The Single Life

For most of the past 2 weeks, I have been a single woman. My husband got sick of the cold NE & headed west to California so he could live like a college student and sleep on his friend's couch then go bum some food & golf from his dad look for work and getting some quality time with his dad. So I've been single.
During that time I

• slept in 3 times (and there is hope for tomorrow)
  
• started taking a Yoga/Dance class
• taught a ceramics class
• started making my husband's valentine's day present
• sold my first piece of pottery in the store (for which I will earn enough to buy a bag of clay & a couple happy hour beers)
• hosted Kringlapalooza (I taught some friends how to make kringla, & we had dinner & wine & someone played the Ukulele, a good time was had by all)
• ate out
• ate take out Hot & Sour soup
• caught a cold
• got rid of a cold
• untucked all the sheets & blankets so I could wrap up my feet in them the way I like
• worked extra shifts with out guilt
• helped teach another ceramics class
• did anything I wanted on whatever schedule I wanted
• spoke to my husband on the phone around 3 times a day
  

What I haven't done

• Laundry (need to do a load before he gets back)
• Cooked huge meals (even Kringlapalooza was a simple fettucine alfredo with someone else in charge of salad)
• played musical cars
• Had dinner with HP :(

It has been fun being single with out the pressure of dating. I have enjoyed the fun of working in the ceramics studio with out worrying about dinner time & whether or not he was hungry, but it will be nice to spend some quality time with him. Especially since he has learned to appreciate his wife who cooks good food for him & his nice comfy bed.

Read more...

Hot Damn!

Read more...

And today, I'm going to post!

I am shocked & ashamed. 3 weeks away without a good excuse. Except that it is February. I'll just leave it at that.

So while I haven't been posting, I have done a few other things.

We had a kiln soup party at our 2nd Sunday open house.

We opened up the Gas Kiln and pulled all this out.


4 of us also made soup & we sold that along with little cups. I didn't have much time, so I made a quick, easy & really yummy soup that I found online.
Turkey Chili Soup with Hominy
(adapted from FoodandWine.com)
This is great if you are looking for the warmth of chili, but don't have the time to make it.

The Stuff
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions- one yellow, one red, finely chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound turkey andouille sausage, casings removed (or you can use 2 pounds ground turkey)
1/3 cup ancho chile powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 Teaspoons chipotle powder
Salt
1/4 cup corn meal
2 - 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
5 cups dark chicken stock or low-sodium broth
One 29-ounce can hominy, drained and rinsed
Shredded cheddar, chopped cilantro, sour cream and tortilla chips, for serving

What ya do with it:
In a large pot, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, until barely softened, about 3 minutes. Add the turkey, sausage, ancho powder, cumin and chipotle powder and season with salt. Cook, breaking up the turkey & sausage with a wooden spoon, until the liquid has evaporated and the turkey is lightly browned, about 5 minutes (if you have problems with the spices sticking to the bottom, deglaze with a little stock). Stir in the corn meal and tomato paste. Add the stock and hominy and simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with cheddar, cilantro, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Easy - Peasy!

So, while I didn't sell any pottery at the kiln sale, all of the soups were a hit! And I did have enough interest in this piece that the store took it on consignment.

These didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.


They both have glaze issues and aren't as tall as they seemed when I was making them. (First of all, they never do. Secondly, it is always the shrinkage that gets ya!)

My review (of my own work) concept A, execution C+. What do you think? (I can take it!) I made a similar one for my mother-in-law for Christmas. She liked it, and I think the execution on hers was a little better.

I had a couple other things that went into the kiln, but had some even more severe problems. (I do not take all the blame. The kiln seemed to have some underfiring issues in certain areas) I didn't get photos of those.

Read more...