Joie de vivre

This past weekend we went out to take some photos of the new glazedOver Pottery indie ceramic pendants. It was a chilly Spring day, chillier than it should have been for late April, and it had rained earlier that morning, so the grass was a rich, gorgeous green. Everything was still wet, including the fence next to where we were shooting, but that didn’t stop my little one from bouncing around like she usually does with the hop that is perpetually in her step. Mesmerized by how beautiful the pink of her jacket was next to the moist green of the grass, I snapped this picture of her climbing the fence just moments before I realized…

…that she had just climbed the fence (read: wet fence) in her new pink jacket. It’s in the wash as I write this.

Pretty new jackets aside, there’s a lesson here that, perhaps, doesn’t immediately meet the eye. Did my daughter have fun at the photo shoot? Yes, definitely, but not because she has any love for ceramic pendants or photography. She had fun because she was free to run around and climb whatever she could find, you know…in the way that only a kid can do. So here’s a gentle reminder for you – go do something fun, and forget about the mud stains.

glazedOver Pottery Tapas Set and a Short History Lesson

Napoleon III, also known to some as Don Alfonso Tapas, almost singlehandedly shaped the course of Spanish cuisine.

He had a broad and discriminating palate and is known for having influenced a whole generation—and all those that followed—to eat a variety of exclusively small appetizer sized portions together with their sherry.

Historians differ as to his rationale for this, but there are three prevailing theories:

1.  Tapas, in an attempt to manage his increasingly girlish figure, resorted to eating smaller portions

2.  Tapas actually had only a small appetite

3.  Tapas didn’t have much food left and was just trying to make it last longer

 

Historians may differ, but whatever. What IS important is how glazedOver has risen to the occasion to celebrate not only Don Alfonso Tapas, but the small portion based cuisine which he invented. New from the glazedOver Pottery studio is this four piece eclectic stoneware tapas set featuring the glazedOver signature Green Sherbert glazing on an earthy speckled stoneware backdrop.

For some serious history, I should admit that rather than giving Don Alfonse Tapas the credit, credit is actually due to the Spanish tavern owners for first having served tapas, which is a variety of small and succulent appetizers served either hot or cold. The word “tapas” itself comes from the Spanish word tapar which means “to cover.” Why does “to cover” have anything to do with such cuisine? An excellent question. I’m so glad you asked!

According to The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer et. al., tapas began as slices of bread or salty meat that patrons would use to cover their glasses of sherry in order to keep the fruit flies out. It made good business sense for the taverns to continue to offer such snacks with libations so that customers would continue to order more drinks.  “Eat while you drink; drink while you eat,” as they say.  Nice motto!

In case you are culinarily inclined and just about to google “tapas recipes,” I should tell you that there are no set rules for what constitutes tapas, per se. Garlic marinated black olives, spiced meatballs, stuffed tomatoes, shrimp fritters, artichoke croquetas, mushrooms vinaigrette,  hot fried patatas…whatever strikes your fancy. Bon appetit!

glazedOver Scroll Handle Mugs – Part II

Good news! The glazedOver ginormous handmade ceramic mugs with the curly handles came out of the kiln last week and they are just GORGEOUS! I experimented a bit with the glazes and I’m very pleased with the results.

These are the embarrassingly large mugs. At 28-ounces, they’re the ones for which you’d have to keep your eyes on the carpet during the walk back to your desk just so you won’t have to see the snickering and finger pointing. We know you like your coffee bucket. Nobody says you should have to strike up conversation about it though.

OK Go – Chain Reaction Heaven

Who doesn’t remember setting up a trail of dominoes and knocking over the first one to set up the captivating chain reaction collapse of the whole shebang? The visual treat is as intoxicating as the sound the dominoes make click-clicking against each other as they fall. Worth the effort, one must agree.

Chain reactions of this sort fascinated Rube Goldberg (1883-1970). First and foremost, Goldberg was a cartoonist, but he is well known for his deliberately over engineered machines which performed very simple tasks in a very complicated manner. His machines usually included a chain reaction and were so fascinating that they came to be called “Rube Goldberg Machines.”

The Chicago based indie rock band OK Go has a music video for their song “This Too Shall Pass” which is a mind-bogglingly long Rube Goldberg Machine. While you watch, notice that they shot the whole video in one long take without cuts. They did this to show that the whole sequence was one continuous machine without editing. Flawless, geek-worthy and so impressive.

It would be one thing if just the song was cool, but this video is one of the best visual manifestations of lyrics I’ve ever seen.