More Studio Sale

Every so often I like to write about our Studio Sale. I have to admit that when I visit websites like Sundance Catalogue or Anthropologie, the first thing I do is check out their sale pages. Everyone likes a deal – I’m no different!

I really think that our Studio Sale is one of the most fun parts of our site. Leandra, our newest employee who joined us from New Orleans (how crazy is that climate change?!) is our Studio Sale Specialist. Nearly every day she posts something new.

So, be sure to check it out every so often. You never know what you are going to find there. For years we were just too busy to go through our piles of over-runs or discontinued items. But now we have Leandra and she is making sense of it all. Yay for Leandra!

Here are a couple of her recent posts - very cute little salt pots:

Twentyten Pewter Ornament Collection

Last week I gave a sneak preview of our new Christmas Measuring Spoons.

This week we are jumping up and down about our Twentyten Pewter Christmas Ornament Collection. Wow! That's a mouthful. Like our new Measuring Spoons, we will have these ready by the end of the month - for all you super-organized early -bird Christmas shoppers!

Each ornament will have words dangling from it - like Peace, Hope, Joy, Noel....and so forth. But the coolest part is that each one is very easily customizable. You will be able to order your daughter's name or your daughter's teacher's name or your son's piano teacher's name or the name of your cottage in the woods - pretty much anything...as long as it is 9 letters or less. At some point, it would be just too much pewter - too much weight! - for your tree.



The first sample I put together for my daughter and the second one for our new German daughter - who is here with us for a year. (Thank you to Doris and Frank Tito for trusting us with her! And thanks to AFS for arranging this exchange.)















Here are the two girls on the first day back to school. My "baby" is now a Senior and my new daughter a Junior. They think it's a little weird how I talk about Christmas so much when it's only  September.

Christmas 2010 -Sneak Preview!

We are pretty excited about our new products for this Christmas!

For the first time ever, we have come up with a set of lead-free Pewter Measuring Spoons for the Holidays! We are just putting the finishing touches on them and hope to have them ready to ship by the end of this month. Each one is embellished on the front and back and can be stored on the Christmas Tree Post.





We never leave anything unfinished. Even the back sides of these new Spoons are decorated.

The Pig Tail

Ok, once I calmed down a bit from the thrill of being in Paula Deen’s lastest magazine, I had to try some of the recipes in it. Not one to shy away from a new cocktail, I decided to start with The Pig Tail.

Since I've noticed there seems to be a bacon craze going on these days, I guess I wasn't completely shocked to find that there is a recipe for a bacon-infused Whiskey martini. It was created in Paula's honor by a friend of hers, Rich Eldredge  from Atlanta Magazine.

Don't be put off by the long directions. It's not as complicated as it looks in print!

My only comment is that I did not get enough bacon drippings by cooking the bacon in the oven. So I had to cook a second batch (after dredging it in brown sugar) in a skillet.

Here it goes:
The Pig Tail (a Martini found in the Sept/Oct issue of Cooking with Paula Deen)
Makes 6 servings
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
12 slices thick-sliced bacon
2 cups Tennessee whisky
1 orange
5 dashes angostura bitters


Preheat oven to 400'.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil (This is important because the bacon gets very sticky.)
Dredge bacon in brown sugar, shake off excess and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until bacon is crisp, golden, and caramelized. Place bacon strips on wire racks to cool. Reserve bacon drippings.
Add 1/4 cup bacon drippings with the whiskey in a pitcher. Cover and let stand at room temperature for up to 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Then chill this same mixture for about 1 hour or until bacon drippings congeal.
Cut 6 slender strips of orange peel for each cocktail. Note: the instructions say to curl the strips around a utensil to resemble a pig's tail. I could not succeed at this!
Rub the inside of 6 martini glasses with the orange. Add 1 orange curl to each glass. Garnish rims with a piece of bacon.
In a cocktail shaker, combine 2 cups whisky mixture and bitters: fill shaker with ice and top with lid. Shake well; strain into each martini glass. Serve with remaining bacon.

We’re famous! well, kind of….

Hey - you know who likes our canisters? Paula Deen does - that's who!

This is the FIFTH time she has picked one of our products for her magazine:

Cooking with Paula Deen.

You would think after 24 years in business that the excitement would start to lessen. But it never does!

I was flying around the parking lot with the magazine in my hand last week. It's just always a big thrill to see your own products in print.

Carl, our fabulous potter, and I came up with these together just two years ago.



Paula picked our Pistachio Glaze with our Fleur de Lys motif.

I must say that the color in the magazine is a bit different than the actual glaze color.

(The magazine makes them look a bit more lime green than they really are.)

Since these are hand-thrown and hand-glazed, each set is a bit different. You could get a set for yourself and one for your BFF or your Mom and they wouldn't be exactly the same. How cool is that - you would both have something unique!

To celebrate this big event in our lives, all of our canisters (not just Paula's Pick) are on sale. We hope you will check them out.

(We also offer free shipping on orders of $50 or more!)

This issue - the September/October one - is now available at your favorite bookstore!