use real butter

Anh recently informed me that I had been selected for a Droolworthy Blogger Award! Quite the surprise as I didn’t know one existed, but also an honor to be chosen by such a talented woman as Anh from the land of Oz. Thank you.

It seems that food blogging involves as much discussion about the photography as the food today. I am often peppered with questions about equipment more than anything else in the photog category. Why is that? I think people mistakenly assume great photos can only be taken with great (and expensive) cameras and glass. That saddens me, because it equates money with talent, relegating the photographer to an automaton who pushes a button. In my mind, money has more to do with lack of sense than any innate talent or hard-earned experience. There are too many photographers out there toting around very nice cameras taking really shitty pictures. Many of my favorite food blogs with great photography started with point-and-shoot cameras and eventually graduated to the dSLR. Do you actually think Yoda would hand you a Canon 1Ds Mark III to begin your Jedi training? Pshaw!

it’s not a camera, it’s my third eye

I began blogging over three years ago as a therapeutic way to express how I was feeling day to day after my sister died. I blogged for me. It was passed about to friends so they could keep a finger on the pulse of my daily musings. Food was ever-present from the start, however it was more incidental than anything else. I have always been a visual being, but the initial focus of my photog development was on the outdoors - not my dinner plate.

Being an OCD who loves documentation, I began to shoot everything: landscapes, flowers, dog, husband, knitting, cooking, cardboard boxes, bandaids… I think that daily practice had an enormous impact on my learning curve. When I shot film in the 80s and 90s on a 1960 era Canon Ft-b, it was a slooooow and expensive process. I went through two digital point-and-shoots before my first dSLR. And at some point during the dSLR era I began to regard my food the same way I regard the wilderness, as beauty to share.



That’s my approach to food photography. Eventually it became obvious that my fooding needed a home of its own, and here it is. And here you are! Thanks for reading and peeping and engaging. The sharing and exchange are the best part of it all. Now the time has come for me to pass along this most esteemed Award of Worthiness and Drool to some of my favorite food blogs.

and the droolworthy blogger award goes to…

B Comme Bon
Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Dessert First
thepassionatecook
Rasa Malaysia

Each blogger has her own style of writing, her own style of photography. What is undeniable is how delicious and beautiful the blogs are. Congratulations to the winners (but really now, you’re all winners in my book) and another big thanks to Anh!

Remember the surf we had for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday?

it stirs the memories and some salivation

Tonight we continued the debauchery with a little bit o’ turf. I wanted to serve it with potatoes and sweet potatoes. I think it was a very good idea to postpone the beef until tonight otherwise I may have wound up in food coma or worse.

nice and standard tenderloin

The other motive for postponing turf until tonight was so I could enjoy the appropriate wine with the dish. I don’t like compromising a wine between foods as disparate as lobster and beef. I’m not a wine expert, I just really enjoy good wine with good food. What we decided to open was a gift from our dear friend, Fumito. He gave it to us about five years ago - a bottle of 1997 Château Angélus Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé. When we moved from Southern California to Colorado, we drove in the 108F temperatures of the Utah summer wondering if our most beloved bottles of wine would make the trip packed in the backseat under a stack of dog towels.

special to us

It made it. It was fantastic. Given some time to breathe, it opened up nicely taking the edge off the oak. Earthy, dark fruit, and big. After dinner we had a little more along with some lovely Belgian dark chocolate. They seemed to compete in my mouth and then the flavors of the chocolate were drawn out, the taste of hazelnut, the taste of vanilla… Very nice.

So to revisit our friend, the lobster. Steaming the lobster would have been fine, but because we were steaming crab, I wanted a little variety. My dad gave me an excellent recipe over the phone and it was simple enough that I didn’t need to write anything down. I purchased two of the smallest lobster tails I could find and in total they weighed 1.25 lbs which I felt was still on the large side. It is generally acknowledged in my family that large lobsters are not as sweet and not as tender as their smaller counterparts. When my parents order lobster in a Chinese restaurant, it is customary for the server to present my parents with the live lobster in a bucket for approval. My dad will often send it back if he feels it is too large… then he’ll turn to me and say, “Do you know why Daddy sent that lobster back? It’s too big. It tastes like yechhhh. You want to order a small lobster, no more than a pound and half at most - pound is preferable. Are you listening to me, kid?” Oh the wisdom that falls to the feet of disinterested youth.

split the lobster, slap on the ingredients, and grill

My dad didn’t mention to use scissors to cut the shell open down the backs. I used a cleaver and well… I’ll use scissors next time. After cutting the shell, I cut the flesh down the middle to about halfway. Removing the digestive tract was a new experience (I’d never done this before and it’s waaay bigger than the one in those cute little shrimp). Dad said to sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic, and parsley over the tails and then rub the seasonings evenly over the lobster flesh. I set the tails on aluminum foil and poured some good white wine over the lobster a small pat of butter on top of each tail. I wrapped the foil around the tails into a large loose pouch, sealed shut, and grilled on high for 6-8 minutes (8 minutes for larger tails). Great meal.

very little effort for the bang

Grilled Lobster
from my dad

2 lobster tails about 1/2 lb each
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine
1/2 tbsp butter, in two pieces

Use scissors to cut the shells of the lobster tails down the back. With a knife, cut the lobster meat about halfway down, but not all the way through. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, and olive oil over the tails. Rub the seasonings into the meat. Set the tails on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Pour wine over the tails and set a pat of butter on top of each tail in the trench of the meat. Wrap the foil around the tails into a tent-like pouch, sealing the openings shut. Grill on high heat for 6-8 minutes depending on the size. Serve immediately.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I suppose people have completed their festive meals, had their family brawls, drunk too much, and are ready to pass out by now? Ahhh, the good old days. Jeremy and I try not to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday. Driving or flying with potential delays, death, or dismemberment due to weather or stupidity or both can really take years off of your life. We really do cherish our sanity. This year we turned down a few invitations and opted for a quiet meal at home.

As expected, I ditched the notion of a turkey dinner in favor of something easier and in my opinion, far tastier. Rather than one ginormous blowout meal, we grazed through three courses starting at noon. My original plan involved surf and turf, but driving home from the grocery store earlier in the week, I came to the conclusion that I was planning an obscene amount of food for Thanksgiving. Thus we had surf and surf and surf… Turf got booted to tomorrow.

In the morning I prepared parts of dessert and made some treats for my pup. I cook all the time, so much so that the dog will snooze under the kitchen table as I work or wander into the great room to soak up all of the sunlight striking the Earth’s surface. She knows better than to beg while I prep. Somehow, she clues in when I am making something for her and she’ll come around sniffing at the edge of the table or she’ll plant herself squarely in front of me, waiting ever so patiently…

kaweah loves squirrels

Jeremy and I started off with scallop carpaccio in ponzu sauce and some Japanese cucumber salad. Raw scallops are better than butter.

start light

An hour later, we sat down for a bowl of steamed Alaskan King crab legs. I am crazy about crab - much more so than lobster. My favorite crab ever is the Chesapeake Bay Blue. I grew up catching and eating them every summer. My family would steam huge piles of the blue crabs, peel and eat them dipped in red wine vinegar and ginger. Sooo good.

king isn’t such a bad substitute

That was a lot of crab. We gathered the dog and went to a local trail to walk off the drowse and breathe the lovely cold air. We actually received some snowfall the previous day - a few inches… not quite the few feet all itchy Coloradan skiers are hoping for right about now. Our nights have been chilly though, -5F for tonight. The dog had a blast running what little brains she has out. The lake was frozen, but not hard enough for the hockey players to come out yet.

frozen lake in late day sun

Walking along the edge of the tiny lake I noticed beautiful ice formations dotting the surface. It’s just ground frost, but it had developed enough structure to be more complex than usual. I love living here because I get to observe natural phenomena that really get a geek like me going.

a garden of ice blossoms

Feeling invigorated after noodling around in the snow, we returned for our main course: lobster. I don’t cook lobster often because it is expensive and I’m always afraid of screwing it up. I consulted with my dad about the lobster. He is a great cook and loves to experiment with all manner of food. He suggested a fairly easy and no nonsense method which turned out beautifully - on the grill no less! It paired well with a generalist Louis Jadot French Chard which we had been sipping along with all of the courses. A bit much with the scallops, but just fine on the crab. I would have preferred a lighter and fruitier white with the scallops, but then I’d be too drunk to type now, wouldn’t I?

8 minutes: grilled asparagus and grilled lobster

After watching a DVD and digesting our staggered meal, we went in for the kill. I really love me some pumpkin pie like nobody’s business. Forget about the crust and the fixings - the pumpkin filling part of the pie will do me just fine. But I didn’t make pie this year, I made pumpkin mousse… and we both loved it. I didn’t love the top layer of pumpkin jello, but the pie crust base, the whipped cream, and especially the crystalized ginger worked wonderfully together. Even the dark chocolate drizzle added an extra dimension to the ensemble. Recipes to follow later.

pumpkin mousse with crystalized ginger

Of course, this holiday isn’t solely about the food. It’s about giving thanks. Maybe you’re thankful for the food or perhaps you’re thankful for the stuff you own or thankful for your health… Me? I have had to think about this a lot lately and it really boils down to two things. Not a day passes that I am not grateful for the wonderful and amazing people in my life: family, friends, my pup, and even random strangers. Not a day. And I’m thankful that I recognize it and can express to them how much they mean to me. Happy Thanksgiving.