Happy Holidays To All !

Happy Holidays
to all in blogdom and beyond
hope next year is healthier &
better than ever for you all !

Holiday Brunch Favorites !

Some of my all time favorite breakfasts are perfect to make for brunch during the holidays - Crepe Suzette's, Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes, or Sourdough French Toast.

Crepe Suzette's are often served as a dessert, but they are a real treat for breakfast. I like to serve them with homemade jelly or jam spread on the crepe, rolled up, and then sprinkled with a dash of powdered sugar. I happen to like orange marmalade on mine. I once ate at The Magic Pan in San Francisco which served all different types of crepes for lunch, dessert or just a snack. If you have lots of guests, you can make the crepes and put them on a warmed ceramic dish and cover the dish with a lid to keep them warm. Oh boy - another ceramic idea for me - a covered Crepe Suzette warming dish - I better get busy designing this one.


I first had buckwheat pancakes at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas called The Pancake House. They serve great breakfasts but you have to wait in line to get in. Later I adapted the pancake recipe by adding blueberries or blackberries. Be sure to serve the pancakes with real maple syrup. There is something hearty and tangy about buckwheat. You'll find the pancakes will stick with you for a good part of the day giving you the energy to cook the main meal, do the shopping, shovel the snow, or whatever you need to do.


Last but not least sourdough french toast is so good. Using day-old or stale sourdough french bread is best for this recipe. If you don't like sourdough, you can use sweet french bread. I learned to make french toast with sourdough bread from the Starlight Cafe in Foresthill, California. The cafe was originally started by the NFL football player, Ola Murchison. Of course, you are going to serve your sourdough french toast with real maple syrup just like you would with the buckwheat pancakes.

I know you're all busy, so here's the recipes.

Crepe Suzette's

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups cake flour
pinch of salt
4 eggs - room temperature
2 cups milk - room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon or orange zest
2 tablespoons of triple sec, orange liqueur, or vanilla extract
condiments or fillings of your choice

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter just starts to turn brown, but don't burn the butter. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl to cool. In the meantime, in a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar salt and zest and stir to mix. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs lightly, then add the milk and blend together. Slowly add the egg and milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk (you can blend on low, but don't over blend), continue adding the egg and milk mixture till the end, then slowly drizzle in the cooled butter and last the liqueur.

Cover the bowl and let it sit for about half an hour. This is a good time to have a holiday candy, preferably chocolate, and visit with your guests, teasing them about waiting for their Crepe Suzette.

Get your 8 inch crepe pan out. I have a favorite crepe pan and no one is allowed to use it for anything else. Why? The crepe pan gets seasoned and you don't want it to loose that perfect surface for cooking the crepes.

Put your crepe pan on medium heat and add a bit of clarified butter till melted, pour about half a cup of batter into the pan and immediately tilt the pan so the batter covers the bottom of the pan all the way around. Cook the crepe for about minute till till it starts to curl up on the sides and is dry in the center, then use a thin spatula to turn the crepe over and cook on the other side for 15 seconds, then move to the warming platter and cover, do this over and over again till you have the batter all used up. After the first few crepes you shouldn't have to add more butter to the pan. This is how the pan gets it's seasoning. Bring to the table and serve them slathered with all your favorite condiments, roll or fold the crepes up, and eat to your heart's content.



Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes

1-1/2 cups sifted buckwheat flour
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon oil
butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients with wire whisk. In a small bowl, with an electric mixer, combine buttermilk, molasses and oil. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Hand mix only until large lumps are gone.

You can add some blueberries to the batter if you want. If they are canned, make sure you drain the berries very well before adding them.

Heat griddle or frying pan. Grease pan lightly. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup to form each pancake in pan. Bake until bubbles appear and edges are brown. Flip pancakes and cook for a minute or so longer. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup. (See how my maple syrup shown above is almost empty, um good). Makes about 16 4-inch pancakes.


Sourdough French Toast

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
4 eggs
8 stale sourdough bread slices

Crack eggs into a bowl or dish deep enough to submerge your bread slices. Whisk the eggs until well beaten, add milk and mix, add vanilla. Submerge each slice of bread in the egg mixture, ensuring proper coating of all sides of the bread as well as some absorption of the mixture inside the bread. Do not over saturate. 3-5 seconds per side should suffice. Place wet bread on hot griddle or frying pan and sprinkle with cinnamon. Flip when bottom side of bread is cooked. Do not flip more than necessary (ideally once only). The side should take no more than 5 minutes to cook. Look at the centre of the bread to determine if the absorbed mixture is being cooked. If not, consider a hotter pan or longer cooking time. Serve with fresh fruit or real maple syrup and butter.

Holiday Halo

It's the first day of winter and we've got more snow in the mountains. I don't know if the strange behaviors around here are because it's winter or because it's the holiday season. But, I know I'm the perfectly normal one in our family, as you'll see.

Betty is drinking again.

Binky says Butter did this !
He's blaming our other cat for scratching
up the artificial tree cardboard box.

Gary say's to me, I'm doing my morning yoga!
Gary doesn't do yoga - notice his Harley sweatshirt!
Gary was waving his hands back and forth like
he was doing some sort of Hawaiian yoga.

Butter said he was innocent

Then Binky got camera shy.

Of course, I'm perfectly normal,
how do I know? I've been waking up
with a holiday halo on my head.
Ho, Ho Ho !

Quick, Easy Cranberry Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup orange juice
1-1/2 tablespoons of orange rind, freshly grated
1/4 cup butter, creamed
1-1/2 cup fresh cranberries
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg (I didn't have an egg so I used a quarter cup of vegetable oil)

Cream butter, then add sugar and cream well together. Add in flour, baking soda and baking powder and blend till just mixed in. Stir in orange rind and orange juice and then stir in vegetable oil (I discovered I didn't have any eggs at the last minute, so I had to be creative - so I substituted vegetable oil). (Cream in egg after sugar instead of oil if you have an egg). Last gently stir in cranberries. (I added a tad more orange juice to get the batter to stir up at the end, keep the batter very stiff and thick though). Grease and flour an 8 x 4 x 4 inch glass loaf pan (metal will do, but glass bakes so much nicer - plus you can see the bread through the glass), then bake at 350 F for about 35 to 40 minutes. If you put bread in muffin tins, only bake it for 25 minutes.

The cranberry bread just came out of the oven. Gary and I are eating a slice right now, and it's really good!

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life above is approximately 10" by 12", made from stoneware and fired to Cone 10. The tree was made by Connie as well as all the other ceramic pieces in this post. Connie also makes a larger version of this tree which is about 20" x 17". I'll bet you can just imagine the time we have getting these trees in and out of the kiln safely for both the bisque and glaze firings.

My friend Connie is becoming a little famous for her Tree of Life sculptures. She can't make them fast enough for those wanting to order them. Each one is hand made and glazed a little differently. Connie makes the trees so they can easily be suspended from two nails on the wall. We talked about attaching D hooks with epoxy on the back of the trees, but Connie likes the trees lying flat against the wall with the neutral background.

When I went to visit Connie the other day, I decided to take some photos of her ceramic work while I had the opportunity. Connie and I met in ceramics class three semesters ago and have been friends ever since. Since Connie doesn't have a computer, I'm hoping Connie sees this post at her son and daughter-in-law's house, if not, then the next time she comes to visit me.

Stoneware Crosses

Sequoia Tree

Two Dancers Sculpture

Carved Stoneware Tiles

Leaf Sculpture

Blue Birds

Merry Christmas Connie

Why So Many Buts ?

Silver Sheen Platter
15" x 10" x 1.5"

This is one the platters I made last Spring. I glazed it with an orange shino. When it came out of the glaze firing it was milky and beige and the glaze wasn't mature at all. Unfortunately I don't have a photograph of what the platter looked like after the first firing. I realize I need to keep my camera with me at all times to document the results of each firing.


I kept the platter for further experimentation and about a month ago I applied wax resist and brushed on temoku over the whole platter. This is the result. The color combination and textures are so unusual and appealing to me. Orange and a metallic silvery sheen. I really like this effect.


But, why are there so many buts? For some reason or another it looks like there are impurities in the clay coming through in several places from underneath the glaze. These bumps were not in the platter with the first firing. Does anyone know what these bumps could be? Could it be the shino fighting with the temoku? I plan on trying this combination again and am hoping I can get similar textures and colors but without the bumps. If the bumps were on a vase, I guess they would be OK, but on a platter, not so good.

Great Blue Heron Gopher Getter

Great Blue Heron

The first time I saw a Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, catch and eat a gopher I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought of great blue heron eating frogs and fish, but here in winter they hunt in grassy areas for gophers. We're still amazed when we see blue heron catching gophers in our yard and eating them whole! These photos were taken from inside our house and through the screen and window so the quality isn't that great, but I just had to share this amazing site.


This is an immature great blue heron. I can tell due to his smaller size and lack of plume feathers on the head. For the last three years I have seen great blue heron in the same nest and have observed the young as they grow bigger each day. Both parent heron feed the young in the nest for several months before they are large enough to fly away.


This heron was in our back yard for over an hour walking slowly across the lawn, pausing occasionally, motionless, waiting for movement in the grass. When the heron spied the gopher, it struck with lightening speed extending it's long neck and grabbing the gopher. After the heron caught the gopher, he held it in his beak for almost ten minutes while the gopher squirmed trying to get away. We also noticed when the heron was holding the gopher, he kept his neck curled up and close to his body, probably to better handle holding the weight of the gopher in its beak for that length of time. We surmised the heron was waiting for the gopher to tire before the heron swallowed it.


We have seen other heron flick gophers with their beaks up into the air catching them with their neck extended upward and swallowing them whole. We have also seen heron catch gophers in the Spring and carry them off presumably to feed their young in the nest. After this heron swallowed the gopher, he rested in one spot for a while, then he went back to hunting for more gophers in the grass.


Here's another great blue heron who landed in the deodar tree, Cedrus deodara, in our back yard one day. What a beautiful and regal bird.

Look What Santa Claus Picked

Santa Claus, Joulupukki, (Finnish) picked the last of our Cubanelle peppers and checked our citrus trees for ripeness yesterday. My husband, Gary, is Finnish and I talked him into doing the picking. We now have lots of ripe navel oranges, blood oranges, and clementines - a whole grocery bag of each. We didn't get any snow last night, but it got down to 28 F, so I'm glad Gary picked the fruit.


I planted the citrus trees four years ago when they were a foot tall. Now they are five feet tall and providing us with lots of fruit. I can't believe how much fruit was on our trees and boy is it good! If you are close by, please stop by for a taste of our organically grown citrus, we've got plenty to share.

Have a Merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year!

Leaf Panels

Walking through my garden a few weeks ago, I had an idea to make some leaf panels from leaves collected from various plants. I happened to be walking by the alder trees, Alnus rhombifolia, I planted about three years ago as young saplings. I was happy to see the trees are maturing enough to produce catkins. The white alder is a fast growing tree, up to 30 inches a year, and it can tolerate a moist soil. The alder is also a native tree and can be seen growing along streams throughout the West Coast.


I impressed the leaves and catkins into the clay surface. Later I removed the leaves and was pleasantly surprised to see the leaves had colored the clay a pale green from the chlorophyll they contained. How could I do any better than nature at capturing the subtle green of the leaves. I knew the color would burn out in the kiln, so I set about using some green under glazes to paint the leaves on the panel.


Here are a couple of other leaf panels I made. First I gathered leaves from a fern growing in a pot by the studio and impressed the leaves into clay. The fern leaves are a bit tattered from the heat of the summer, but I figured that's part of nature. For the next panel I picked some sage leaves, impressed them in porcelain clay, cut them out, and attached them to a black clay panel. Sage leaves don't grow on a branch or in a row like I have them here, but I've taken a bit of artistic license in order to utilize these leaves in the panel format. I have lots of different glazing techniques in mind for these two panels and several others I have made.


Today was the last day for this set of classes, so I've left all of the panels I made drying in a cabinet. I'll be returning to them at the end of January so there will be a slight delay in showing you what becomes of them. In the meantime, I'll be working on several other clay projects over the next several weeks, so stay tuned.

Frost or Snow

Normally in winter when I look out my kitchen window I see snow on the tops of the Sierra Mountains in the distance. But I might be seeing snow a lot closer by the weekend. There is a potential for snow down to the 1000 ft elevation here in Springville by Saturday. If you haven't done so already, now is a good time to wrap your water pipes and protect your tender plants from freezing winter temperatures.

The Grabber

For those of you just tuning in today, I'm not lazy, I have a bad back. Anything I can do to minimize stress on my discs as I go about my daily chores is a good thing. I've wanted to get one of these contraption's for quite some time. Low and behold I found one at Target in the household department. It's called the grabber. This morning I was able to pull a heavy glass coffee cup from the top shelf with ease with the grabber. I know it should be ceramic, but sometimes I like seeing my coffee and cream in a clear cup - it makes me feel like I have a coffee latte when I just have a regular coffee with cream in the cup. The glass cup felt real secure in my "extended" hand. Check it out. This item is good for getting items up off the floor too.

Free Gift Arrived

Remember my cat Betty picking the winner for the free gift giveway for my 100th post. Well the gifts arrived safely.

Read all about it on CJ's JollyEwe Knitting Blog !

Camouflage

Pyracantha berries provide food and camouflage for this robin.

Kristkindlmarkt A Raving Success !

The first annual Kristkindlmarkt in Springville today was a raving success. The weather cooperated providing crisp air and clear skies and lots of visitors came by to enjoy the day's events. Gary and I arrived early in the morning to set up my booth to display my ceramics. I was surprised at how nice my stoneware looked against the rustic backdrop of the booth. As I promised here are some photos I took during the day. That's Gary behind my booth all bundled up; he hates cold weather.


The event was the brain child of Dean Diaz de Leon and he, along with Ron and John, constructed the booths from reclaimed, weathered wood donated from various sources in the Springville area.Local artists used the rustic booths to display their art and handcrafted items during the day and early evening. In the evening the booths were decorated with white lights and there was a bonfire to take the chill off.


Coffee and hot chocolate was served by the local coffee shop where the event was held, and was really appreciated by the artists manning the booths. The event was well received by the public and many visitors remarked they wished the booths were going to be open every weekend till Christmas. Plans are already in the works for next years Kristkindlmarkt.










Good night and thanks for reading.