catching up!

Wow! You have been severely neglected dear blog. This doesn't mean I haven't been stirring the melting pot. Maybe I have been so busy stirring I haven't had time to blog. (Or - confession here - I've been spending WAY too much time in facebookland:)
I did have a shoulder injury that kept me from potting for a year, so I will start off with a picture post of the pots that were partially to blame. Two giant (for me - as they were wheel thrown on a less than powerful wheel and had to fit in my teensy little kiln) vases for friend - James Beard Award winning writer - Greg Atkinson's new Restaurant Marché on Bainbridge Island.

finally a destination restaurant on bainbridge island!

had an amazing dinner at Hitchcock last night
if this was only the "soft opening", then i can't wait to sample more
chef brendan mcgill nailed it! great atmosphere, great energy and world-class food. the octopus, the bok choy, the risotto!, the trout wow!
if only island vibes could start up again we could stay on the island

we've already reserved again for next saturday

winter studiotour '09

candlesticks

Remember these?

Glazed in Pebble Blue

winter studiotour coming up

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The Artists

Marielle Macville - Marielle Macville Ceramics

Functional archeologically inspired ceramic vases and artifacts

mariellemacville@gmail.com
mmarielle.etsy.com

My love for eating and the right presentation of food, has led me to the art of ceramics. I've collected dishes and other ceramics ever since I began traveling the world as a fashion model. I started designing my own pottery after enrolling in a ceramics class some 10 years ago. Although most work remains purely functional, it is no longer limited to culinary use. I am currently working on my Artifacts Collection - a collection of vases and other artifacts, inspired by post Bronze Age Mediterranean cultures and Ritual Bronzes of Ancient China. This is an ongoing fascination - dating back to my college days studying Cultural Anthropology in the Netherlands.

All the vases are wheel-thrown, hand altered, glazed in hues from patinaed copper bronze to turquoise in a gas kiln to cone 10, or to cone 6 in an electric kiln.

My Artifacts Collection has been inspired by treasures that I imagine litter the floor of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Casualties - or better - survivors of centuries of Greco-Roman and Sassanid wars. I picture the Hellespont where entire fleets perished - triremes and galleons to the last man, while their possessions, scattered and buried in sand, still offer testimony to not only the battles these empires fought and lost, but moreover to the cultural osmosis that ensued. As a result forever enriching and influencing each society's heritage and ultimately ours.

The collection is an ode to the few surviving artifacts that bore witness to these battles and bloodshed. Whether designed for Gods, mortals or heroes, once disgorged from the bowels of their ships, these pots or vases were fated to play host to octopi and other sea-life in peaceful times. Their patina, chips and cracks revealing scars of centuries of scouring sand, shells, coral and rocks.

Click images to enlarge.

2009 Summer Tour: August 7, 8, & 9 | 2009 Winter Tour: December 4, 5, & 6

Questions? Call 206-842-0504, or e-mail us at: bistudiotour@earthlink.net.

©2009 Bainbridge Island Studio Tour. All Rights Reserved.

Design Style Guide: Avoid Heatstroke and Just Bring the Outdoors In

Design Style Guide: Avoid Heatstroke and Just Bring the Outdoors In

treasury

Thought I should share this Etsy treasury. What is an Etsy Treasury? This is a way for Etsy artists to curate a personal shopping gallery. Or . . . show off a favorite item in the company of other fabulous Etsy finds. Another way to waste time on the computer. But fun nonetheless. 

eggs

   
   

I just received an email from David Chu  - co-founder of c2net.org - who was in town this past weekend to provide Open Captioning for one of the theaters in Seattle. He emailed thanking for the unexpected "fanfare, hospitality and THE FOOD".  I guess I will leave it at that, but really, it was just sunday brunch as usual(*) chez Macville. Although the weather was far from the "usual"; it was great! - nice and balmy, spring blossoms in full bloom and the scent of freshly mowed grass added extra aroma to Gus' already scrumptious Mexican scrambled eggs.  Gus is our egg-scrambler extraordinaire! Having learned from mom of course. It's pretty easy to teach Gus to cook anything that he loves to eat. (What doesn't he love?!) No ADD when it comes to filling his stomach! 

The first time I liked scrambled eggs happened to be in the tropics of all places. I was on a photo shoot in the Seychelles Islands . We were staying in a villa on the island of Praslin - part of the Relaix et Chateaux; Chateau de Feuilles - with a lovely lady who would cook us breakfast. The same thing every morning: fresh papaya with lime, very strong coffee with scalded milk, toast with butter, cinnamon and sugar and these creamy, fluffy scrambled eggs. No relationship whatsoever to eggs from a diner. Try them; you’ll never scramble your eggs the same way again.

creamy scrambled eggs

12 eggs

1/2 cup cream

1 stick butter

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the butter over very low heat in a large non-stick skillet with a thick bottom. Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the cream, making sure they’re completely loose. When the butter has just melted, pour the eggs in the pan and start to stir them immediately with a wooden spatula. Scraping the bottom and sides over and over again, so they cook evenly and very slowly. It takes some time. Do not let them get dry, they should be almost soufflé-like, but still be very moist looking. I prefer not to salt the eggs themselves, but rather serve them with toast and salted butter. Just a small amount of ground black pepper to accentuate the sweet creaminess of these eggs. 

For the Mexican eggs sauté a 1/4 cup of finely chopped onions, jamón serrano, a few mini bell-peppers and of course as much finely diced habanero as you can tolerate, before adding the egg mixture. Serve with crumbled queso fresco, fresh! salsa, sour cream, avocado, cilantro and fried corn tortillas.

(*) This is how I'll find out if and when my husband reads this post. His comment will be: "Yeah that was until you decided to lock yourself in your pottery studio all day and abandoned us!"

table top

spring was here

Last sunday - definitely not this sunday - we were reminded that things do get better. I woke up to the sound of our woodpecker hacking away on the birch tree. Overnight hummingbirds had  returned - fiercely guarding the quince when I tried to cut a few branches for a bouquet. It got warm enough for the chickens to seek shade for their afternoon scratch in the dirt, and for Gozu the cat to stay out hunting all night. The dogs finally got most their energy out racing laps around the yard. Floortje in relentless pursuit of Bunior's hind legs and of course her favorite: chomping daisies on the run! I worked on pots for most of the day, but Gus stole my camera and shot a few pictures. 

Have you googled yourself, lately?

DON'T You could be reminded of what your butt used to look like! Yikes!

Or you could come across scary 80-ies and 90-ies images like THESE!!  Yikes again!

 

from mud to wonky candle sticks

This is quite a funky wonky collection of candelabras. I still don't know what to think of them. They're kinda cute in a "only a mother can love them" way. I'm not sure if they were worth the effort but I did have fun playing in the mud. And it has been a useful exercise in how much abuse the clay (and I) can take.

I have been working on creating a line of utility ware for my etsy store while still staying within the Mediterranean Classics. I was inspired by a pair of "marble" bowls that I've thrown years ago and still love and use regularly. I would have continued to make more, but the use of black clay was soon verboten in the studio I worked in at the time. (Something to do with my messy work habits maybe?) Anyway, while trying out different white porcelains to mix with the "midnight black" from Seattle Pottery and the right proportions, I made a pretty big mess of things and ended up with a bucket full of scraps and mud. Not wanting to be wasteful, but without the help of a pug mill or even a wedging board I set out to create something, well anything really. After an "entertaining" struggle with air bubbles and lumps - it made shaping the neck of the vase in the previous post feel like buttah - I ended up with a bunch of wonky aka "characterful" candle sticks. Now all I need to do is figure out how to glaze them, if at all. Any suggestions? MAybe I'll try to raku them. Not my favorite procedure normally, but it could be just the right thing. I will post the results when available.

messy room (my "studio")

This is my "studio" slash cat-room slash sun-room. It's not insulated or heated and either freezing or boiling. But once in a while I manage to get in there when the temperature is tolerable. But it's SO nice to be able to work at home. I'm still potting at the Eagledale arts center as well - it's good to be social and I still have many! questions, but I no longer despair when classes are on break.

On the wheel is my latest venture into antiquity, a Tang Dynasty inspired dragon-handled urn. I am still very much inspired by post Bronze-age Mediterranean cultures, but I'm not averse to more Asian influence. In particular Ritual Asian Bronzes. After all it is widely believed that the makers of Shang Dynasty bronzes were influenced by Mediterranean craftsmen. A bit all-over the map and all-over many time lines; easily justified as an archeological stir in the ol' cultural melting pot.   

  

A Shang period inspired "bronze" that I'm offering as a custom order in my shop on ETSY.

I made this one for a friend as a funerary urn for her dog's ashes. 

         

I spotted this "bronze" pool side at Casa Dali - 

Salvador Dali's house, now a museum, in

Port Lligat, Spain.

                                                                                            

duck, duck, turkey

Survived another Thanksgiving! No travel, no relatives, no turkey, no black friday mall shopping and no college sports!

Yes Miles home from college - with girlfriend Shiori of course, and yes mu-shu duck! I'm sure their blog posts 20 years from now will read pretty much the same, but for the "no mu-shu duck and no scrabble!" But that's their problem. Hopefully they will still appreciate the duck and the day-after duck soup. Don't think they'll ever forget the drying ducks - or the crispy skin for that matter. At least they know what was hanging in the window, unlike what I saw in Shanghai last february. What exactly was hanging out to dry there??? Pork maybe in one picture, but a bear? I think the animal control or the FDA would be on our doorsteps immediately. We did have pumpkin pie. Spiced up with cardamom, heavy on the ginger and a delicious crust made by Gus and assistant Shiori. (Recipe and picture below - sorry no picture of the prepared mu-shu duck due to ravenous customers.)

the mu-shu duck:

1 duck

3 tbsp malt sugar

2 tbsp rice vinegar

11/2 tsp five spice powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 small shallots

8 pieces star anise

2 shallots

Start preparing the night before: 

Wash and dry the duck. Bring a kettle of water to boil. Heat the malt sugar and the vinegar until the sugar has dissolved. 

Pour the bowling water over the duck. This will contract the skin and helps it separate from the flesh for crispy skin. Rub the duck all over with the malt sugar mixture. Stuff with five spice powder mixture and sew up the cavity. Hang duck to dry by it's feet. Be careful, it drips.

Next day:

Preheat oven at 375ºF. Roast duck for 1 hr, or until reddish brown and crispy!

Meanwhile prepare the pancakes:

2 cups plain flour

11/3 cup boiling water

salt

1 tbsp sesame oil plus more

Stir all ingredients rapidly together until you have a pliable ball. Divide dough in 4 equal parts. Roll each out in a log about 2" by 4". Cut into 4 pieces. On a lightly floured surface roll each into a 6" circle. Heat quickly on both sides on a very hot cast iron pan or griddle. Brush thinly with more sesame oil to prevent them from sticking together. Keep warm.

Prepare the stir-fry veggies:

bean-sprouts, washed

napa cabbage or bok choy, shredded

shiitake mushroom, sliced

scallions, white part sliced, greens chopped

cilantro

1 tbsp soy sauce

Heat a wok, add pan dripping from the duck. Quickly stir-fry the scallion white parts with the shiitake mushrooms. When the mushrooms are soft, add the cabbage for a minute, the soy sauce and remove from heat. Remove to serving dish. Just before serving stir in the bean-sprouts, cilantro and green scallion parts.

Time to serve:

duck

pancakes

stir fry

hoisin sauce

Carve the duck and slice thinly. Each guest will spread a tsp of hoisin sauce on a pancake. Add a few slices of duck meat and skin and a spoon full of stir fry. Pick up and eat like a taco.

That night I start the duck soup with the bones and left-overs. While certain other family members await their share of left-overs. (Don't worry, we had plenty - even enough for "duck-pot-pie" on the 3rd night.)

Recipe to follow. First the pumpkin pies!

The Pumpkin Pie:

fresh sugar pumpkins

Roast in a 400ºF oven until soft. Scoop out seeds, peel and reserve meat.

pie dough:

21/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks cold butter, in cubes

1/4 cup ice-cold water

Combine all ingredients except ice water in food processor and pulse until coarse but well blended. While the machine is running, slowly but QUICKLY add ice-water through the feed tube until the dough holds together. Divide dough in 2 pieces. Flatten each into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr.

filling:

4 cups fresh pumpkin meat

3 cups heavy cream

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cardamom

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

Mix all in food processor and blend well.

Preheat oven at 425ºF

Roll out dough to line two 9" pie pans. Pour in filling and decorate with dough scraps. Bake for 15 min at 425ºF, then lower temp to 350ºF for an additional 45 min or so. Until a knife comes out clean.