probably the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life

Penny beagle is
Absolutely the cutest
Doggy Christmas elf :)

comfort food for VEGANS and GLUTEN INTOLERANT

(Spike was fooled, he was like "smells creamy to me!")
SO, let's say you are, like me, vegan, or like visitors to our house, gluten intolerant. Not much left to eat, is there, except maybe twigs and lawn clippings, right?

I wanted to try gluten-free pasta, and I have to say, this brown rice stuff (bag with bunny below) is A plus, superb! So tasty, and only difference is slightly longer cooking time.
Katie is our best pal and rides the bus with the wife everyday and loaned us a vegan cookbook. I was like "whoa, MAC AND CHEESE?" because I have not had anything like that in a long time...except for buying Annie's frozen, which is tasty but saltier than I would prefer plus wicked expensive.
This recipe is soooooooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooooood, check it out:

vegan mac and cheese

Boil 1 pound macaroni per usual.
While that boils, use another sauce pan, combine a good margerine 1/4 cup, 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese and 1 cup rice milk. When that has melted over medium heat, add 2 cups vegan shredded cheese, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast and 1 1/2 teaspoons good vinegar. Stir until melted, keep warm until pasta is done and drained, then combine! OH JOY!!!!!!!

le secrets!

As you know, I find myself involved in a lot of SANTA type SECRETS this time of year.
I am trying to keep this thing a little bit under my hat: this is like, tres fantastico coffee set, but it is a surprise gift on its way somewhere...and I have been bursting with excitement wanting to post it and cannot wait any longer....anyway...it is unlikey that particular recipient will see this post, but isn't this cute? The purchaser saw my own, made for us, black doggy coffee pot and wanted an elephant one for her friend...so nice....
(new pottery by Gary Rith)

the aftermath....

OK, busy busy BUSY weekend!
I was at 2 fairs this weekend and had fun, but golly, was I tired Sunday evening. I delight in sharing the behind-the-scenes with you, so let me lay it out for ya:
--I realized that since this was 2 days and 2 events in 2 locations, the reason I was so tired at the end was the complete set up and take down--twice. Usually if you have a 2 day fair, Saturday evening you just leave your stuff and come back Sunday. So this was a first for me: double schlepp! Worth it though, and close to home.
--I do very few fairs now compared with when I lived in New Hampshire. But people have invited me to do some events, so I have tried it out this year. It goes back to the vagaries of the marketplace with fairs, like weather, crowds or no crowds, advertizing, distance, booth fee, and let me explain how this factored in recently: the Saturday event in Ithaca was beautiful and wonderfully well organized and there were delightful people everywhere, but there was an expensive booth fee, but I thought I would try it out. You always wonder "OK, it cost this much to be here, how many mugs do I sell to pay for it?" and for example, the lady with pictures across from me Saturday did not sell a thing all day.....she was very nice but looked a bit depressed...I do not know why the fair was only so so. There were muscians playing carols. Luckily, at the end of the day, they switched to jazz. I read recently that people really get tired of Christmas carols and decorations, people are like ENOUGH ALREADY!
ANYWAY, just to compare Saturday's so-so numbers compared to the booth fee: I came home and had internet orders from strangers adding up to MORE than what I had made all day. The internet is a very friendly place for me :) THEN I went to a synagogue for a Sunday fair. They had invited me and I have never been to a synagogue before, for any reason. There was NO fee for Sunday, none at all, they just collected a small percentage of your sales after. I figured "how can I lose? and the car will already be packed with stuff!" and HOLY CATS it was a blast! First of all, NO CHRISTMAS carols, obviously, yaaaaay! But it was the most lively indoor festival I have ever been to, with singing and dancing everywhere, food, blahblahblah, it was the most fun I have had in a loooong time. And get this, remembering I did not have to put up any money, I made more than twice the sales as Saturday.
So, as I say, you try this and that, see what happens, work hard, hope for the best.....above is me Saturday, below you see some of my buddies, like Werner who is a physicist and sculptor, and Tommy a potter and you will recall is also an old drinking buddy, and Leslie too....

like I was saying.....

Right, so busy weekend--Ithaca! Come see me today at 100 W Seneca from 11-5 or Sunday at Temple Beth El!

I was pretty thrilled--my kiln developed some problem and spent an extra 3 hours reaching temperature, but it turned out beautifully as you see below. Friday I tore the kiln apart, replaced a worn out element, good as new. Santa gave me an early present indeed!
I am soooo excited, see all my friends nonstop this weekend, catcha later....

(new pots by Gary Rith)

come see me!

As you see in the header, I have my last 2 craft fairs of 2011 this weekend, come on over!
In other news, we had our 5th bit of snow for the season. Just an inch, enough to look pretty here and there, although I heard that to the east they got up to 8 inches in places.
Our village is Etna, NY, a place of maybe 300 people at most, just outside Ithaca. We have a bus stop, a church, playground, fire station, cemetery, river and bridge, and soon, our post office which is how we get our mail, is due to close. But its a cute little village alright. Have an awesome weekend!

the usual.....

I am writing a haiku right now, here at 5:53 am. Based on a true story! As usual....

Scary sounds from the
Litter box...smelly kitty
Emerges proudly.

In other news, completed a BOATLOAD of bowls and cups yesterday, pic below of some of them, glazed too. Then I decided THAT IS IT for me and Christmas. I am officially at work on 2012 now. You see, things have to dry, be fired twice, blah blah blah, and I am worn out! Now I will concentrate on the 2 craft fairs I have this weekend and shipping orders...and making the brilliant CAR TEAPOT VERSION 2.0 :)

OK, want an awesome and easy soup recipe? The wife tells me yesterday, and it was flippin' cold and wet and snowy,
"How about soup?" and I am like
"I could warm my hands on the bowl...and in the bowl...." and I made our favorite and simplest soup. We had some Thai curry soup from the store once, and it was AMAAAAAAZING and between our guess at what they did and their ingredients, we figured out to make it ourselves, soooo tasty..... Recipe below *


(some newly made bowls and cups by Gary Rith)

Gary and M's Thai Curry Soup

-cook half cup rice as you normally do, half and half with wild rice if you have it
-saute 2 carrots and several cloves garlic in big soup pot, 5-10 mins
-add 4 cups broth and 2 tbs curry powder, boil then reduce heat and simmer
-when rice is nearing completion in its pot, add one cup frozen peas to broth mix
-when rice finishes, toss in with soup, raise heat until boiling again, and you are DONE.

--spoon soup into bowls, top each with a handful of slivered almonds (I had to use walnuts yesterday, still yummy) and raisens
YUMMO!

The original from Friends.... and the souped up video...

frog tea!

I had to work hard on this limerick, and the wife supplied critical input on rhymes with "throw up".

Frog tea WON'T make you throw up,
This is how it might brew up:
Boil water until hot,
Pour into your teapot.
Frog is ON the teapot, not in, with a matching blue cup.


(teaset by Gary Rith)

giraffes and elephants!

I needed something good to go with this pic of mugs, and here is my lame, written at 5;30 in the morning limerick:

Its not all elephants here,
Sometimes there are giraffes to hold your beer!
This holiday season be smug,
Shop with me, buy a mug!
Your friends and family will hold you dear when they get their gear.

I had to ask the wife for suggestions to rhyme with "beer" :)

This is a funny quiz floating around online:
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a professional. The questions are NOT that difficult.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?

Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend.... except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory.

Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.


(mugs by Gary Rith)

disgusting and despicable :)

You will be excused from feeling nauseous and also declining any invitation to dinner at our house. Totally understandable. That photo below is appalling, I am SHOCKED! Shocked I tell you.
In other news, me and the wife made a minestrone type soup on Sunday. It is extremely tasty and simple, recipe below *


*
Minestrone type soup with Gary and Penny the dog

First, let the dog lick all the pots and pans clean.
Kidding, kidding!

--Saute an onion and several cloves garlic in olive oil for 5-10 mins, until soft.
--Add 28 oz can tomatoes, start to boil and then let simmer 20 mins.
--Add 5 cups broth (veggie!) and 16 oz can white beans, various spices like oregano and basil, simmer ten minutes.
--Add 5 oz noodles, simmer another ten until they are done.

EAT up!!! Yummo!

there be dragons!

I just read book one of Game of Thrones. It has a lot intrigue, murder and mystery, dragons too.
A lot of people get excited by sci-fi and fantasy, and, well, I am amazed at how much people love dragons. LOVE LOVE LOOooooove dragons! Its like skull stuff--alll these customers come out of the woodwork and buy it all up!
My neighbor Alita needed a dragon eating a unicorn mug for her pal, and I was happy to oblige--cracks me up! I am thinking of another way to design dragon mugs, then make a boatload of them in 2012 and make a lot of moola from my adoring customers.

I was reading this for real: when mapmakers many years ago were illustrating Europe, and did not know what was beyond certain directions, they would write something like "here be dragons". Haha! Beautiful!

(mug by Gary Rith, outrageous painting by somebody else)

of orders and patterns....

Its funny, you have friends in say, Minnesota ordering things for friends in say, Florida who are ordering things for the first friend back in Minnesota and its funny because you know all the Christmas secrets! You begin to realize that some people kinda collect your work, then give some to a friend who begins to collect your work and before you know it you are a millionaire.....heh :)

Back to patterns: I was realizing just yesterday how much I have always like tidy patterns, and I don't consciously think about it. Look at how I set up a row of handles for mugs yesterday. And my preferred drawn decoration mode has become a repeated pattern, like this cat with his coffee repeated around the mug...very orderly and pleasing, yet funny. (despite my affection for patterns, I am still a lousy housekeeper......)
Happy weekend all!

(new work by Gary Rith)

its my cat in a box!

Why YES, my cat in a box, my favorite holiday video too, AND a before and after with this kiln. I took the before around 5 Thursday morning, it reached about 2200 around 5 yesterday evening, then today? At 5 again, 24 hours later? Took the after photo, looking soooooo gooooood.....

stack of cake stands....

SO, we have talked here in the last two weeks, as you know, about the cake stand the wife wanted, and it was the first I had made, in 2 parts, base and plate. It is small, on top here, and you will also remember it had a glorious chocolate cake on it for Thanksgiving (we are still eating that cake....). ANYWAY, cake stands like to crack at every point in the making and firing. Here are 2 more more that I made, bigger than the first, which I made in one piece. My experience: making them in one piece is very easy, but I will be honest: 2 of four cracked in the firing, GRRRR! Pisses you off. I think that for me, making them in one step might be easy, but making them in 2 pieces and attaching them is stronger and less likely to crack. I think that it is easier for me to control the drying vs. wet bits that way.


(3 cake stands by Gary Rith)

ginger cashew carrot fat cat....

We were talking last night, speaking of Spike cat, saying that CAT is in the word CONTRARY don't you agree? No surprise is it????
You can dig Spike cat's extensive sprawl here, and the super duper sugar bowls I made, but look below! A RECIPE for carrot ginger cashew soup, holy cats, soooooooo awesome!*




*carrot ginger cashew soup, done my way

--saute an onion, few cloves garlic, a couple tbs fresh ginger, as it sautees:
--chop 1 1/2 pounds carrots and toss them in too--sauteeing total will be at least 15 minutes, soften things up then
--pour in a cup of white wine and 7 cups broth (veggie broth!) and start it to a boil then
--reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes and then
--add 2 tbs lime juice, 1 1/2 cups cashews and pour into a blender and puree baby, puree!!! you can keep the soup warm in the pot on the stove while
--prepare some noodles, we had these Chinese cellophane noodles which are perfect and beautiful, and prepare a green veg--the original recipe asks for green onion, but I just diced green pepper
--put soup in bowl, put some noodles on top, then add some green stuff then eat! A MILLION times tastier than you could EVER imagine, and super easy to make :)

vroom vroom!

Like I was telling you, I made a working car teapot, and here tis, out of the kiln! Its just awesome, I am soooo excited....It rolls, oh yes...it does not roll well, but it rolls :)
(as my favorite teacher would say, though, "make more!")

(rolling car teapot by Gary Rith)

20 years plus.....

Before I talk 20 years, you will notice we were walking around Cornell's campus goofing around Sunday...why not? It has been so warm! I went to Bennington which has what some people call the prettiest campus on earth....but others would say Cornell has the prettiest campus on earth...both groups would be correct. They are both very beautiful places.

ANYWAY, me and the wife met on a campus NOBODY would ever call beautiful, when we were graduate students at University of Illinois at Chicago. Much of Chicago is beautiful, although UIC had some pretty spots, most was sorta dark and utilitarian. I was happy there though, and the wife ran the ceramic studio and gallery where I messed around...and it was 22 years ago this week that I met her. 1989!!!! We were friends for awhile, but it was ALSO this week, 20 years ago, that we had our first outing in 1991. Not a date, really, yet, but we started palling around outside the studio 20 years ago this week....(and got married 13 months later, Christmas 1992 :)

teapots on teapots....

A joke that I have always liked: turning the knob atop a teapot into a little teapot itself :) Happy Sunday!

(teapots by Gary Rith)

jammin'

Many of you will remember we were out late one July evening at the farm picking raspberries in the 96 degree heat...it had been 100 earlier....and got a boatload of my FAVORITE berries and froze a bag of them...to make into jam when it is not 96. We do this in the summer--freeze a measure of berries to make jam over the holidays when it is cooler to make jam, plus it is, you know, a taste of summer. The wife had also picked and frozen strawberries, and yesterday was the day...I am famously impatient and bad with this operation, so she clearly has to run the show: you can ruin jam easily. I was taking pics, per usual, and there were screeches of "don't blog this!" which I am sure she did not really mean..... in other news, I was fiddling around and got an excellent new green-blue glaze scheme idea, and gave the wife the mug below, super nice, and finally, potters will laugh when they see that Spike's favorite bed is a clay box set on the heat vent .....