Category Archives: glazing

I Almost DIED Today!

     I almost died today. It was the most painful experience of my life… or one of the top five most painful experiences, which include some of the recent reality shows that have been inflicted upon society. Before we get to that, though, let’s start from the beginning!

     Today was my first day off after working SIX days in a row. That’s illegal, right? In my lazy mind, yes, yes it is. Anyway, since it was going to be ridiculously hot today, my mom and I decided to spend the day in Ventura before we headed off to pottery class.

Indian at The Taj Cafe, of course!
This handy card made treating oh-so-much easier!
That’s right, I’m a VIP!
     We went to We Olive and picked up some cherry balsamic vinegar and a new bottle of olive oil. Here comes the point of my near-death experience: 
That, my friends, is a habanero pepper. We Olive now carries an olive oil that is infused with jalapeno and habanero pepper. I, being the adventurous soul that I am, decided that I would try out this new option. I poured a small bit into a sample cup and took a miniscule sip. Not even a sip, just got a few drops on the tip of my tongue. It was fine for a minute, until the pepper ninja-kicked the back of my throat. My throat closed up and for a good ten seconds, I could not breathe. As I clumsily weaved through the store, tears pouring from my eyes, my nose running uncontrollably, I stumbled across a chocolate merlot dip and stuck a huge spoonful in my mouth to try and stop the pain.
     There you have it, my near-death experience. It took an hour for my nose to stop running and for me to stop coughing painfully as each wave of intense heat ran over me again and again. Seriously though, it was awful and painful and not being able to inhale is not a fun thing.
     After my over-dramatized moment, we picked up some chocolate at Trufflehounds and headed back towards my parental unit’s house.
We were hindered by a huge wind storm and some really aggressive tumbleweeds.
     We got to pottery class around 6pm and it was a nice, chilly 90 degrees outside. Yesterday was 113 degrees fahrenheit in Los Angeles, so it was more than acceptable to be in the low 90’s.
Here’s the latest batch of crap that came out of the kiln!
Here’s my mom’s antithesis of crap. She made an amazing plate last week and imprinted a leaf on it before glazing. Doesn’t it look incredible??
And here’s the NEW batch of crap I made today!
Here’s my mom after a rough day at class – still freakin’ gorgeous.
And here’s me and my chicken legs, covered in clay and dust.
Here’s the glazed, yet pre-fired, version of Amanda and Andy’s pot that they won!
And speaking of winners, the official winners of my Pottery Giveaway are…
Justin, Sophia, Amanda and Andy, and Sir Malachi. (Dan is getting an extremely awful one for his birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAN!!!), and as an honorable mention).

     Unfortunately, all of the winners’ bowls will not even be out of the kiln until next week, so you’ll have to wait an extra week. For now, all winners please e-mail me at BeckiKregoski@aol.com with your addresses for me to send the pottery to! If you live in SoCal and would prefer to meet up for a blogger get-together/pottery exchange, let me know that as well!
Have you ever had a near-death experience, exaggerated or not?

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Filed under blogger meet-up, Burp and Slurp, Dan, glazing, Happy birthday, Indian Food, Malachi, Mom, Pottery, Two Boos Who Eat, Ventura

Quesadillas and Serenades!

     Busy, busy day today! I woke up at 7am and hit the gym for an hour and fifteen minutes. I spent 35 minutes on the stair-climber: 35 minutes, 2.92 miles, and 140 floors. The stair climber is no longer my favorite cardio at the gym. Ouch. I did three sets of ten leg presses at 120lbs, then spent the rest of the time attempting to do arm weights (couldn’t because my arms were crying), and crunches (couldn’t because my abs were crying), and stretched out.

     I got back home and blended up an icy Monsta!

This had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a banana, 1 carrot, 2 sprigs of asparagus, 1/2 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/2 of a cup of frozen blueberries, the juice of a lemon, and a handful of ice.
     Next up: Audition time! I fought the LA traffic, had an amazing audition, then headed over to my friends’ Dan and Malachi’s for some lunchy goodness.
Malachi got all gourmet – frozen chicken, defrosted in the microwave, then sauteed…
While Malachi chef-ed, Dan serenaded us with some lovely acoustic guitar.
That chicken turned into a magical quesadilla with green chilies and cheddar cheese!
Malachi was not pleased with my picture of his quesadilla. It was delicious, though!
Dessert was the same theme: Green Chile Peanut Brittle. I am in love! This stuff is amazing! I’m thinking of taking a road trip just to get some. Or maybe making my own…
I brought the boys some delicious, ridiculously cheap wine (Monte Ducay, $5.99 at Trader Joe’s) in exchange for all of the fooding and serenading.
     After the deLUSCIOUS lunch, I headed over to my parental units’ house for pottery class. FIRST…
Tutti Frutti is always a necessity. I was craving sweets and got red velvet with cookie dough, peanut butter cups, a shortbread cookie stick. Oh, yeah! My eyes were too big for my stomach, and I had about 1/4 of this leftover that got trashed :(.
I also had enough time to make a miniature Kitchen Sink Salad. This had 2 cups of chopped lettuce, 1/2 of a cup of warmed lentils, 1/4 of a cup of egg white salad, and some leftover sauteed zucchini and summer squash.
      When we got to pottery class, we found out that our glazing was finished! Yay!
Here are mine. Meh, not bad for a first try, but EW!
My HikeBikeEat bowl failed. BIG crack down the middle. Oh well…
I made FIVE pieces tonight! My favorite is the one on the far right – my new mug!
These are my mom’s! They turned out AMAZING! I’m only slightly jealous – and by slightly, I mean COMPLETELY!
     We headed back home, stopped by Trader Joe’s and picked up some Panang Curry Sticks and we’re now relaxing, sipping some wine and watching Glee. My life is a fairy tale! I am so content :).
Do you have any artwork you’re proud of? I’ll be posting pics of my favorite craft pieces tomorrey!

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Filed under audition, glazing, green monster, gym, kitchen sink salad, Mom, peanut brittle, Pottery class, quesadilla