Anthony Mattox

@anthony.luckypaper.co

Occasional artist, constant learner, avid home cook, software developer and designer, aspiring potter, MTG cube enthusiast, co-host of Lucky Paper Radio, increasingly pickled

After another month setting out, then racking and filtering, my first batch of soy sauce now looks as good as it tastes. It's beautiful, clear, and dark. Finally calling this batch done done. I feel like a god damn wizard.

A bottle of home made yellow pea shoyu, aged one year.

Trying my hand at vegan ramen. Vegetable based miso broth. Maybe too many pickle-y toppings. I was really happy with how this salted / purged / broiled zucchini came out, and crispy fried garlic with chilis and douchi.

Home made vegan miso ramen with mushrooms and pickled vegetablesHome made ramen noodlesToppings for ramen: crispy fried garlic and broiled zucchini

The suggested prompt at the studio is "chia pet." I'm taking a more austere interpretation, but came so much closer to what I envisioned than I hoped. The best one started cracking after I finished, but 2/7 isn't too bad for a much more extreme shape than I'm used to.

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Really an excellent interview touching on so many things I've been thinking about a lot: games, art, intentional outdoor activities, and most importantly "values" in a very big sense. Straight to the top of my reading list. Sincere apologies, as usual, to The Power Broker.

99% Invisible@99pi.org · 4w ago

We keep score of everything these days. But what happens when the numbers start changing what we actually care about? Listen to a new episode of 99% Invisible wherever you get your podcasts 👉 https://bit.ly/4gndow5

I'm really happy with these little vases / pitchers. In particular, the shape of the feet and the glazing is a huge improvement for me. A clean edge makes them look so much more polished. But, now I just want to go back and remake my sets of ramen and rice bowls which feel very sloppy by comparison

Two small hand thrown ceramic pitchersGlazed bottoms of two hand made ceramic pitchers

Gotta keep the big jars occupied! Pressed a big batch of "barley sake" last night. I'm not sure that's a thing, and I'm not sure it'll be drinkable, but plan to use it to make vinegar and mirin, maybe other projects. We can keep pushing "from scratch" further in the fermentation lab.

Large jar of fermenting barley moromi ready to press for the next stage of fermentationJars of barley sake air locked to continue fermenting

New work from the spring session at the Potter's Guild. I feel like I'm improving a lot. Lots of flaws to work on but I think I have a clear sense of what they are which is honestly a satisfying place to be.

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After a year of aging I pressed my first batch of shoyu this weekend. The results are actually great. To complete the cycle I started another batch, this time with mushrooms. I think I'll start a new one every couple months to keep it going.

Bottled home-made, one year aged, yellow pea soy sauce and a new batch of moromi ready to ageSet up for pressing home made soy sauce, and trays of soy bean and what koji ready to assemble another batchPressing moromi in a small wine press

More ramen. As usual home made noodles and broth. Working on my noodle fold for presentation. I'm excited next week to have home made shoyu. One degree further from scratch. Honestly I'm not sure what's next on that journey that doesn't involve quitting my job and buying a farm.

Bowl of home made ramen

Year two attempting to make mulberry wine from local trees. This time, I smashed most of them and let them start fermenting in a loosely sealed jar for a week. Then pressed and sealed with an airlock. Hopefully we wont end up with vinegar this year. Although thats not a terrible outcome.

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Started my first larger batch of miso after making a lot of little test batches over the last year and a half. I'm excited to see how it goes and to have a volume I don't feel I need to be precious with. The fermentation station's looking cozy.

A big jar of home made miso freshly assembledThe fermentation station

I started my second large batch of shoyu (with some smaller experiments along the way). It's cool to compare this to my first that's been aging for about 10 months. The first batch is coming along well and I'll probably press it in a couple months. But optimistic the next will be even better.

Two jars of home made shoyu - one just started and the other aged 10 months. Made with koji grown on yellow peas and mung beans.

Steak dinner from a couple nights ago. Still feeling satisfied with this meal. Did a good job on the ribeye, and also made fresh bread, braised leeks, smashed potatoes, and a salad with fun pickles.

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