, and then came home at 1 to give myself plenty of time to serve supper at 5. I started with the base for my cioppino by slicing fennel and yellow onion to sauté in my favorite fruity olive oil.                

 

While my fennel and onion sautéed on medium, I crushed garlic cloves with pink Hawaiian sea salt and fennel seed and red pepper flakes.

 

My fennel and onions were taking a while to soften...

....after 8 minutes, they were softened enough to add my garlic paste and a few bay leaves. In the meantime, I was making seafood broth by boiling shrimp shells, which I strained off and then added back into a small pot.

 

I poached the shrimp in the shrimp broth with fennel and dried tarragon and then put the shellfish in the refrigerator to cool.... 

 

....and made the cocktail sauce with lemon juice, horseradish, and ketchup. As an afterthought, I added chili sauce too. Shrimp cocktail done.

 

Next up, California crab bites. I made the crab salad with lemon juice, mayonnaise, chopped scallions, and then as another afterthought and tasting, added sriracha and a little bit of fish sauce.

 

I sliced cucumber into rounds and topped the crab salad on to it. They were kind of messy and unimpressive looking and to me, just meh, but onward.

The fennel and onion and seafood stock was done--I had also added white wine, pureed tomatoes, my shrimp broth and bottles of clam juice. The stock could just simmer on the stove until it was time to put in the fish and serve minutes later.

Show time. As usual, I underestimated the time for serving even after guests told me they could not show up until an hour later. And the salmon crudo didn’t happen. I instead whipped cream cheese and chopped scallions and capers and dill weed and lemon juice into a base to layer upon crackers and add a package of honey smoked salmon. And I wish I could have just made the crab and avocado and cucumber bites into California sushi--I missed the rice and seaweed in those bites. But cold starters are easy, and I should have had my guests sit in the living room and gather plates and food from the coffee table to eat them. While my husband and guests were eating the seafood appetizers at the dining table, I excused myself to start on the second course. Out came the mussels and warm baguette in garlic butter broth in 4 minutes for them to continue eating while I grilled the calamari and boiled the squid ink pasta.

Luckily, I had marinated the calamari in crushed garlic, olive oil, thyme, and bit of sea salt, and the creamy lemon butter sauce was already done and was so easy to make. I minced a shallot which I simmered in a half cup of Chardonnay and then added knobs of a 1/2 cup or stick of butter and then heavy whipping cream and the juice of 1 lemon. I whisked constantly, but it stayed emulsified and was ready for tossing the pasta. I grilled the calamari quickly (only 3 to 4 minutes in my cast iron, adding a bit of white wine to de-glaze the pan and then removed the calamari on to a serving dish. I then tossed the squid ink pasta in the cast iron with all of the lemon butter cream sauce....

 

....and this dish was the hit of the seafood feast.

The pasta course was by far the favorite, but again onward. The seafood stew was delicious too. I didn't mention that I had mangled the Coho salmon while trying to prepare it for the crudo, which was an epic fail and demanded a pivot. While I and the guests were finishing the pasta, my husband was adding Chilean sea bass, the butchered Coho salmon, and scallops to the saffron and fennel seafood broth (to which I had already added a can of minced clams). The fish only took 5 minutes on the stove, and I knew the residual heat of the boiling seafood stock would finish cooking the fish.

This morning, I was finishing the honey smoked salmon on rye bagels from Noah's with Cecilia and bemoaning to her my failed dishes. She exclaimed there were no fails and that there just were definite stars. Yep, and so next time, and maybe that'll be next year, just one cold starter, three grilled fishes to go with the squid ink pasta and 3 different fishes to go into a soup with fresh baguette. Oh yeah, I never did get to make a salad either though the Basque dressing is in my fridge. And there was this detritus of dirty dishes after our feast.

But it's morning, and I'm ready to tackle my list of to-dos for my winter break that doesn't also include going to the ceramics studio.

clay: christmas clearance sales

I am finally putting up some of my autumn and Christmas decorations (which I always buy at end-of-season-sales). However, the Epiphany is not until January 6th, and so I'm okay that I didn't decorate until after Christmas. One of these pears still needs an iron oxide decal, and my aim is to also make pomegranates with Speckled Buff clay (of which I just bought a bag) to go with these pears.

The day after Christmas, I found these mini-decor bottle brush trees for 50% off (just $3.50 and $4.50) at World Market after admiring my sister-in-law's numerous holiday trees. Therefore, I couldn't resist buying these two trees and resisted buying more--there were only 2 large trees left. Luckily, my husband didn't give me too much grief about acquiring more stuff. I try to be a minimalist as much as possible, but I still love my much taller artificial pencil tree and the tons of food and nautical ornaments to decorate it. These trees will continue to be future cuteness in my Christmas décor, and I'll continue separating out what is not most loved when I box up decorations after the holiday. I suppose next year I could flock and decorate them with tiny ceramic ornaments and fairy lights, but I rather like them unadorned as well and next year will surround them with pine cones and seashells.

I bought this snowflake carousel tealight candle probably 2 years ago on clearance at World Market, and so I must've just paid $5 for each; I had gotten a few for my brother's kids' families and am glad I kept one for myself. It’s so cute. I was surprised that World Market didn’t carry them this year, or at least I didn't see their usual array of spinning Santa and reindeer and angels tealight holders. Next year, I'll buy a bag of Frost porcelain clay and make a lot of delicate snowflake and star ornaments with silver and gold leaf inside the text. 

I’m chuffed that this wave candelabra is stable and that the candles appear to be upright. It'll be part of my holiday tablescape when I finish gold leafing my large and small Christmas white ceramic trees with star cut-outs. 

I went to the ceramics studio last night to refine a planter pot made of speckled buff for my sister-in-law's snake plant.                        

I also put a large starred Christmas tree on the greenware shelf, but am still wanting to make more for the holidays next year to gift and to sell. I could stop by Clay People and buy a bag of Frost porcelain if they have any left and make more trees and ornaments after I drop off Christmas presents at my brother's. Yeah that’s today’s plan. More clay action.

clay: glaze outcomes

One late afternoon in the studio the day before Christmas eve, I returned to this candelabra, still very soft. After messing and smoothing it as much as I could, I finally just let it get more leather hard and worked on another piece. If this piece doesn't get too wonky and will be level enough to fire further, then I want to overglaze with Chocola-tea.

In the meantime, I could finally sgrafitto this pot. Full disclosure. I had made another form layered with black underglaze and started carving it, which ended up looking like shit and so tossed it into the reclaim bucket. This carving felt like a do-over though I kept the border a single line, which I'll likely fill with Western Bright Red underglaze.

I do like that these carvings finally look like tomatoes, and so on to the greenware shelf they went. I'm thinking they'll function as a small serving dish for Caprese salad. 

One of the few bowls I threw that I didn't mind getting bisque fired was an experiment in the studio's newest midfire glaze layered upon one of my favorite Cone 6 glazes. I used a fan brush to layer that new glaze on top of the other.

 

A matte on top of a shiny glaze yielded an interesting surface of holes and a metallic-looking brown in the Chocola-tea on top of the Teal Appeal.

I was finally throwing a little bigger and got experimental with trimming this bowl's foot a little smaller, probably trying to echo the shape of a tea bowl. I was hopeful about the outcome of the studio's newest glaze.

 

I like this matte brown surface a lot even if I find it funny that I can now see where I could not uniformly raise the pot so that there are thinner and thicker areas in the walls of the bowl, and one can see where the clay was starting to sag and slump when I was trimming its foot because of that inconsistency. I don't care though because it charts my learning, and I just simply like it.

Because I am pleased by this bowl, I will keep it and maybe even even use it at my Sunday Feast of Seven Fishes. That evening in the two days before Christmas was pleasant, working alongside Meral and making yet another holiday tree with star cut-outs. We said we would return to Clay Life the next morning until it closed at 1 p.m. for Christmas Eve. 

However, I ended up coming alone to the studio and was pleasantly surprised to discover a sgraffito pot I forgot I carved and a curvy candelabra on the bisque shelf. I pondered how to glaze the candelabra quite a bit. I ended up brushing Ghost Blue, which is a white gloss with hints of light blue all over the pot even underneath which I had taped as resist the bottom. Amy, a teacher and studio technician suggested a Floating Green or Juicy Fruit, which are runny, a 1/4" below the rims of the taper holders. I put it back on the bisque shelf to later scrape drip marks with a metal rib and to touch up bare spots and brush with more Ghost Blue glaze. And I'll probably brush the taper rims with Floating Blue to mimic ocean waves.

I was pleasantly surprised how this sgraffito carving turned out. I guess it will end up being Sgrafitto #7.

I ended up brushing bare spots with more red and black underglazes and then brushed thin layers of clear glaze on top. I remember being so dissatisfied with this carving, but now I think it's not so bad despite the misshapenness of the left and right tomatoes. Isn't it ironic that I've carved something generated by AI, and that the carved images now evince imperfections from my eye and hand?

clay + cook: a christmas tablescape and christmas day feasting

The day before Christmas, my car was laden with lasagna, leftover chocolate pie, chocolate cupcakes, wrapped presents AND my unfinished ceramic Christmas trees--finally fired, white glazed stoneware, but I wanted the stars on top of them to be shiny gold. I had pondered luster glaze--too long a wait time for a kiln to be full enough to fire up; gold paint pens--the shine just looked sub par; and gold leaf--yes! brighter, shinier and perhaps more enduring than even gold paint. While the husband was out with his niece's family at Target, buying her sons their Christmas gifts, which I love because in the frenzy of unwrapping, too often kids don't know from which relative their toy or game came. While they were shopping, I was adhering the gold leaf to the ceramic trees. I then set the finished make on the table runners, oh hey which I had also quilted and gave Maggie a few years ago. Boy I can't wait for my bigger ceramic trees to be fired and finished to give to my sister-in-law next year.           

I took a picture of each tree too.

  

And the gold leafing is such a tiny detail, but I think so cute.  I had put electric tea lights in two of them, and a string of fairy lights in one. I think actual lit wax tealights will also work, especially inside larger trees. I can't wait until my larger trees are fired. The niece and the wife of nephew, who are millennials said they would buy these trees. Definitely, they emit a minimalist aesthetic.

And they're even more magical when it gets dark. I like to think that these abstractly represent the Magi. Where can I get myself some bottle brush trees too?

Maggie also has this ceramic church which she had bought at one of the California missions that she had put Nativity figures in front of. I totally now know what my next make will be with that bag of speckled buff clay I'm gonna buy over my winter break. 

Gotta remember today when Patrick and I are at her house on Christmas to take photographs of the back and sides of this church. 

On Christmas Day, my sister-in-law and her daughter were undertaking the labor of cooking the celebratory feast of prime rib and potatoes and brussels sprouts. I had promised (I was thinking of what the New York Times cooking claims is the best) deviled eggs and a raw fennel and red onion citrus pomegranate seed situation of some kind, maybe a riff on an Otttolenghi winter salad. I started with the winter slaw. I removed the core of the bulbs and separated the fronds and then sliced the fennel thinly on the mandolin. 

Peeling and cutting oranges from pith took so long. Next time I'm using a can of mandarin oranges. I had Patrick sharpen all my knives to speed up my orange prep. He told me Merry Christmas afterward, and I told him the gifts I like--acts of service. With the orange segments ready for the salad, I made the dressing with just citrus juice and seasoned rice vinegar.

 

I also sliced red onion on the mandolin, too thinly, but next time, I'll slice more thickly for them to keep some crunch, and let them soak in the acid to lose some of their bite.

 

At the same time I was boiling eggs, which I then peeled and cooled in the fridge. I riffed a bit on the NYTimes recipe on the filling for the deviled eggs.

I decided to add scallions and a bit of sweet pickle relish along with the salt and hot sauce to my deviled eggs. I then removed the yolks and smash the yolks with a fork into the seasoned and flavored mayonnaise mixture.

The filling of the egg whites with the yolk mixture took a long while. I debated piping with Patrick's birthday cookie press and didn't. I just scooped mashed yolks with spoonula and then sprinkled some reserved chopped scallion and hot smoked paprika to enhance their fanciness.

Deviled eggs done, I resumed finishing the fennel salad. Tossed the pickled red onions into the sliced fennel with some of the orange segments and some pomegranate seeds and added a bit of bottled white balsamic dressing too, which made the salad too soggy IMO. Next year, marinate the onions and the fennel and then pour off the dressing before dressing to preserve the crunch. Lastly I layered more oranges and pomegranate seeds on top.

We loaded up the car with the appetizer and winter slaw for an afternoon and evening of eating and drove an hour to again hang out with family.

I grazed all day on white cheddar cheese puffs, charcuterie of baguette, crackers, brie, gouda, prosciutto and capicola until dinner. And our 6 o'clock meal was lavish: prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, beef gravy, roasted brussels sprouts, and the fennel salad followed by the same chocolate pie for dessert for me while others had pumpkin pie or chocolate cupcake or cookies. T'was very fun but am glad to return to normal. I just want to eat toasties of ham and Swiss and tomato soup and raw green salads for the rest of my winter break though this Sunday I'll be again ambitiously cooking a Feast of Seven Fishes.