Best Sweet Potato Casserole ever!

It's Thanksgiving Week and I want to share something with you...it's my Mother-In-Law's dish that I feel head over heals for...Sweet Potato Casserole. It's so yummy and filled with nuts and spices that you don't really even taste the sweet potato! This is coming from a gal that HATED sweet potatos my whole life. TRY IT! YOUR FAMILY WILL LOVE IT!

Louise's Sweet Potato Casserole Dish

1 cup milk (to double,-2 cups)

2 cups sweet potatoes (canned is fine) (2x-4 cups)

1-1/4 cups sugar (I use brown, Louise uses white) (2x - 2 1/2 cups)

2 eggs (2x-4)

3/4 stick of butter or margarine (melted) (2x-1 stick is fine)

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (2x-1 teasp)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (2x-1 teasp.)

Mix all ingredients with electric mixer. Bake @ 400 degrees (F) for 20 minutes or until it's set in the middle. 10 minutes before it's done (i.e. after 10 min or so of baking), add the mixture below on the top.

Topping: 3/4 stick melted butter, 3/4 cup crushed cornflakes, 1/2 cup chopped pecans (double all these if you are doubling recipie).

Let me know if you try it!

Happy Holidays!

Cheers! Diana

Fresh from the kiln!!

Just opened the kiln last night and found some beautiful platters! I've also added some new funky soapdishes...

Check out my Etsy shop for more!

www.dancingdolphinpotter.etsy.com

~Etsy Mud Team--Mug Swap~

Hey! I hope that everyone voted today, BTW! It's Tuesday, Nov. 4th, 2008.

I'm a proud (new) member of the Etsy Mud Team--a group of about 300 potters who sell their handmade pottery on http://www.etsy.com/ They are a great team that provides online mentoring, friendship and group promotion of our creations. I am in awe of their talent!

The Etsy Mud Team is currently holding a MUG SWAP! If we choose to participate, we trade a handmade mug (or mugs) with other team-members. The fun part is that we don't know who is sending us a mug! So, we take a picture of ourselves with our mugs first then upload it to the EMTwebsite. Then we're told who to ship our mug to. When we get our mugs, we then take a picture of ourselves with the mug sent to us!!

I've shipped out my mug and am waiting to get mine---it's like Christmas for adults! Check out this link to see everyone with their pots! http://etsymudteam.craft-sense.com/Challenges/viewchallenge.asp?ChallengeID=14

Bisque fire over weekend

Hey! This will be quick because I need to hit the hay, but just wanted to let everyone know that I did a bisque fire this weekend and have lots o' pots to glaze now! Chips 'n Salsa trays, huge mugs and soapdishes are on the menu. I'll post them to my Etsy shop when they are finished! My head is swimming with glazing possibilites... :-)

Pottery Shop on ETSY

NEWS FLASH : : : : : : : I've set up a Pottery Shop on the Etsy website! It's a great place where you can go to check out my latest pottery that is for sale... http://www.dancingdolphinpotter.etsy.com/

I'm two-wheeling it!

Hey! I got my motorcycle permit on Saturday and bought my helmut today! This evening Terry (my hubbie) and I went out driving around to practice. I am riding his 2008 Honda Ruckus scooter and he's on his 1969 Honda 450 motorcycle. WOW! Going 25 mph seemed fast! But, my turns are getting smoother. The fastest the scooter can go is about 40mph, but it gets 100 MPG!! Cool! Maybe someday I'll work myself up to a "real" bike!

Fall is here!

Hello, again! I don't know what happened to the summer other than I seemed to have spent most of it working on the Troy Arts Alliance. I was so stressed out with it that I couldn't get myself into my studio.

Anyway, I'm very happy that Fall/Autumn is here and the air is cool and light with a hint of dried leaves in the air! The older I get, the more I love the month of October--in Ohio anyway!

This weekend found me in my studio again and I'm starting to throw again! Yeah! I've got some fun functional pieces that I want to make for the holidays. These include Santa & Snowman mugs, Chips 'N Salsa trays, funky soap dishes and maybe some casserole dishes with handles. I've set up an account on www.Etsy.com and need to get some inventory going so that I can start up my shop! This will be fun!

Also, I can't wait to try more Lotus Zen fountains. The next ones will look more like water lilies (pointed petals) and I'm thinking of using porcelain for the flower part. I'm hoping that the porcelain clay will make the flower look translucent.

Attached is a picture of one of my new mugs and a FRESH chips 'n salsa platter. I'm using my brown clay again and it smells so awesome!

Cheers!

Di

My Studio

Well, it's Sunday night and I feel like I've spent all weekend cleaning my studio. Of course this isn't accurate, but it sure feels like it! I'm not much of a clean and tidy person (if I were I'm sure that I wouldn't adore making pottery) but there comes a time when one must throw stuff out and create some order amongst the chaos! After it started looking a bit better I took a few pictures to include it in my blog. I love to see photos of artist's studios to get a feel for their creative space. Not sure what my space says about me except that I haven't yet learned to keep it simple and color is good!

Dogs make the world go 'round!

Terry and I don't have any children--yet. But, we're both animal people and can't imagine our lives without our dogs! We currently have 2 canine companions: Quee and Buddy. (Quee is sitting the wheelbarrow at the right and Queg is sitting on the ground in front of the wheelbarrow). Queg died suddenly last Fall from cancer on a Friday afternoon. That weekend, Terry and I wished we had died also. It was like losing a son. Can't say anymore than that, but I still miss him like crazy. Queg LOVED tennis balls! He would fetch the ball so many times that my arm hurt. Last Spring I was reading the last Harry Potter book outside in my Adirondak chair that my husband Terry made. I think I threw the tennis ball for Queg the entire time that I read that book! Queg was PURE JOY. He showed us how to live in pure joy in the moment. Quee is still with us and is the sweetest dog you'll ever meet. She is an excellent hunter and guard dog and has a very deep bark! She's 10 now and in her younger years she could have been a Dock Dog because she's a leaper! She is PURE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! She's always right by my side in the studio and all around the house.

Buddy is a bit over 2 years old and still thinks he is a puppy. :-) He is incredibly lovable and happy. He makes us laugh everyday! Remember when you were a kid and loved playing with empty boxes? Well, Buddy STILL loves to play with boxes! Pizza boxes, clay boxes and even empty 2 liter pop bottles are his favorites! We adopted Buddy last Fall a few months after our wonderful dog Queg died. We're so happy that we did because he is such a clown. We lovingly call him our big doofus! He also howls to the emergency vehicles (ambulance, fire trucks) when they pass near our home!

New (to me) Kiln!

It's been over 90 degrees here for 3 or 4 days and I'm starting to yearn for FALL! I'm very thankful that we have air-conditioning in our home!! Happy news today is that my friend Loretta sold me her used kiln and we got to pick it up today. It's larger than my old one and after 25 years of use it still works! I'm very psyched!! There's only one catch. After we got it into my studio we realized that the plug is different from our current 220v outlet. So, Terry has to change either the plug or the outlet. Oh, well. I'm so lucky that he's handy. :-) Time to take a break! We just ordered pizza and we're going to watch a DVD that we borrowed from my sister in law of Jeff Dunham's stand-up comedy. Should be a nice evening.

Welcome and a little bit about me...

Hello! As a bit of background, I'm a potter living in Ohio in the USA. I began taking pottery classes in NYC in the mid-90's and was hooked. I lived in NYC for about 15 years and loved it. I miss it alot. Since then I've taken workshops, taught pottery classes for adults and kids, sold my work at shops and art shows--all with a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature. Hey, I didn't touch clay until my mid 30's so it's never too late to try something new!

I began creating table top water fountains about two years ago. I was going through a phase of making really big bowls. When preparing for a Christmas show, I thought: "Hey, I'll bring my fountain from home to show people what they can do with my big bowls". So, I did! Well, this one lady got really peeved at me because I wouldn't sell her my fountain! It really made me angry at first! I tried to explain to her that it was my personal fountain which contained my onyx dolphin that I got in Sedona, a huge quartz crystal from NYC, etc. She didn't care, she just wanted my fountain. I should have just given her an outrageous price and been done with it. Well, that aggrevating woman propelled me into my next phase--creating one-of-a-kind fountains. (I guess I should thank her but I don't know her name).

Since Fall of 2006 I have been coming up with many variations on the fountain design. It's a constant quest to create new ways to let the water flow without the splash--and of course getting a great sound! Some fountains are loud and some are softer, like a trickling creek. Please see my website for more pictures...http://www.dancingdolphinpottery.com/

In this blog I'll post pictures of new works as they come out of the kiln. I was also thinking of discussing things that inspire me. Symbols, shapes, colors, Mother Nature, and sounds are all important to me. I'll make notes on pieces so you can take a peek into my creative process. It's not really a "process" for me because that implies that you take action. Instead, it's a letting go, disassociating and disconnecting. My music and my dogs are the only distractions that I'll allow in my studio. That helps me go into my own little world and then time flies! Then it's play time! :-)
Di