Spicy Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoky Bacon

It's been a while since I shared a recipe on this blog so I thought I would share this tasty soup I made last night. I based it on a soup special Michael and I had last weekend at Annabelle Lee's after Crafty Bastards. It was the perfect thing to eat after a long day of hard work. It's smoky, sweet, a little bit spicy and perfectly comforting on a crisp fall evening.

Spicy Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoky Bacon
makes 4 servings

8-12 oz. thick sliced apple wood smoked bacon, roughly chopped(I used a whole 12 oz. package of Trader Joe's brand but you could use less if you don't want that much bacon)
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. dried sage
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4-1/2 tsp. red Cayenne pepper (adjust depending on how spicy you like your food)
2 lbs. sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
3 cups low sodium chicken stock plus 1 cup of water
1 Bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the bacon in the bottom of a large, heavy bottomed stock pot. When the bacon has rendered some of it's fat, add the onion and continue to cook until the bacon is lightly browned and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the dried spices and stir to combine. Add the sweet potatoes, stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender* to puree the soup, leaving some of it chunky for a rustic feel. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*If you don't own an immersion blender you can also puree in batches using a regular blender but be very careful of splattering....the soup is HOT!

This soup is really filling and delicious paired with a rustic rye bread for an easy supper. It's also pretty healthy aside from all the bacon:)

Plate 500!

Yay! I'm super excited that my plate was chosen for the 500th plate on the "Plate a Day" blog. You can check out the post here. Here is what the juror, Carol Epp had to say about my plate...

"For # 500 I chose "Out of the way plate" by Pink Kiss. The aesthetic of this piece was quite compelling for me as it reminded me of a vintage prairie kitchen, where simplicity and family dinners coexist with hard work and the usefulness of objects, rather than excessive consumption. The statement, "because they were out of the way; no one would see them" printed on the plate opened a number of narratives in my mind. From heart racing love stories to an eerie "what's the building in there" sort of Tom Waits reference. The piece for me was so much more than a one liner. It was a conversation starter. I can picture the place it might hold on a dinner table between family members or close friends. Mealtime when stories are recounted and shared. This piece to me serves more than one function. It is a carrier for food, an instigator of daydreams, and a beautiful object to behold and cherish."

*blush* I'm really honored and blown away by Carol's amazing write up. I really try to achieve just that in my work and it's so great to hear that someone else gets my concept right on the money.

Crafty Bastards

Well everything turned out ok. The kiln was fine and my glaze firing came out just peachy so I had plenty of work for Crafty Bastards. The show was great and it totally made up for all the headaches before hand. M and I even decided to take yesterday off to go to the movies and eat sushi with friends. Today I will need to clean up the studio as in the mayhem of wet-vacing I threw some things out of the way and there is equipment piled on other equipment as well as glaze buckets strewn about the basement. Ugh, I just depressed myself. I did decide during the big soak that it's time to clean up/ rearrange my studio for real. I want to make it feel a little more light and open and less like the basement that I am in every day. Once I do that I think I'm gonna put a call out for an intern. I could use the help for a day or two a week and I think I could be benificial to an aspiring artist....maybe? Anyway, here are some shots of Crafty, they aren't very good but it was the best I could do in the heavy crowds! This was the one time the booth was empty and I had to act quick! I'm really starting to get my display down, just in time for the indoor shows to start. As soon as the sun shows itself again I will be listing some of the work that made it home with me in my shop.