the most beautiful:_______

Fill it in, the most beautiful BEAGLE! Wife! Flowers! Bowl below! (I really like that bowl...)

My point? Some say Cornell University has the prettiest campus on earth....and with the old buildings and acres and miles of forest, gardens, rivers, hills and gorges, maybe it is :) There is a lake on campus called Beebe Lake, and somebody planted a zillion daffodils there, and it would seem that Penny found them....we went over in the continued HOThot HOT weather and had the picnic with the wife outside her office....

dig this fine bowl here. I am so excited, I need to make MORE MORE more in this glaze scheme, with appropriate monsters indeed.....

have a great Thursday!

relaxed straight..... ?

I was putting on a favorite pair of dark blue jeans yesterday and noticed for the first time RELAXED STRAIGHT on the tag NEXT TO THE FLY and I am thinking, OH, gay guys get the skinny jeans called UPTIGHT GAY? Which is...ahem....code for something????? Or maybe my Calvins are simply relaxed fit straight leg?

But then again, I AM a relaxed straight guy...so they suit me in many ways.....


You probably need this adorable dog-cat teapot, onsale now at my etsy gallery....

what beauty God hath wrought.....

Do you have any idea how unusual it is to have a week+ of 70+ sunny weather in March in upstate NY? The first day of spring is actually...springish? And more: that there would be amazing flower blooms 1-2 months early? Like Penny with me at Cornell's arboretum and these pink flowers...NEVER have we seen blooms like that in March....

Penny and I called the wife "it is GORGEOUS out" and the wife is like "I have a boatload of boxes for you, bubble wrap too" (you know I ship all the time, and she scrounges supplies around the university for me to save MONEY)

and I was like "HA! There is an excuse, Penny and I will walk around the gardens then pick you and the boxes up!".

We came across this extraordinary rocky bench in the woods pictured below, "what beauty God hath wrought" carved in there.....

OK, sure, a lot of pictures of me and my beagle.....but well, its my blog, eh? Have an awesome Wednesday!

life of art, love of a femme.....

The wife told me to name the post that.

OK, so lots going, right?

Sunday the wife and I are making a potato pizza (mmmmmm, comfort food indeed! pizza topped with potato!) and as we go to sleep I am like "help me remember, I want to make a puttanesca pizza Monday. I don't know if it exists, but I want to make it! Spicy tomato, garlic, olives, all that on a pizza!" (puttanesca is a famous Italian pasta dish, why not as pizza topping too?)

I look it up. There are many possibilities, and I modified one (anchovy paste and anchovies??? GROSS!) Plus I use non-dairy cheese and sliced little soy sausage bits on there ****

The wife is snapping these photos of me in action, below, and as we are having the first bite I tell her "forget it, I am NEVER going to make any other kind of pizza EVER this is soooooo good!" She tells me "you have to keep this recipe SECRET" and I am like "nah, i can share, I mean, I had help from the net in making this...."

Earlier in the day I call her "hey, I want to make biscotti"****** (biscotti are a very crisp cookie, sometimes dipped in chocolate, that are almost only made to be dunked in coffee)

and the wife is like "DO IT" and I am like "what part do you want to help with??" and she is like

"the last part, the dunking in chocolate...and the cleaning the chocolate bowl!"

Holy CATS, tasty. We had biscotti for breakfast just now! SUGAR AND CAFFEINE RUSH!!!!

Fired stuff, its a great morning here, before and after shots below---have a great day yourself!


******

Biscotti with almonds and chocolate, so easy

preheat to 300

--in large bowl, stir together 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1.5 teas. orange zest, 1/4 teas. bake soda

--in second bowl add one whole egg, also one egg white and 1/2 teas. vanilla----use your whisk and whip it good! add to flour mix, stir nicely, then when it is all together add 3/4 cup chopped almonds, stir them in

--the dough is a bit moist and sticky, use your hands to form into a log about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long, set onto a baking sheet and bake about 37-45 minutes (you can use baking parchment if you wish), until it is a pretty golden brown, remove and set the whole bake sheet and log to cool ten minutes---leave the oven on---then take the log, which may have stuck slightly unless you use parchment, and slice the log diagonally in attactive wedges with a sharp serrated bread knife--you will have about ten of them

--set each cookie back on the baking sheet sliced side down, bake each side ten minutes, remove from oven (turn it off!) and let them cool a couple of hours on a rack

--melt 5-6 ounces chocolate in a pie pan shaped thing---melt your chocolate any way that works for it, microwave, double boiler, whatever, then dip each cookie halfway into the chocolate and then set on waxed paper to cool, leave them to set up or even put into the fridge to cool

****

Putanesca pizza!!!

• 2+ garlic cloves , crushed
• 1+ pinch red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes , drained
• 1 prepared 13 inch pizza dough
• many shakes dried oregano and basil, black pepper
• 2 tablespoons capers , drained
• 1/4 cup black olives , drained and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup cheese , shredded

Directions:

1. 1
   Mince garlic. In a small skillet, over medium heat, sauté garlic and red pepper flakes in the olive oil.
2. 2
   Add diced tomatoes. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, prebake pizza dough shaped into a circle on the stone for 5 mins.
3. 3
   Sprinkle the pizza crust with the tomato mixture. Add the herbs and spice, capers and olives. Cover the pie with a light layer of cheese, all the way out to the edges. Some of the toppings should still peek through.
4. 4
   Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.

better than .....socks!

I have always felt golf is a game for ...well, people NOT like me. People who can afford what, 20-100 bucks for an afternoon's stroll through overfertilized lawns? Plus equipment and club membership and whatever? I am not the country club type I guess....

FRISBEE golf however is better than SOCKS! I mean, 76 degrees, wandering around on a beautiful hill at Cornell, FREE???? It is for the more rugged and freewheeling bohemian dudes like me....me and Chris were out Sunday on Cornell's course, holy cats it was fun...look at this, he nailed a photo of me nailing the first hole....it went in, yes it did....

Chris lives across the street. His dog is the little corgi Soupy, Penny, my beagle's BEST friend..I need video of the 2 of them playing, they are ADORABLE together...

Holy cats, 76 degrees yesterday, finally got the bike rack upon the car and had to go cycling too.....man, whatta WEEKEND, how was yours?

eating GREEN food

I guess we could have put green food dye in the morning oatmeal? Eaten pistachios??? Kiwis???? How about GUAC???? Guac is the PERFECT green food, especially when you have discovered Sam Adams Irish red beer (OH JOY! this beer reviewer gives it an A+, the wife gives it an A+, and my guac full of lime? What is HIGHER than an A+??? Eleven. My guac goes to 11.....)

It was our first picnic of the year in our back yard. I think we eat all of our dinners outside in nice weather. It is always fun on March 1 to say, in the middle of a snowstorm, full of hope "well, next month its April and surely we will have a picnic!". This year, of course, it is so darn WARM EVERY day, nothing is keeping us from picnicing in the back yard.....

I rolled out of bed yesterday and put on all this green clothing and the wife was like "ready for St Pats are ya???" and I was like "OH! Forgot! But I guess I am !!!!"

We were lucky to be able to go party down at Maggie and Katie's again. Well, we were lucky to see them but most especially their sweet doggy Maxwell.....

"The Forg by Garg"

More on GARG in a sec, but first: I was putting off updating my website yesterday, which is easy, but which I act like it is difficult. IT IS NOT. It looks cool, have a look! www.garyrith.com I also ordered new bidness cards for the summer. I used the picture in the header up top, shows a lot of work, different things I like to do.

So, yeah, that is why I was baking yeast bread and making cranberry banana bread indeed...and cleaning the house...gosh, some people do things like update websites all day, sheesh!

And YES, i think that the drawing of sharks and crocs chasing each other around a bowl would be funny on real pots....

It is a very early spring indeed, and there are zillions of frogs out there croaking this week.
When I was a kid I loved frogs so much, i drew them all the time and wrote stories about them, like "The forg by Garg". garg became my family nickname, holy cats, I havn't thought of that in years! GARG! Anyway, you may need some new frog mugs this spring, for sale now at my etsy shoppe....

FUGLY bunch of bugs....

What on earth are these things swarming all over the side of my house? Occaisionally one gets inside. They are harmless but (in haiku form!):

What is this insect?

It is: finally, a bug

The cat won't eat.

Dig YET another Godzilla teapot, oh my oh my! Have a great weekend!

SAMOVAR LUST: sitting, thinking, staring, figuring sh*t out....

(Samovar, good lord, don't you want one too????)

Do you know what a samovar is? Its like a big, fancy, hot tea thing, MANY MANY cups of hot tea in there, bubbling away all day. You read about those things keeping Russians warm out there in the snowy wastes....I wish I had a samovar. AS IT IS, I have my own teapots, and it is my habit to make a pot of tea in the biggest and then sip some every hour all morning, mmmm. Except it is cold after a bit.

ANYWAY, my point? I am having one of those afternoons yesterday, the list says "make 3 large of these, 2 small of those etc" and I am making this large bowl of a certain shape and as I am making it, SOMETHING else is coming through the clay. I mean, i direct the show, but the making was showing a sweet possibility and I went with it.

OK, then today, more tea, more sitting there, now its time to finish that bowl, and I am thinking "Godzilla? Checkerboard pattern? (like teapot in post below) Crocodile? How and where does the croc go? And why not a shark too.....? And THEN it could be blue on one side of the bowl and green on the other and and and..." You probably think artists spend a lot of time staring at things....well, WE DO.

I have to share it with you...have an awesome day....

ONE FACT AND ONE DREAM, we need you! If you don't want to look like a homeless bum edition....

Go to comments and tell us your fact and your dream today! Don't think about it too hard, just whatever pops into your head!

Now mine: Fact is, the teaset below is super dooper and i need to use that decoration scheme AGAIN AND AGAIN and again!
Dream: I don't need to dream of nice weather, holy cats, so nice out, 70 and sunny today, and warm expected for several days! The polar bears are crying.....and a mosquito bit me inside the house this morning...but other than that, I love it :)

But, for real, I dreamt somebody gave me a huge fish tank and I spent the night trying to figure out how to keep them alive....


(teaset by Gary Rith)

Penny and I went over to Cornell yesterday to pick up the wife and meet a dog walking CLIENT of mine. You will recall that although I will walk my own dog free of charge, I have a secret sideline as a DOG WALKER and PET SITTER and CAT WRANGLER. I started this because so many people ask me to dog or cat sit, and I like to usually, but ahem, giving me a bag of dog treats after 2 hours work or a pair of souvenir glasses from New Jersey? NO, I was really feeling like people were taking advantage of my time and good nature. I have a fee schedule, I go to your house at your instructions, wherever that might be, and I will wear out your pup with fun times......

I see myself here and its like "shave from time to time, Gary, or people will be wondering if you are a bum..."

beagles beans and bowls!!!!

OK, if you live in San Diego? I have heard it is 80 and sunny 24/7/365. If you live in Ithaca? It is GLOOMY ASS 24/7/364. Gloomy ass = you know, either low grey clouds and rain or low grey clouds and snow, 80 a not often seen dream. Even so, I love it here because it is groovy. AND thanks to global warming and all of your SUVs, Ithaca has become a tropical paradise. I mean gosh, all this week, early March, 70 and sunny, roughly speaking????? Yesterday I was like "HA! No time to facebook etc, its too nice out!" and realized that in these modern times I can sit out on the rocks in back WITH my computer and beagle, in the sun, facebooking and blogging OH YES. My friends will have noticed, though, that I have not visited other blogs in a few days, sorry!!!! I will catch up :)

OK, these bowls below? They come out of the kiln yesterday and I am like "THESE ARE MINE ALL MIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!!!!!!!!". I have this tool and wanted to see how it might help me do the rim. NICE and thick, I like it. Secondly, the wife is always asking for half round bowls, exactly. PLUS of course, my beagle and cat are on those bowls! They have to be ours! I made killer lentil soup yesterday and used them**** PLUS the oatmeal for breakfast now....oh gosh, tis heaven to be a potter and live in sunny and warm Ithaca.... have an awesome day!

****

This recipe for lentil soup is amaaaaaaazing and easy. Healthy too! I made several additions to it, so it is mine now....

--saute one onion and several garlic cloves and 2 carrots and one jalapeno in olive oil several minutes in very large soup pot.

--pick over and rinse 2 cups dried lentils

--add 4 cups water and 4 cups broth to the pot, add lentils too, start boiling then simmer 20 minutes uncovered THEN:

--wash and chop 6-7 oz. fresh spinach and 16 oz fresh tomatoes, then I added 4 oz seitan (meat substitute, like ham), and one cup uncooked noodles, add all this stuff to the pot with good spices like cumin, black pepper and oregano, start to boil, recover pot and simmer on low about 10-20 minutes, when it looks done.

I don't use salt much, this is IT, all done, soooooooo tasty!