We ate quite a bit of ramen last week. It was a popular lunch choice and we even ate it for breakfast. We’re not talking the cheap grocery store noodles that college kids live on, our guests picked these out at the Korean market. Eating noodles with chop sticks and a spoon is definitely an art or skill. One that I have not mastered! The easiest way for me to get them in my mouth is to shovel them in bite off the dangling noodles. Not too polite in Asian cultures. Noodles are for slurping. Get them to your mouth and suck them in! It’s quite a noisy meal with five people all slurping at the same time. Of course this is messy business too. While you are slurping them up they splash broth all over your face. At least that’s what happens to me. I felt like I took a ramen bath when finished. Perhaps I will be a better slurper with a little more practice.
The Last Days of the Seagrove Tour
Jeff brought our guests out to visit some of the potters in the area. Since they fire in wood kilns, the tour focused mainly on the Seagrove potters with wood kilns.
Chad Brown’s new wood kiln
Big pots and sculptures at David Stuempfle’s
Phil Pollet and Park Yeon Tae
Lee Kyeong Hee at Johnston & Gentithes
Kim Jong Pil and Park Yeon Tae making tea bowls with the clay from our yard.
Tuesday night was a farewell barbecue. Phil Pollet arrived in his Porsche and took each them for a spin around the neighborhood. It was a perfect evening for a sports car ride. Later, everyone gathered on the patio, while Jeff smoked ribs and pork belly. We couldn’t find the traditional Korean drink, soju, so out came the vodka and sake. No one seemed to mind ;-).
At some point Jeff’s flute appeared and Park Yeon Tae had an impromptu lesson.
We feasted on eastern and western barbecue, kimchi, mac & cheese, and corn on the cob.
No one went to bed hungry.
One last group “selfie” at the dining table.
The next morning Jeff and Phil took the group to the airport. The whole week was such an amazing experience. While we are happy to have our house to ourselves again, it was a bittersweet parting. Jeff and I both said we were looking forward to eating food from the good ol’ USA, in our pajamas, streaming some television. But in the end what did we make?
Fusion Food!
There was leftover beef bulgogi in the fridge so we stirred fried some veggies as if making bibimbop and rolled it all in flour tortillas. Korean burritos……..YUM!
Our life now returns to normal. Well, as normal as a potters life can be. Today we have a kiln to unload… oh yeah, that happened too during the barbecue, everyone pitched in to get the gas kiln loaded and firing. We will have new pots today!
Pottery on The Grounds – East Meets West
Saturday was the hottest day we have had this year. It was humid and in the low 90’s. We woke up to a frozen air conditioner unit. Just imagine, five people trying to get out of the house for a festival, dripping in sweat. Jeff took a quick look at the air handler in the attic and we realized there was nothing we could do until the outside unit thawed. We piled into the car and headed to Southern Pines.
Yeon Tae Park was set up outside for demos, using Jeff’s Japanese kick wheel. Yeon Tae has won first place in the kick wheel competition at the Mungyeong Chasabal Festival.
An amazing group of women cooked and served bulgogi, bibimbop, and pajeon. There was also plenty of rice and kimchi. Hot dogs were also available for the less adventurous eaters.
Jeff did demos on the electric wheel.
Yeon Tae Park applying slip decoration to his moon jar.
Hands on activities… origami and a kids clay table. Both kids and adults got their faces painted!
Local potters set up booths in and around the Campbell House.
Nikki Mizak, with her hand painted chickens along with new soda fired work.
Morgan Hatfield had a nice assortment of Celtic pottery and oil & vinegar bottles.
Jared Zehmer had a sweet selection of tea pots in his booth.
Kings Pottery with wood fired work. They make some really cool face jugs.
Lufkin Pottery – Sally makes piggy banks too!
Frank Neef was inside the gallery showing his intricately pierced, porcelain vases and jars, all in crystalline glaze. Frank demonstrated his technique throughout the day.
Raven Pottery was also set up inside but I somehow didn’t get a photograph. They were a major sponsor of the event so a big thank you goes out to them!
Levi Mahan, who now has a shop in our previous location, was set up outside near the demo tent. Levi has some really nice wood fired pots. I give him lots of credit for braving the heat all day!
The crowds were steady for most of the day. I was glad that the heat didn’t keep people at home. Initially, the weather report called for rain, but thankfully that never happened.
One last photo of our group at the end of a long hot day. Kyeong Hee and Jon Pil spent the day doing tea ceremony demonstrations inside the gallery. They stayed cool, but were still very tired at 4:00!
We stopped for Mexican food on the way back to Seagrove. It was our guest’s first experience with Mexican food. They enjoyed the spicy flavors and were happy to see Budweiser on the menu. When we returned home Jeff went back into the attic and cleaned some corrosion from the fan on the air handler. We all jumped for joy when we turned it on and it worked!!!
East Meets West Reception Part 2
Jon Pil Kim and Yeon Tae Park, setting up for tea ceremony demonstrations
Korean style of dress, from the very traditional to Yeon Tai Park’s hip biker dude clothing.
The reception spread was unbelievable. A mix of traditional Korean and North Carolina food.
And of course there was soju!
At this point only about half of the food had been put out!
The reception hosts dressed the part.
Jon Pil Kim demonstrated the tea ceremony and served the guests. I am actually starting to enjoy matcha. The last time Jeff made it, I couldn’t get past the “it tastes like grass clippings” thought.
The crowd was big, the atmosphere festive. The reception was supposed to be over at 8:00pm… it was 9:00 when the last group left. Even though we were tired, a trip to the new, giant grocery store in Pinehurst was a must. This is one of those super sized stores with beer on tap, coffee shop, hot and cold buffets.
Our guests were pretty impressed. What did they buy? Cherries, cheese, Yuengling beer, and hot dogs. Jeff prefers Hoppyum IPA or Jade IPA from Foothills brewery, here in North Carolina. They thought it was a little too “hoppy” so the Yuengling was just right for them.
That’s all for today. I have some studio clean up to do, while the entourage is in Southern Pines giving a slide show and tea ceremony demo at the senior center.
East Meets West Exhibition
The opening reception of the East Meets West Exhibition was a fabulous evening. I took these photos as soon as we arrived and as you can see, many pots sold before the show opened.
Kyeong Hee Lee
Keong Hee Lee
Yeon Tae Park
Yeon Tae Park
Yeon Tae Park
Jong Pil Kim
Jong Pil Kim
Kyeong Hee Lee
Jong Pil Kim
Jong Pil Kim with Seagrove potter, Phil Pollet tumblers in the back, left corner.
Jong Pil Kim
Yeon Tae Park
That’s your Sunday eye candy. Next post will be photos from the reception festivities.
Geonbae!
Our guests from South Korea have arrived. We can’t buy soju in this neck of the woods so we said, “cheers!” with cups of anejo tequila. The morning started with breakfast, prepared by Yeon Tae Park (on the left in the photo)… ramen noodles and kimchi, now that’s my kind of breakfast! Jeff made a couple of gallons of kimchi, I hope we have enough to last the week…
The Count Down Begins!
Our potter guests from South Korea will be here tomorrow afternoon! We are just about ready for their arrival. Our office/photo shoot/packing room looks like a bedroom. The second bath has been painted, and the tub caulked. A few gallons of kimchi are fermenting in crocks… I will let you imagine what the house smells like. I am sure it will make our guests feel right at home.
These are a few more pots from the last firing. The gingko leaf pots will go the show in Southern Pines. The mug was an extra from a wholesale order.
I hope that everyone who has a long weekend is enjoying it. I will try to update the blog while the Korean potters are in town. Have a great week!
Firing #4
I have had so many irons in the fire that I didn’t even post the results of the fourth firing of the new gas kiln. Well let me tell you, I was a great one!
Jeff and I collaborated on this large, 18″ bowl and we are super pleased with it. Finished just in time go to the East Meets West Exhibition in Southern Pines.
Remember Jeff’s tea bowl made with the clay in our yard? Here it is finished. I think it’s just “Wow!” I am quite sure that he will send this one to the show as well.
That’s all for now, gotta get moving towards the studio. I have bowls that are ready for carving.
How Dry I am…
The little town of Seagrove has an alcohol referendum on the ballot, next election. This is the sign in our yard…
Below is the sign next to my bank and in many other yards…
We need alcohol sales to attract a nice restaurant, so we don’t keep sending pottery shoppers to Asheboro for a nice lunch with a glass of wine. Once they leave town, they aren’t coming back. Without alcohol sales our new local grocery store is losing money. If the locals need beer or wine, we drive past it and shop in Asheboro, where we can get everything in one stop. Our grocery dollars are leaving town every day. We waited a long time for a grocery store. I would hate to see us lose it.
Do I think the referendum will pass? I am really not sure. It seems there are a lot of old timers against it. I will let you know on June 8th.
A Day Off
Last week we were crazy busy trying to meet deadlines. We loaded and fired a bisque in the gas kiln, unloaded it the next day, and spent two days glazing and loading it again. The kiln is at 145 degrees this morning, so we will unload shortly. Fingers crossed for a great firing!
In between the pottery work, I started prepping and painting our master bedroom bath. Next on the list is to re-caulk the tub, so that we will have a second, fully functioning bathroom by the time our Korean guests arrive.
Yesterday we took a well deserved break. Our good friend Bonnie turned 60 and we celebrated with a great party at her daughter’s home in Greensboro. After the party we did some shopping at the Korean market, no trip to G’boro is complete without an excursion to Super Gmart. While Jeff gathered everything needed to make kimchi, I found all the ingredients to make Dak Galbi, a recipe that I had been wanting to try.
Dak Galbi is a spicy chicken and vegetable dish. It really is very simple to make. The vegetables are rough chopped cabbage, Korean sweet potato, onion, carrot, sesame leaves.
I think the main reason I wanted to try this dish is that it also includes tteok! Tteok is rice cake. Think of it as a dense pasta. Totally yummy, especially when covered in a spicy sauce. While it is called rice cake, it does contain wheat so it is not gluten free.
In Korea, Dak Galbi would be cooked in a very large cast iron pan. Mine isn’t big enough, but this deep skillet got the job done. The ingredients are layered in a hot pan, with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Chopped, boneless chicken thighs on the top, then a hot pepper paste spread over it. Some recipes marinated the chicken in the paste.
As the vegetables cook, they release their liquid and create a delicious sauce as the pepper paste is incorporated into it. 20-30 minutes and it’s done!
At a Korean restaurant, everyone would eat from the large pan, sometimes wrapping their food in sesame leaves. Once the pan is empty, the cook quickly fries some rice in the sauce that is left in the pan. Since we had some leftover rice in the fridge we did just that. DELICIOUS! It was the perfect ending to a Sunday off.