WE HAVE APPLES & PEARS!

SEPTEMBER FRUIT OF THE MONTH: APPLES & PEARS

Wow! We're winding down the year and the Fruit of the Month dishes are piling up!

This month we made TWO dishes - an apple and a pear - so that everyone will be on target to get their 20% discount on a larger serving bowl to go with their sets of individual dishes.


It is getting more and more difficult for me to keep everyone's dishes identified from table to kiln and out again, but I think I got it right (again - double check before & after photos below) this month. Fortunately, each person's plate was a tiny bit different one from another. Some were dramatically different, such as Dorothy's red apple plate with a bite taken out of it... with a fly on the bite, and Patty's red apple that shows part of the outside and part of the inside all on one side of the plate.

Check out the bottom of this post to see all the Before and After photos for each person who attended the workshop. (You can click on any photo to see it in a larger format.)

We began the workshop by having Dorothy cut open several pieces of fruit so that all could be inspired. (She did so well on the peaches last month!) We had a variety of apples - Gala, Jazz, Granny Smith and Fuji...
and pears - Bartlett, Bosc and Red (do these have another name besides Red?)... they look like Bosc, but red... they were might tasty, whatever the case!


The fruit was sliced in many directions, but everyone pretty much made their decisions to create their plates using a crosswise cut of the fruits which showed the "stars" inside the fruit.





Eventually, Dorothy took a bite out of her apple to create that design in her plate. I think she ate the rest of the apple because it was pretty tasty, but not "Delicious!" (Oh - that was bad! :-) )





It was also noted that the pears we had on hand seemed to have seeds that were better organized in twos within each point of the center star design than apple seeds.






The apples we had on hand seemed to have seeds piled into the centers of the stars, a little less organized.

Check this out at home to see if you find the same thing about seed organization in apples and pears. Let me know what you find!



Then everyone got to work... deciding what color glass they wanted to use... picking out colors of frit... mixing colors of frit... deciding how to make seeds...

Kathy even wore her "apple shirt" for inspiration. You can see from the Before and After photos, below, that it must have worked for her!



Hoping to see more of you as we finish out the year of Fruit of the Month workshops with CITRUS in October... and whatever we decide for November! Come be part of the fun!

WE HAVE PEACHES! FRUIT OF THE MONTH

PEACH: August's Fruit of the Month!



Probably one of this year's most challenging fruits to reproduce in glass, I think; but everyone did a great job on their plates! (Photo above, top row left to right: Dorothy, Patty, Sara; bottom row left to right: Cat, Kathy.)



Dorothy (above) was the recipe contest winner with her TEN SEASONS dessert - which included BACON as an ingredient! Definitely a unique recipe, as Dorothy made it up just for this contest! Yummy, too, with the whipped cream on top and blackberry/mint garnish. Here is her recipe - photos of the dishes are at the bottom of the post. (I was only able to get photos of the steps that Dorothy completed in my kitchen.)

TEN SEASONS (Makes 6 pastries)

Ingredients

• Puff Pastry Shells
• below)
• Fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (Dorothy recommends Colorado peaches)
• Bacon, cooked crisp, then crumbled
• Cinnamon-Sugar (Dorothy also added cardamom)
• Whipping Cream
• Mint Sprigs & Berries for garnish

Set oven temperature according to puff pastry package directions. Remove a portion of the center from each pastry shell, being sure to not open the hole all the way through the shell at the bottom. Bake the shells for about 15 minutes.

Pour some cheese filling into each partially baked shell; bake another 10-15 minutes. The filling needs to be cooked, but don't let the shells become too dark! Allow shells to cool before proceeding.



Arrange sliced peaches (as artistically as possible) on top of each cooled pastry shell.

Top with bacon bits,



and sprinkle generously with cinnamon-sugar-spice mix.



Place pastries under broiler



until the sugar forms a crust - but do not burn! (We set the timer for 2 minutes, but it took less than 2 minutes for the crust to form, so watch it carefully!)


Whip the cream until stiff. Using a pastry bag, pipe the whipped cream attractively on top of the sugar crust.



Garnish each with a mint sprig and a berry (Dorothy used blackberries).



Cheese Filling

• 2 oz. cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/8 C. whipping cream or half & half

1. Cream together the cream cheese and sugar.
2. Add egg and cream; beat together until smooth.

Here are the before and after photos of the dishes... You can click on the image to make it larger.

SEPTEMBER CALENDAR

Here is the calendar for September! Click on it to make it larger...


FUSING BASICS:

This month will be the very last Fusing Basics workshop offered this year! If you want to take the workshop, but the schedule doesn't work for you, you will need to find at least three other people to take the workshop with you and schedule a time and date that will work for your private group.

The fee for this workshop is $50 per person, with a minimum of four people required for the workshop to be held. The fee includes all costs for students to make a night light, sun catcher, pendant/cabochon, and 6" square or round plate or bowl. If you wanted to make these pieces individually, the cost would be substantially higher for all of them. Be sure to take advantage of this great offer!

FRUIT OF THE MONTH: APPLES & PEARS

Fee for Fruit of the Month (FOM): $30 for past FOM fusers; $40 for first-time FOM fusers. The fee includes all costs for one 6" round plate or bowl. Each additional piece is $15 on the night of the workshop.

OPEN STUDIO: The name "open studio" is a little misleading because if no one calls to let me know they're coming, the studio is not really open! You must call at least one day in advance to let me know you will be coming to use the studio for your projects. Anyone who wishes to work in the studio must have already taken the Fusing Basics workshop. There is a $10 fee each night to use the studio equipment and includes the cost of kiln firing.

AUGUST CALENDAR

Late, but posted! Here's August's Calendar! Click on it to make it larger...

WE HAVE WATERMELON!

During June's Fruit of the Month Workshop, we created watermelon dishes! Just sharing the photos with you now - a little bit later than anticipated, but knew you wouldn't want me to miss posting them! Shown in the photo above, from the top and going clockwise: Dorothy's inside and outside view, Sara's slice, and Patty's section with a seed being spit out to the side. Very clever creations by these ladies!

Patty Hansen also created a Watermelon Salsa recipe, too, which she brought with her to share with everyone to be eligible for the grand prize of the evening. Patty received a 50% discount on her watermelon dish for making the salsa and bringing it to the workshop!


Patty's Watermelon Salsa

Oh, my... it was good, and she made homemade tortilla chips, too! Everyone enjoyed it immensely - even Sara who, unfortunately, also had chips and salsa for dinner before coming to the workshop! Phil always enjoys participating in the workshops - especially when it comes to taste testing.

Here's Phil sampling the chips and salsa.



Here's Phil demonstrating how to clean the plate. Simply tilt the plate to let the remaining salsa juice slide into your mouth, then lick the plate starting from bottom to top!



And, just so you know that we did MORE than EAT watermelon salsa all night, here are a few photos of our results!



This was our research watermelon specimen, above. For some reason, there weren't ANY watermelons with SEEDS at the grocery store, so we worked with a tiny seedless variety.



I created a 6" plate (above)...



And a 9" bowl (above)...



And a large chip/salsa or cheese/cracker platter...

Here are the before and after photos for all the plates shown in the photo at the very top of t his post. Just click on any photo in this blog post to make the images larger.

FUSING BASICS - JUNE

The last Fusing Basics workshop for the 2008-2009 season met at Martin's Glass House in June for a huge blowout session. Everyone tried to learn as many techniques and make as many projects using those techniques as could possibly be done in just three hours!



In photo from left to right: Joyce, Anne, Nancy, Jo Lynn, Karyn, Sue Ann and Kay.

Creations included 6" square or round plates... but Anne chose to shape hers into an oval persimmon, and Joyce made a very "outside the lines" abstract hanky votive out of many pieces of iridized scrap glass.

Clockwise at left, starting at "noon," are Joyce's hanky vase, Jo Lynn's contour abstract, Anne's persimmon and Karyn's contour flowers.

There were an assortment of other creative designs using all kinds of glass elements such as dots, stringers, noodles, vitrigraph and frit - you name it, it was used!

Some plates were full fused, some contour fused. Individual photos are shown at the bottom of this post.








Unfortunately, I forgot to take individual photos of the finished plates, but everything else is here!

In photo - from left to right - includes plates made by Jo Lynn, Nancy and Kay.













We ended up with quite a collection of very fun night lights and a sun catcher... Jo Lynn experimented with "weaving" strips - and there was a great assortment of imaginative designs by everyone!

Back row night lights, left to right, made by: Sue Ann, Joyce and Karyn. Front row night lights and sun catcher, left to right, made by: Anne, Jo Lynn, Nancy and Kay.



... and a handful of pendants were made with channels and fine silver wire for hanging, and cabochons to be hung on pendant bails.

Back row, left to right: Jo Lynn's dichroic glass cabochon with frit, Sue Ann's dichroic pendant with fine silver wire, Karyn's dichroic and iridized glass cabochon.

Front row, left to right: Joyce's transparent abstract pendant with channel, Nancy's dichroic glass cabochon, and Nancy's dichroic glass pendant with channel.


Enjoy the individual photos - before and after - below. Just click on each image to make it larger to view more detail.

Watermelon Recipes!

Here are two recipes from tonight's Watermelon Fruit of the Month workshop:

Watermelon Salsa

Entered by Patty Hansen

Patty won the recipe contest for the July Fruit of the Month Watermelon workshop. She received a 50% discount on her project for the night - and we all very much enjoyed snacking on the watermelon salsa. It was great! Her recipe is below, followed by another recipe that I haven't tried yet; but it sounds pretty interesting. If you try it, please send your review to me at dts@martinsglasshouse.com!

4 cups chopped watermelon (remove seeds!)

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp. lime juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tsp. chopped jalapeno, or to taste

Combine all ingredients. Mix well and chill before serving. Serve with corn chips or with grilled fish.

Watermelon Summer Salad

This recipe came from the www.Allrecipes.com website ... they say, "Be prepared for a pleasant surprise!" If you try it, please send your review - and a digital photo, if you can - to me at dts@martinsglasshouse.com.

3/4 cup halved, thinly sliced onion
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1-1/2 quarts seeded, cubed watermelon
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup pitted black olive halves
1 cup chopped fresh mint
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Place the onion slices in a small bowl with the lime juice. The acide of the lime will mellow the flavor of the raw onion. Let stand for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the watermelon cubes, feta cheese, black olives, onions with the lime juice, and mint. Drizzle olive oil over it all, and toss to blend. Dig in and be prepared for a pleasant surprise!