Celebrate!

What a week it's been! We unloaded the kiln on Monday, sanded all the pots, packaged and shipped them off to their destinations, just in the knick of time. We had an excellent firing. All of the orders looked great. Jeff's giant cooker came out perfect. The buyer didn't want anything fancy, just something utilitarian. He should be able to cook a good size bird in it. 

The weather has been warm and I took the opportunity to do some heavy cleaning. I took anything that could be hosed off outside and did just that. The floor got a good mopping. It will be nice to resume work in a cleaner studio.

Last night we kicked off our holiday celebration with my annual tortierre (pork pie). Traditionally it's a Christmas eve meal for French Canadians, but I just like to enjoy it any time around the holiday season.

Wishing all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Festivus. Enjoy some time off and celebrate life with family and friends.

~ Michèle, Jeff, and Sophie

A Week of Celebrations

The Celebration of Seagrove Potters show is behind us and I am happy to say was a very successful weekend. It was our best show to date with good sales in our gallery, and online as well. The pot in the photograph is a collaboration piece that Jeff and I donated to the live auction that takes place during the gala preview party. We were happy that the winning bid was a little more than what we valued the piece at. It's always disappointing if donations are under bid. For that reason, we are selective as to who we donate to.

When the show was over we had just a few days to unpack, clean the house, and grocery shop for the next celebration...

Thanksgiving! We were the hosts this year and we had quite a gang. There were eighteen of us at the dinner table... which had to stretch from the dining room, into the living room!

We even had a few kids to enjoy for the day. They had to humor me with the obligatory tire swing photos. Jeff and I are thankful to have found a home that is a central meeting point for the family as well as being large enough to handle a crowd. It was lots of fun and by 6:00 pm we were exhausted. 

I hope that all of my readers enjoyed the day as much as we did.

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.

The Adventure Continues

I have travelled another year around the sun, and what a year it has been! Lots of excitement, plenty of stress, but I have survived and looking forward to this next trip. I had planned to get a lot done yesterday. The birthday girl was not getting a day off. But alas, the electrician came to wire our new studio gallery space and it seemed everything I had planned to do would put me in his way. I finally decided to settle on the sofa for awhile and catch up on some reading. It was a rainy day and I enjoyed it immensely! Once the electrician was gone I decided to head to the grocery store. As I was leaving, Jeff handed me 50 bucks and said, "Get yourself a birthday cake, on me". I laughed and quickly pocketed the cash. I not only came home with the cake, but a bottle of champagne that I had to buy... because it had my name on it. Well, not quite my name, but a Sharpie marker quickly corrected that.

Today I was back to work. Even though our space is not finished, we have got to make pots. It's what makes us complete and we have a show coming up next month. We cleared a space amidst the construction and set up our wheels. Today we made the first pots at 505 E Main.
I felt like I was in heaven.