Sausage stuffed Zucchini Recipe

Wonder what to do with those huge oversized zucchinis from your garden? Well, I got one from my dear friend Ann Meersman, who has turned quite the gardener. I visited her for lunch and couldn't beleive the size of the zucchinis. Of course, I had seen some big ones before at the Puyallup Fair, but this was home grown. She gave me one and than I had to figure out how to cook it. She herslef made stuffed zucchini, so I wanted to experiment.

Here is my recipe. Slice the zucchini in half and simmer it face down in a pan for 10 minutes, till it is tender, but not all cooked. Remove the inside pulp with a spoon and push it aginst a strainer to remove as much moisture as possible. Chop the pulp. Now, saute some chopped onions with garlic and brown sausage as well. Add in the zucchini pulp. Now to kick it up a notch, I added some garam masala and red chilli powder. Mix in some breadcrumbs and parmesan and reserve some for topping as well. Sill the zucchini and bake in the oven at 350F for 25 minutes. YUMMY!!!!

Hummus Recipe : Easy and Delicious

Being in Kuwait for several years, it was pretty easy to develope the taste for good Arabic/Middle eastern food. And what is better than Hummus. Of course we all have our variations and I have mine as well. The ingredient which really adds the kick in my hummus is green chillies. :) Here is my very simple recipe. Dump the following in a food processor and blend till smooth. 2 cans of garbanzo beans (drained and washed) 2 tablespoons Tahini (sesame paste available at mediterranean stores) 2 thai green chillies ( add more or less upon your spice level) 2-3 table spoons lemon juice 4-5 cloves of garlic (Again more or less depending on your taste) 2-3 heaped tablespoons of yogurt (to make it richer you can add sour cream instead) salt to taste Blend the above ingredients till smooth and then add in 2-3 tbsp olive oil to make the mixture smooth. Serve garnished with drizzle of olive oil, tomatoes, olives and enjoy with pita or chips.

Summer Art Show Schedule

Hope you all are having a great summer. I am busy in my studio making new work and trying to catch the sun when I can.

After skipping last year, I will back at the Gig Harbor summer Arts Festival (Booth #32) this coming weekend. (July 21st-22nd)

Excited to be at the Bellevue Festival of Arts again this year (July 27th-29th). My name was also mentioned in the Bellevue Arts Week "Known for his unique sculptural work and Indian influences, local ceramic artist Charan Sachar also returns to the fair for his second year."

And for the first time I am going to be at the Anacortes Arts Festival Booth 406E(Aug 3rd-5th) So the next three weekends are packed and full of excitement. Would be great to meet you there and share my new work. Below is a sneak peek at what to expect

New Platters and Wall Pocket Vases

My Online shop is always open, so check it out

Best wishes Charan

Spokane Summer ArtFest

It is the start of the summer shows! First one down is the Artfest in Spokane. Three-day event with over 150 artisan booths, kid's Make-It-Art tent, food, music, fun! June 1 12PM – 8 PM Music & beer garden until 10 June 2 10 AM – 8 PM Music & beer garden until 10 June 3 10 AM - 5 PM This is going to be my second year here and looking forward to meeting the Spokane folks. It is held in beautiful Coeur d'Alene Park in Spokane's Browne's Addition - two blocks from the MAC and approximately 1 mile west of downtown Spokane See you there! For those you who cannot make it, my online shop is always open. And you can see my show schedule here.

Sabudana Vada : Fried Tapioca Dumplings

I have to admit, being in India, I have rarely had this dish. Sabudana Vada, which are these fried dumplings made from tapioca pearls and potatoes. They are very typical of Maharashtra, India where I come from, but my mom never made these. As for my wife, she loved this and it was one of her favorite things that her mom used to make. To celebrate Mother's day, we had friends get together and everyone made a dish that their mom made. My wife naturally chose this and I was amazed. Absolutely delicious and sinful. Tastes even better when double fried. hehehe. Here is where my wife got the recipe from. What is your favorite dish that your mom made?

New Patterns and New Bowls

My mind has been buzzing like always and I have some new work that I am very excited about. I never get tired of patterns, so made some new textured slabs.

New patterns calls for new forms. I wanted to make some unique elegant bowls. Check these out.

I love the curling handles and the simplistic design balanced with the intricate free flowing patterns

Perfect for serving strawberries this summer season. Buy them now at my Etsy shop.

Extruder Workshop at Tacoma Community College

I like to teach and it was a while since I was teaching in a large group. Last weekend I did a 2 day extruder and surface decoration workshop at Tacoma Community College organized by the Clay Club students at TCC.

A big thanks to Clay Art Center for letting us borrow the Scott Creek Super Duper clay extruder for the workshop. I LOVE this extruder because of its design and its ease of changing dies. With this hands-on workshop, everyone got to try it out and unleash the potential of extruded work. Here are some picture of the workshop.

Discussing Die design and making your own diesAlways fun working on butter dishes

Attaching spout to a teapot

Making a pillow bowl. Love the finishing sponge from Mudtools

Working with students making a butter dish

Some of the pieces in progress, oil bottle, butter dishes, pillow box, sugar creamer, etc...

A big Thanks to AMACO for sedning their velvet underglazes for the workshop.

Techniques for slip decoration

One of the oil bottles decorated.

Overall it was great fun with a great group of artists. Contact me at creativewithclay@yahoo.com if you would like to arrange a workshop.