Cool Blog for Photographers

I was looking around at WordPress’s different blog themes… I think I will change things up here in the near future… and found Duotone.  It is a very cool theme for photographers, that changes the background color automatically depending on the colors in the photo on that page!  You do nothing.  Upload your photo, the blog picks the page color.  It looks like it would be for bloggers who really just want to post photos, not really say much, so that would obviously not be me, but I wanted to share, so here is a screen shot of one of the pages.

Video Fashion Fun

I had a chance to come in and shoot a little video for the Closet of Style that needed to be added before Lancome could run their spot (I mean a very little).  But always fun to try new things, and walk around the streets uptown and disrupt things.  It just makes me think about how much things have changed uptown since I worked at the Observer.  It’s like a real city!  And there are people there!  Things happen while you are raising kids.

Plus, it’s always fun to work/play with Catherine, so I thought I would share…

Just When You Thought it was Safe to Go in the Kitchen…

It’s happened again… there has been cooking in the Yale kitchen!  But this time it was Bayla and her cousin Heather.  Bayla’s summer resolution to learn to cook three things resulted in Angel Food Cupcakes.  Yum!  Of course we had to buy an angel food cake since she had never eaten one.  That way she could compare and see if it turned out like it should.  Then, of course you have to top angel food with something.  She chose  whipped cream and chocolate chips.  So, my mini-Teeter run for a few cup cake ingredients turned into a $14 bill for 12 cupcakes.  And lots of sifting and measuring and mixing and sifting.  But they sure were tasty.  I only butted in a few times.  Then I tried to cast my eyes down, and talk about other things.  And I was so impressed by the girls’ industriousness, that I made green bean casserole for dinner even though it wasn’t Thanksgiving.
And you know the real reason I let them do it was because I like taking food photos…

Mini Crab Cakes | The proof is in the photos

I just adore the women in my book group.   So much so, that I even cook for them when it’s my turn to host.  So, last Wednesday, I had been watching a little too much Anna and Kristina’s Grocery Bag, and thought I could cook six dishes in three hours.  Even though there is only one of me.

All was going well… the French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms were ready to go into the oven.  The hummus and mediterranean crudities were out.  My daughter and I had finished the Chocolate Chip Meringues.  The prosciutto was wrapped around the melon chunks.  I was lacing long thin strips of carrots onto bamboo skewers to make ribbons topped with sugar peas and cherry tomatoes.  All this while I was sautéing the onions, red pepper and various spices for the first stage of the Mini Crab Cakes.  And I still had 20 minutes.

You can feel the problem coming, can’t you.

I decided it would be prudent to read the rest of the Mini Crab Cake recipe.  The recipe said it only takes 20 minutes to prepare.  So, next I have to cool the current mixture.  Well, that could take a little time.  But, Ok.  And then I whisk together the mayo, mustard, yada yada yada… no problem.  Fold in the crab meat and…. CHILL FOR A DAY.

That could be a problem.

So, I drop the can opener, grab the avocado, and make my friend Catherine’s fabulous guacamole instead.  The book group was none the wiser.  I really did feel like Anna and Kristina, improvising with red onion when my shallots were so old they crumbled like dust.  And, that means that finally tonight I got to enjoy the crab cakes.  Plus, I had time to document the process with photos…

This is the mixture finally folded all together last night at midnight, ready to go into the frig.  It looked ready to eat, but with the raw egg, and just getting over a two week illness, I didn’t dare.

Ok – I am feeling a little less like Anna and Kristina as I am frying them up in the pan at dinner time, when I read the instructions, and it said to dredge the patties in the remaining cracker crumbs.  I didn’t have any remaining crumbs.  The ingredient list said two sleeves of crackers crushed.  But it said to add 1 1/2 cups crumbs to the mixture.  I assumed it was the same.  I had already cut the recipe in thirds, and I was shooting from the hip at midnight.  I thought I was pretty daring to have the food processor going while the kids were asleep.  (Daring has changed in the last 13 years.)

I did crush some more crackers and tried some both ways… both are good.  Frankly, I just love the word dredge, and was willing to go to some effort in order to dredge (there – I found a way to work it into the sentence a second time.)

The finished product!  And I had even made home made tartar sauce.  That really did make it extra yummy.

Bay wants to learn how to make Angel Food Cake.  That should be funny to photograph!