A Day Off

Last week we were crazy busy trying to meet deadlines. We loaded and fired a bisque in the gas kiln, unloaded it the next day, and spent two days glazing and loading it again. The kiln is at 145 degrees this morning, so we will unload shortly. Fingers crossed for a great firing! 

In between the pottery work, I started prepping and painting our master bedroom bath. Next on the list is to re-caulk the tub, so that we will have a second, fully functioning bathroom by the time our Korean guests arrive.

Yesterday we took a well deserved break. Our good friend Bonnie turned 60 and we celebrated with a great party at her daughter's home in Greensboro. After the party we did some shopping at the Korean market, no trip to G'boro is complete without an excursion to Super Gmart. While Jeff gathered everything needed to make kimchi, I found all the ingredients to make Dak Galbi, a recipe that I had been wanting to try.

 Dak Galbi is a spicy chicken and vegetable dish. It really is very simple to make. The vegetables are rough chopped cabbage, Korean sweet potato, onion, carrot, sesame leaves.

I think the main reason I wanted to try this dish is that it also includes tteok! Tteok is rice cake. Think of it as a dense pasta. Totally yummy, especially when covered in a spicy sauce. While it is called rice cake, it does contain wheat so it is not gluten free.

In Korea, Dak Galbi would be cooked in a very large cast iron pan. Mine isn't big enough, but this deep skillet got the job done. The ingredients are layered in a hot pan, with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Chopped, boneless chicken thighs on the top, then a hot pepper paste spread over it. Some recipes marinated the chicken in the paste.

 As the vegetables cook, they release their liquid and create a delicious sauce as the pepper paste is incorporated into it. 20-30 minutes and it's done!

At a Korean restaurant, everyone would eat from the large pan, sometimes wrapping their food in sesame leaves. Once the pan is empty, the cook quickly fries some rice in the sauce that is left in the pan. Since we had some leftover rice in the fridge we did just that. DELICIOUS! It was the perfect ending to a Sunday off.

Rice, the long and short of it

The last few weeks it's been all about the rice in the Hastings - Brown home. It started on the Korean New Year when Jeff made tteok guk (Korean rice cake soup with brisket). The rice cakes are more like a noodle that you slice and add to the soup just prior to serving. The soup is made with a beef brisket and is very spicy with just the right amount of heat. So tasty that we didn't get any photographs. You can find the recipe here. We didn't have any dashida, so Jeff substituted a little kimchi. Kimchi has become a staple in this house. Our three favorites are the typical cabbage kimchi, scallion kimchi, and cucumber kimchi. If you don't like the hot cabbage type, you should give the cucumber a try. It's an excellent balance of heat with the cool cucumber. 

Next on the "must make" list was onigiri, Japanese rice balls. These are made with a short grain rice and the fillings can vary. Hitomi Shibata provided me with the basic recipe for this version. She had made onigiri for an event at STARworks Ceramics, and they were fabulous. These were filled with age (fried tofu), lotus root, and carrots. They are served at room temperature and you can pick them up and eat them with your hands. Mine were not as pretty as Hitomi's, I need a little more practice! Next time I am going to try filling them with a little salmon.

Last night we moved on to Italian cuisine. Since I had a bag of short grain rice left from the onigiri (we usually only have jasmine) I decided it was time to make risotto. I love it and had never made it before. The box kind doesn't count and doesn't taste like the real deal. For one thing it is usually too salty. I followed a recipe that I found online. I pretty much stuck to it and it was perfect. It went great with the $2.98 bargain steak that I found at Food Lion on Friday. They had a whole bunch of beef marked down. I imagine it was because of the storm. They were cleaned out of dairy products and bread but I guess the meat wasn't purchased and they wanted to get rid of it quickly. It was one of the best steaks we have had in awhile and Jeff grilled it to perfection (hurray for good weather!).

Now you have read all about my rice obsession, along with talk of tofu and beef. I wouldn't want pork to feel left out...

This post is part of Sunday Ceramics  head on over there and check out what's happening this week!

Pottery, Food, Friends, Fun!

I am getting ready for a long overdue raku firing. My friend Bonnie came today and she worked on some beads and pendants for the firing, while I threw some new bead racks on the wheel, along with a plate to hold flat pendants during the firing. The best thing about having friends in the studio is taking a lunch break together!

 Bonnie brought a nice bottle of red wine and I whipped up some Korean pancakes served with a side of kimchi. What's a Korean meal without kimchi?

Aside from pottery lessons, Jeff also gives lessons on how to use chopsticks. We had lots of fun, and only one of us resorted to a fork. But I'm not telling who.

The holidays are over and the photo booth is back on the dining room table. I will be adding new pots to the Etsy shop over the next few days, be sure to check it out.

Korean Pancake Update...

Jeff made Korean pancakes again on Monday night so I got pics of the finished product. SOOOO delicious.

소고기 파전

sogogi pajeon

beef and onion pancakes Korean style

Lot's of veggies and spices, and like Tracey Broome's comment about her neighbors gift of pancakes on my last post, watercress is one of them.
Robert Young is here until Sunday night. It is looking like Saturday may be the day that I can give him the Seagrove pottery tour. Of course anyone is welcome to stop in and visit here anytime... we will be knee deep in glazing pots and loading kilns, but we would be happy for a break to introduce you to Robert.

A Visitor from a Far Away Island...

There has been something I have been wanting to tell you and I am finally getting around to it. Jeff and I are having a week long summer intern work in our studio this week and many of you know who he is...
Blogger and ceramic arts teacher Robert Young! Robert lives in Guam and has been visiting his family here in the states. Back in the winter we made plans for him to come and stay with us for a week. He is going to do studio work in exchange for lessons and some time to make pots. Robert was so anxious to come to Seagrove that he said he would be willing to sleep on the studio floor (he hasn't seen our studio floor!). Of course we said no way, you will stay in the house. Robert arrives tonight and I will keep you all posted on what's going on around here. If you haven't followed Robert's blogs here are the links:

http://mryoungsart.blogspot.com/    This blog is about his ceramics class

http://tropiclaystudio.blogspot.com/   This one is his personal pottery blog



On the home front, last night Jeff made Korean pancakes (pajeon).

They are cooked with scallions and other thinly sliced vegetables, and sometimes seafood. They were delicious. Unfortunately no photo of the finished product. I think I was too hungry and wanted to dig in. They are golden brown and thin, sort of a cross between crepes and the pancakes we eat for breakfast here. These are so easy to make, we bought the pancake mix at our favorite Asian market in Greensboro, Super G Mart.
Next time we are going to experiment with adding some shrimp. YUM!