experimental to TIDY and aesthetically pleasing...

You know I go into the new year trying to tidy up the house, the papers, clear out the junk, right?  Without thinking about it, I have been organizing my thinking a little, maybe for the first time.
For example, never before now could I name 3 favorite teas *, my 2 favorite coffees**, and my 4 favorite hot sauces***.  More importantly I can name 22 favorite glaze schemes! (different from glazes, of which I have 18--I mean favorite combos and decorating schemes, right?)  I made tiles, seen here, of those 22, then started trying to list favorite bowl and mugs shapes (example number 3 below using 4 of those glaze schemes)....then realized I wanted to get down a list of favorite bank, vase, teapot, pitcher shapes too.
I know what I want to make aesthetically, but its always like shooting an arrow at a target blindfolded when you experiment.  You know its out there, but...plus I am disorganized and new ideas are always coming along and I forget what I like or what I do best.
For all my seeming confidence and egotistical bluster online, I am in person pretty uncertain and shy. Doing an assessment of what I like to do best makes me realize I make the pots I want to use and and think "these look cool!"
Thanks for listening...


(mugs by Gary rith)

*Irish Breakfast tea from Twinings, Celestial Seasonings green with a cute elephant on the box, Tazo green with ginger
**Lavazza espresso and Green Mountain
***Cholula chipotle pepper, Goya habanero, Tabasco, Frank's
Feel free to comment on some of your favorites!

the day AFTER....

I told ya Ray and I were gonna run a few the morning after partying and rock and rolling (see post below!) Penny loves him.  In other news, we had a midnight call last night...someones', ahem, (Ray's), cell phone was bumped and redialed us....  probably justifiable homicide in some states, hmm?


In other news, my old buddy baby Alex was visiting Saturday...not a baby anymore!  And lookit his shirt, this is how his parents announce happy news!  That baby (?) is due this summer :)


Finally, dig my penguin bank...I am trying to make all my favorite banks and make a webpage of them.... penguin banks = cute and easy!  Have a great Sunday!

rock and roll hoochie coo....

I was invited, ALONG WITH A GAZILLION other people, to the El Caminos CD release party at The Haunt last night and holy CATS did we tie one on...the wife stayed home on the couch with the dog...working on the taxes...we all have our fun in different ways, hmm?

They played 2+ hours straight, maybe 20-25 songs.  they sound, to me, like Lucinda William's band with John Hiatt singing...tres perfecto....

Raymundo picked me up and we met Stev0 there...it was the BEST show....frequent readers here will remember that the drummer Curtis is an old friend of mine (and he is in 2-3 more bands we follow) and Armin here in the red pants is also an old friend AND John in the vest ....so, I know half the band...Stev0 is their photographer and Raymundo their newEST big fan....


Stevo and his bigazz camera, Raymundo and me hard at work...it is great getting out to a warm club in January.... my coat stayed on.... am I always cold?


Hard to see, but Curtis in back, Armin on the right with John...

CDs ten bucks!  Sold like hotcakes...alll gone... Ray and I listened to it on the way home, then I put it on for the wife here...
GOOD GOLLY what was I thinking, Ray is coming over shortly to run a few miles with me and I am flippin'....um....NOT energetic right now..... oh well, have an awesome day yourself!

when good ideas....

...become great pots.  Some nice things came outta the kiln Thursday, OH JOY!
have a great weekend!


(car bank with cork underneath and chicken pot no-pie by Gary Rith)

back to that winter wonderland sh!t....

Just a little snow....I liked the warm weekend when the drifts disappeared....


She is a wicked cute dog, isn't Penny?


I made another teapot and cup set....and will make more today, good golly I like this color scheme...have an awesome day!


(teapot and cup set by Gary Rith)

what is your favorite comfort food?

The wife is like "wait, you went to the dentist, walked out the door and ate a PLATE SIZED COOKIE FOR LUNCH???"
"With coffee!" sez I.
My dentist is across the street, conveniently, from Nook's house.  I had to walk Nook a couple of times after the dentist, and it was time for lunch, a DELIGHTFUL midday situation when it is warm and SUNNY in January.

So, speaking of comfort food.....I asked myself "do I get the usual burrito for lunch (mmm mmmmm!) or see what is going on at the food coop?".  Our food coop has a great bakery and deli and coffee (delish, and 92 cents! fair trade even...).  They have PLATE SIZED vegan chocolate chip cookies.  Not a big plate....and, well, you know that a vegan cookie is basically a baked bowl of oatmeal, right?  BUT OH WHAT A BOWL...with chocolate!  So, my nice clean teeth immediately got that crapola all over them...that is why the wife was appalled...


You can see I took Nook back to Ithaca Falls.  There are 150 waterfalls within ten miles of Ithaca, including several right in the MIDDLE of the city...like this one....he is standing by trees covered with ice...



You are probably wondering what in EARTH I am doing here with this tasty casserole...read on!


The wife and I were talking the other day.  I had made the pot of beer chili and cornbread for the side.  She remembers:
"my mom would take leftover chili the day after, top it with cornbread batter and bake it! MMMmmm" and I was like
"wait, we had something like that too!"
So I endeavored to find a recipe I liked....there were many, and I chose this one. It is a casserole and the wife teases me later "haha, you made a casserole! Like a church lady!!!".

This recipe is AWESOME.  I worried that the cornbread would be mushy, that the chili would be runny all over the place.  NOPE.  the calculations were perfect, so that as you see it holds together just right, and scoops out of the pan neatly and the flavors !!!!! CRISP ON TOP! Recipe as I did it and link below...

Comfort food.  What is your favorite comfort food?  i think I live on peanut butter sandwiches firstly, and burritos secondly, maybe pasta thirdly...but this casserole was just like eating awesomeness when you were 5....  GO TO COMMENTS and give us your favorite!

http://www.food.com/recipe/chili-cornbread-bake-338193

CHILI
3/4 lb tofurkey sausage
1 onion (chopped)
1  green pepper (chopped)
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup salsa
CORN BREAD
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces corn
1/2 cup soy milk plus more to thin the batter 
1 egg
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese soy type
Directions:

1
Preheat oven to 350 - grease a 2 quart casserole.
2
In large pan over medium heat tofurkey, onions, pepper and garlic 10 minutes
3
Stir in beans, tomato sauce and salsa; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
4
In medium bowl: combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt; mix well.
5
In small bowl: combine corn, milk and egg - beat well and add to dry ingredients.
6
Spoon half of the cornbread mixture into greased casserole; sprinkle with half the cheese.
7
Spoon chili over cheese; sprinkle with remaining half of the cheese.
8
Spoon remaining corn bread mixture evenly over the cheese spreading gently to cover.
9
Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

playing with your food....

You must think I don't have anything interesting going on.....but I DO!

You must also be thinking "Gary sure does have a busy calendar, running around town with 3 dogs plus making stuff and playing with his food????"
Yes.  I am having HUGE fun.  I was babysitting Yogi again Monday...we saw chickens again!





Finally, I told you I was making a single serve teapot and cup set...I made more than one, but this one is so fun, open it up and SURPRISE!


(teapot and cup by Gary Rith featuring dog chasing cat and mouse hiding in cup...)

don't eat stuff off the sidewalk....

...you don't need it, so don't eat it! Famous line from The Cramps, the punk band....applies to beagles AND:

We were walking down the street Sunday and there was a clean espresso-cappucino machine on the sidewalk.  I took it home scrubbed it, ran vinegar through it, GOOD AS GOLD.  It looked like nobody had ever used it and it was utterly clean.  Works great!  Apparently NOT full of arsenic as we have sipped from it, as you see, and survived!
It is pretty awesome.  I gave us some new cups to go with it....


Gosh I look terrible early don't I?  My shirt matches my cup though....


See the temp there?  It was 60.  Our snow is gone!  60 in January!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have an awesome day!

You might need groovy stuff like these items for your Valentine, shop my etsy gallery NOW!

double doggy day

I got the call Friday:  "Yogi will need you!" and my best puppy pal Yogi and I had a ball Saturday...I babysit for him sometimes, he is twice the size he was last month, and here is with our Penny AND his neighbor's chickens....coincidentally I MADE MY FIRST EVER chicken for pottery and so....

(beagle bank and chicken by Gary Rith)

Speaking of beagles, Raymundo and Stev0 were over saturday for the 5 mile run...followed by cookies, coffee and beagles....


Good golly we were social on Saturday...we went over to Maggie's with soup and she made the prettiest foccacia EVER...


Finally, new beagle pots by me...have an awesome Sunday!

"throw away your other recipes..."

I make granola and loooove it.  I was wondering "there must be granola cookies, right?" and the first recipe I saw made like 6 dozen and used 3.5 cups of granola!  What army is that for?  Next recipe looked quite awesome...contained CHOCOLATE.  My wife does not believe you should bother with a treat unless it contain chocolate.  Her verdict on this fine recipe?  "get rid of all your other recipes".
Easy to make, soft, lovely appearance, and has that unusual and tasty texture that you imagine granola would add.....
In other news, I had a last minute call to run downtown and take care of Nook, one of my doggy clients (and a last minute call to take care of another doggy client, Yogi the puppy, today--oh boy!)
Nook and I walked everywhere and he got filthy in the rain and melting snow and mud :)  he is an arctic dog...who hates rain.  He would pull back toward his house, and I would be like "Nook sweetie, you won't melt!".  Maybe he is simply vain?  He only has that one fine white coat and good golly it takes a long time to towel him clean and dry!  I love Nook, but my own beagle Penny is so easy to clean!
I was very cold Friday, due to the rain.  You understand why Ireland in winter, 40 degrees and rainy, can feel a LOT colder than our usual winter of 20 and snowy...wet makes things colder....

You can see Nook's handsome coat getting icky....


Somebody downtown has these in their garden!


Have a great Saturday!

(teapot by Gary Rith)

beagle-icious!

Made a beagle teapot, just came out of the kiln.
I think it is a prize.
I think the dog agrees.

(Penny the beagle with doggy teapot by Gary Rith)
I made a beagle bank too, it will be fired in the coming days and will look similar...coins go into the mouth :)

In other news, this morning the wife is like "OH! Lemme get a picture of you with your cake stand and scones!" (recipe similar to this one)  These are the ways you chase away them winter blahs...... have a great weekend!