happy valentine's day!

martha stewart living

photos by Johnny Miller

Thank you, Ayesha Patel, for featuring Elephant Ceramics pieces in the March 2012 issue

of Martha Stewart Living.  The story "The Early Onion" quotes Julia Child's writing "it's hard to imagine a civilization without onions."  The top image with my small porcelain bowl in aqua has a delicious looking dish of capellini with chive blossoms and creme fraiche.  The cheeseboard in Sea Green is featured in the bottom photo with pickled spring onions and asparagus. Reading these recipes makes me very hungry for spring!

milk farm road "blue" dinner event

                                         

I couldn't have been more thrilled to be a part of a dinner devoted to the color blue! The setting was the gorgeous Brooklyn loft of the host and my dear friend, the wildly talented stylist, set designer and artist Heather Chontos.  This "Blue" dinner gathering was the first in a series of events that she is planning through her new venture Milk Farm Road.     Guests were encouraged to bring something inspired by "blue" in turn creating "a successful collage of flavors, art, music and drink...."  

The Menu was amazing! Starting with the cocktails made with a blackberry/rosemary syrup, mixed with a little fizzy lemonade and "Brooklyn Gin" which is blue. There was a delicious beet soup topped with creme fraiche and toasted black sesame and sunflower seeds, served alongside a blue cheese and poppy seed crackers.   Guest  Matthew Weingarten, chef at Inside Park at St. Barts,  made a Trout au Blue, with pickled onions and an incredible sauce  served from a midnight blue emu egg.  The main course was braised short ribs in blueberry and cassis lambic sauce, blue potato gratin and a butter leaf salad with blue cheese dressing.  For dessert Heather made a blueberry and pistachio donut bread pudding served with Lavender Wild Berry ice cream.  And lastly a delicious pistachio brittle. Clever food stylist, Chelsea Zimmer, helped Heather with the menu and presentation.  A very successful collaboration!

The "blue" theme extended beyond the menu.  A "blue" playlist featured blues singers, blue grass bands, and Blue Oyster Cult.  Heather painted napkins for each of her guests.  The vintage silverware was painted blue.  Creating a set of dinner plates for the event was a thrill for me!  I used  dark chocolate brown clay with a deep teal glaze.   The rest of the pieces used to set the table were a combination of my blue glazes.  It was such a lovely opportunity to see so many of my pieces used at one time.  The table surface itself was a large plywood canvas with the word "gather" painted across it.  Heather had set out paint, brushes, ink, crayons and markers so that her guests could express themselves. Two guests, who probably should not have been seated together, embedded rib bones into the table top and scribbled rude symbols. Other guests added their own creative touches to the canvas creating a 6 ft. x 5 ft. work of collaborative art!   The entire event was documented by the photographer Ryan Liebe.

Thank you, Heather, for an amazing meal, a very fun evening and featuring Elephant Ceramics!

p.s. The Milk Farm online shop will be selling a limited number of  Elephant Ceramics pieces sometime in the next several weeks!  I will be sure to send out an email with the date.

Photo credits:  

top four photos by Michele Michael

bottom photo by Heather Chontos

all the photos in between by photographer Ryan Liebe