use real butter

[Daring Bakers in search of Danish Braid, please jump here.]

On a recent post where I bagged on annoying blog characteristics I got a lot of comments and emails about why I hate Blogger. I’m sorry, I should have been more clear. There are a lot of people who blog on Blogger, and I love those people, I just HATE BLOGGER. Aside from the incredibly stupid and clumsy mechanics of Blogger, it is ass slow. I know this because when you try to visit over 1000 Daring Baker blogs in the course of a few days (where the majority are on Blogger) you start to pick up on how painfully stupid and poorly designed the commenting procedure is. I’m no authority on blogs, I just know what makes me crazy when I go to other blogs - although I do have professional experience on the design, programming, and implementation side (including some user testing).

my avocados ripened too late for the party, but not too late for us

Now I’m going to make a few observations about photography… I usually keep quiet, but every now and again I will let loose and rail. Here is more brain dump. And away we go!

1) A dSLR for you, and a dSLR for you… Everyone is jumping aboard the dSLR bandwagon, it seems. A lot of people feel compelled to drop a wad o’ cash for one of these pretty babies because they want to post pictures on their blog. For most folks, a really nice point and shoot (aka dummy cam) will do just fine. I see a lot of shitty looking pictures that were taken with a dSLR and some expensive glass. Such a waste. Buying a fancy camera doesn’t make you a good photographer any more than buying a slick pair of skis will make you an Olympic class skier. There is actually something to learning how to take a good picture.

2) Don’t take photography for granted. Let’s back up and think about what usually makes a nice photo (and when you get really artsy, all of these rules are out the window). Focus. Composition. Focus. Lighting. Oh, did I mention FOCUS? If you can’t hold a camera steady, there is this amazing piece of equipment called a tripod. They run as little as $25 and won’t shake up your shot like a drunken freshman during rush. I tripod 70% of my photos and of my money shots I tripod about 95%. What you are shooting will have some bearing on what type of lenses and other equipment you want. There is a big difference between shooting food and shooting weddings, for instance.

3) See the light. Lighting is a technical issue, but when you begin to understand the nature of light (natural, artificial, diffuse, offset, reflected, etc.) it becomes an art. Try shutting off your flash. Try using an off camera flash with bounce or diffuser. Try natural light with reflector. Mess around and learn how light behaves and how it interacts with your subject. If you’re outside, try shooting before sun up or after sundown. You’d be amazed at how different a change in lighting can make your shot. Light is a pain in my ass and it was something I avoided learning about for years, but it was worth it. I’m no expert, but I consider myself mildly competent now. It’s definitely a more advanced topic, but it is important.

4) *I’m* driving the bus! Take the camera off auto. Learn to use manual. Learn what aperture is. Learn what shutter speed is. Learn ISO. Learn white balance. Learn to manual focus. And learn to post-process (this is digital we’re talking about). If you leave your dSLR on auto, you have essentially purchased an expensive and large point-and-shoot camera. For shame.

5) Composition is the big one. I think compo is where the signature of the photographer comes through. It’s the translation of the vision in your head into the photograph you produce. What’s the set up? What is the subject? WHERE is the subject? IS there a subject? How is it lit? What are the implied actions/motions? Where are you leading the viewer’s eye? Is there chaos? How does it make you feel? What is the focus? What is the depth of field? Sometimes no matter how I try, I cannot make a shot work because what I see as beautiful with my two eyes doesn’t transition into a good photograph through my lens (usually in the backcountry where, as a rule, I do not move natural subjects). Your brain creates a unique and vast image in your head from the input through your eyes. Your camera - it don’t do that. Ever take a picture of something you saw that was beautiful only to be disappointed later with what the camera captured? Yup. That’s what I’m talking about - the lens and camera are far more limited than your brain and eyes. What you convey through the camera is the true art.

Composition is not so much a technical issue as a personal preference. It comes with practice and the beauty of digital is that you can practice a lot without going bankrupt! I shoot daily and when I am shooting, particularly in the backcountry, I see the world in two views: from the perspective of my eyes, and what that would look like through my camera and lens. I know them so well that I can consider a gorgeous span of wildflowers and know what I can and can’t get with the camera without even removing it from my pack. That comes from a lot of practice. So practice, damn it. Practice. And vary your shots to see what works and what sucks.

6) Zoom the hell in. Whether it means zooming in with your lens or getting up close and personal with the subject (I’m assuming food here, but yeah - other subjects too). Not all shots need to be macro shots, but people are usually too conservative and are zoomed out too much. My friend E was complaining how people who take “snapshots” for her with her camera wind up making the people subjects teensy tiny so that you don’t even know who is in the picture. Do you NEED to include their shoes? A lot of things can be implied even if they aren’t in the picture. You can get the idea of a bowl of berries across without showing the whole bowl.

7) Move your ass. If you insist on taking pictures always standing at full height - you are boring and so are your photos. Perspective is crucial. Get on your belly! Crouch low, shoot up, angle sideways, turn the camera, shoot directly down. Try SOMETHING different. It may not always work, but you won’t know until you do it.

8) And my pet peeve that is addressed directly at food blogs: multiple shots of the same frakking thing (with the exception of the end product, but that can go too far as well). I mean, how many pictures do you really need to post of a hand sprinkling brown sugar over cake batter? Six? Seven? What a waste of my bandwidth. That’s what VIDEO is for, durrrrrr.

Well, that’s my two cents and with the decline of the dollar, it’s worth less now than it was when you started reading. I’m just tossing out what works for me which may or may not mean anything to you.

Kathy had asked if I could post the sangria recipe earlier. I actually went searching online at various food blogs for a good sangria recipe because I typically prefer the tried and true recipes I see on food blogs rather than the standard online collections. I came across this one at Andrea’s Recipes and decided to give it a try.

citrus slices

strawberry and peach to add before serving

The beauty of sangria is that you don’t have to buy expensive wines - cheap wines work perfectly here. I don’t know how to shop for cheap wines, but my local liquor barn employee had excellent recommendations and pointed me to some good affordable picks. Toss in some sugar and seasonal fruits and you are good to go.

pour the wine

Sangria is one of those drinks that will knock me to the ground because I love fruit and will drink a lot of sangria just trying to get to the floating peach in my glass. So deceptive, this adult fruit punch… It’s perfect for combating the summer heat.

put up your dogs and cool off with some of this

Sangria

1 orange, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
1 (750 ml) bottle dry white wine
1 (750 ml) bottle dry red wine
2 peaches, sliced
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup Grand Marnier

Combine orange, lemon, sugar and wines in a large glass bowl or pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight. Add peaches, strawberries, and Grand Marnier before right before serving. Serve over ice.

Plenty of good things to bandy about on the blog today. For one: sushi, which is always a plus for me. More on that in a moment.

I spied some incredible looking mammata as I left the cancer center this afternoon. I had my camera with me (it goes just about everywhere I go) and was able to take a few shots from the parking lot before it dissipated. We get a lot of these in the summertime down on the flats - all of that atmospheric instability makes for gorgeous cloud formations. It made me recall something Tom told me recently, “the best camera is the one you have with you.” So true (what I would have given to have had my camera in my lap instead of in the backseat of the car when a bobcat crossed our path a few weeks ago driving home).

ominous

After that neat sighting, I went and sat in my car and opened a package that had ridden down the canyon with me to my radiation appointment. I had been running late, so no time to open the package. It was from Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi!

so beautiful… whatever could it be?

wonderful wonderful things

A care package is like a hug from far away. I only “met” Bee recently, but what a sweetheart she is. Just look at all of the goodies! Of course, I can’t possibly let this go without a retaliation package. Just you wait, Bee and Jai. Just you guys wait… Thank you so much. xxoo

Jeremy and I resumed our sushi tour after a one week hiatus (just too much shit going down last week). This time we tried Kasa, a relative new-comer to the Boulder scene. It has been in business for a year and we happened across it one day after walking from the post office to Pearl Street pedestrian mall.

kasa means umbrella

The restaurant sits on a prime corner location and the interior is very bright because all external walls are windows onto Pearl and 15th. The restaurant has a hip and artsy black and white theme wrapped all around the sushi bar, sake bar, and table seating.

great natural lighting

We found the service to be a complete mishmash because it seemed that whoever was nearby would take our order, serve us food, refill drinks, give us our bill… Inconsistent in a strange way. There didn’t seem to be a clearcut sushi chef in the traditional sense either. But that was okay because the quality of the fish was superb. On par with the best of them. Here, have a looksee.

start with some light seaweed salad

sashimi deshoku (chef’s choice)

red dragon roll: spicy tuna with avocado and anago

#9 roll: shrimp tempura, crab, cucumber, salmon and avocado

nigiri: tobiko with quail egg, scallop

The seaweed salad was a little less seasoned than I prefer, but it was still enjoyable. Everything else was terrific, awesome, delicious, fresh. The presentation was gorgeous, as you can see. The rolls were quite good, but they didn’t have that magic combination of flavor, texture, shazaam-in-your-mouth experience that we got with other sushi joints.

Here is my beef with Kasa: it is ass expensive. Okay, all sushi in Boulder is expensive, but for some reason Kasa’s sushi and sashimi run a few bucks more per item than other places on the tour. Add to that the fact that their selection isn’t as extensive as any of the other sushi bars (they were out of toro today). Jeremy noted that they must pay an arm and a leg for their rent. Perhaps, but Tora is also on Pearl Street, their chefs are the real deal, and their selection is unsurpassed.

I like Kasa. I mean, I didn’t even need my tripod to shoot because it’s so well lit! We both loved what we ate for dinner, but considering the financial damage I would rather walk the extra 5 blocks to Sushi Tora.

New rankings:
1) Sushi Tora
2) Amu Sake Bar and Restaurant
3) Ai Sushi and Steak
4) Kasa Sushi

Anyhoo, that’s another sushi bar under our belt. After getting home and feeding the pup her dry kibbles (oh shut up, she LOVES that stuff, she loves *anything* - she’s a lab for crying out loud), we went to survey the state of our local columbines. Ramping up and looking good. These are for you, Diane! See the rest on the photoblog.

blue columbines - the colorado state flower

I was going to poll you guys about what lens I should get next, but then I started researching online and basically found the lens that *I need to have* and ordered it just now. And I thought Kasa was expensive… We’ll see what kind of pretty I can wrangle with the new glass once it gets here.

[*Note to Daring Bakers in search of June’s challenge - please scroll down one post*]

No recipe today. Just me blathering away…

ahhh, sangria

Is it July yet? Just yesterday I was freaking out because I realized we were nearing the end of June. My summer is almost booked solid and even though summer technically began less than 2 weeks ago, I can’t help but get this panicky feeling that summer is already over - gone! I psyche myself out like that though, because I cannot ever relax except under heavy sedation… If I wake up after 7 am I feel as if my whole day is done for. Hey, I never claimed to be free of mental issues!

strawberries and peachy

June has been a bit of frenzy for me, but with the tele betties barbecue we threw yesterday, I can breathe a sigh of calm today and smile at the spread of leftovers in our fridge! I had BARBECUE for brekkie this morning, and that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

bacon makes it (baked beans) good

My aunt was visiting this weekend ever so briefly - to crash at our place for a night before picking my cousin up from camp in Denver and driving the 7 hours back home to New Mexico. Older relatives in my family are always “elders”, but not so with Elena. She’s always been my friend ever since I was a wee tot, and she still is - even more so now that we are adults.

my favorite aunt and uncle by the globe fountain in boulder

The barbecue was great fun yesterday. I have this thing about the company I keep - specifically the female company I keep. They are almost exclusively what I call alpha chicks. What did you expect of me? I have LOADS of amazing women friends and each one is a superstar in her own right. I adore them all and yes, they kick ass. That’s actually a pre-requisite to be my friend… kick-assery. Nothing like cooking up a storm for a bunch of alphas and chilling out together well into the mountain night. And don’t feel sorry for Jeremy… he loves an evening with tele babes.

the menu
chips and salsa, crudités and spinach dip
blackberry-lime cordial cooler, sangria, iced tea
texas barbecue beef brisket
carolina-style pulled pork
mayonnaiseless coleslaw
baked beans
german potato salad
potato rolls
chocolate pistachio cake
mojito jello shots
watermelon sorbet


oh yeah, i made cake for the chicas

Now that my cooking/baking frenzy has abated, I am getting around to visiting blogs and taking care of some desperately-needed digital house keeping. I can tell that my health is improving because a number of things have begun to annoy me on my web travels… I’m just tossing some observations out there:

1) It pains me when blogs play music on their site. This is usually because I am playing iTunes or some public radio show feed on my computer and then I am suddenly accosted with cacophonous noises because frakking Céline Dion (them) just doesn’t jive with The White Stripes (me).

2) I hate sites that make my browser crash. Because I usually have a million tabs up and when the browser crashes I have to go and reload every page, swearing all the way. I usually never revisit those sites again.

3) Tastespotting is back. It is being run by Someone Else. The new Tastespotting is woefully short on technical prowess because it accepts the changes to my profile, but then it doesn’t. Bastards.

But this brings us to another issue, which was the void left by the old (and in my opinion, better, version of) Tastespotting. Everyone was sort of dumbstruck for the first day or so, and then a bunch of folks stepped up to the plate and implemented their own versions. There are quite a few out there. At first this was nice, but soon it became obvious that there was a lot of overlap. And while I believe that redundancy is good in many situations like climbing or emergency planning, I most definitely do not want it in my daily food porn. For what it’s worth (probably not much, but - this is my blog, so I can rattle on as I please), I’m getting behind Chuck’s Food Gawker because it is not only the best in design and functionality, but because Chuck is SO DAMN GOOD about feedback and improvements.

And while Food Gawker is my choice for the onslaught of all that is delicious and documented in the food blogosphere, I also visit Robin’s FP Daily for the beauty of food porn and because I enjoy her little commentaries. I like witty, and Robin is just that.

4) I understand that blogging is not a commercial production for most people, but… would it kill ya to spell check the damn entry before you post it? Or maybe read it over once to catch the misuse of your in place of you’re? [Just watch, I’m going to make this very mistake in my next post…]

5) I have great hatred for Blogger. Sure, call me elitist. I can’t help that I happen to prefer blogging platforms that actually work.

6) I don’t have a 10-foot wide monitor. How many columns can a blog possibly fit onto a standard page before the main text is relegated to two words per line? People put so much shit on their front pages now: ads, previous posts, blogrolls, photo thumbnails, archives, more ads, twitter… The overly-enthusiastic horizontalization of the blog is really annoying when I’m on my (precious) 12″ powerbook or better yet - on my iphone. It is also Bad Design Practice. And while I’m at it, who the hell wants to read hot pink text in 8 point font on a medium gray background? Pouring salt in my eyes would be a far more entertaining way to ruin my vision.

nosh on this

I haven’t been so good about replying to comments lately. I will definitely get to that tonight, folks. Right now, I’m going to enjoy a nice, long cardio workout before getting zapped by radiation oncology.