Tea Time

I really enjoy the process of brainstorming an assignment and watching the many ways it morphs from one idea to the next. The colors, shapes, texture, and light leading me ever down the path to The Shot on the journey through The Land of What If. Here are some ideas I came up with for tea!

Mr. Frog's Soul & Creole Kitchen in Asheville, NC

I had the honor of photographing award winning Chef Vijay Shastri of Mr. Frog's Soul & Creole Kitchen in Asheville, NC. Vijay is also not only one of North Carolina's four certified sommeliers, but a fantastic story teller. I had a great time photographing him as we chatted away about the food industry and about his life. He sent me home with some lox that my 10 year old daughter became almost immediately addicted to! Thanks so much, Vijay!

Jake's Farm in Candler, NC

I spent a couple of hours at Jake's Farm this morning, photographing Chris and Missy and their wonderful organic fruit and vegetables. These are some of the photos I captured while on assignment for an upcoming farm to table history book by an Asheville, NC author, Rick McDaniel, to be published by The History Press in April of 2013.

From the Kitchen

Some photos of the delicious things that have been going on in my kitchen lately!

Steeplechase Old English Toffee

Last week I was honored to be one of the few that have been invited to catch a glimpse of the inner workings of Steeplechase Olde English Toffee in downtown Waynesville, NC. I spent two days photographing the process of the toffee being crafted, and then photographing the finished deliciousness, all the while cloaked in the heady scent of chocolate, butter, sugar, and other fine ingredients. The thick slabs of toffee stacked on plates on the second day were a spectacular sight to behold, begging to be devoured! If you haven't yet visited Steeplechase Olde English Toffee, run, don't walk. I am told that on mornings when the fog is hanging low and toffee is being made, the scent of this time honored family recipe fills the air in the valley and it becomes an involuntary action of passersby to stop in their tracks and file in. Who could resist? The shop is located at 235 Pigeon Street, and you may find them on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SteeplechaseToffeecom/153525426515.

Click to see more photographs from my time at Steeplechase Old English Toffee:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/externalfocus/sets/72157629735065003/

What's Cooking?

Here are some of the things that have been going on in my kitchen lately!

Next week I'll be photographing all things toffee with Steeplechase Toffee in downtown Waynesville, NC, and am very much looking forward to it! Barb and Michelle have graciously allowed me the opportunity to not only photograph their wonderful products, but to get some behind the scenes in the kitchen, as well! Fair warning, though: you won't be getting any insider recipe secrets from me - you'll have to go straight to the source and taste for yourself!

Double Cherry Walnut Brownie

Yum. I mean, seriously: yum. I made these brownies last week, deciding to spruce up a box mix I had laying around. I really enjoy taking food that anyone can get their hands on at a fair price, and making it into something really special. I added in chopped walnuts, dehydrated cherries, and then topped it off with cherry pie filling, which sent it so over the top that my teeth hurt just look at it. Ohboy was it good. I think a lot of people see food as some sort of chore that they have to "get through," or worse, opting to pick up something from a burger joint [if those things even really qualify as burgers] because they don't want to make the time to cook, and it doesn't have to be that way! Your food is only as special as you make it, and you should have confidence in yourself that you can do a good job. Hey, sometimes it doesn't go well; I recall attempting to make a peanut chicken that came out so horribly that I made jokes about it for weeks. It was not edible, and we ended up ordering pizza or something. It happens! But don't give up.

I started getting involved with food at a really young age; I remember baking cookies from scratch when I was maybe 7 or 8 and home alone, and my mom coming home and absolutely freaking out that I could have burnt the house down or wounded myself. For about 5 minutes I don't think she believed I'd actually made perfect Russian Tea Cakes right out of the gate, but I showed her the recipe and the utensils I'd used, and of course the smell of fresh baked cookies was pretty undeniable. It was a simple recipe, and as easy as following the directions. Anyway, the point is, I have always approached food in a very fearless spirit of experimenting and adapting recipes to suit my own tastes and according to what I happen to have on hand. I am never going to be a chef, and that's okay too; you don't have to be one to enjoy cooking and playing in the kitchen. I think a lot of people don't see it in that way, and therefore it becomes the mundane same-menu-every-week kind of affair that would bore anyone.

This year I have also decided that I am going to be trying a lot of foods that I don't have experience with. I began with conquering a childhood aversion to brussels sprouts which have become my new favorite vegetable, I steamed and attempted to eat my first artichoke even though it didn't go very well at all, I have some fennel in the fridge which is going to make a lovely fennel and blood orange salad, and then I am going to try mint in a non-dessert food. After that, who knows? I have raised my children in this same spirit and they are wonderfully open to trying whatever is put in front of them. My 9 year old daughter's favorite tv station is Food Network, so perhaps she will become the chef of our family!

Play with your food!

lemon sugar cookies

Well I can't seem to stop playing with the color yellow, and lemons in particular, this month! I made these ridiculously delicious cookies yesterday; I'm usually more of an oatmeal + chocolate chip kind of gal, but I think I have underestimated the versatility of the simple sugar cookie. They were a hit with the family, and I am looking forward to creating other flavors with them in the kitchen!

Also, over the last weekend I switched over my photography facebook page from my old site to the new. The url still says External Focus Photography, but I just thought it made more sense to change the page rather than make an entirely new one and expect everyone to make the change with me. The url is a little strange, so I may end up making a new page eventually; I haven't decided yet. For now, you can find the page on the sidebar on the right, or by clicking this link:

http://www.facebook.com/ExternalFocusPhotography

Stadium

I did this conceptual food piece today; signing up my youngest son for soccer put me in the sports frame of mind, and then my husband happened to want some bratwurst and sauerkraut for dinner, so it was a perfect opportunity.

Baseball. The green background represents the grass in the outfield; the white plate represents the infield diamond; the food represents the bases, and then the white cloth off to the side would be the stadium seating and audience. Is it too far fetched? I don't know. Sometimes my brain goes on these little jaunts and I'm just along for the ride, however unwilling I may or may not be!

Pizza: The Hawaiian Sink

There are relatively few meals that I can think of that you can add almost anything into the ingredients list and it will still taste like a slice of perfection. Pizza is one such bearer of deliciousness. I call this pizza The Hawaiian Sink because you put on some pineapple, and then throw everything else at it, including the kitchen sink! The ingredients could be anything, really; I had intended to fry up some spicy crumbled sausage and put on some shredded ham, as well, but dinner was relatively late in happening last night and this photo was on the elaborate end of the scale. Turns out that the pepperoncini stood in just fine for the spice and salt factor. Of course, any pizza could be made entirely vegetarian, too, and still satisfy this meat lover! What are some of your favorite pizza ingredients?