This is a heads up for my upcoming sale in my Etsy shop. Now I know there isn't a ton of items in the shop but what better time to sell out and start with a new crop of work?? I would have been creating more work but I'm still working on my fish order. I know I know, you're tired of hearing about my fish. Well, how do you think I feel about making all those fish? Yeah, you got it. Now, I'm not ungrateful about getting this order but I am sooooo sick of them at this point!

Let's get to the nitty gritty of this post. I want to SELL OUT! Really. Not just to get sales, I really want to start fresh this coming year. So help me make this happen. If not I just may go crazy with the hammer and break every remaining piece. Heyyyyyyyy, that would be a great video. No no, I take that back. I don't want to do a video...I want it O.U.T. out!

Best Non Traditional Turkey Recipe

Tis the season for holiday food. I love love love to cook and feed the masses. O.K. so here's the deal. My mom always made the best turkey and I now follow in her steps. This is not the most traditional recipe but it will almost surly be the best turkey and gravy you have ever had!! No kidding!! This year was the first time I have shared the recipe and I've decided to share this with you. I want to keep this recipe out there in honor of my mom Bernie Lindo of Makaha Hawaii. She's no longer around but if this recipe is....well....so is she. I call this Asian Turkey

Ingredients

Turkey
1 jar Black bean with garlic sauce (found in Asian market)
1 round onion
1 bunch green onion
1 bunch (about 5 stalks) lemon grass (must be fresh)
salt
2 T vinegar

Directions

rub the outside and the cavity of the turkey with salt and set aside
slice the round onion, green onion (into 1 inch strips). Pound the lemon grass with a mallet bottom to top to release the flavor and cut into 1 inch strips and mix it all into the black bean garlic sauce. Add vinegar into the mixture.
Stuff this mixture into the cavity of the turkey. Any residue left on your hands rub on the outside of the turkey.
Bake turkey as instructed for it's size.
Caution: This stuffing is not to be consumed!! It is just for flavor
Bonus: Take the drippings in your roasting pan and add water being careful not to dilute it too much. This is a highly flavorful dripping and will be dark brown due to the black beans. Mix some corn starch and water n a bowl and add to the boiling mixture to thicken. Use a wisk to insure a lump free gravy. You'll love this too!!

Really if you decide to try this recipe you will love it. Every year when I make this (even though I'm not with my family in Hawaii) I remember the family gathering and just having fun. For us that means giving each other what fors making fun of each other, laughing, joking, eating, drinking and basically enjoying the hell of each others company. So take time to enjoy life, family and friends because you know......we only get one time around and we better make it a good one!!! Peace :)

99 Bottles of Beer on the wall

" 99 bottle of beer on the wall 99 bottles of beeeeer.....Opps, I mean to sing 51 fishes swimming up a stream 51 fishes my dreammmmm....I roll em up and cut them out 51 fishes swimming up a stream....50 fishes swimming up a stream...50 fishes my dreammm......and on and on and on. Oy vey I'm gonna be seeing fishes up the yin yang. I'm currently working on my custom order wanting to finish early. What was I thinking??!!!!! So now my morning consist of reading the paper, watching the first news in the morning AND feeding the dogs. ALL AT ONE TIME!! I must be stuper women or sometin. All I know is that the sooner I finish this order the sooner life will be back to normal. Well, as normal as whatever normal is you know. So for now I will be awol until the fish are finish!!! Come back later to see if I've posted a picture of them.

Wildfire 2008

So Wildfire....that's the CGC (clay guild of the cascades) annual pottery sale here in Bend Oregon. This is the first year I've participated in this event and was unsure of what to do, how they set up here and so on. I decided I would share a booth with a friend of mine and we could both learn the the in and out of Wildfire.

Damn, talk about being intimidated!! The potters at the show are VERY good. Not only are they good but they have their set-up down to a fine art. Get it??? Fine Art. Ha! Really nice set up with shelving, tract lighting and some pedestals. We on the other hand had a.....table, no lights and boring! You can bet this is going to change next year.

From what I understand, the sales this year are not as good as years in the past. Of course that's because the economy sucks. However, I've got to say that sales exceeded what we all expected. So all in all it ended well. I actually sold 43 pieces on the first day of the sale and was very pleased. I don't know yet the number of pieces I sold on the second day but I did see two additional sales of my work in the first 30 minutes of the second day. Yeah, you can say I'm happy. My goal was to sell as much as possible to deplete my inventory so I can start on a whole new "crop" of my work.

So get this.....I also got a custom order for an additional 51 of my handbuilt fish (see picture above) for a local graphic design business. 51!!!! Holy %@!!! The finish date is December 18,2008. Breath in, breath out.

Lesson learned...does there always have to be a lesson learned??? No, not really. What I do know is that when I finally jumped in to do this show/sale for the weekend....it ended up with some fun time, meeting other artist, a custom order and the drive to STEP UP MY GAME!!!