Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Grandma why are you digging up that plant?
You will see.
Grandma what are those?
Potatoes.
They come out of the dirt?
Yes, this is God’s way of providing for us.

I will never forget the first time I saw my grandma pull potatoes out of her garden. Potatoes came in a brown bag from the grocery store I thought.
I loved grandma Ivys’s house in Central Park. It was a wonderland of things to do, see, and explore. It had a long private driveway perfect for bike riding, the front lawn was a golf course immaculate, and it was surrounded by cool, dark woods to play in. Then there was grandma’s garden, with its separate berry, vegetable, and flower beds, and a large greenhouse, that was off-limits unless grandma was with you. It was fun helping her in the greenhouse, separating the containers by size, and shoving dried-up clumps of dirt through this big wire rack, watching it accumulate into soft, airy, new dirt in the bin down below. There were dozens of jars with trimmings and starts taking root, lining the shelves. Is it any wonder I now enjoy playing in my dirt so much?

My favorite part of the garden was the pea patch. How can you not love peas? They are truly nature’s candy. They come in their own edible packages, even Willie Wonka couldn’t imagine anything better! I loved sitting in her closed in the breezeway, sitting close to her on matching chairs that had big blue swordfish on them shelling peas. I vividly remember the hydroplane races being on while we shelled. I was eating as many as I put in the bowl, and she didn’t care. I think back now to when my own kids were small and I would shell peas, my boys eating them whole pods and all just like I did when I was their age. My circle of life.

There is nothing like a Pacific northwest summer morning to make me want to be back in grandma’s garden. The light, the smell of coffee, birds chirping in the morning air, and the itch to go out in my bare feet and putz.
Today’s recipe isn’t difficult in any way, but it is a complete piece of my life in the dish. I love going out to the garden, picking the peas, digging the potatoes, and throwing this together in a matter of minutes.

Add beautiful tomato, some crusty bread, and the perfect pork chop, a summer meal doesn’t get any better!
This week's recipe is being served on the very elegant Blue Flower DU208 dinner plate by Zaklady, the perfect companion pattern to True Blue or Mod Floral. I’m a blue and white girl at heart, and this pattern is just so lovely. Regularly $64.99 and on sale this week at 20% off for $51.99.

To purchase any of the pieces shown, please visit The Pottery Avenue by Pangaea website at www.potteryavenue.com. Use the search button and type in the pattern name or shape and it will bring up all of the pieces available. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Grandma Ivys’s Creamed Potatoes and Peas.

Grandma’s rule, one medium to large potato per person, and one for the pot.

3 potatoes
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup shelled fresh peas
Salt and pepper

Into a steaming pan cut potatoes into 4ths or 8ths if the potatoes are big.
Steam on high for approximately 20 minutes or until the knife runs through easily.
Separate the steamer pieces, pour out the water and use the already warmed pan to finish. Reduce heat to med-low, pour potatoes from the steamer into the pan, add butter, flour, milk, salt, and pepper to taste. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir. Add a little more milk if you need to loosen up if you need to. The sauce will automatically start coming together as you stir. Add peas let sit for 3-4 more minutes. Serve!

Bonus recipe
Kim’s Perfect Pork Chop

Italian bread crumbs
Porkchop
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Coat pork chop with Italian breadcrumbs season with salt and pepper
In a large pan over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, place pork chop into pan cook 4 minutes until golden brown, turn, add another tablespoon of oil if needed, and cook another 4-5 minutes. Temp should be 155-160 on the thermometer. The breadcrumbs hold the juices in and it’s a perfect chop every time!

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

After taking last week off due to traveling, I have had this week to reflect upon my time in Utah. This time was a much-needed getaway from what my life has been since we were all shut down due to covid.

It has also been a year since I hurt my leg. I know now that I am never going to be back to be physically normal again, and that stairs are still super difficult. I find myself thinking that each step will be the one that makes my muscles tear again. So I go very slowly and try to be careful, but that pain and fear are always with me now.

When my injury occurred last year, I didn’t think I was going to get to take my trip to Poland. I was so hurt, and sore and the trip was difficult to say the least, but considering we were not going to originally go until this year, I am awfully glad I did. It was a struggle just walking, let alone tackling the stairs. Now flash forward to this year, healthier, but, for the last four and a half months I have been an essential worker. Putting myself and my family at risk every day by going to work. I have been yelled at, scared, due to demonstrations and rioting around my store, and I have worked tirelessly to continue to keep things moving along. I was burnt out, exhausted, and desperately needed a break!

Come to Utah my clear-haired friend said, and so I did! Tim and I loaded up Sassy (my car) with snacks and off we went driving straight through... 16 1/2 hours, adding one more hour for the time change, and we crashed right to sleep that night when we arrived. The next morning was a delight, just putzing around the pretty house, and I got to see all the pretty new Moja for myself!

There was something so therapeutic about being around all this amazing art. It gave my soul some much-needed peace.
Kimmie, Twila calls me Kimmie, build the background display for the live show! OK!!!

Like a kid in a candy store, I wanted to put so much more on the counter, but it just wouldn’t fit! I highly recommend a trip to St. George, not just for Pottery Avenue, but for all that there is to see. So much is shut down right now, which just means, more to explore next time! Tim and I did have time to see some pretty amazing places, that honestly, just take your breath away! The landscape of the surrounding area is crazy beautiful. Hot, with sunshine all the time, it was just what the doctor ordered. I could feel myself lighten the longer we were there.

It has been so long since I have been able to socialize with friends, it’s almost like you forget how happy you are when you’re around them. There is just that energy that comes from spending time with people who know you and love you. It feeds your heart, makes you feel whole again. Last year, I could barely walk, this year I hiked up the petrified dunes in Snow Canyon. I didn’t have to, I wanted to. I had to prove to myself that I was not down for the count, that even though I was not 100% my old self, that I could do it, and I did! Getting back down was a little daunting. I literally crawled up part of the way, and I crawled down a bit too!

This vacation was so perfect. I made some dear new friends, had lively debates, cooked, drank, and giggled with my dear friend, I met a real-life mailman, spoiled a poochie, shopped, and I got to spend time with the person I love most in this whole world, the love I said I Do to, 17 years ago.

Today’s recipe comes from one of my very good friends. Every year Linda and I went raspberry picking at my parent's house, and this fresh, light, dessert is perfect for a hot summer night. It is being presented in this stunning piece of Polish Stoneware by Zaklady, in the Butterfly Merrymaker pattern. This is a big dish, 13 x 1 1/2, regularly $135.99, and on sale this week 20% off for $108.99. Also pictured is the matching butter box, which can be used for so much more than just butter! After being at Twila’s and seeing how many ways to use this box I know I’m going to need a few more! It is on sale this week for $65.99. The sweet little pitcher is also on sale for $39.99. I love the all blue flowers!

To purchase any of these pieces, visit The Pottery Avenue by Pangaea website at www.potteryavenue.com. Use the search button and type in the pattern name or shape and it will bring up all of the pieces available. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Linda’s Fresh Raspberry Pie

1 pre-baked pie shell
1 8oz cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
6 cups fresh raspberries divided, 5 cups whole and 1 cup crushed
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Buy or bake pie shells. After cooled, mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Spread into pie shell and up the sides, fill with 5 cups whole berries. Set aside.
In a pot on the stove, bring to a boil then 1 cup crushed raspberries, corn starch, water, and sugar. Pour mixture over whole berries and place in refrigerator to set.
This is a lovely end to any meal!

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food.  To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance.  One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Sometimes we look our own mortality right in the eye.  Be it due to sickness, an accident, or even a near-miss of one.  For myself this week, it was on what would have been my dad's 77th birthday.  My dad was born on the 22nd of July, and he passed away in March of 1999 of a brain aneurysm, he was 55.  I’m turning 55 in September, his birthday was the 22nd, my youngest is turning 22 next week.  It just made me sad this week thinking about it all.  

My relationship with my dad was difficult.  Not everyone’s life is all roses, right?  His father, my grandpa George, was a very strict, tough man, and honestly, he scared me.  I never found him to be a kind man, so the fact that my dad could be, in itself, was a blessing.  I am glad to know it was because of his mom, grandma Ivys, that he had some balance between love and discipline.  My dad also had that very tough edge to him too.  Sometimes the things he would do or say could be hurtful, but now that I am the age he was when he died, it’s made me really think, have I always been fair and kind to my children?  I hope so, but in reality, I’ve made some mistakes too.  Have I said things I wish I could take back?  Yes, I have.  Have I always loved them?  Ohh hell yes, but, I have not always liked them at moments.  In the same way, they probably have not liked me at times.  What I do know is I have tried to be the best mom I can, to support them, and let them make their own decisions, and be there when they need me.  I’m thinking now that even though dad was a challenging man, that he tried to do the best he could too.  It’s easy to sit back and judge when it’s not you you’re having to look at.  Life is not always a pretty story, sometimes it’s that chapter of a book where you read through it with one eye because you know something bad is going to happen.  

I think of all the things my dad has missed out on passing away so young.  Half of my life, and almost all of his grandchildren’s.  It makes me look at the years to come as a gift.  All the years his short life didn’t get to see.  

The moments that I’m looking forward to, one day hopefully, a couple of grandchildren to spoil, more traveling, and retirement.  All the things he never got to do because of a tiny blood clot that made its way to his brain.  Just because he’s gone, doesn’t mean he’s not still here with me.  All the good, the bad, and all the bits in between.  

Happy heavenly birthday Dad! 

Today’s recipe is one I hope he would have tried just to make me happy.  He always said that he was allergic to squash, but in reality, he just didn’t like it.  Maybe because he never had it cooked this way.  It’s one of my family’s all-time favorite summer dishes.  I love this dish because I get to walk out to my garden, pick the zucchini, and it only takes a few minutes to make this delicious recipe.  It is being baked in one of the prettiest dishes I have ever seen.  A fancy rimmed baker in Bellisima!  This piece of Polish Stoneware is just exquisite inside and out!  Regularly $209.99 it is on sale for $167.99. The work and detail of this piece just don’t get any better.  Also pictured is the same baker in Mod Floral.  For all the blue and white collectors out there, this is a must-have, on sale this week for $104.99.  

To purchase any of the pieces shown, please visit The Pottery Avenue by Pangaea website at www.potteryavenue.com.  Use the search button and type in the pattern name or shape and it will bring up all of the pieces available.  Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you.  Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Kim’s Zucchini Au gratin

3 medium zucchini sliced 1/4 inch thick

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated fontina cheese 

1/2 cup grated romano cheese 

Salt and pepper

1 cup Italian bread crumbs 

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

In the bottom of your baking dish drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Cover with slices of zucchini and pour 1/3 of the heavy cream onto zucchini, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with 1/3 of each of the cheeses.  Mix bread crumbs and garlic powder and cover cheese with 1/3 of bread crumb mixture on top.  Repeat this process two more times ending with the bread crumbs.  Dot the top with two tablespoons of butter and bake at 350 for 40- 50 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.  Let the dish sit for 10 minutes, cut, and serve.

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food.  To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Hot summer nights growing up in Bellevue Washington were just about as good as it could be for a girl of the ’70s.  Dinner was gulped down quickly, so you could run back outside for the evening.  We would play soccer or hockey, kick the can, and a ghost after it got dark.  Boundaries were set from Carter's house to the Burtons, for epic hide and seek games.  Our neighborhood was safe and everyone’s parents had eyes on you.  Life seemed so simple then.  Everyone just playing and laughing in the warm summer night air.  

On the occasion when my parents would go out, we would have a babysitter.  My favorite was my next-door neighbor, Jan Driver.  She knew how to make Dutch babies, they were her specialty.  All puffed up and sprinkled with tons of powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon!  Sometimes Jan’s little sister Jennifer would sit for us.  Jennifer was like a beauty queen Barbie to me, with long blond hair, all curly and shiny!  She would just talk to a boy on the phone most of the time.  He even came over a time or two.  They would just talk in the front doorway, him sitting on our dairy gold milk box on the porch.  I’m not sure now if anyone knew that but us kids.  Our third sitter was Carrie Best.  She lived behind us and always liked to do crafts with me.  You know those cool 70’s Popsicle stick art things, where you would wind different colored yarn around them to make a pattern.  We would paint rocks and she knew how to macro-may too!  I loved it when mom and dad went out, so I could “play” with the grown-up girls.  

I can remember, vaguely, one evening when none of the girls came to sit for us.  My folks had stupid Brent Hunsted come to watch us instead.  He lived across the street from us and was a big freckled face boy, who’s head reminded me of pumpkin.  He didn’t want to play anything well, he just sat and watched tv.  I wanted Jan, Jennifer, or Carrie, not this big boring boy.  So after a while, we had gone outside to play and I decided I was done with him being there.  I went back into the house and locked him out!  He yelled and said all sorts of things, but I was not letting him back in.  Serves my parents right not getting one of the girls to come and sit for us!  I’m going, to be honest, I don’t remember how this all ended, I’m pretty sure I probably saw Dad's belt, but I’ve blocked that part from memory.  I do know he never sat for us again!  Sorry mom, you know I’ve always been strong-willed!  I do know that when none of the girls were available, my dad drove over to Seattle to get cousin Sally to sit for us.  Sally makes great hot dogs, but that’s a whole other story! 

As summer moves into August now, with its super hot days, and warm long evenings, it reminds me of those childhood days.  I wonder where those three wonderful babysitters are now.  I wonder if the kids I babysat for have the same good memories of me.  I hope so!  

Today’s recipe is for one of my favorite summer salads!  We all have them tucked into our memory banks!  Our go-to, no recipe needed, whip it up in no time salad side.  It’s one of the best parts of summer!  

It is being served in the workhorse of bowls in my kitchen, a 13 inch handled bowl in Blue Citrine!  You just can’t have summer without this bowl.  It comes in all sorts of patterns, like the one in the picture of Blue Lagoon.  Both of these bowls are regularly $156.99 and are on sale this week for 20% off for $124.99.  If you visit the website at www.potteryavenue.com you can type in the shape number 1347 and it will bring up all of your choices in this bowl.  Prices vary from standard patterns like Celebrate at $97.99 up to EX patterns like Bellisima at $203.99.  Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you.  Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Kim’s Macaroni Salad

1 box small seashell pasta, cooked, drained, and cooled

1/2 sweet Walla Walla onion chopped fine

5 stalks celery chopped fine

1 pound fresh small salad shrimp 

6 hard-boiled eggs chopped

Zest of 1/2 lemon or more to taste

1 tablespoon Fresh Dill chopped

30 green olives chopped

Salt and pepper to taste 

Mayonnaise 

Cook, drain, and cool pasta

Chop all your vegetables, zest lemon, and add to a large bowl.  Mix with a generous amount of mayonnaise.  The pasta will absorb some as it sits.  Add shrimp, and mix gently so as not to break up too much.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Chill for several hours.  Add a little more mayonnaise if it’s become too dry.  I love this salad, it goes perfectly with just about anything!

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food.  To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Oh, don’t be such a scary cat.  It will be just like The  Swiss Family Robinson! So began our rafting trip out onto Duck Lake!  I might have mentioned it before, but just in case you missed it, I have always loved the water!  Being near it, swimming in it, I have no fear of it.  It seemed only logical, that growing up with grandparents who lived at the beach, that I was part fish.  My grandma Pearl said when they took us to the pool for the first time at the community center in Ocean Shores, that I got in, and just like a duck to water, I took off.  My brother Jeff, sunk like a stone. It wasn’t until much later in life that I realized Jeff was afraid of the water.  Which made his reluctance to join me and my merry band of friends in our adventure out onto Duck lake understandable, but then, I thought he was just trying to ruin my fun! 

Ocean Shores was built as a retirement community out on the Washington coast.  My grandparents weren’t retired, but they moved out there in the late ’60s.  There weren’t a lot of children there, and Jeff and I roamed about like we owned the place.  Grandma knew we could walk the three blocks to the park and back with no problems.  There was a family down the street that did have kids, and occasionally we played with them if we encountered them.  My grandma referred to them as “the family down the street with ten kids, or the hooligans”.  I’m not sure if I ever even knew their names.  What I do know is, on this particular day, they were at Duck lake and they were ready, willing, and able to turn that picnic table upside down and get it down to the water with me!  With sticks in hand, a grumpy Jeff on board, we set out!  I just knew we were going to find a deserted island, where we were going to build a treehouse fort, and have wild animals as our pets!  No one there to tell us we would have to eat liver ever again, and there would only be French Toast, and popcorn for every meal!  Then we started to sink.  In all reality, we were maybe ten feet from shore.  No big deal, we could have probably stood up and walked back to the bank, but someone’s brother started freaking out, so we pushed our raft back closer to the shore, half-submerged, but safe.  Gosh, I wish it had really floated!  Maybe there were just too many of us on board.  Maybe we should have left Jeff behind as he wanted.  Who knows what worlds I would have found?  Me, the Hooligans, and our picnic table raft! 

Today’s recipe is in honor of my sink like a “Stone” brother.  It is a beautiful summertime dessert, made with all “Stone” fruit, and baked on this gorgeous Pacific NW-inspired pizza “Stone”.  This Jammin’ Salmon Polish “Stone” Ware is on sale this week for $103.99.  I use this piece for so many different things in my kitchen, a fruit and cheese board, a centerpiece, I bake bread on it all the time, ado used it as a big cookie sheet!  I’ve also heard a rumor, that there might be a combo special with this piece on Twila’s Live today!  Extra savings! 

o purchase any of the pieces shown, please visit The Pottery Avenue by Pangaea website at www.potteryavenue.com.  Use the search button and type in the pattern name or shape and it will bring up all of the pieces available.  Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you.  Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Kim’s Stone Crust-tada!

Pastry

2 1/4 cups, plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 sticks, 1 cup cold butter cut into cubes

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cardamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 

Approximately 1/3 cup ice water 

Filling 

1 pound stone fruit, pitted and sliced (such as peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and/or cherries)

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg, beaten

Sugar for sprinkling on crust

Pastry

In the bowl of your food processor, combine flour, sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and butter.  Pulse until you have pea-size pieces of butter. Add vinegar and pulse.  Add ice water a few splashes at a time until the dough comes together.  Add a little more water if needed. 

Pour dough out onto a lightly floured board and work into a disk and wrap tightly in parchment paper or plastic wrap and chill for 20-30 minutes.  I tend to go with 15 - 20 minutes.  I like the dough more playable. 

Preheat oven to 400°F. 

Stir together stone fruit, lemon zest, juice, sugar, flour, and salt. 

Roll out the dough, on a work surface sprinkled with flour and roll into a ⅛"-thick round. Patch any cracks in dough, but don’t worry if the edges are jagged. Transfer to the pizza stone.  Fill the dough with fruit, leaving a 2" - 3" border of crust.  Fold the edges of the pastry over the fruit, overlapping the folds as you work around the perimeter, leaving the majority of the fruit exposed. Brush the pastry with egg and sprinkle with sugar. 

Bake for about 45 minutes until edges are golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. 

I serve with ice cream or whipped cream with powdered sugar and Grand Marnier liquor.  

This recipe is summer in just one bite!

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Looking back on this anniversary of my spectacular trip to Boleslawiec last year has brought back so many wonderful memories. They have been made even dearer, due to our current pandemic crisis we are struggling through. Last year, I was healing from my leg injury but determined to go on my trip and do the best I could. I am so grateful for all of my family, friends, and the amazing people who helped me during this trip. With no one from the USA allowed into Poland at this time, the festival will be going on, but no one from our country will be attending. I’m so glad we pushed our trip up by a year and made it happen in 2019.

From the time we touched down in Wroclaw, it felt like I was home again. Words can’t tell you how my heart is connected to Poland, it’s just a part of who I am now. I may not have been born there, but I am Polish, and so very proud of my heritage. I know my grandparents and family are smiling down on me knowing how attached I am to my family’s homeland.
It was pure magic from our first dinner in the town square of Boleslawiec, with my dear friend Twila. All of us jet-lagged, and tired, but rejuvenated by the amazing Polish food, and the meeting of new friends. The next five days were like a whirlwind of sights, sounds, and finally meeting face to face, with people who I now consider family. There is nothing like traveling and having this art form of Polish Stoneware to bring you together, but to discover all the rest of what you have in common, and love, is like extra gifts you never dared dream of receiving. Fran and I both love to sew, and we found amazing fabrics, embroidery, and the most talented textile artist on this trip. I am in awe of her work, I embroider, but this woman is a master! I saw the amazing dancing skills of the artisans of Andy’s and my family! I got to travel through the countryside and see what still remains of the horrors of WWII. I learned incredible history with Jarek and More4U tours and walked through churches so ornate it boggled my mind at their beauty. To be able to worship in those places every week would be a gift in itself. I bought some beautiful limited edition pieces in the garden at Ceramika Artystyczna, not to mention meeting the rock star artists that work there! Some items I have longed for, but never thought I would own until this trip. Each piece is special, it has its own story, where I was, who I was with, but the biggest takeaway from this reflection is of the people I was with and who I encountered. All of the lovely ladies whom I have purchased pottery from these last several years, the amber jewelers, the wonderful cooks who made them dozens of pierogi I ate, and the pastry chefs who made the most delicious desserts, sometimes six at a time!

I am truly in awe of the persons who design and create the pottery forms, to the artisans who dream up the decorations to place on them. The many painters we saw painstakingly recreating the designs, to the lovely people dipping the finished works of art into the liquid glass glaze. All of these people opening their doors to let us see the work they do and are so very proud to make. It was a true honor to walk through their factories and see these processes. I don’t honestly know if I will ever be back during festival time, but I do know that this trip will live on in my memory forever!

Today’s recipe is one I wish I could make and have all of my pottery family come and take part in. With all my herbs growing in the garden now, it just seems like the perfect time to make this herb-crusted turkey breast. It is being presented on one of the most colorful patterns ever created, Butterfly Merrymaking, in a handled tray shape. This has been Pottery Avenues' number one selling pattern for 17 years! It’s so bright and happy and just makes you think summer when you look at it. Regularly $111.99 it is on sale with your friends and family discount of 20% off for $89.99. I own multiple handled trays, and I use them for serving and also as dinner plates when I’m having a large steak or rack of ribs that take up a lot of space. To see the different patterns this shape comes in, you just need to type in the shape number 1333 in the search bar at www.potteryavenue.com. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Kim’s Herb Crusted Turkey Breast

One 7-8 lb turkey breast
Fresh sage leaves, leave some whole, and 2 teaspoons chopped fine
2 teaspoons fresh thyme chopped fine
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees
Clean and pat dry your turkey breast.
Carefully separate the skin from the breast and place fresh sage leaves under the skin onto the breast meat.
Drizzle several tablespoons of olive oil all over the breast, including the underside, and rub until all coated. Salt and pepper well. Mix chopped thyme and sage together. With skin side up sprinkle herb mixture all over the skin surface, and rub it in to set it in place.

You will need either a shallow metal pan or cast iron pan to cook this in since the cooking temperature is very high at 500. You will roast the breast for an hour and five minutes. The skin will get very brown and crispy, I tent with foil after 40 minutes to prevent it from burning. Check with a thermometer, your temp should be 165 degrees when done.
Remove from oven, and let sit for 15 minutes, covered in foil.
Cooking it at this high temp makes for the moistest turkey breast you will ever eat. I cut the two sides of the breast off the bone, slice, and serve. Leftovers make an incredible sandwich, with thinly sliced cucumber.

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

The end of summer feels like it is coming so fast! My squash is loving the super warm days, my peas not as much. I love picking peas and then sitting on the patio while I shell them, natures little candies! It’s so relaxing, listening to the birds chirping and just enjoying the warmth of the day. There’s almost nothing better than growing and putting up what I’ve grown. I put peas and berries in the freezer, but almost everything else, I usually can. Goodness knows I sure didn’t expect a canning lid shortage along with everything else that has been wonky so far this year. Chalk up another weirdo thing to add to my list of crazy 2020. Thank heavens, for my cousin Sally’s husband Gary. Not only did he find me some, but I have enough now for several years. Sally is coming by to drop them off and to to pick up some berries I have for her later this morning. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. It will be so nice to see her face in person!

I grow a lot of things in my yard, but this season, behind my shed, I’m growing blackberries, and not by choice. Now if you remember, I was dealing with an awful leg injury last year, and basically couldn’t do anything as physically taxing as yard work. Some things just didn’t get done, like beating back the blackberries that are constantly invading from the neighbors property. This year, when I got all the flower beds under control, I turned my attention to the corner by the shed. When I went back there, with my snippers and big cardboard box in hand, intent on cleaning them all out, there were just so many blossoms all over the vines, I didn’t have the heart to kill them. So now I just walk out back and pick a bucket full instead of heading to my favorite spot, down by the river. I have been putting them into the freezer, but now that I have lids, I will be able to make jam, syrup, and for the first time I’m going to infuse vodka with some. My favorite Polish Vodka is quince Soplica, so I’m going to call mine blackberry Kimlica!

Picking berries always takes me back to hot summer days with my grandma Pearl. My pink hippopotamus coffee can is long gone, I now use a pink sand pail in its place. In a way, I needed grandma to know I haven’t forgotten those times. I may have been a bit of a pill growing up, but I hold dear all of the things she gave me. I’m not talking monetarily, but more about life lessons. Like how to make something from nothing. The berries that are growing in my yard are free, but I will be making all sorts of things with them. Lessons of knowing my own strength. Grandma battled her cancer fiercely for years. I know I can work through any of my ailments because she showed me how, with her grace and determination. How to love, even though that means you have to say no sometimes, and have rules that need to be followed. Then, a person will know she can stand on her own two feet. Then, teach it to her children, so they can be their own persons too. I know I could be a stinker sometimes while growing up, but, she was hell on wheels too. If I know anything of myself, it’s that this apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. She would love to be putzing in my yard and kitchen, I can just see her making blackberry pierogi now! How I wish.

Today’s recipe is for a delicious summertime dessert that my family just loves! It has been baked in this perfect 2 1/2 quart Star baker. I’m going to be very honest with you all, this is the BEST Polish Stoneware cobbler/bread pudding/lasagna dish there is! It’s deep and won’t run over in your oven when everything is bubbling and baking away! It’s also a screaming deal of ONLY $39.99 while supplies last! This is a must have piece in anyone’s kitchen! The gorgeous Butterfly Merrymaking pie bird is perfect for this large piece, also on sale for $36.99.

To purchase any of these pieces, visit The Pottery Avenue by Pangaea website at www.potteryavenue.com. Use the search button and type in the pattern name or shape and it will bring up all of the pieces available. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Kim’s Blackberry Macaroon Cobbler

Toss together
8 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup instant tapioca
I tablespoon lemon juice

Topping
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cold butter cut into pieces
1 cup sweetened coconut
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Toss together the blackberries, sugar, tapioca and lemon juice and pour into 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Making a well in the middle, place pie bird in.
Pulse the flour and butter together in a food processor till the butter is pea size.
Add the sugar, pecans, baking powder, and salt and pulse to to combine.
Pour out into a mixing bowl and add the coconut, mix together. Add the egg and knead till you form a dough.
Cover berries with pinches of dough till berries are covered.

Place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45-50 minutes until macaroon topping is golden brown, and the berries are thick and bubbling.
Let cool on a wire rack, covered with a cloth so your pottery isn’t going from hot oven to cold rack, and let cool for at least an hour. Serve with vanilla ice cream for the perfect summertime treat!

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Practicing kindness. It’s something one of my best friends says at work all the time. I try every day to be the best person I can be, but let’s be honest, we don’t always succeed. If it’s a bad day at work, or our kids, running errands, we all have those moments when we shoot daggers from our eyes at someone. How many times during my commute do I say some not-so-nice things about other drivers in my head, or sometimes out loud? A lot!

In this day of social media, the angst of civil unrest, the election, all of the negative things we constantly see on a daily basis, I hear in my head, Tommy saying, “practice kindness”. Some days I do better than others. Some days we say “on Wednesday’s we wear pink”, my favorite Mean Girls line! Sometimes, I am a Mean Girl, a Karen, a Felicia. We all have it in us, to dwell on the negative instead of looking at the positives. Right now with all the turmoil swirling around us I find great solace in this Pottery world we have created. The loveliest group of people on the internet. How can we dwell in negativity when we get to look at, and eat off of works of art? Sometimes we have to just shut off the overbearing weight of the world and slip into our happy place, and turn on music that makes us sing. Depending on my mood, it can be anything from a big band from the ’40s to Neil Diamond singing to me about Crunchy Granola Suite, to Cat Stevens Peace Train, from the Tea for Tillerman album. Still, one of the best records ever recorded! Not to mention, it also has Polish Pottery on the front cover, how amazing is that! I find solace in the hope that Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam sang about on this album released in 1970. We are still fighting this fight, we have not figured it out yet, but if we just all practice kindness, someday, I pray we get there!

“Now I've been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be
Something good has begun
Oh, I've been smiling lately
Dreaming about the world as one

And I believe it could be
Someday it's going to come
'Cause I'm on the edge of darkness
There ride the Peace Train
Oh, Peace Train take this country
Come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately,
Thinkin' about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
Something good has begun

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now Peace Train
Yes, Peace Train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the Peace Train
Come on now, Peace Train

Get your bags together,
Go bring your good friends, too
'Cause it's getting nearer,
It soon will be with you

Now come and join the living,
It's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer,
Soon it will all be true

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now Peace Train
Peace Train

Now I've been crying lately,
Thinkin' about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating,
Why can't we live in bliss

'Cause out on the edge of darkness,
There rides a Peace Train
Oh Peace Train take this country,
Come take me home again

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now, Peace Train
Yes, Peace Train holy roller
Everyone jump upon the Peace Train
Come on, come on, come on
Yes, come on, peace train
Yes, it's the peace train
Come on now, peace train
Oh, peace train”

Today’s recipe is my husband’s favorite new salad recipe. I would not have this recipe if it were not for my connection with Polish Pottery, it is from my pottery sister Fran. It is so delicious and can be interchanged with the ingredients you have in your pantry. I cherish the friendships that have come from my love of this art form, and I love sharing my thoughts and food with all of you.

How pretty is this salad being presented in one of the must-have pieces of Polish Stoneware, a small handled bowl? These bowls are a must on my table, for salads, side dishes, or even soups. They come in all sizes and patterns too! Prices vary, so simply type in handled bowl in the search bar at www.potteryavenue.com and it will bring up all your choices and availability. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Frans Strawberry Broccoli Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

Salad
5 heaping cups chopped broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries, about 1 pound
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 pear chopped
1 sweet apple, like Fuji, chopped
1 large avocado chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds or chopped pecans
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese or mozzarella

Creamy poppyseed dressing
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
Half a cup of real mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Add all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl except the avocados.

In a separate medium bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients.
Add dressing to salad and toss until evenly coated. Best chilled for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight. (I like it best overnight) Toss with avocados just before serving.

This recipe is truly delightful! A great side dish for anything off the grill!

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

What are you going to wear?
I don’t know, what are you going to wear?
I’m thinking of my new green sweater? But it’s still so warm it might be too hot? Maybe my blue peasant blouse.
Yea, I’m not sure either, but definitely my new jeans and Cherokees.

This is just a small piece of the important conversation of a 16-year-old getting ready for their first day of school. I loved back to school shopping with mom. Your choices had to be spot on, for that first day back to school look! Goodness knows you could not make a mistake. The first days got easier as the years went on, but that was not always the case.
1st grade, new school, we are all sitting on the floor, the nice lady in the pink dress is telling us to be able to go and sit down at one of the shiny desks you had to tell her what her name was.... I’ll give you a hint, it’s in a book. Well, I didn’t know, I wasn’t getting a desk, and I got my coat and left. School is stupid.

6th grade, new school, and I have to get on a bus! I’ve walked to school my whole life till now. Standing at the bus stop with my baby brother, he’s going to kindergarten, has trouble getting up the bus steps, Jeff Winchell is making fun of him, I’m telling Jeff off, bus driver looking at me like I’m going to be trouble. What? We don’t eat lunch in our classroom? Do I have to go to a cafeteria? I don’t know anyone, I’m sitting alone. God, I hate school.

Junior high, the most angst-filled time in any young girl's life, a locker bay with all the popular kids staring at you, like you don’t belong. Second lunch, with none of your friends because they all have first lunch, braces, glasses and just utterly alone. Bambi Murdoch makes fun of you and bullies you all three years, God I hate school.

High school, riding the bus because public transportation is there, you don’t need to take the car. Wake up, plug in the hot rollers, skip breakfast to sleep just a minute longer. Putting in your new contacts, almost flushing one down the toilet. Phone rings, “Hi, what are you wearing”? Grabbing your peechee and running out the door. Ohhh schools not so bad.

I know I am not the only one to have these experiences, although, at the time, it feels like it. I know when I am extremely stressed, I still dream about school, forgetting my locker combo, I’m at school in my pajamas, or I drive to school but can’t find the car, so I get on the bus, but it’s the wrong bus! Right now, I bet all kids would love to be going through all this, instead of the crazy way the school year is starting. My husband works at our school here in our little town, my sister-in-law, cousin, and many friends are teachers, they just all want to be in their classrooms teaching and making a difference in children’s lives. One or two teachers touch your life in a way that you don’t ever forget. Sometimes a few words stick with you for the rest of your life. Thank you, Mrs. Stephens, 3rd grade, Mr. Pusc, 6th grade, and Mr. Detorie 12th grade CWP. “All of you sitting here in my class are ignorant. Ignorance isn’t a bad thing, don’t be offended, ignorant is what you are until someone enlightens you to the information you didn’t have before”. Those words, that teacher really stuck with me through all the years. He came to work, coached the boy's varsity basketball team, and watched his father die a slow, painful death from cancer my senior year. He was kind and helpful to a girl who just wanted to know about the world and write about it. Every student needs this in their lives, I hope we get back to normal soon!

Today’s recipe is one that is perfect for packing into lunch, or having as an after-school snack. For me, it is also one more way to use up the zucchini that is going crazy in my garden right now! It was baked in this beautiful piece of Polish Stoneware, in a great autumn pattern, Enchanting. What says autumn more than a little pop of orange? Regularly $105.99 it is on sale 20% off for $84.99. The largest mixing bowl in the 3 size series can hold two large shredded zucchini, so you can bake multiple batches of bread at one time. Regularly $168.99 and on sale 20% off for $134.99. The first time I saw this pattern it just popped out to me, standing out amongst all the other stoneware around it. It’s a special pattern, with so much detail!
To purchase any of the pieces shown, please visit The Pottery Avenue by Pangaea website at www.potteryavenue.com. Use the search button and type in the pattern name or shape and it will bring up all of the pieces available. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Kim’s Chocolate Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups grated zucchini

Mix together eggs, sugar, and oil till light and fluffy.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and add to oil mixture.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips, and zucchini. Mix well.
Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 55 - 60 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean! I like putting a pie bird into this just for the fun of it, but it does actually help the middle of the loaf cook.

Courtesy of Pottery Avenue where we believe the kitchen is the heart of the home and your table serves more than food. To purchase pieces seen here, visit www.PotteryAvenue.com or call 360-627-7489 for assistance. One of our helpful stylists will take the time to help you find and select your next dish.

Dear Dad,
I had my birthday on Thursday, I am officially the age you were when you died. I used to think you had done so much in your life, but, I now know there was so much more to do. I spent my birthday going home to Vancouver, driving by our old house, my schools, where my childhood friends lived. The schools are there, empty, the friends, all long gone. It was eerie because the west coast is all on fire and the haze of smoke is just hanging in the air. Felt like I was in a weird sort of a movie. One you know is a documentary, but, it felt like a fantasy.

I wish you had taken better care of yourself. Learned you couldn’t drink and smoke with your diabetes. All I can think of this week is what if I died at 55? I wouldn’t see my boys grow into men, and find that one perfect person, and possibly get married. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet my daughters-in-law, who hopefully will come over and play in the kitchen with me, or go shopping. I wouldn’t have or get to play with my grandchildren.
My God, you have missed out dad! You never saw me truly happy. Meet my husband Tim, and see the life we have made together. See your grandsons grow up and all of their accomplishments. They are funny and all so talented in different ways. At times it feels like you just threw it all away, your wife, your children, me!
What I do know now, is the rest of my life, will be a gift. I will do and see things, and I will take care of myself and my health in a way you never did.

Not long after you passed away Jason and I had tickets to Harry Connick Jr. The tickets were purchased before you passed, and we decided to go anyway. We were the fourth-row center. Harry had his big band playing with him, but at this moment in the show, he sat at the piano, by himself, and started singing Danny Boy. Being Irish on your side of the family, I had heard that song multiple times, but this version, in that big, dark, silent theater, completely destroyed me. The brave face I had kept through your funeral, the denial, all came to end. As he sang, I knew you were really gone, I started uncontrollably sobbing, and Harry is staring straight at me, thinking what the hell is going on! There is no one way to grieve. I have been angry at you for so long, it’s hard to remember how to love you too. When anyone says life is short, you never know how much time you have left, it true! Thank you for this one last lesson dad. I know I will not be wasting any of the time I have left.

Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside.
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling,
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow,
It's I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
Oh, Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so!
But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying,
If I am dead, as dead I well maybe,
You'll come and find the place where I am lying,
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.

And I shall hear, though soft you tread above me,
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be,
For you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me!

Today’s recipe is one I have made so many times. It’s a potato side dish in honor of my Irish side of the family. Ask my husband, I could have potatoes every day, and not think twice about it. The recipe comes from one of my oldest and dearest family friends, Judy, who is my little brother's godmother. Her daughter Bethany and I met as four-year-olds at a dance class in Seattle, a million years ago! Step ball change, step ball change...

It’s time to break out the beautiful fall patterns and the ones I’m using today, are just stunning! I never thought I would need pieces for the different seasons, but after seeing these, I know I do! This large handled bowl in the Orchard pattern can hold this recipe, and go from oven to table, and look just lovely. Regularly $156.99 it is on sale for 20% off for $124.99. Also pictured is this darling scalloped serving bowl in Wishful, a perfect accompaniment to Orchard, on sale for $69.99, and salt and pepper for $60.79.

Simply type handled bowl or the pattern name in the search bar at www.potteryavenue.com and it will bring up all your choices and availability. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just send a message and Twila and her team will be happy to help you. Use discount code Twila or PAF for your 20% discount.

From my heart to yours, Smacznego!

Judy’s Red Potato Bake

16 small red potatoes

Sauce ingredients
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1-pint sour cream
3/4 cup chopped spring onion

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup panko crumbs
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste

A day before, boil or steam red potatoes till a knife goes through easily.
Refrigerate overnight, or at least 5 hours.
Cut into bite-size pieces and place in baking dish. I liberally then salt and pepper the potatoes.
Combine sauce ingredients and pour over potatoes. Cover with shredded cheese, and top with panko crumbs. Dot the top of the panko with two tablespoons of butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 50- 60 minutes or until hot and bubbly!
This goes perfectly with turkey, ham, chicken, roast beef, or fish!