August in Seagrove, NC

Jeff and I have really enjoyed being home for the month of August. We do miss our family and friends, but we haven't missed the stress of packing and hauling a trailer to a show that is 800 miles away. I know there are a lot of people who make a living traveling to shows, but I just don't have it in me. I am thankful for opportunities this year that allowed us to stay home.

We have been enjoying our garden tremendously! While some things were not too successful... green beans and scarlet runner beans, we've had a great crop of okra, tomatoes, and basil. Jalapenos are starting to come in and there are lots of ghost peppers that are so hot no one can eat them! Poblanos will be ready for chile rellenos very soon. Once again there is butternut squash that grew from the compost. It looks like we will have more than last year. Jeff gets credit for growing the vegetables. He is diligent with organic pest control and keeping down the weeds. I just pick and eat! 

Pitcher by Dan Compte, bowl by John Baymore - both NH potters

I am still spending time with painting practice, but I have been side tracked with a new obsession...

Washi Tape! I bought it to tape down paintings while I work. It holds well but is easily removed. If you search Washi Tape ideas on Pinterest, you will find a plethora of fun things to do with it.

I made my school teacher sister a "back to school" set. The clothes pins are great for pinning papers to a "clothesline" or for holding bags closed. The pencils were wrapped in tape and then covered with a thin coat of matte medium. The binder clips speak for themselves. Jeff says if anything sits around too long I will wrap it in Washi Tape!

Home Grown

We have tomatoes this year!

I wanted to try growing something different. These are heirloom yellow pear tomatoes. They are about the size of grape tomatoes. I have to say, they are good, but not as good as I thought they would be. Very soon we should have some "big boys"... a great tomato for a BLT. Our plants are HUGE. Taller then me. I really think that everything grows bigger in North Carolina.

The bowl that holds the tomatoes is one that Jeff salvaged a few weeks ago. It's one his that was wood fired and had cracked in two pieces. He repaired it with stone epoxy and now we have great bowl to use for ourselves. I don't even mind the crack. I think it adds character.

One week from today we will be in New Hampshire, setting up our booth for the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. Tomorrow we unload the kiln, and load it up again. One last firing before we hit the road.

Brunch for Two

Last month, when Danielle was visiting, we enjoyed a fabulous brunch together at Printworks Bistro in Greensboro. I had a really yummy tart that I knew would be easy to make at home. Since I have an abundance of fresh tomatoes, today was the day to experiment.

I loosely followed an Ina Garten recipe, substituting garlic and herb cheese spread for the herb goat cheese. I would have loved the goat cheese, but Jeff is not a fan. The cheese spread worked well, along with a little parmigiano reggiano. I also didn't cut the puff pastry into rounds. It would have been prettier, but you also end up wasting quite a bit of pastry. I think the square worked out fine and it was easy to slice into four pieces.

This is definitely on my "make again" list. Served with a green salad, it would make a great brunch/lunch for guests.

The New Trendy Pizza!

FRIED!  If you read potter Gary Rith's blog, you will know that he got me into this fried pizza thing. I make pizza once a week. It's my favorite food and there are no pizza joints in Seagrove so that means you have to make your own. Even when I lived in NH I usually made my own because I can be picky about pizza and it's way cheaper to make yourself.
After reading Gary's post I knew I had to try this so I did a little research of my own. I read a few different ways that restaurants were doing it and decided on a cross between those and Gary's pizza making demo. Like Gary, I used my cast iron skillet to fry the dough prior to baking. I decided to use canola oil because you can heat it at a higher temp than olive oil. My dough recipe made two small pizzas, one at a time in the cast iron pan. The first one I put too much oil in... the second one I didn't add any more and it was perfect. I won't give you all the steps, I am too lazy to type them out, so go to Gary's blog and read them!
I made a fresh tomato topping...

One tomato chopped, 1 garlic clove minced, lots of chopped fresh basil, a few grinds of Himalayan Pink Sea Salt & fresh ground pepper. I let this sit on the counter and absorb the flavors while I fried the dough. This is also a good sauce on pasta in the summer, after pouring onto hot pasta add chunks of fresh mozzarella.

Pizza #1 - fresh sauce, parmigiano-reggiano & fresh mozzarella. I went ahead and cooked the other one too, I figured leftovers are good and while I have all that stuff out and ready to go...
I didn't get a picture of it but it was the fresh sauce with a little jarred sauce added (I ran short on tomatoes) parmigiano-reggiano, pepperoni, mushrooms & shredded mozzarella. The #2 pizza was puffier than #1 and I think that was because of the difference in oil.
I have to say that frying the dough prior to baking, gave it a whole new taste and texture. It was excellent. A little more work and since I am lazy I don't think I will do it every week.
Just for a special treat.


Here is my favorite pizza dough recipe:

Dissolve on packet of yeast in one cup of lukewarm water, let set about 10 minutes and then add 2 tblsp. of olive oil

In a medium bowl, mix together:

2 cups bread flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar

Add the yeast, water, olive oil mixture to the bowl and mix until it comes together. Don't over mix. Cover with kitchen towel and let rise... usually only takes 1/2 hour to an hour, depending on the weather. I have found that the crust is more tender if you don't let it over rise.
This dough doesn't need any kneading. I roll it out on a pizza peel that is dusted with a mix of flour and cornmeal. I throw a little more flour on top of the dough when I pick it up so that it doesn't stick to my hands.
I bake my pizza on a stone that is preheated at 425 degrees. I preheat the stone for at least 1/2 hour. The pizza should only take about 15 minutes to bake.