To Joyce’s we go…

So, when things are all gremlined out, there comes a point when the little girl or boy living in your heightened imagination goes, "How long are you going to put me through this?  I want to play, I want to paint, I am sick of you and your whining & crying, let me out of this cage you evil witch!"

       

You sit back and think, that little munchkin is right.  I need to break free.  But how?  I decided to muddle through things the best that I could. For the first time, ever so slowly.  I am so used to jumping into issues, all aggressively, forging through it like the man my dad taught me I could be (whenever a man wanted to creep out of the body of a 5′ 2" girl with long hair).  However, as one of the March sisters would say, " I am exhaustified of being the boy…"  I am way too tired of fighting big companies.  After a long two days of working on everything, we decided to simply get a new lense for my camera, and that fixed the main problem.  Then, HP came through (after 6 months of torture with this printer) and they are sending a new printer!  YAY!

So, as they say, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  And, although I truly wanted to cozy in my bed and watch Pride and Prejudice on repeat…  I got a call from my talented artiste friend Joyce Anderson.  Maker of this wonderful creation! Which I own, purchased at a show…

      

She was calling to invite us over for dinner at her and Tom’s home.  Why of course, I sluffed off the stay at home mood…  And, I even decided to bring, drumbroll, a Chocoflan!

What is this strange concoction you ask?  Why, it is a flan and a chocolate cake, all rolled into one…  So, the day started with some baking and salad making.  Joyce knew I would bring the salad…  But not the chocoflan, that was a surprise!  My recipe for chocoflan is written on the most hard to read nastiest piece of paper ever.  If you are interested in it, I will perfect the measurements and share it…

It is the strangest way to make a cake…

      

The basic idea is you are going to have your flan (mexican custard)  and your chocolate cake all in one…  Only this is flan made from scratch, not from a box…

      

You mix your ingredients seperately and you throw them all into one really hard to find pan.  This one my mom got in Mexico… We can’t seem to find this size again (5 year search).  We might have to special order?  This recipe is specific to this size…

Anyhow, you then drizzle your flan syrup into the pan, then you pour in the cream liquids and then you pour in the cake over that!  Can you believe it, it always floors me!!

      

      

You place the cake pan in a large pan of water, cover with foil, and cook for almost 2 hours…  And what you get…. The cake and flan separates in the cooking process.  Once cooled and flipped, you get a flan on top of devil’s food, chocolate cake.  It is not ultra sweet, which is what I love… 

      

The next step is to take the cake to Joyce’s.  Off we went, in the rain to visit our lovely friend.  Stepping into Joyce’s house is like visiting somewhere far away…  It is warm and fresh, all at once…  It is chic and cozy as well.  But the best part, it is filled with art.  She is a potter, who works in high fire clays.  She loves to raku and is quite the master rakuer.  I met her through the Tucson Museum of art, she has been a potter there for many many years.  Myself, about 6 years…

Joyce’s creations are all over her home, in beautiful vignettes.  Her husband, Thomas Prinster (who has many other prestigious titles) does photography and some of his work is around the home as well.  Really incredible photos.  So, I thought you might like to peek in with me??? 

      

One of the things I love about potters is that, their serving bowls and plates are all this wonderful stoneware.  You eat off of art, you sip out of art… It is just astounding really.  Joyce takes this to another level though.  Her serving trays, her plates, all of it, are made by her.  And every piece is more exquisite than the next…

      

      

While dinner was having its finishing touches and Joyce was getting ready to serve the main course, with the most incredible vegetables I have ever seen…

      

I asked if it would be okay, and not toooo obnoxious of me, to take some photos to share with you.  I swear, I feel like people are going to frisk me and make sure I don’t have my camera, before I enter their homes.  I asked them very honestly if they would mind terribly.  They adamantly expressed that they did not mind at all… Thank you Joyce and Tom!!!  Look at Joyce’s torso and vessels!  Amazing!

      

This is one of Tom’s pieces…  It is so enchanting… It is a nude of Joyce in the woods.

      

 

This piece below was one I fell in love with.  The story behind it is that, Joyce’s father had started the painting.  He passed away, so one of Joyce’s daughters finished the painting and gave it to Joyce as a gift…  It has the most tear jerking words written on the back from Joyce’s daughter.

      

It was time to endulge, but in the hoopla and excitement of it all, I forgot to photograph the main course…

      

For dessert Joyce made the most daintily delicious pears.  They tasted so interesting, like a rare dessert you only get to have once in a lifetime.  Pears in a custard and chocolate sauce… But they were light and fragrant and fresh. There was this flavor, almost like a slighty perfumey liqueur that was ever so delightful…

      

Then the chocoflan…

      

We were all so full at the end… 

      

We laughed, we chatted, it was all too fun.  Sadly it was time to go home…

I am sitting here writing this blog post thinking about all of the ups and downs of the last week.  And, now everything is okay.  There is a calm.  I have to thank Mr. Lovee for his profound kindess to me…  I was outside and it was drizzling the other day, and I saw these two quail, run from the rain and hide under my car, I watched them.  As soon as they got under my car, they squished up to eachother for a brief moment, before they were on their way…  It melted my heart…

      

I am one happy little quail today…  I have to also thank all of you, ever so heart felt thanks, for being a part of this funny little blog, and thank you for venting at Nana’s with me in the last post.  I really really needed that!!!!  It was wonderful! xoxoxo