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Please pass the ...

When summer transitions into fall, there are so many more opportunities to reconnect with friends. Art openings, book club gatherings, put lucks of all kinds that have little dishes of this and that to sample from.  The way I think...the friends, the events, they all circle back to pottery and what those tasty tidbits will be served on.

Please pass the.... food: tiny tomato tarts on the pottery: see below 

Dish with Leaf Motif

Please pass the.... 
food: chewy caramel apple cookies on the pottery: see below

"Stripes and Dots" oval plate

 
Please pass the....
food: eggplant, pesto and goat cheese pizza on the pottery: see below 

Square Plate with all over floral design

My Plates (for passing) are one of a kind, dishwasher and microwave safe, and for sale at my guild's gallery: the Dedham Square Artist Guild in Dedham, MA. One could be the perfect piece to serve your favorite food on at your next gathering. (And no one else will have the same one...)

Lemon Balm Iced Tea

Lemon balm is a perennial herb from the mint family. I picked some from the Friendship Herb Garden at Powisset Farm this past week.  Rubbing the leaves between my fingers produced a lovely lemony smell.

"Lemon Balm is native to the Mediterranean region, and has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years."

"Lemon balm’s popularity continued throughout the centuries, and it was enjoyed as a tea to combat mental confusion and as an elixir thought to extend lifespan. So widespread was lemon balm’s reputation for promoting longevity and dispelling melancholy that by the 17th century, French Carmelite nuns were dispensing their Carmelite Water to a faithful following. The lemon-balm infused “miracle water” was thought to improve memory and vision and reduce rheumatic pain, fever, melancholy and congestion."

"Introduced into Great Britain by the Romans, lemon balm is now found in both England and North America, brought by colonialists who had come to rely on it for teas and flavoring. American Shakers grew lemon balm as a relief from mild fevers. One of the herbs grown in Thomas Jefferson’s gardens, lemon balm was well established as an important culinary herb, one especially suited to syrups and beverages."

Food and Pottery Connection~

Food:

Honey Lemon Balm Spritzer - Makes 48 ounces.

Adapted from Bon Appetit August 2011.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup lemon juice 
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 cup lemon balm, lightly packed 
• lemon slices
• 2 cups cold sparkling water

Instructions

1. In a large pitcher, mix honey and warm water until honey combined.
2. Add lemon juice, and 1 cup cold water. Mix well.
3. Crush lemon balm and add to mixture. Using a muddle or wooden spoon handle, smash lemon balm in bottom of pitcher. Add lemon slices and refrigerate mixture until chilled
4. Once chilled, add 2 cups of cold sparkling water. Stir.
5. Pour through a strainer into individual tumblers over crushed ice.

Pottery:
Colorful Tumblers

wheel thrown tumbler soon to be trimmed, fired and glazed in blues and whites

Show & Sale Goodies

I'll be filling my extruded vases with flowers

Potters Place Spring Show and Sale is Friday through Sunday, May 4 - 6 at 127B Old West Street in Walpole, MA.  With 23 members creating in clay, there will be so many wonderful pieces to looks at, purchase, and study for future inspiration.  The show and sale is a means for the members to exhibit and sell their work, as well as, raise money to offset the costs of running a not for profit pottery school.

The show theme is Flora and Fauna. Here's what you'll see from me when you arrive at the studio.

Lily of the Valley Collection

Assorted Votive with floral surface decoration

plates, bowls, mugs of all sizes and shapes

embellished platters

and Much More!

Friday night is the artist reception and I'll bringing some goodies to serve on some handmade pottery. 

The Food and Pottery Connection ~

Serve these:

Blondies (not Brownies)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour just until blended then fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls. Place the cookies 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on top. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

On this:

 dishwasher safe hand crafted platter

Blue petal platter

 

Honey for my honey

Honey Pot for my honey

It's my husband's birthday this week.  We celebrated over the weekend, so he, my honey, already has his gift. Scroll to the bottom to see his favorite way to eat honey.

Everyone in our house loves honey:

 Our favorite: 

now looks like this: 

I found the wooden honey stick for the honey pot at William Sonoma. 

The food and pottery connection works like this:

Try this

 

From this

On cheese

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pottery for your sweetheart!

A look back at the Valentine's Day Countdown:
Tumblr
Website


Blog posts: 
red velvet cupcakes
breakfast in bed - pancakes!
hot chocolate
chocolate sauce

red velvet cupcakes and mixing bowls

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

(and a bowl for mixing)

I scroll through pictures on foodgawker and epicurious on my iphone when I'm looking for ideas for planning meals.  With Valentine's Day just a few short days away, I've been searching "red velvet cupcake" recipes. My research yielded a lot of recipes that called for buttermilk, but I like to use ingredients that I might have on hand. Let me know if you don't think this one is the best:  

McCormick's recipe makes 30 yummy red velvet cupcakes.  
(Sour cream is their secret ingredient.)

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Droste)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle red food coloring
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.

3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.

 

You'll need another bowl for mixing the frosting

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:  

  

Beat 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened, 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, 2 tablespoons sour cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 1 box (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar until smooth.

Because I can only dream ... about actually reaching the front of the line at Magnolia's Bakery for one of their red velvet cupcakes, I'll have one of my own instead.

For more food and pottery ideas, follow me on Pinterest.

  

Local Food and how it commingles with handmade pottery

A member of Potters Place (my studio) giving a donation to the Walpole Food Pantry for over $800 raised at our Holiday Show and Sale in November!

Getting out to local farmers markets to share the message of how great local food and handmade pottery go together.

Selling handmade pottery where handmade gifts and home made gifts are featured.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - may 2012 be bountiful.

Handmade Community

The Potters Place potters will gather this weekend at a member's home to celebrate the holiday season.  In the cooperative nature that we are so accustom to, we will each bring something to share.  I imagine the food will all be served on favorite pieces of member pottery.  We will toast in handmade vessels to the year past and the one ahead.  There will be a Gift Swap where we each hope for the best pottery-like gift (stamps, tools, molds...).  There will be ideas swapped, stories shared, and a merry time had by all.  

Ingredients needed:

1. group of potters

no not those kind of potters

these kinds of potters

2. pot luck food

3. served in pottery made by hand

4. gift to swap

5. good cheer!

Learn more about the community of Potters Place by checking out our website: www.pottersplace.info

Food and Pottery

Thanksgiving is the ultimate food and pottery connection.  Choosing the best food to serve on your favorite pottery is one of the many joys of eating well and buying handmade.  Setting the table for a gathering can initiate talk about the upcoming feast and discussions like... "Where did you get this beautiful patter?' - tell me the story....

Here are some of the food and pottery connections I'm thinking about for my Thanksgiving table...

a perfect little plate for gathering an appetizer ... leaving another hand free for your holiday "spirit"

bowls for all the sides you'll be serving!

A platter for the turkey

a big bowl for stuffing...and my favorite!

choosing the best vase for a centerpiece bouquet of flowers

When the meal concludes and there are a mound of dishes still to be done: stop... sit.  Fix a warm cup of tea in your favorite handmade mug and take stock of all that you are thankful for this year.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kate Hust

Ice Cream is the one treat I could not live without...Kate Hust has a thing for ice cream too.  In fact she has a page on her blog devoted entirely to ice cream recipes. 

Kate "loves to sew, knit, paint, and draw but always comes back to clay.  She enjoys mixing all of these mediums to make new genres and unusual pieces." She writes a blog full of photos and words that illustrate how moments in her life translate into pieces of art.  One cannot read it and not go away with the feeling that life is good and full of hope.

"We cook almost every night so I love making things that we would use in the kitchen; pitchers, garlic dipping bowls, mugs... " and to go with that: ice cream...

Kate shares this recipe:

Carmel Latte Ice Cream

2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 packet Starbucks carmel VIA
1 packet Starbucks decaf VIA

Whisk eggs and sugar together.
Add creams, milk and via coffee packets. Stir until dissolved.
Freeze in maker according to manufactures instructions. Transfer to freezer safe container and continue to harden in freezer.

"As much as I love these items, I am most proud of my pieces that put a twist on functional pottery. Last year I began making journal covers from clay. I love mixing ceramics with other materials like silk, leather, paper and wool." The result changes the traditional functionality to one that works in tandem with feeding the soul and nurturing the inner self.

Find out more about Kate's art on her blog and etsy shop.

Kate Hust: 

"I make art because it brings me great joy, and I thrive from sharing it with others."

CLW Pottery

Cindy Weaver is the creative contemporary ceramicist of CLW Pottery.  She works with both Porcelain and clay in her studio located in Wilmington, North Carolina. 


Her work is influenced by her garden and her choice of food.  Her work can be sculptural and functional depending on her inspiration.  


Cindy's work has been recognized throughout the nation, but she was ever so kind to speak to me about her functional work and send me a delicious recipe for Fennel Salad

"I look for simplicity in everything" says Cindy

"It is reflected in my porcelain work, my home decor, and my food.  Because I enjoy cooking and creating meals with what is fresh, plentiful, and on hand, I tend not to follow recipes. Sure, I read them and get inspired by them, but then inevitably, I create my own version."

 

Here is a simple, elegant example of a summer salad Cindy made last week:

 

Fennel salad

 

1 med. large cucumber sliced very thin
1large fennel bulb sliced as thin as you can
1cup chopped Italian parsley
1 cup sweet red peppers sliced very thin
1 handful or more per person, mixed baby greens.
dressing
1 fresh lemon juiced
1/3 Cup olive oil
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
1/3 cup slivered almonds

 

How does Cindy describe the relationship she has with her pottery and the food she chooses to eat? "A candlelit table filled with handmade plates, platters, and bowls of  foods that have been joyfully made is a treat for body and soul. The clinking of spoons and wine glasses as the food is served all adds to our delight as well as the taste of the meal."

Find out more about Cindy on etsy or on her website