After following him around the house and harassing him to no end, this is the best shot I could get of my big old man.
What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables: CSA Box #7
2011 CSA Box 7
1 lb. strawberries
6 oz. blueberries
6 fair trade bananas
8 oz. cut n clean seasonal cooking greens
1 lb. sugar snap peas
1 bunch broccolini
3 oriental sweet potatoes
1 pint mini heirloom tomatoes
1 pint sweet mini peppers
How I Used My Share
I ate the strawberries and blueberries with oatmeal for breakfast.
My DH ate the bananas to recover after a run.
I made greens with eggs with the cut n clean greens and half of the tomatoes.
I made a quick lunch pasta with the remaining tomatoes.
I ate half of the sugar snap peas and two of the sweet potatoes in a simple stir fry.
I ate the other half in a Japanese-inspired soba dish with frozen brussels sprouts and steak.
I used the broccolini along with an onion for a simple Thai-inspired stir fry.
The remaining sweet potato I made into sweet potato fries, which I served alongside a steak sandwich topped with the sliced mini peppers.
My Favorite Recipe From This Box
1 Year Ago
1 lb. local Florida strawberries
1 fair trade sweet golden pineapple
2 gold Ataulfo mangoes
2 Haas avocados
2 cucumbers
1 bunch scallions
1/2 pint yellow pear tomatoes
1 head broccoli
2 zucchini
7 purple potatoes
1 huge bunch chard
1 bunch asparagus
What I Made: Purple potato hashed browns with spinach; pasta with a quick pan-sauteed pear tomato sauce and creme fraiche; pork sandwiches with spicy mango cucumber slaw; broccoli, chard & chevre pizza; zucchini noodles; saffron pasta salad; fresh spring rice.
Greens with Eggs
When James Oseland names a dish his favorite over the past year, I tend to sit up and take notice. I don’t know about being my favorite, but this dish was a pleaser. Ignore the ham in the photo above. This shot was taken with the leftovers, which I foolishly added home-cured Canadian Bacon to. I shouldn’t have. This dish was absolutely great without it, and the smokiness ruined it the second time around. The original version also didn’t call for heirloom tomatoes, but I had a bunch on hand with no plans so I threw them in. I happen to love tomatoes cooked like this, so I liked them. If you do not, or if you don’t have any on hand, feel free to omit.
Greens with Eggs
Adapted from Wild Greens with Fried Eggs (Horta me Avga Tiganita) from Saveur
Extra virgin olive oil
5 scallions, minced
8 oz. cut n clean seasonal cooking greens
1/2 c. flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 c. mint leaves, chopped
1/4 c. fennel fronds, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs per person
Double handful heirloom cherry tomatoes
Crusty bread, sliced on a bias and toasted (optional)
Heat 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the scallions and cook for 4 minutes, until soft. add the greens, parsley, mint, fennel, garlic, tomatoes and 1/2 c. water; salt & pepper to taste. Cook, stirring as needed, until the greens are tender and tomatoes have softened and split, 10-15 mins.
In a medium pan, heat a turn and a half around the pan of olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Crack your eggs (1 person’s at a time) into the skillet and fry by constantly spooning hot oil over the yolks until the yolks are just set, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel to de-grease and then onto your greens to serve. Serve with crusty bread.
My first batch of eggs I cooked a little longer than the second, and I actually enjoyed that more. The eggs were still a little runny, and the whites were nice and fried. Cook as you like.
Serves 2
April 9, 2011
I’m tired of seeing such a good example of Mid-century modernism lay empty and unloved. 72,000+(?) of prime office space with parking lot on Biscayne Blvd. in MiMo/Upper East Side. Sure the windows are covered by metal grate, but the building looks cool…
April 8, 2011
What do you mean by putting a camera in my face? How could you do such a thing to such a dog? Seriously. Why?
Playing with Portraits 3
Just so my home page doesn’t look like a stalker page (and I needed a change of scenery), I decided to switch things up a bit with today’s Photoshopped portrait post.
This should be the last one for awhile–I’ve managed to work my way through most of the pile of portrait tutorials I have found interesting over the past few months but have been too lazy to try out.
This is the original shot I started out with today.
This is the final version–a high key black & white shot. Not bad, if I do say so myself, though the effect might be more interesting in a shot with less contrast.
Enter one of my beautiful sisters in law, Kim. We took a bunch of pictures of family this Thanksgiving, and this has to be one of my favorites. Not only is my sister in law a looker, she’s also a talented photographer (among other things like mom, planetary do-gooder, super smart and a professor to boot) and very easy to take pictures of.
This is the original shot.
I blew this shot out making it high key and I kind of like the effect. I might keep that in mind for the future and do a really blown out set.
This effect increases the grunge, making the picture almost metallic looking. This I will definitely keep in mind, since this is just about the effect I was after when looking for tutorials in the first place. What I was initially looking for before getting waylaid was how to make photos look like the History Channel’s new shows, specifically the deep blacks and interesting contrast on American Pickers. So, maybe the effect is just on the show’s main title sequence and hasn’t made the transition to stills. A quick Google search pulled up plenty of great pics of Danielle (and her tatts), but not exactly what I was looking for. If you haven’t seen the show, you’ll just have to imagine.
This is the old Hollywood glamor shot effect and I rather like the results, especially for portraits of women Soft focus hides a multitude of sins, and I just may go back and dig up a few shots of myself to apply this technique to.
The Takeaway
What has this little exercise taught me? I need to take more pictures of people! Macro is great, and food is endlessly fascinating and all, but people. I need more people. That, and that Photoshop is a really useful tool for creating interesting, artistic portraits. I already knew that, only now I won’t be quite so lost with a few helpful processes under my belt.
April 7, 2011
Today’s picture. No where in the rules does it say I have to smile (Dad) ;p
I figured I would go ahead and get my POD out of the way during work so I don’t have to interrupt the mass amount of sewing I need to do tonight. More on that later .
Playing with Portraits Of My Dearest Part 2
Original shot.
Light photo correction, mainly exposure and levels.
Warmed up a bit.
Curves adjusted for a vintage wash.
In this version, I used a mask to make his skin lighter for a washed-out (sloppy) vamp effect.
This version looks a lot like the warm version, just achieved a different way.
April 6, 2011 – Playing with Portraits Of My Dearest
I’ve had it in my mind for awhile to play with portraits in Photoshop and have recently found a bevy of tutorials to help with inspiration.
With this first set, I decided to eschew the tutorials and instead play with one of my favorite effects, lomography, and different textures.
This is the original untouched version, taken during lunch this afternoon.
This version incorporates some light color correction and some fairly hefty blurring/halftoning of the background. I hate the car, but short of creating a mask and running the risk of making my DH look like he was somewhere he was not, I decided to (almost) live with it.
This version was run through a simple lomography action set in Photoshop. I love the green tones and popped colors.
This version incorporates two different textures with the lomo (see below); a distressed metal/burned film texture and a copper bokeh pattern. I like the end result; my DH says it makes him look old and vaguely creepy. I don’t see the old, and I happen to like vaguely creepy portraits. Bonus: I hardly even notice the hated car in the background.
April 5, 2011
Finally! At long last, the split pea soup my DH has been asking for for months. (yeah, I know, bad wife. Better late than never)
Gastography 