Workin' the Workshop

Well after two weeks of working behind the computer I am happy to announce that  something has come out of it.

Unfortunately it's NOT my new website. Yet. 

It's almost done. I promise. But dang it sure is a lot of work.

 I've been wanting to host a lighter style workshop in my studio for the past year and a half in a more regular way but I always seemed to get derailed by other projects.  So before the year became over scheduled I decided to block out dates and make them happen.

I am happy to announce that I will be hosting three workshops out of my Bayview studio. 

One in February.  One in March.  And one in April. 

 

  We will work on tiles and focus on various surface techniques. The workshops are designed for all skill levels in clay so if you have no idea what a cone or quartz conversion is you'll still be good.  I do want to mention that these are not the same as my longer workshops that will be I teaching in July and September here and here.  I will not be teaching my etching techniques as the process is quite extensive and takes more than one day to teach.  I promise though, you'll come away from your day in the studio having learned some inspiring new ways to work and that can be translated to any clay surface.

Here are the details.  

Cheers!

Properly spiced & Ready to go

It's chilly out.

Even here in California. 

Cold. Dark. Rainy.

I am hunkered down enjoying the quiet of January. Everything has slowed to crawl giving me some  much needed time to re-do my poor neglected website. As I rummage through my thousands (this is not an exaggeration) of photo files and write copy I find myself wanting 

to sip on something to warm me up. 

Chai.

Not the overly sweetened weak oddly spiced kind you often find
at coffee shops or in a box at the grocery store. 

But a simple five ingredient chai.
(All my favorite recipes have five ingredients.)

Warmed with ginger and a hint of cardamon and brewed with a strong straight forward black tea. I like to to add milk to soften the tea

and drizzle some honey in it for a touch of sweetness.

Here is how I make it.

Ingredients

5 or 6 1/4" slices of fresh ginger

approximately 15  whole green cardamon pods

3 bags of PG Tips black tea

6 cups of water

milk to taste 

(soy, nut or coconut milks are yummy too)

honey to taste

 

 Place the water, ginger and cardamon pods in a two quart heavy bottomed saucepan and bring it to just under a boil.  When it begins to boil turn the heat down to a low simmer.  Cover the pot (otherwise a lot of it will evaporate) and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes.  Do not cook too long otherwise the ginger will be too strong and overpower the balance of the chai.

 Once the cardamon and ginger finish simmering add your three bags of PG tips.

(I sometimes use loose leaf black tea from this company if I want a stronger brew.)

Let the tea steep in the infusion for about 3-5 minutes 

depending on how strong you'd like it to be.

Then remove the tea bags.

Let the chai cool a bit then pour it through a strainer into a pitcher for storing in the refrigerator.  

I use this ceramic teapot to store mine. 

 When I want a cup of chai, I take my pitcher of brew out of the refrigerator and pour some into a small enameled pan, add some milk and honey, warm it up and then it's ready to sip while I continue uploading photos to my website.

 Of course, I like to drink my chai out of one of my new tumblers.  If you can't make your own chai yourself, my tumblers are made to go (they fit in a car cup holder) so you can take the tumbler with you to your favorite cafe and order a coffee.  ;-)

 Here's to staying warm, properly spiced and ready to go.