Photo copyright lambert.etsy.com.

These adorable chickens are made by Etsy seller Lambert. They're made of plaster, painted with tempera, and are inspired by 19th century "chalkware" figurines. They'd make a sweet addition to any home.

Every so often I go through a creative crisis. My crises usually revolve around my ceramic work and whether I should focus on it or move toward more "recycled" goods, which I also have a passion for.

It's in these times that I turn to folk crafts of Japan. Just looking at Japanese pottery tends to renew my spirit. Here are some pieces that bring me happiness and inspiration:


5 plates by Ogata Kenzan ........................................................bottle by Shoji Hamada


Vase by Otani Shiro..................................................................Japanese style tea bowl by Ashley Howard

It's nice to get a dinner out at a restaurant you haven't been to before, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Tonight's dinner was a big old FAIL that seemed specially customized for me.

To be fair to the restaurant, which will remain nameless, my spouse thought their food was delicious. But I have to share just how WRONG this dinner went for me.

1) I hadn't had much protein all day, so I thought it would be good to get a cup of black beans as an appetizer. This should have been my first clue to how the night would turn out. The beans were garnished with cilantro.

Now, many people (my spouse included) absolutely LOVE cilantro. They tell me it tastes clean and fresh. To me it tastes much like the way Dial soap smells. It's very unpleasant.

So we scooped out the cilantro and tried to focus on the taste of the beans instead.

2) We also shared an appetizer of cheese and olive empanadas. I love empanadas. I especially love cheese empanadas. Olive and cheese empanadas are a bit less exciting for me, as the olives used were green olives.

I am not a fan of green olives. Apparently I used to eat them all the time when I was little, as my older sister used to eat them, and I wanted to be grown up like her. But over the last 20-some odd years have grown less fond of them. Black olives are ok to me, and kalamata olives are the bomb, but green olives. . . meh.

3) Time for the main course. Mofongo with veggies. Mofongo is sort of a mashed plantain with garlicky sauce. This mofongo was a little drier than what I've had in the past (more like stuffing than like mashed potatoes). And the vegetables were a personal mightmare. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I ended up with asparagus, green pepper, onion, and. . . yup. . .more green olives. I seriously dislike asparagus. I hate the taste of green pepper. And onions, unless they are cooked really really thoroughly, tend to dislike me.

My wonderful spouse tried to help out by swapping me part of his sandwich, which I gratefully accepted even though it contained another vegetable that doesn't like me: cucumber. He was trying to figure out if there were any other vegetable that would have made the meal worse for me. The only things I can think of are okra and eggplant. (Not a fan of the texture of either.)

We thought about getting dessert, but at this rate, I was afraid to try anything else.

Dinner FAIL.

Sometimes I get a little overzealous when I go to the Farmer's Market. I get so excited over the fresh veggies that I tend to buy more than I can actually eat in a reasonable amount of time.

Enter this week's recipe remedy: Cheddar-Beer Fondue.

I found this recipe online for Cheddar-Beer Fondue, and decided it was the answer to my prayers. After all, fondue was created as a way to use up those foods that were a bit past their prime.

So. . .what's in my fridge?

• The baguette that I bought last week. (I don't seem to have much luck with baguettes. I leave them out and they get hard. I wrap them in plastic and they get moldy. I thought sticking it in the fridge would work, but no. A fresh baguette is meant to be eaten fresh.)
  
  
• That expensive cheese I bought at Ellwood Thompson's a few months ago. (It worked its way to the back of the cheese drawer, and by the time I found it, it was hard enough to probably be considered a lethal weapon. There was no way it could be sliced, but with a lot of elbow grease I managed to shred it.)
  
  
• The leftover Liberty Ale I bought for a friend's 4th of July party. (We took a mix of brews to the party and ended up with 3 Liberty Ales leftover. And, like I said the other day, I don't drink much, so I figured I should try to use them somehow.)
  
  
• Carrots and beans from last week's Farmer's Market. (Yeah. . .again, I get a little overzealous. And it's kind of hard when you're only shopping for 2 people. I really don't need a full bag of beans, and I would have been happier if the bunch of carrots was smaller by half. But the bunches and the prices were set, so I did the best I could.)
  
  
• I purchased additional cheese specifically for this meal since I knew I'd need a full pound. I love Cabot's cheddar, so I was super psyched to see that they actually make the Private Selection cheddar carried by Kroger! Cabot sharp cheddar for store brand prices! SCORE!
  
  

Alright, the first task was to try to slice the bread. Luckily I found this tip online:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Dampen the bag the baguette is in. Put the bag in the oven for 5 minutes only. Then use the bread within 10 minutes or it will be solid as a rock again. (That last part is VERY true.)

I used this trick and then immediately sliced the baguette and put it in a plastic bag and wrapped it up real tight to hopefully keep in whatever moisture the bread had absorbed.

Next, I briefly (although not briefly enough) steamed my vegetables. (I probably would have been better off if I had just blanched them instead of steaming. And in hindsight, I should have refrigerated the veggies after cooking them. They really taste better when the cool of the veggies contrast the warm of the fondue.)

Then, I just followed the recipe for the fondue. It was really pretty easy and tasty. And as someone who doesn't enjoy cooking, it's definitely something I'd try again. Seemed pretty hard to mess up.

Oh, and if you don't have a fondue pot, don't sweat it. You can cook the whole thing up in a saucepan. You can transfer it to a fondue pot after that, but it's really just to keep the cheese over the gentlest heat to keep it runny.

Hubby and I were hungry and tired and so ate directly from the saucepan, thus skipping the need for a fondue pot at all. (Don't you judge us.)

I hope this helps you use up those leftovers and gives you the courage to give fondue a try!

*whew*

All this time working on my studio has me thinking about a nice cold beer. Not that I drink much, but hard sweaty work can't help but bring a frosty brew to mind.

And since I'm working on my studio, thoughts of beer lead to thoughts of beer crafts.

Around town, people joke that PBR actually stands for "People's Beer of Richmond," so this flask seems particularly appropriate.

Image copyright jduct.etsy.com

Want to drink from a glass instead of a flask? How about glasses recycled from beer bottles?

Image copyright NickPaul.etsy.com

Ready to wash off that grime from your hard work? How about some beer soap?

Image copyright SudsNSuch.etsy.com

Need something to put that beer soap in? How about a recycled beer bottle soap dish?

Image copyright BigSky.etsy.com

And if you've drunk as hard as you've worked, you might need these tips for curing a beer hangover. Salud!