walking in that winter wonderland, or hey, anybody wanna take me with them to Key West?

We have had a little winter here and there this year, but mostly awesome and mild. We get 100-200 inches of snow in a typical winter in upstate NY, some places get more. We have had only a few inches total, it seems, until today....
here is me in front of our purple house, and me and the wife and beagle out in some pretty fiercely unpleasant weather....about 8 inches more or less down so far....

monster Sunday....

Had a nice surprise Saturday: my monster bowls came outta the kiln looking OOOOLALA and I like the little one here so much I kept it. Later that same day, Amy came over to see us and I had a chance to put it and other favorite pots out for afternoon tea....
have an awesome Sunday!

cats cats cats cats and more cat mugs!

You may need some cat mugs....gotta bunch listed at my etsy gallery...you will recall that my old friend Pete saw my heart mugs and was like "could you shape a heart into a cat? People love cats." and Summer was like "could you do the handle like a tail????" and its like, now I am making cat things left and right.....

Buster is like "I don't need a cat mug" (the very first animal mugs I made were of Buster and inspired by him, nearly 13 years ago...."

the s3xiest thing you have seen in your life is: one fact and one dream, we need YOU to check in

(Godzilla dismembering and eating a person while making a rude gesture, sculpture by Gary Rith)

I am NOT saying the above is the s3xiest thing you have ever seen in your life, but maybe, like me, you have that sick sense of humor, and you find it amusing.

I was thinking, actually, that the wife here should probably consider it a FACT that I am her own personal baker boy, all that chocolate yumminess, made just for her. So this picture below is her dream: me holding up a plate of chocolate cookies*** wearing only a smile....but I shouldn't put words in her mouth, ideas in her head, .....

ANYWAY, looking ahead to Valentine's, what is your ONE FACT and what is your DREAM? S3xyhawt versions optional, please go to comments and let us know!

(Penny was like "that plate looks a little tippy, bet he drops it then they are MINE" bwahaha!)

***amazing chocolate chip cookies from the newspaper

I was poking through an actual newspaper recently and saw these simple and tasty cookies and wanted to try them...what amazed me was I put these little spoons of dough on the pan and they became these HUGE cookies! Magic!

--preheat oven to 350

-put 3 tbs. softened margerine in bowl, add an egg, stir around a lot, then add 2 tbs. oil, stir some more, then 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar---stir it all around

-add into that 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 teas. baking soda, stir entirely, then

-add 1/2 cup or more of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup or more walnuts or pecans, stir one last time

-scoop spoonfuls onto baking sheet--recipe says 20 cookies, I made 11...

-bake 10 minutes, cool on wire rack, YOWZA! BE the s3xyhawt baker of your own household this weekend!!!!

meooooow!

(cat teaset by Gary Rith) came outta the kiln this am looking superbo indeed, and had already sold before it was even fired, now off to its new home with another crazy cat lady (her own words!!!!) in California....
Obviously, just now, I made another set......and started thinking "large cat bowls = EXCELLENT idear too..."

heads or....???

SO, like I was saying last week, it seemed like a fun idea, make a pair of Godzilla wall pieces, and have them enjoying a teaparty. The question is, though, is that teapot made out of a head? What about the cup??????
Also below, as I said yesterday, you make guac and you start thinking "I need to make an elaborate Godzilla chip and dip pair" and in this case, the small bowl has an enormous monster and the large bowl has a small one (otherwise it would fall over, doncha think?).

(pottery and sculpture by Gary Rith)

guac and ROLL...

OK, I am the ONLY AMERICAN and also the ONLY VEGETARIAN who has never made guacamole, can you believe it? I order it on my burritos, I eat it at people's houses, the wife tells me it does NOT have to be expensive and it can be a lot more tasty to make yourself. My old pal Judy Gallow proves that, she just looks at an avocado and it begs for mercy and becomes this DELISH dish under her knife.....and Judy told me how she does it. And the wife? She told me how SHE does it. So, its my turn. I figure: "do it the way they BOTH would do it. MOREMOREMORE!"

OK, I had this bag of sale chips and no plans. 1.69 for green mtn. gringo, those long tasty tortilla strips, YUMMO. I knew I had to get some cilantro to make the guac Judy style...so I figured with fresh cilantro coming out my ears, I should do all that Tex-Mex American crapola and make refried black beans and salsa with my first EVER guac....I mean, you are making a mess on the cutting board and grinding up jalapenos and garlic and dicing onions, why not just GO THE WHOLE HOG? Mighty easy overall, realllly easy.

(inspiring, btw, me to think I outta make Godzilla chip and dip bowls, believe me!)

Gary's new guac recipe (combo of the wife's and Judy Gallow's guacs)

-skin, gut and chop an avocado into a bowl

-dice or use mini chopper or food processor to whir some garlic and toss in with avocado

-pour in some lime juice...I think I mistakenly added DOUBLE, like 3 tbs or more...does it really matter? I think not....

-use scissors to chop finely some fresh cilantro and stir in

-dice some tomatoes and add

-I use little or no salt in cooking, because, for example, now you stir in as much TABASCO as you can stand, or as the wife says, until your tongue SINGS

---mash all that in the bowl, ready to EAT, easy peasy for real!

Judy Gallow's incredible salsa

--use your mini-chopper or dice a jalapeno, put in bowl

--dice into little bits one pound or 2 cups tomato

--finely dice and add a half onion, garlic too

--at least 2 tbs. chopped cilantro

--2 teaspoons lime juice, but I prob. add more

--what the heck, add some TABASCO rather than salt

--stir all that and EAT

I love refried beans, and you can never mess it up, but this is a good start, then add other stuff if you want

Gary's wicked EASY refried black beans

--saute half or full bell pepper with half onion or more and some garlic for several minutes

--drain 14-16 oz. can diced tomatoes or chop some fresh, add

--drain and rinse 28 oz. can black beans and add

--add at least 2 tbs. lime juice, cumin, black pepper, oregano, and what the heck, TABASCO instead of salt, and throw in other stuff if you feel like it, such as leftover cilantro from above or whatevs

--stir and simmer covered on low-med until it is mushy and pasty, several minutes, but simmering longer is even better, just stir occaisionally

(stoppered bottle by Gary Rith)

Listen, see the bottle above? See the beer bottle on the counter below? Meesh was explaining last week that Jeff Brown, an old potter friend of mine, had been approached by a micro-brew beer company about making growlers, ie., large stoppered beer bottles. I think the micro-brew company were hoping for cheapo crap prices, like from factories overseas, not handmade in the USA by an artist, but Jeff was interested in the idea so he started making some. He is ordering parts from England, I think, the stoppers, and shipping may cost more than the stoppers! A mutual potter friend Ron Philbeck was like "buy Gr0lsch beers with the stoppers, and pull it off and use THAT! Then you get the beer too, with a free stopper!" which is BRILLIANT, so I literally ran out the door and brought Gr0lsch, which is a tasty item with guac....anyway, what you see here is my bottle, just outta the kiln. There is a red printed label on top of the stopper, but I easily got it off with my scrubber sponge...groovy eh? It is a bit of a challenge, getting used to making a special pair of holes in the right spot for the stopper, but all part of the fun in figuring this out....

Good for holding salad dressing, vinegar or oil.....

Benji is like George Clooney, except a lot more handsome and personable

So, like you might expect, the minute I post below how hard it is for me to leave the house and see people, I go out and see my best pal Benji and his cat Scotia. Scotia is a grey tiger from the shelter in this county...my Spike is ALSO a grey tiger from the shelter in this county...try to tell me that these identical looking cats are not related (except Spike is, um, plus sized, and Scotia is, well, a swimsuit model)---the 2 cats have identical friendly and outgoing personalities too.

Now, I am getting closer to the 50 side of things...well, deeper into my mid-40s anyway, and I have, if I may say, great hair. Good enough. Every man in my family has always been bald, and here is me, perpetually fuzzy.

OK, then you have Clooney, right? George is in his 50s and has great hair, great personality, sweet guy, great actor, funny, talented, smooth. But Ben? Ben is a million times more handsome, smooth and friendly than Clooney...and Ben's hair...believe me, there is plenty under that hat, is superb. Oscarworthy hair......

a rare look behind the curtain that is me

Hey, I am an award winner, lucky me, and THANKS to GZ, Welsh potter and blogger (ohmygosh, don't you love that, WELSH and A POTTER????) for singling me out and making my day.

I am to do 2 things, I think, like a chain letter. Award other bloggers then list something totally random.

I regret to say, rather than make the recommended list of 5 or the 124 or so blogs I follow, I am going to only award ONE blogger. I have recognized other blogs in the distant past, and choose one that I have not singled out before. (Kasey is totally wacky as you know, but let me introduce somebody new, OK?)

Day by Day with Busy Bee Suz gets my nod. If my criteria for a good blogger was

a) posts frequently--there are some neglected blogs out there b) adds lots of pictures c) is always entertaining d) writes well--I mean, some people have interesting topics but are boring writers and the challenge is to write interestingly about nothing at all e) although it is people's business what they blog, Suz is always positive--I try to be positive on my blog too.

Suz is about exactly my age and has been with her husband about exactly as long as me and the wife have been together. She also, like me, HATES PLASTIC BAGS. So, on the one hand, we have a lot in common, including houses full of dogs and cats. But then, she is also a parent and I am not...of a college student and high schooler. As a grown child myself, I am amazed at how other people my age can have kids...who are adults too! But it happens.

Anyway, Suz is a sweetie pie, and unique in the blogging world for her kindness and her fun posts.

OK, random something about me, part 2 of winning here?

Shall I be honest? I heard Woody Allen on the radio the other day, saying "people think that because they see an artist's work, they KNOW him" and boy, do I understand that. In Woody's case, he goes on to say "people think I am this intellectual living in Greenwich Village. Really, I live in a nice apartment on the upper east side, I flunked out of college and I like to watch sports. I was very athletic when I was young..." and you're like "Woody Allen was an ATHLETE?".

In my case, I put myself out there on this blog as some kind of freewheeling and friendly socialite--and I am, behind the keyboard. The truth is, I am, well, from my side, painfully shy and severely agoraphobic. It has been true my whole life. I have a very hard time with new people and new places and have an anxiety attack whenever somebody is coming over or I have to go somewhere new. I am trying to face this more now than I have before and get out a bit. So on the one hand, I may seem friendly, but on the other hand, I am a bit like Charlie Brown talking to Lucy in the Christmas show, where he discovers he has ALL THE PHOBIAS......

There. A rare look behind the curtain that is me. Cooked up a mess of pots yesterday, have a quick look at the before and after, alright? Lots of cats and Godzillas in there indeed....

a final reflection on recent events....

Not gonna rub the Giants' win in the faces of my New England friends...just like I never tease Red Sox fans about the Yanks! Boston is a cute little city, but it sure is full of LOSERS...whoa, did I say that?

A petite haiku:

I do not have a
TV, But I do have a
Hawt wife with hawt boots.

while you are watching the super bowl, some of us are creatively expressing our feelings

This NY fan has something to express to those who live east of the Hudson Valley, or anybody else foolish enough to like a football team with such an odd logo on the helmet (sculpture of Garyzilla dismembering and eating a New England fan whilst making a rude gesture by Gary Rith).

going that one step further...with the cats.....

You will recall that this week after Pete was like "make cat mugs! People love cats!" that I have tried different cat shapes...then I was thinking, as you would, MAKE A CAT teaset" and so Saturday, I did. You see the doodle below....I realized before I made the set that it would be more fun to make the lid with the ears, you know?


(new pottery and sketch by Gary Rith)

The most moist mole a$$e$ muffins EVER

Remember suddenly, like, 1988 or '90, bran muffins were everywhere? People suddenly decided they would eat bran muffins and live FOREVER. You made them at home (I did!) using first a box of bran cereal (dry and horrible and grim, like eating hockey pucks!) or from a box of bran (dry and horrible and grim, like a hockey puck!) or from a magazine (dry and horrible and grim, like a hockey puck!). If you went to funkin' gonuts, like I also did, and were like "hey, look at their big beautiful bran muffin!" and you eat it, and it was rich and moist and delish...and later you hear on the radio that one funkin' gonuts bran muffin had nearly TWICE the calories and fat and sugar as one of their creme donuts....you just gave up and went back to creme donuts (this is all TRUE, every bit of it!).

Anyway, Spike and I have got the BEST molasses bran muffin recipe anywhere, and you can have it here. Spike was hoping for mole asses, and did not want bran muffins. This uses no sugar, just apple sauce and molasses and is wicked tasty and moist alright....
later that same day, i made a simple chili with noodles, as you will see, recipe is down below......

I have had this recipe so long, not sure where it came from---make it as spicy as you like:

Fast and easy spaghetti chili

-Saute one cup (more or less) bell pepper and onion with garlic cloves and a jalapeno until softish, 5 minutes or so, in big soup pot.
--Stir in 20 oz. fresh or canned diced tomatoes, 15-16 oz. can of kidney or pinto beans (rinsed and drained), 3 cups water (3 cups for soupish chili, 2 1/4 for much thicker chili), 1/2 cup your favorite BBQ or taco sauce, shots of tabasco, bl. pepper shakes, some chili powder, and boil then simmer several minutes. I add non-meat sausage here too, about 3 oz.
--add a cup and a half, about 4 oz., pasta (noodles or spaghetti snapped in half) and boil and then turn down and simmer ten minutes........I usually like to simmer it longer on the lowest heat.

WICKED yummy and tasty!

cat mugs, version 7.0, 8.0 or something like that....

You will recall last week, Pete was like "make cat mugs, people love them! you could fiddle the rim like a heart mug..." and it had gotten me thinking, indeed. I showed the first couple out of the kiln yesterday, blue pair of bowl and cat mug (sold right away, actually--I am onto something here, hmmm?) and a puppy mug, here are the other experiments fired below. Well, first are the mugs I was finishing yesterday---I had been thinking about a couple of things:
1) first attempts: these are a lot of work, adding faces inside there and all, so I am not gonna do that anymore and
2) Summer was like "how about the handle is a tail????" which I had been wondering about, and decided to go with

****added later that same day, because of confusion: I don't think I explained myself very well at all. I am now making 2 different styles of cat mugs, which I like: seen below here in grey, raw clay, the rim shaped with cat ears, and also the added ears and face on the rim --when you look at the glaze fired pieces pictured further down and see the face INSIDE on the bottom, those are the ones that are too much work :)

SO, what we have is 2 versions of cat mugs I was finishing yesterday here, and there are bowls too...have an awesome weekend!


(new pottery by Gary Rith)

of GODZILLA dragons and GINORMOUS cats....

You will recall, last week Pete was like "can you shape a mug into a cat???" and I tried several ideas. Here are the first! I made a puppy too, wicked cute eh???? I am making more of a different type too, more on that Friday morning,,,,, (THANK YOU PETE! and today I am gonna try to make tails for handles....)

Kasey was like, with pictures "I cut a circle out of bread and made my cat wear it!" and meanwhile, on Jezebel we find that food on your pet is a big new deal, and bread on your cat an especially big deal, as Kasey did....

SOOOoooooo as you might imagine, I wanted to try something like that with my huge cat Spike, and being creative, I was gonna try a bagel. Did NOT work too well, actually.......

FINALLY, below you see the wee wall sculpture I was making, of Godzilla (NOT DRAGONS no no!) and Godzilla's friend having tea...I sculpted them, but made the tiny teapot, cup and saucer on the wheel, as I would a larger teaset....YES, the cup and teapot have faces, so you can wonder if, well, they were human heads first :)

The cat bowl and mug and puppy mugs for sale now at my etsy gallery, lucky you!

holy cats, 20 years ago TODAY!

I am really good with all the little anniversaries, like first met (11/30/1989), first outing (11/28/91), first kinda date--to see Beauty and the Beast (12/13/91) first time first kiss--she was getting on the Halstead bus to go home (1/30/92) and like, of course, as you see BElow, wedding (12/24/92). But goldarnit to hell, I nearly FORGOT A SUPER BIG ONE TODAY: TOGETHER> 2/1/1992 we were TOGETHER. An item! I had a party 1/31/92, and, well, she (the future wife) stuck around late, after, saying "OH! I could, um, help you clean up!".....and you know HOW THAT can, well...anyway...as of the next morning, February 1, we considered ourselves an item. You can wonder all you want at what happened that weekend (YOU FILTHY PREVERTS....I am not gonna tell you any LURID DETAILS), but the day after the party, as I say, we were an US. We had some distant wedding date planned that spring, but, well, July 4th, we were at Kathy's wedding, and were like "shoot, why wait months or years? Let's get married CHRISTMAS!" and we did...but that was 10-11 months after the big ONE...where we learned that we are an item :) Shoot, I am sooooooooooooo lucky to have this gal!

(12/24/1992)


I remember this rather awesome tune on the radio when we got together and...


I remember talking with (the wife) winter of '92, about this album, whose cover, as you recall, had the swimming baby:
she was like "you can see his little winkle!" which cracked me up....

Garyzilla strikes again! And one fact and one dream, chapter 4, we need you!!!

AFTER YOU READ THIS GO TO COMMENTS AND SHARE YOUR FACT AND DREAM!

Rather awesome wall sculpture I made down below, hmm?

I wrote a limerick just now to go with it:

Just as you shell the pistachio or walnut,
Godzilla treats cars like we do a peanut!
Grab a car,
Open it like a jar!
Juicy people inside to fill his gut....

My fact today, as with much of the northern USA, is HANDS down that was the nicest and most mild January EVER. Yesterday was incredible, sunny and nearly 60 degrees. Most of the month was sooooo warm it made me happy....December was too....they say we will pay for it, but last year was VERY wintry, so I think maybe we earned this Here is another fact: I hate that movie GROUNDHOG DAY. That irritating actress Andie something reminds me of...never mind.
I'll tell you what I am dreaming of: in addition to another mild month, as a NEW YORKER I am dreaming of another Giants super bowl, oh yes I am......



(wall sculpture by Gary Rith)
Check out this rather extraordinary video from the Creeping Cruds, a punk bands like a rougher version of the Ramones, awesome visuals too, and so appropriate today...