A Belated Korean New Year Celebration

Jeff and I like to celebrate the Korean New Year each February. It's always a fun evening where we can cook together and enjoy choosing which pots we will serve with. New Year fell on February 8th, we had other commitments and no time for a trip to the Korean market. So we celebrated a little late!

This year we invited our friend and potter neighbor, Phil Pollet to join us.

We started the evening with an appetizer of pajeon (green onion pancake). This year we added a little seafood - shrimp and mussels. Traditionally, the seafood version has squid, but not everyone cares for it so the mussels were the substitute.

The main course was the traditional New Year soup, Tteokguk. A rich beef soup with mushrooms, onions, bean sprouts, and a little kimchi and rice cake. The rice cake isn't the puffed rice cakes that we are familiar with here in the US. They are a thick, dense, rice noodle. Often slice on the diagonal. They are my favorite!

Along with the soup we had bowls of kimchi, rice, shredded jicama and carrot, and a nod to the south with pickled okra. It was all very delicious and fun.......... Happy New Year!

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!