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...

Stew-pendous

I don't know how it is out there, but it has been cold here. And my computer is in the 3rd flr, uninsulated office. (Really old house, stone walls, no insulation) that, along with a busy work week (covering some extra shifts, for extra hours) has kept me away from the blogosphere this week. :(

Since I was working a lot and it was so cold, I really wanted something warm & comforting to bring in for lunch, but I'm on a budget, so I can't go to the cafe. Well, I'll tell ya, a good stew is a like a good hug, cheap & warms you down to the soul!
In my latest library stash, I checked out the unbelievable real stew put together by Clifford Wright. (Wow, I really did find "Mr. Wright"-- too bad I'm married).
This is officially my next great find. It will also be a purchase when I return to the world of buyers rather than borrowers. In the mean time let me tell you Cliff (I hope he doesn't mind if I call him that) is worth "checking out!"
There are 300 stews in here, some that look more complicated than I want to mess with, but many are reasonable with combinations that I can't believe I never thought of. The book is extremely well organized, divided in sections by main ingredient and the sections go by regions.

The Chicken and Coconut Stew from Kenya was an instant must-try, so let's see how it went!
Peppers & Onions are always a good start (2 each here sliced) they are being heated up with 1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger, 1/4 t curry, salt, sugar a couple cloves of garlic (he says crushed to a paste, I just put them through the press) and 3 cloves.
Once the onions and peppers softened I added the tomatoes from a 28 oz can (mostly drained) (Cliff asked for 1 1/2 lbs of ripe tomatoes, but they weren't looking so ripe at the market, so I used the canned) Along with tomatoes there was a crushed dried red chile (from the garden last summer!) and 1 1/2 T grated lemon zest. Once they are in & heated, add a small chicken cut into pieces (next time I'll probably just buy 4 # of chicken thighs to make it easier to serve & eat) .
(Dory was very excited to help with this!)

After about 5 minutes add 2 cups of coconut milk* and (wait for it)


1 1/2 pounds of Sweet Potatoes! HO-licius!

Damn, you know I was excited by that!

The next step is a perrennial favorite of mine: Cover, lower the heat & simmer** a couple hours until chicken & taters are tender.

It has a pretty orange color and the chicken melts in your mouth! HP wanted it over rice, but I love it just the way it was! Of course the left-overs were the best!

So keep warm, where ever you are & if you need a hug, make some of this & consider it a hug from Kiki & Cliff. (If you serve this to some one else, spontaneous hugs may occur as well)


*(Cliff tells you how to make your own coconut milk, but I'm down with the Goya thing. Cheap & Easy)
**(Simmer only, don't boil-boiled chicken = tough chicken)

Read more...