totally cute Friday...

Have an absolutely awesome and wonderful weekend :)

(sculpture and pottery by Gary Rith)

the midwinter gloom needs this sh!t...

Well, actually, yesterday was sunny and 38, pretty darn wonderful! But overall, you know, we need as many Valentine's Days as possible, right???? A little color, fun, LOooooove?
I was making a couple of Valentines, the little Danish woven hearts, which you can put wee gifts into, and Spike, well, Spike jumped up and helped....
 

AND for breakfast just now with my LADY?  The dog and the cat, ever so helpful, joined me in making apple fritters!  VEGAN apple fritters no less, maybe the only thing as tasty as blueberry pancakes for breakfast???
Happy Valentine's Day all my schweet friends! Be nice to somebody today!

speaking of favorites....

You hear me, perhaps becoming rather DULL AND BORING, listing favorites and plans here in 2013... I have a sudden obsession with organization.  I am compelled to list favorites!
Yesterday I am walking the dog, and suddenly the list of favorite drinks comes to mind (you will recall a couple of weeks ago mentioning listing favorite hot sauces and teas and coffee.)
And being the obsessive-compulsive person that I am, the idea came in a tidy little list 4-3-2-1

Gary's list of favorite drinks to keep around the house (does not include explorations beyond the list, just a base, a touchstone! Underlined ones being the best daily option)
4-Brooklyn lager cans, Sierra Nevada cans, Heiniken (regular or dark), Stella big cans (note I am quite specific)
3-Gentleman Jack, Bushmills, Johnny Walker Red
2-Ecco Domani and Folonari Italian Pinot grigios
1- Freixnet sparkling (need to get some of that, perhaps, and chill it for 2/14, hmm?)

OK, so you snobs are all like "oh that Gary, such ordinary tastes, so cheap!". But the point of this list, you see, is to mark the day to day favorites, right? Sadly, these days, you can spend a BOATLOAD on booze at the store, so my point is what gives me the most bang for the buck and experiment at other times.
Like 3 breakfast favorites.
1-blueberry pancakes
2-scones with blueberries
3-blueberry muffins

I guess I like...blubes... :)
Lunch?
1-peanut butter and jam on anything
2-a burrito made out of anything, including peanut butter and jam

Anyway, in comments you can list some of your favorites TOO!

But the real point here is FAVORITE POTS.  I told you last week about trying a quilted decorating pattern on items for a customer, and making ten, blah blah.  I remade the ten so I could have some of them around, but changed one of the glaze schemes from all red to blue inside.


I love those mugs so much I had to take a picture of self with them.
Then I looked at this bunch of pots on the shelf, and I said "I love these TOO! It would make a nice shot...


BUT, of course, whenever I make a list, I want to try something NEW, and you can see I have some ideas going on here in this vase below...


I love monster mugs too, of course....


Finally, a picture I took of my Yogi tea thing yesterday, a robot doodle by me and a thimble that says Grace.
Grace: appreciate yourself and honor your soul....something to keep in mind :)
Have a great day!

Time warp Tuesday ahoy!

You know Jen runs Time Warp Tuesday, a chance to look back at old photos?

Our snows this past week, which are entirely typical and average for our winter--we get about 100 inches of snow a year,  reminded me and the wife of April 1992, shortly after we became an ITEM.

We lived in Chicago and that is surely a place also known for its winters (although a lot shorter and sunnier than winters in northern NY).  April of that year we had a monster snow storm, nothing unusual, and in the picture on the left you see me and the wife on the Northwestern University campus headed to a rather awesome art exhibit.  The picture of me is later in front of my apartment building on Briar St.
a)  I lived in an awesome spot then.  4 blocks from Wrigley Field, 4 blocks from Lake Michigan, the whole young Chicago world lived in this neighborhood! I was right by Belmont and Clark and Halstead. A million old buildings, bars, clubs, stores, groovy...shortly after I left the mayor designated that stretch of Halstead as "Boystown".  Aha!  That would explain all the ...well, anyway...
b)  the wife and I both developed severe bronchitis just after we took these pics and had fun in the snow.  We took it as a chance to read Vogue and do nothing for a day or 2....



You may need this groovy soap or snack dish, right?  I used shell molds to form this dish by hand and glazed it jade-turquoise, this and other items like candloe holders for sale now at my etsy gallery!

the tale of 2 naughty black labs and one fried cat....

Funny, in one week?  Special order for a mug with a lab puppy playing with yarn and another person needs a bowl with a black lab chewing on the rim....our first lab puppy Jack was a chewer alright.  I was 3/4 through a mystery and he ate the last 2 chapters!  I was able to get another copy a few months later, but still!
And some photos speak for themselves, hmmm? Have a great Monday!

BLIZZARD calls for emergency peanut butter-chocolate cookies...

It wasn't that bad, for us.  Maybe 12 fresh inches snow? We went nowhere except around the village with the dog a few times... a little shoveling, baked cookies (everybody knows these lovely 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies, to which I like to add half cup choc chips and half cup peanuts), played cards.  We are lucky:  our street is a state highway and kept very clear by the plows because of emergency vehicles, and we live close to the utility, seemingly our power is always good :)  Twas quite pretty!!!!


The river behind our house...


Our back yard....

the usual blahblahblah, snow, pigs, pots, wait, what time is it?

The dog and I rolled out of bed, glasses still on the desk, awake, refreshed, ready for day!  The dog goes out and eats, I start the kiln which I had prepared Friday and pour a hot coffee, put on the glasses, sit down at the computer and.... 2 something AM, WTF?  I love early mornings, love love love, but this is a little surprising...
OK, snow?  Just a regular storm for us, maybe 8 inches out there and looks like it stopped here in central NY.  Road out there is clear.  It has been sticky and maybe there will be pretty photos later....

And below?  A little more quilted pots!!!!! And a piggy roundup... I wanted a photo showing my regular piggy along with the pocket sized and the sitting.  Everybody makes the ones with the cork, but the very small ones?  The SITTING?
Have a great weekend!

when TEN goes to ELEVEN!

We all know Nigel Tufnel's guitars and amps, right?  When you take it up to ten, and just need a little more NNmmmmmNNNNNow?!

Two things going on:  a) as I have said, I am organizing myself for the first time EVER, making lists of what I like to make most, my favorites and b)  I had an order for ten mugs (the customer asked for certain things...but instead got what I felt like doing, see below...we all know how I am with orders: customer says "I want this" and I am like "too bad, this is what I feel like doing" ;) so it was a good chance to USE MY NEW list of favorites to make what I wanted... no matter what the customer wanted (they were BLOWN away of course, the theory being that if I make my favorites you get A+ versus that which I make grudgingly and is, like, B+ work due to lack of excitement...anyway)

but then there is c) I was walking Nook the other day, as I said, and got the idea to make quilted pieces in a certain way and OH BOY is this idea coming along nicely! (quilted pieces and others below-I totally made another series of these exact ten this week, glaze firing them Saturday)
Have a great weekend and thanks for looking!

quilts, my cat, somebody else's dog, and Claudia's grandma...

A lot to talk about today, hmm??? A lot to SEE too!
But first, a blizzard is expected tonight. My food preparations are shown below, but I gotta run to the store and make sure we get plenty of beer...in case it snows and upstate NY has a shortage ;)

FIRSTLY, I was downtown walking Nook last week (Nook is the fuzzy white dog seen in yesterday's post, I walk him for a friend sometimes) and GOT AN IDEA.  The first in this new decorating series is below.  I scribbled furiously in my pocket notepad with a drawing:  make a quilted pattern on a pot, with a glaze that shows texture nicely.  More on this tomorrow, but holy CATS this first turned out nicely!  And YES, there are times I put all kinds of fancy sh!t together on a piece....


(jar with a dog by Gary Rith)

In other news, my buddy Claudia posts her grandma's blueberry muffin recipe! I HAD JUST bought frozen blubes...and made these (recipe etc below) and used veg margerine and soy milk, but I see these things come out of the oven and I am like "THESE ARE SO PRETTY! I made blueberry muffins like a bakery!!!!!!"  Take that Starschmucks....
their taste is amazingly rich and wonderful, yet light and not heavy (of course, using the original recipe's butter could be different).  But what huge and lovely muffins!




Speaking of other people's doggies, I had my friend Yogi out to play yesterday...HUGE puppy now!


Spike ...well, what can I say?  He thought he was hiding....



FINALLY, I come across another chili recipe...super simple, and recipe below, and Penny helps me make it...
I added all kinds of things, of course, like chipotles, leftover chickpeas, chopped carrot, tofurkey, YUM!
Have a great Thursday and WATCH OUT northeastern US, the sky is falling!  or snow at least...

http://recipes.bushbeans.com/recipe/216394/black-bean-tortilla-chili.aspx

Black bean tortilla chilli

2 tablespoons olive oil 2 (6- or 8-inch) corn tortillas, cut into 2-inch strips 2 medium onions, chopped 1 large red bell pepper, chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 (15 ounce) can corn, undrained 2 tablespoons chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 (15 ounce) can BUSH’S(R) Black Beans, drained 1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce salt and pepper 1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 2 green onions, chopped 1/4 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1.	Heat half the oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cut tortillas and lightly brown. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate; let drain.
2.	Heat remaining oil in saucepan. Add onion, red pepper, garlic, corn and seasonings. Cook 4 minutes; stir often.
3.	Add beans and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 20 minutes.
4.	Serve topped with tortilla strips, cheese, green onions, sour cream and cilantro.

http://idiotskitchen.com/

Claudia's grandmother's blueberry muffins

1 stick (½ cup) butter, softened to room temperature 

1 cup sugar + 1 Tablespoon sugar for topping 

2 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 cups flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

½ cup milk 

2 cups fresh blueberries (about 1 pint) frozen OK

¼ teaspoon nutmeg 

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

 

In a large bowl or mixer, beat 1 stick (½ cup) of softened, room temperature butter with 1 cup sugar 

until pale yellow, light, and fluffy. Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir to combine. 

 

In a separate bowl, sift together 2 cups flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Add the flour and ½ cup 

milk alternately to the butter mixture starting with the flour. Mix only until the flour is incorporated – do 

not over stir. 

 

Leave a little flour in the bottom of the bowl and toss 2 cups of fresh blueberries in it. The flour helps 

keep the blueberries from sticking together and from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. Gently fold 

the blueberries into the batter by hand using a spatula. Spoon the batter into muffin tins lined with 

papers or greased and floured to prevent sticking.  

 

Stir 1 Tablespoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg together and sprinkle over the tops of the muffins. Bake 

at 375 degrees for 20 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out 

mostly clean. 

 

Cool on a wire rack or even better, eat warm with lots of butter.