Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Spiral Addendum
I have an addendum to my last post. More spirals! I wish I could stay up all night and draw. But we have to drive tomorrow so it's off to bed. Enjoy...
Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Thanksgiving Spirals
Nothing says Thanksgiving like intricate Celtic spirals right? What? I'm sure I can make the connection. A spiral pattern is a glorification and celebration of the unending thanks we have for the bounty that has been bestowed upon us during our path this past year! Kinda works right?
Okay, seriously I found some new books from an author my brother turned me on to, Aidan Meehan. I knew I'd have some time over the holiday to draw so I thought I better go ahead and get them. Problem is, I haven't put them down since I checked them out from the library. I'm totally hooked.
I'm hoping to practice on a number of patterns and then hopefully I can work them onto a pottery piece after I get comfortable with them. What do you think, wouldn't that be beautiful on the bottom of pie plate?
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Okay, seriously I found some new books from an author my brother turned me on to, Aidan Meehan. I knew I'd have some time over the holiday to draw so I thought I better go ahead and get them. Problem is, I haven't put them down since I checked them out from the library. I'm totally hooked.
I'm hoping to practice on a number of patterns and then hopefully I can work them onto a pottery piece after I get comfortable with them. What do you think, wouldn't that be beautiful on the bottom of pie plate?
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Duckanoo
Andrea and I served another chicken and plantain stew the other night and I decided to add a side of duckanoo along with it. And duckanoo is a lot of fun but I think I could open coconuts for a living. That was a lot of fun! So, I thought I'd give a play by play...
First, I began by drilling, Tim Allen style, into the coconut. I actually drilled two holes in the coconut. One to pour and one to allow the air to flow.
After I poured out the liquid I was stuck with a hard knot of coconut. I've heard so many stories about how to go from here. I found that it was easier to just smack it with a hammer. The darn thing is so hard that you won't crush it, you'll just crack the edge off. Coconuts are REALLY hard...
Once the coconut was halved It was necessary to separate the flesh from the hard shell. I just did this by hand. I've actually stuck this in the oven before to allow it to pull away but I found this is easy enough to just pull it apart by hand.
When this was finally done I was left with two nearly equal halves of coconut. What else could I do...
Duckanoo
3 cups corn meal
1 whole coconut
2.5 cups milk
4 oz raisins
0.25 cup butter
0.5 cup demerara sugar
0.25 tsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
Add the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together. Add them together, wrap in foil packets and drop in boiling water. Simmer for 45 minutes and enjoy, it's that simple!
Fixes...
I thought this could use more coconut and a bit more milk. Maybe 3 cups milk and 25% more coconut, or 25% less of everything else because it does make a lot!
First, I began by drilling, Tim Allen style, into the coconut. I actually drilled two holes in the coconut. One to pour and one to allow the air to flow.
After I poured out the liquid I was stuck with a hard knot of coconut. I've heard so many stories about how to go from here. I found that it was easier to just smack it with a hammer. The darn thing is so hard that you won't crush it, you'll just crack the edge off. Coconuts are REALLY hard...
Once the coconut was halved It was necessary to separate the flesh from the hard shell. I just did this by hand. I've actually stuck this in the oven before to allow it to pull away but I found this is easy enough to just pull it apart by hand.
When this was finally done I was left with two nearly equal halves of coconut. What else could I do...
Duckanoo
3 cups corn meal
1 whole coconut
2.5 cups milk
4 oz raisins
0.25 cup butter
0.5 cup demerara sugar
0.25 tsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
Add the dry ingredients together. Mix the wet ingredients together. Add them together, wrap in foil packets and drop in boiling water. Simmer for 45 minutes and enjoy, it's that simple!
Fixes...
I thought this could use more coconut and a bit more milk. Maybe 3 cups milk and 25% more coconut, or 25% less of everything else because it does make a lot!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Craft Fair this Week!
Just a reminder to everyone that I will be at the Gaue Mill "Christmas at the Mill" Craft Fair this weekend! I will be there Saturday and Sunday until 4. Stop by and say hi, I'd love to see everyone!
Click on the picture of the invite for more details or check out Graue Mill's website here.
Click on the picture of the invite for more details or check out Graue Mill's website here.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Online Tools
People ask me frequently about what it is like to operate online. It seems unwieldy to many people because they are unsure how they can track important data. I've found that there are a few fantastic websites that make my life super easy and I thought it would be fun to give a little behind the scenes into how I track things.
Above is a view of Google Analytics which tracks everything. Frankly, I try not to spend too much time looking at the data. One could really waste a lot of time tracking things like the number of website visitors have java enabled and cross referencing that with browser usage and time of log on. But I don't really worry about much of the technical data. Instead, the total number of visitors and the total pageviews seems most important to me. Basically, how many people are browsing the site and how thoroughly are they browsing. Kinda useful right?
Also note that yesterday was my best day ever. The most people and the most number of page views ever, yea!
And while that is all pretty cool, the data from Google Analytics is made more practical at a website called www.craftopolis.com. Craftopolis takes the most important GA data and presents it in a simple format along with metrics from Etsy itself. So, I can clearly see the total number of people and page views along with which items are popular, what I've sold, and hearts for both the shop and the items!
And while I generally don't like to spend too much time analyzing data it is useful to take a gander here everyday or so. And it has informed my decision making process. I've learned that, generally speaking I have big Thursdays and Sunday nights so I make sure that I post on those days. Interesting huh...
Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Above is a view of Google Analytics which tracks everything. Frankly, I try not to spend too much time looking at the data. One could really waste a lot of time tracking things like the number of website visitors have java enabled and cross referencing that with browser usage and time of log on. But I don't really worry about much of the technical data. Instead, the total number of visitors and the total pageviews seems most important to me. Basically, how many people are browsing the site and how thoroughly are they browsing. Kinda useful right?
Also note that yesterday was my best day ever. The most people and the most number of page views ever, yea!
And while that is all pretty cool, the data from Google Analytics is made more practical at a website called www.craftopolis.com. Craftopolis takes the most important GA data and presents it in a simple format along with metrics from Etsy itself. So, I can clearly see the total number of people and page views along with which items are popular, what I've sold, and hearts for both the shop and the items!
And while I generally don't like to spend too much time analyzing data it is useful to take a gander here everyday or so. And it has informed my decision making process. I've learned that, generally speaking I have big Thursdays and Sunday nights so I make sure that I post on those days. Interesting huh...
Slán,
Colin
As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
My Ode to Capers
I remember when we purchased this jar of capers from our local Costco. I thought there was no way in the world we would be able to use them all. I mean, I like capers but a whole quart of them? Certainly that's not possible, right? I will never doubt my wife again.
We started by looking up all kinds of recipes that use capers as a central component. We found lots of dishes with salmon, obviously. But we make a lot of chicken so we started with Chicken Piccata. This is a fantastic recipe that I will use over and over.
But Andrea branched out and started experimenting. She put them in what is now our favorite potato salad. The capers add a nice tangy, bitter and mix well with the slight amount of cayenne she adds to make this dish unlike any other potato salad but still familiar. Love it...
Chicken Piccata
1 Whole Chicken
6 Tablespoons Butter
5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
2/3 Cup Chicken Stock
1/3 Cup Capers
Pasta
1.25 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Semolina
3 Eggs
I took a whole chicken and quartered it (learn how here) to decrease the cooking time and provide uniform results. I then roasted those pieces at 300 degrees to cook them through but not dry them out.
While that was cooking I made the pasta. I have done this by hand but I find it is a bit easier in my kitchen aid. Add the one cup of all purpose and one cup of semolina (in a little volcano if you're making it by hand) and then add the eggs. As the kitchen aid is working I may add up to an additional 1/4 cup of all purpose, slowly, depending on how wet or dry the dough is. When it begins to really resist I wrap it up and set it aside for at least 20 minutes.
When the chicken was cooked through but not overly brown I took it out and finished it in the pan. I added 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and browned the breast meat. Then added 2 more tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and browned the hind quarters. Once the meat was out I added the chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Then I added the lemon, capers and any remaining olive oil. I reduced this slightly and added the remainder of the butter just prior to serving to give the sauce a nice sheen.
Cook the pasta as the sauce is reducing. Fresh pasta cooks in under a minute. Toss with sauce but keep some sauce aside for drizzling over the chicken. Serve the chicken over the bed of pasta and enjoy.
Note...
Next time I would make a hair less pasta. (Or a hairless pasta?) When making it by hand I always tend to make too much. Reducing the pasta by a third would probably bring the proportions in line.
We started by looking up all kinds of recipes that use capers as a central component. We found lots of dishes with salmon, obviously. But we make a lot of chicken so we started with Chicken Piccata. This is a fantastic recipe that I will use over and over.
But Andrea branched out and started experimenting. She put them in what is now our favorite potato salad. The capers add a nice tangy, bitter and mix well with the slight amount of cayenne she adds to make this dish unlike any other potato salad but still familiar. Love it...
Chicken Piccata
1 Whole Chicken
6 Tablespoons Butter
5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
2/3 Cup Chicken Stock
1/3 Cup Capers
Pasta
1.25 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Semolina
3 Eggs
I took a whole chicken and quartered it (learn how here) to decrease the cooking time and provide uniform results. I then roasted those pieces at 300 degrees to cook them through but not dry them out.
While that was cooking I made the pasta. I have done this by hand but I find it is a bit easier in my kitchen aid. Add the one cup of all purpose and one cup of semolina (in a little volcano if you're making it by hand) and then add the eggs. As the kitchen aid is working I may add up to an additional 1/4 cup of all purpose, slowly, depending on how wet or dry the dough is. When it begins to really resist I wrap it up and set it aside for at least 20 minutes.
When the chicken was cooked through but not overly brown I took it out and finished it in the pan. I added 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and browned the breast meat. Then added 2 more tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and browned the hind quarters. Once the meat was out I added the chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Then I added the lemon, capers and any remaining olive oil. I reduced this slightly and added the remainder of the butter just prior to serving to give the sauce a nice sheen.
Cook the pasta as the sauce is reducing. Fresh pasta cooks in under a minute. Toss with sauce but keep some sauce aside for drizzling over the chicken. Serve the chicken over the bed of pasta and enjoy.
Note...
Next time I would make a hair less pasta. (Or a hairless pasta?) When making it by hand I always tend to make too much. Reducing the pasta by a third would probably bring the proportions in line.
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