Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2011 was as great a year for you as it was for me and Cook & Be Merry. To everyone who visited my blog, Thank You.  And to all my great commenters, you are the absolute best! You make my day and make my blog so much more interesting. I hope I can give you many more recipes in 2012 that will entertain you and make you happy. I’ll do my everlovin’ best. Because you’re worth it!

So here are the top 10 most popular recipes of 2011 on Cook & Be Merry. Above is the #1 most popular recipe by far, BBQ Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp.

#2 Chicken, Sausage, Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen

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#3 Mireoix Meatloaf Recipe ~ Simple & Easy

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#4 Black and White Checkerboard Cookies

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#5 Snickerdoodle Cookies

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#6 Gumbo ~ Shrimp, Chicken & Andouille Sausage

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#7 Sweet Potato and Turkey Empanadas from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen

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#8 Cornbread ~ Soft, Sweet & Buttery

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#9 Mini Tart Shells, Food Art & An Optical Illusion

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#10 Mini Lemon Tartlets & A Culinary School Banquet

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I give you a toast with my glass held high ~

Here’s to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here’s to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.

Lynne xo

My husband, Scott, created this work of art for his company’s pumpkin carving contest. And he won the prize! Congratulations!!

The last 8 photos I submitted to TasteSpotting were declined. I was disappointed, naturally, because getting my photos accepted does wonders for my traffic. However, since the people who view TasteSpotting also view FoodGawker, where 6 of those same photos were accepted, I figured it was TasteSpotting’s loss.

When Sarah Gim, who runs TasteSpotting, spoke at Camp Blogaway last May, she was asked what her criteria was for choosing what is accepted. She answered that she couldn’t say exactly, but she knows it when she sees it. Well, it is her website after all, so she can put what she wants on it.

BUT…. There are 22 other food porn sites, that I know about, where our photos can be submitted. We don’t have to be subject to TasteSpotting’s whim. We can saturate the food porn landscape with our photos and reap the forthcoming traffic. Here’s my list:

1. Kitchen Artistry
2. Tasteologie
3. Dishfolio
4. Dessert Stalking
5. Food and Fizz
6. YumGallery
7. eRecipeCards
8. Finding Vegan
9. Refrigerator Soup
10. Liqurious
11. Tasty Days
12. Savory Sights
13. TasteFix
14. Opensource Food
15. Foodieview
16. Knapkins
17. Foodepix (New!)
18. Bakeolicious

And of course…

19. Photograzing
20. Tasty Kitchen
21. TasteStopping
22. Food Porn Daily

If you know of additional food porn sites, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

So about the photo of the BBQ Pork Sandwich above… that was taken at a food blogger luncheon at my favorite restaurant BALEEN and you can see all of the photos in that post, which includes the stunning BALEEN Burger below. Beautiful food.

Recently I was honored to receive the “One Lovely Blog” award from the wonderful blog Engineer and an Oven. Thank you so much, Caroline! I have enjoyed creating my blog so much and sharing my recipes and stories with all of you!

There are some rules to abide by in order to accept this award and they are:

1. Post a link back to the person that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 15 recently discovered blogs.
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

I hereby present the One Lovely Blog Award to these absolutely brilliant, astonishing, wonderful, terrific and beautiful food blogs which I have recently discovered.

A Glass of Milk
Anecdotes and Apples
Another Day in Pensacola
Breakfast Lunch Dinner and Punch
Cooking on the Side
I Savor the Weekend
Lentil Breakdown
Love From the Oven
My Fiance Likes It So It Must Be Good
A Bookworm’s Life
Pennies on a Platter
Polwig
Of Muses and Meringues
Quarter Life (Crisis) Cuisine
The Procrastobaker

I hope you will visit each one and enjoy them as much as I do.  And please leave comments so they’ll know you were there.

Here Are 7 Random Facts About Me

1. I am not a “sitting in hot water” kind of person. My new house has a 6-foot square Jacuzzi in one of the bathrooms and I will never use it. I am storing several sleeping bags in plastic containers in it. Give me a shower every time.

2. My Death Row meal is Lobster with Drawn Butter, a Double Hamburger and Fries from Burger King, and a big bowl of Salty Buttered Popcorn.

3. When I was in my 20’s I had a motorcycle, a Bultaco Lobito. I bought that particular bike because it was the only one I could find that allowed me to put my feet flat on the ground when sitting on the seat. I’m short, just 5 feet tall.

4. After graduating from high school, I went to Beauty School for a year and a half. I got my state (Minnesota) license, worked for a year, hated it and quit. I still give a pretty mean haircut, though.

5. My maiden name is Lynne Kathleen LeMere.

6. One of the things on my Bucket List is to go Equitrekking, which is a travel adventure on horseback. I spent my childhood in Minnesota horseback riding, and I would like to spend a week in the saddle, maybe on a cattle drive. There would be cooking by the chuckwagon crew and singing around the campfire at night. Maybe on a ranch in Colorado with the Rocky Mountains in the background. Yahoo!

7. I am a Lawn Geek. I like to garden with flowers and vegetables, but I also love my grass plants. My new house has a lawn in the back and front, and when I moved in they were dry, burned, patchy and about an inch tall. So I told the gardener to stop cutting the grass, fertilized, and watered the hell out it, until it was about four inches tall, lush and green. Then I let the gardener cut it on the tallest setting on his mower. I love it when I come home and see my grass plants all healthy, especially when they are all exactly the same height. *sigh*

Last Saturday I attended the third annual Trufflepalooza, a totally truffle-infused party given by Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen. About 75 people were served 16 dishes which had some form of truffle goodness in each recipe, such as grated fresh truffles, truffle butter, truffle salt, truffle honey, truffle oil or a combination. Erika must be Super Woman, because she prepared all of the dishes by herself, with just a little help on the day of the bash.

Last year I helped in the kitchen on the day, and by the time the party started I was too worn out to take any photos. So this year I gave up the fun of helping in the kitchen, and decided to chronicle all the wonderful and beautiful dishes so you could see them. The photo above is of Truffled Shrimp and Pork Shu Mai, and the names of the dishes in the following gallery can be found by placing your cursor in the middle of the photo. Links to several of the recipes found on Erika’s website are at the end of this post. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

If you’ve made it this far, I salute you. Imagine having tasted all those wonderful dishes and how truffle-infused you yourself would feel. It was fantastic!

Thank you Erika. Bravo!!

Twisted Puff Pastry Straws with Truffles and Parmesan
Truffled Pork and Shrimp Shu Mai
Truffled Twice Baked Potatoes
Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter
Emery’s Salad with Pancetta and Truffle Vinaigrette
Truffled Egg Salad
Pacific Rockfish Brandade with Truffles
Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese and Truffle Honey
How to Make Truffle Butter
Truffled Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats

If you have been following my blog, you know that I moved recently after 18 years in my previous house. Going through everything, preparing to pack, was like an archeological dig, particularly the closets and the garage. I had boxes I hadn’t opened since we moved in there, or I discovered things that had disappeared behind and under other stuff in the house years ago. Another treasure trove were the two utensil drawers in my kitchen, which were narrow and deep and packed full. So here are 10 things I forgot I had, and was so happy and amused to rediscover.

1. Meat Grinder – I inherited this meat grinder (photo above) from my mother, although I don’t remember her ever using it. I think she inherited it from her mother, my Grandma Gertrude, who absolutely did not cook. So Grandma must have inherited it from my Great Grandmother, who was from Norway and was the gourmet of the family. I like to imagine that meat grinder came over on the boat from Norway and came through Ellis Island on its journey to Minnesota. I used it in the 1970s before the advent of the food processor to grind nuts for a Polish pastry, similar to rugalach. It was in a box buried in the garage.

2. Bone Caviar Spoon – I bought this caviar spoon about 25 years ago when my husband and I were first together. We were having his father, sister and brother over for dinner for the first time and I wanted to make an impression on how chic I was serving the caviar. I haven’t used it since. Maybe I should. The spoon in its velvet pouch was in the bottom of the kitchen drawer.

3. Potato Ricer – I lost this stainless steel potato ricer in my house or garage about 10 years ago. I could not find it for the life of me. At one point I needed a ricer so badly that I bought another one made of white plastic. So when the lost ricer showed up in a box in the garage I was so relieved because it proved that 1) I actually had a SS ricer and 2) that I hadn’t lost it. Seniors worry about this kind of thing. So now I have a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Ricer.

4. Japanese Vegetable Slicer – This was an impulse buy at Bristol Farms a few years ago and I have never used it. It was on a shelf in the metal cabinet I have in the garage where I keep all my cooking and baking equipment. Bottom shelf behind other stuff. I still think this is a trick gadget,  but I can’t figure out what I would use the itsy bitsy circular strands for. Maybe deep fry them for a garnish? Let me know if you can think of anything.

5. Terrine Paté Mold – My oldest son gave this to me when I was in culinary school. We were learning French Continental Cuisine, including meat and vegetable terrines and patés. I am thinking I should make something really interesting with aspic, then plate the slices with an interesting sauce drizzled over. I’m glad I found this in my hall closet. Hmmm. The creativity juices are beginning to flow.

6. Grandma’s Silver Sugar Spoon – This silver spoon resided in my Grandma Gertrude’s sugar bowl my whole childhood. It turned up in some stuff in my garage and I was immediately transported back to her kitchen. When she died, my mom inherited the spoon and it went in our sugar bowl at home. My mom died when I was 19 and when my father was to remarry a year later, he wanted to give all of my mom’s and grandmother’s treasures to his new bride. Well, guess what, I still have that spoon that I surreptitiously kept for myself. Actually, my step mom didn’t want his previous wife’s treasures, but that is another long story.

7. Cookie Mold – I always wondered what happened to this mold, usually around Christmas, but was too busy to attempt to find it. I think I bought this from a mail order catalog and now that it is found, I’m going to have to make some of them. Fun.

8. Ice Cream Maker – This was one of those gifts you give to someone you live with because it is actually something you want to use yourself. I gave it to my husband. I wanted to make licorice ice cream which used black licorice candy that was melted in the cream. This was before it was discovered that black licorice was carcinogenic. He in turn gave me a rowing machine. LOL.

9. Fregola Sarda – I bought this bag of toasted pasta at the little store at Osteria Mozza when I went there last year. I have a definite squid recipe in mind that I am going to use it for. This bag was hiding at the back of the cupboard where I kept all my pasta, lentils and beans. I was really glad to reacquire it as it is so interesting.

10. Skewers with Brass Animal Heads – These skewers are probably the item I have searched my house and garage the most for in the last couple of years. The problem is I would only use them in the summer for grilling. So when summer was over, I would stash them someplace and then, a year later, forget where they were when I wanted to use them again. I wanted to use them for the bacon wrapped shrimp I made, but couldn’t find them at the time. Well, now that they have turned up, I have them in my utensil drawer in the new kitchen. So don’t let me forget where I put them, ok?

I hope my story inspires you to clean out your garage and empty your closets. You never know what hidden treasures you may find.

Recently I had the great pleasure of being  invited on the cruise ship Queen Victoria for a luncheon at the restaurant Todd English, to meet Chef Todd and take a tour of the ship. I had never been on a cruise ship before, so it was all new and exciting for me. Here you can see Harbor Drive going down to the World Cruise Center Catalina Terminal in San Pedro and the stacks of one of the other gigantic cruise ships. I took this from my car as we inched along.

The Queen Victoria is immense. The top photo is a composite of four photos, because I couldn’t get it all in one shot. The QV weighs 90,000 tons and her length is 964.5 feet (294 meters). That is the length of 3 ¼ football fields. If you stood it on end, it would be 65 stories tall. She was built for Cunard by the Italian shipyard Fincantiere and cost approximately $522 million. Her maiden voyage out of Southampton, England, was December 11, 2007 after being named the previous day by Camilla, HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in the presence of Charles, HRH the Prince of Wales. She has a passenger capacity of 2014 with a crew of approximately 1000. The QV has 13 bars and clubs, 7 restaurants, proper English Tea served daily and room service 24/7.

The restaurant, Todd English, is quite elegant and has windows that overlook the water. My table companions were Patti of Worth the Whisk and her husband, and Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen and her husband, which made for quite lively conversation to go with our dining experience. It was fun to be with other people that were just as interested in photographing the food as eating it.

Maine Crab Cake, Todd’s Fiery Sweet & Sour Tomato Sauce, Whipped Avocado & Cucumber Salad

Chef Todd English was 20 when he attended the Culinary Institute of America and he graduated in 1982 with honors. He worked with Jean Jacques Rachou at New York’s La Cote Basque and in Italy apprenticed at Dal Pescatore and Paraccuchi. He returned to the U.S. at 25 and was asked to be the Executive Chef at award winning Michela’s in Cambridge, Mass., where for three years he received high praise from press and public.

Shaved Asparagus Caesar, Tomato Ragout, Parmesan Foam

In 1991 the James Beard Foundation named him their National Rising Star Chef; in 1994 Best Chef in the Northeast; 1999 “Top 50 Tastemakers”; 2001 Bon Appetit’s Restaurateur of the Year; and People Magazines 50 Most Beautiful People. He was recently named to the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who in Food and Beverage in America.”

Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Lobster Ragout, Bearnaise Sauce, Swiss Chard, Celeriac Gratin

Chef Todd is currently Chef and owner of three Olives in Charlestown, Mass; New York in Union Square; and at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. He has four Figs Restaurants and 14 additional restaurants nation-wide. He has numerous television credits, including the series “Cooking Under Fire”, Iron Chef USA and Martha Stewart Living.

Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with Cardamom Foam

Chef Todd has written three acclaimed cookbooks and has a line of cookware and lifestyle products. He is also involved with several charities including Big Brothers, Share Our Strength, and Boys and Girls Clubs.

Panache of Seasonal Sorbet with Minted Mango Citrus Salad

Coffee with Todd’s House-made Cookies, Jellies, Truffles and Biscotti

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Here you can see Erika and Patti as we were waiting to talk to Chef Todd.

After our delightful lunch, we met with Chef Todd in a small bar, where we had a short question and answer session. Someone asked him what he would be doing if he wasn’t a chef, and he said he would be living on an island somewhere in the South Pacific.

Chef Todd talks with his hands, which may be part of his Italian heritage. He was standing about three feet in front of me, so his hands were right in front of my camera.

Next was our tour of the ship, which was very interesting to me, because I had never been on a cruise ship before. On a 12-day voyage there are 1072 pounds of lobster served; 14,105 pounds of potatoes served; 1705 pounds of coffee; 51,847 eggs; 24 pounds of caviar; 2617 bottles of champagne; and 1752 gallons of beer. The annual consumption is 954,681 teabags; 59,060 pounds of coffee; 1,528,707 eggs; and 34,871 pounds of breakfast cereal. All meals are included in the price of the ticket. I would be a butterball by the time I got home.

I asked our tour guide if there was anything to do on the ship besides eat, because it seemed there were restaurants at every turn. She said we could go shopping in the boutiques and art galleries, or visit the two-story library which has a spiral stairway and 6,000 books. We could go to the casino and play the slots, or attend a play. We could visit the pool and jacuzzi outside or go to the gym and spa. Here is a photo tour as we walked and walked. I was lost immediately.

GolinHarris, the PR firm for Cunard Line/Queen Victoria, gave us a whole packet of information about the ship and Chef Todd English, which I have used extensively in the story above. One of the facts that made me laugh out loud was this:

There are 280,000 square yards (159 miles) of carpet on the Queen Victoria.

I laughed because I am a carpet aficionado and I was in heaven walking on all the beautiful carpet everywhere we went. The colors and designs were different in each area and I took photos of the carpet throughout our tour. Ok, I’m weird. Check these out:

So it was time to end our stay on the Queen Victoria. We turned in our bar code badges and got our Driver’s Licenses returned to us. As I was walking out of the terminal, I saw Chef Todd English getting in his limousine, no doubt rushing off to his next engagement.

Farewell, Queen Victoria.

If you had told me a year ago everything that was going to happen this past year, I would have asked you what in the heck you were smoking. When I started my blog, I was planning on cooking my favorite recipes, photographing them and blogging about them. I wanted to get them in one place for myself, my family and friends. That’s all. I had no idea I was embarking on a great adventure, filled with such interesting people and places. And that I would make so many wonderful new foodie friends, in person and on-line. This has been the best year of my entire life!

Back in the beginning, I was very lucky to take a food styling class from Denise Vivaldo of Food Fanatics and a photography class from Matt Armendariz of MattBites. I also took a photography class from award winning commercial photographer Raiko Hartman. I attended Camp Blogaway, where I met so many food bloggers who were as nuts about food as I am. Then I had the great good fortune to spend a day in the studio of world renowned food photographer Jon Edwards. I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from these talented people.

One of the best parts of the great adventure last year was being invited to blogger luncheons and events at beautiful restaurants, where I photographed the food and wrote about it. I went to Ciudad, where lunch was prepared by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. I even got my picture taken with them. At the pre-opening blogger luncheon at Seasons 52 at South Coast Plaza, I was wined and dined like a visiting dignitary. I was invited to Rosti Tuscan Kitchen for a fun pizza making content with a group of my fellow food bloggers. And to Baleen in Redondo Beach, which had the most  beautiful photogenic food. Plus I got to eat all this magnificent food. It was heaven.

I took cooking classes from local cooking teachers, which was one of the things I was thinking of being myself, before I decided to do a food blog instead. I visited Tim Hogan at the Manhattan Beach Parks&Rec, Linda Steidel at Williams Sonoma, and Mary Ellen Rae of Personal Touch Gourmet. Also Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms, which resulted in my becoming the unofficial website for the Cooking School at Bristol Farms.

One of the most interesting things I did was crafting little appetizers to photograph on the beautiful plates created by the famous glass artist, Barbara Schaefer, of MyKickAssGlass. The story about her and the photographs were published in the Easy Reader Beach Magazine, which has resulted in me writing a food article with photographs every month since. This has been almost beyond belief to be writing for a magazine, something I never would have foreseen.

If you had told me that I would get over 100,000 pageviews during my first year, I would have fallen down on the ground with laughter. But that’s what happened and I am incredulous. I want to thank everyone who visited my blog, because you are the reason I’m doing this and you have responded so generously. I also want to thank the people who have left 800+ comments on my blog. My commenters are so great. They are smart and funny, and enhance my blog so much. I swear, sometimes what they have to say is more amusing or interesting that what I have said in my posts.

Now we get to the part about which were my 10 most popular posts. All of these posts had photos on both TasteSpotting and FoodGawker, which had a huge influence on how many people saw them. So from 1 to 10, with 1 being the most popular:

1. Gooey Cheddar Cheese Bread from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen was by far my most popular post. It got Stumbled over and over, and still is as of this very moment. People just seem to go crazy for the crisp, browned, toasted top layer of cheddar cheese under which is a soft gooey cheesy layer full of garlicky ham and onions. I want to go make some right now.

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2. Twirly Lemon Cookies was picked up by a couple of the baking sites, which resulted in a lot of referrals. I think readers are interested in photos and recipes with piping and detail work, and here it had the cookie and the frosting both. Plus a story about my first chef’s coat.

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3. Roasted Red Pepper and Provolone Sandwich, again, was one of those melted cheese phenoms. That post got more comments than any of my other posts and the photo was the star.

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4. Mini Tartlet Shells, Food Art & an Optical Illusion had a title that was definitely a teaser. This post appeared on October 4th, which is also my birthday, and was my blog’s busiest day, pageview-wise, with 1760. In my opinion, it also has the most interesting comments of all my posts. I have great commenters.

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5. Mushroom and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust also included the Top 10 Googled Recipes of 2009, one of which was Quiche. This has proved to be absolutely true, as I have another Spinach and Feta Quiche recipe that is my 11th most popular post.

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6. Gumbo ~ Shrimp, Chicken & Andouille Sausage is a post about the frustration cooking a sub-par recipe and then fixing it. This is a really good recipe with a good story.

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7. BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp was popular in the summer grilling season. Although recently there have been a lot of people googling bacon wrapped shrimp, plus this photo above has been picked up by a couple of Tumblr sites resulting in a lot of pageviews.

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8. Corn Bread Tartlets & Linda Steidel’s Cooking Class was my most popular post for the first half of the year. This is a very cute and easy appetizer with a nice photo.

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9. Mojito Grilled Lime Chicken Wings has the most delicious looking chicken of any of my photos. Plus the fact that it is a Weight Watchers recipe that has lime juice, cumin and garlic. And it’s grilled. What else could you ask for?

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10. Umami Burger is a restaurant review with photos of the food. There are no recipes. I have to laugh at its being number 10 in popularity on my list, because I absolutely trashed this restaurant – the food, the venue, the service. Everything. Go figure.

There you have it – my first year in review. Thank you all for visiting and I hope I can make my second year as fun and interesting for you. Cheers.

Yesterday my plan was to make these Mini Tartlet Shells and photograph them. Next I was going to make the Lemon Curd and fill the tart shells. A couple of weeks ago I made the Little Buttercream Bees that were going to embellish their tops. Then I was going to photograph the finished tarts and write my blog about the whole thing. Well, guess what, that isn’t what happened.

Here you can see the 2-inch mini brioche tins and the ball of dough.

You fill a ½-tablespoon measure with dough, which is then rolled into a ball and placed in a tin.

I made the tart shells and photographed the process. Then just to make sure they were ok, I looked at them on my computer monitor. I take a lot of photos, hand held, so I have no idea what the photos are like until I see them on my screen. I mean, how interesting are tart shells, really. On a scale of 1 to 10, they’re a 1 at best. But this bunch of photos of the tart shell process were really interesting to me. Usually I photograph one food item at a time. If they’re small and alike, maybe three items. But here I had 24 small metallic brioche tins. That were also shiny. When they were lined up on the baking sheet, all of a sudden there were these visual patterns that were mesmerizing. And I had to show you… forget about the lemon curd.

Here you can see how to press the dough into the brioche tin. Poke a hole in the middle with your finger and start spreading it up the sides. Make sure when you’re done that it is flat on top.

This photo was a complete surprise to me. When I looked at it for the first time, I said to myself, “Whoa, that’s gorgeous.” I don’t mean to be blowing my own horn here, because I have no plan when I shoot and the way the photos turn out is a complete surprise to me. I think I’m going to print this out, frame it and hang it in my kitchen.

While your first batch of shells is baking, you can measure out and roll up the dough for the next batch.

This photo has been endlessly fascinating to me and is the optical illusion I discovered hiding in my photos.  The first time I looked at it, all of the wells were in-ies. The next time I looked at it, the upper left corner well was an in-ie and all the rest of the wells were out-ies. Now when I look at it, I can get one well to be an in-ie if I really concentrate on it, but when I blink it is an out-ie. I cannot get two side by side wells to be in-ies no matter how hard I concentrate. Our brain is such a mysterious thing. How do you perceive the wells?

I was doing some research on patterns and why the human brain likes them, which you may enjoy reading:

James Kent says: “If there’s one thing the human brain loves, its ordered patterns. The brain likes audio patterns (rhythms); visual patterns (stripes, mandalas, mosaics); syntactic patterns (language, logical formulas, melodies); interpretive patterns (charts, graphs, symbols); metabolic patterns (respiration, hormonal pulses, circadian rhythms, action potentials); behavioral patterns (routines, habits); etc. In fact, it is not a stretch to say the brain’s entire function is ordered pattern recognition, memory, and recall. That’s it.”

And if you are weird like me and want to read more about patterns, particularly Fibonacci numbers, you can go here at World Mysteries. I thought this was very thought provoking.

Ok, so back to the Mini Tartlet Shells. Here they are in all their golden glory and the recipe is below. Next I will make the lemon curd, fill them and some little bees will be landing on top.

About a year ago, a little furniture store opened near me that had some pretty interesting pieces in its windows. I always meant to stop by and check it out, but you know how time flies, especially if you are a food blogger. Then around a month ago a big sign went up in the window, “Going Out Of Business” and I said to myself, Oh Wow, I’d better go there now before they’re gone.

Inside, it was pretty bare, and what furniture was left was utilitarian. But against the back wall was this astounding sculpture! It was reflecting the sunlight coming in through the glass doors and looked ethereal. I walked around and around it, marveling at the beauty and ingenuity of the inset glass pieces. I recognized Villeroy & Boch and Wedgewood china patterns. It was love at first sight. Boom. I wanted it. I needed it. I had to have it. I talked to the owner and my heart fell. Thirty eight hundred dollars. The owner said he’d consider adjusting the price. I said I had a hundred dollars. We both laughed…

Later, I called my friend, Barbara, of MyKickAssGlass, and told her she had to see this piece before the store closed. We met there on a Saturday and I brought my camera this time. Here she is standing next to it and you can see its size. She is barely five feet tall. It is so heavy that the two of us could not make it budge.

The artist’s name is Terrie Read Kvenild. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1976 with a BA in Art with Honors. Her work is exhibited all over California in places like the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and the Functional Art Gallery in Hollywood. Her three-dimensional mosaics sell on consignment at two major galleries: the I. Wolk Gallery in St. Helena and Gumps Gallery in San Francisco. Her richly colorful mosaic horses are what she calls her “bread and butter” shapes, but in her thirty years of experience she has made it all, from bugs to cacti.

You can see her public works at Margaritaville in Capitola Village and Nob Hill Shopping Complex.

Out doors, where she works with cement, wire mesh and thinset mortor, are stacks upon stacks of bowls filled with Mexican pottery bits and Chinatown finds. Every time Gumps Department store has broken china, they send it off to Terrie, who fashions it into magnificent sculptures, which you can find at Gumps. Scroll down to the middle of this post and click on the big vase. It will fill your screen with her amazing sculpture.

The Pegasus of Greek mythology was an immortal winged horse sired by Poseidon, which sprang forth from the neck of Medusa, when she was beheaded by the hero Perseus.

The goddess Athena gave the Corinthian hero, Bellerophon, a golden bridle with which he tamed Pegasus, and rode him into battle against the fire-breathing Chimera, a three-headed monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a snake.

Later, when the hero attempted to fly to heavenly Olympus, the gods sent a gadfly to bite Pegasus, causing him to buck Bellerophon off, throwing him back down to the earth. Pegasus continued to wing his way to heaven, where he took a place in the stables of Zeus and was given the job of carrying Zeus’ thunderbolts.

Because of faithful service to Zeus, he was honored with transformation into a constellation.

The ancient Greeks held the magnificent beast Pegasus, of Greek mythology, in great reverence. Greek coins of 360 BC had Pegasus on one side and the helmet of Athena on the other side.

Recently I had the amazing good fortune to attend a food photo shoot for an international food market with the world-renowned food photographer Jon Edwards at his studio in Monrovia, CA. Also sharing the spotlight were preeminent food stylist Denise Vivaldo of FoodFanatics, her colleague Cindie Flannigan, with Jeff Parker assisting. I had never seen a professional photo shoot, so I was really excited, not only to see how it was done, but to learn some tips to improve my food photography. Be sure to check out Jon Edwards Photography website.

Here are the main characters in this story: (top) Jon Edwards , Denise Vivaldo, (below) Cindie Flannigan and Jeff Parker.

The studio is in a 4500 sq.ft., 2-story red brick building with a 20 ft. ceiling and a wall of industrial-style frosted glass windows that face south. When I arrived at 9:00 am every thing was pretty quiet, because the food packages and ingredients from the client’s commissary hadn’t arrived yet.

Here you can see how the camera and computers are set up. The digital camera is a Hasselblad H2 with a medium format and an attached Phase 1 Back (P45) digital sensor. That means it has a larger format and the sensor has a bigger file than a 35mm like my Canon T1i. The camera is tethered to the Mac computer (center), so the RAW photos can be seen immediately on the monitor.

To the left of Jon’s monitor is his assistant, Heather, who actually has three jobs, as Retoucher, Photo Assistant and Digital Tech. She is wired to Jon’s computer also, so she can do the post-production work on the photos. Heather has a BA in photography from Brooks Institute of Photography with an emphasis in advertising. Her work is amazing. More about her later.

The back quarter of the floor space is jam-packed with shelves of food photo props of every color and description.

The kitchen is adjacent to the photo studio area. Here it is, waiting in readiness for the food and ingredients to arrive. The food stylist’s equipment bags are on the floor in the corner. On the wall is the client-prepared list of what photos are to be shot, along with a description, such as if the shots are to be vertical or horizontal. They were crossed off one by one as the day progressed. In the middle of the work table was a foot-high stack of paper towels that had been ripped from a roll, with the sides neatly aligned. This food preparation area was meticulously neat and organized.

The client’s food finally arrived and Cindie and Jeff got to work preparing the first plates. While Jeff was working on cooking and beautifying some chicken legs, sausages and onion slices for the shoot later in the day, Cindie created this salad. She cut the stems off the spinach and arranged each one perfectly on the plate, then added the other ingredients. From there it went to the table in the studio in front of the camera. Behind the table is an 8-foot high piece of white cardboard used to reflect light, and a smaller piece clamped to a tripod. You can see Cindie painting the potatoes with oil to make them shiny. And Jon takes the shot with a remote. The clients looked at the photo on the monitor and gave their approval.

Here the hero arrives covered with a wet paper towel to keep the veggies from drying out. Jon shoots the hero and looks at it on his monitor. The other two photos I took and you can see that they tried one with white boards under it and the other with a brown wood table. My photos aren’t exactly like Jon’s because I was shooting over, under and beside his camera. My photos also don’t look like Jon’s because my camera is a measly little thing compared to his and I’m no photographer. But mine will give you the idea, so no laughing.

In the middle of the studio was a work table where the plates from the kitchen were placed until they were put in front of the camera. Also on the table was Denise’s styling tool bag, here a front and back view. The iron was used on napkins and placemats that needed a touchup.

Cindie prepares the pasta salad in the kitchen and in front of the camera Denise re-positions an olive with a long tweezers and brushes it with oil to give it highlights.

This was the moment of my epiphany for the day and where Heather re-enters the story. I took my shot of the pasta salad and was holding it up next to the photo on Jon’s monitor. His photo looked sunny and warm (on the right). My photo looked gray and lifeless (on the left). So I asked Heather to come and have a look and see if she could tell me why. “Oh sure, you have a problem with your color balance. Give me your camera.,” she said. So, she took my camera, pushed a couple of buttons, gave it back to me and told me to go back and take the photo again. So I did. Eureka!! It was golden and sunny (middle) just like Jon’s. I was just about jumping up and down. OMG! I asked her what she did, and she explained she changed the white balance from AWB to the “shade” setting. I never would have known to do this in a million years. Heather is brilliant.

The bowl of pasta and meatballs is sitting on the work table in the studio on a stack of possible placemats and napkins. They chose pokadots for the final shot.

The hero comes to the work table in the studio along with a tray of the hero’s components, which will be used by Denise to add to the hero if it needs it. Here you can also see how I took one photo on AWB and one with the “shade” setting to see the difference. The square of carrot on the right was added by Denise after consultation with the Jon.

Here you can see Denise’s tweezer repositioning the walnut half. The client was concerned that it was sticking up too far, so in the final photo it was lowered more into the salad. My photos are now very similar in color to the one on Jon’s monitor. Oh, I am soooo happy about that!

You can see how the component parts of the curly pasta salad came from the commissary in plastic tubs and Cindie carefully placing each piece. This gives you an idea how far the camera is from the hero. And I am in awe of the beauty and simplicity of the bread crouton and little sprig of rosemary which are used to garnish this dish.

The Chicken, Sausage and Burger photo was the grand finale for the day. This is very similar to the final money shot.

Cindie is using a hair dryer to soften the cheese on the burger patty. Earlier in the day Jeff was torching the barely cooked chicken thighs.

Cindie builds the burgers so they look perfect, with perfectly manicured bun tops.

The components for the last shot come out of the kitchen one by one and are assembled into an artistic array.

At the end of the day I wanted to get a photo of Denise and Cindie together. During the day there was no time because they were working in different rooms and were really busy. Well, these are two people who have a lot of trouble standing still and smiling at the same time. They are really wiggly. So the photos are more like impressionistic paintings. Think of it that way.

Thank you Jon, Denise, Cindie, Jeff and Heather for letting me share your work day. I am in awe of what you do. Especially your meticulous care in making sure the final work for the client is as perfect as you can make it. I learned so much, its amazing! And I hope I didn’t bug you too much by running around and photographing every little move you made. Thank you again.

It was one week ago today that I returned from Camp Blogaway Food Blogger Bootcamp and I have been thinking about how to write about it for that whole time. It took about 24 hours for my adrenalin to return to normal, then I slept for 18 hours after the crash. Then I went through all the printed and hand-written information I had brought home. I viewed the 150 photographs I took to get a usable amount and photoshopped them to blog size. I read all the posts the other attendees had written. The slideshow from the Camp Blogaway website, and What Other Campers Said and Comments were fun to read.

The swag from my goodie bag covered my whole dining room table. There were 30 pamphlets alone from sponsors, which included about 70 recipes for their products. These sponsors include: Lindsay Olives, Country Bob’s Sauce, Vidalia brands Onions, Woolwich Dairy Chevrai, Goodcook.com, Zespri Kiwifruit, National Pork Board, California Walnuts, Westland Old Amsterdam Cheese, National Onion Association, regionalbest.com, Lotus Foods: A World of Rice and BKW Seasonings.

Then I went over pages and pages of my written notes from the speakers: Photography with Art Ramirez, Recipe Writing with Barbara Ostman, Food Styling with Denise Vivaldo, Running Your Blog like a Business with Patti Londre and Search Engine Optimization with Danny Jauregui.

Well, truthfully, I didn’t know where to start writing. So I decided to show the photos and let the chips fall where they may.

I left Manhattan Beach about 10:00 AM and drove into Camp around 12:30 PM. I was early, so I helped load the goodie bags and attached pens to the Camp Handbook which everyone received. We were all instructed to back our cars into their parking spaces, nose out facing the road down the mountain, in case there was an emergency, like a forest fire, we could get out fast. We all got name tags, which we wore all weekend, and we each decorated a visor with our blog name, which was given to someone else who had to find us and return it. A “get to know you” adventure.

The only time I spent in my cabin was to sleep. The rest of the time we were in the Lodge where resided the coffee bar and the fireplace, where marshmallows were later roasted for s’mores and we did Fireside Lodge Lounging.

The first organized activity was the Wilton Piping Class. Everyone got a brownie, a cookie and a cupcake to decorate. First we practiced, then decorated for real.

Our works of art were destined for a contest, which would award the winner with a gigantic Wilton decorating kit. Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious won this competition, which was actually announced Sunday morning. You can see her winning entry on her website.

As you can see, everyone contributed, some more seriously than others. There’s A Newf in My Soup was serious. Greg at Sippity Sup and his worms, not so much. While the Wilton method is not my style, I played along, but I thoroughly enjoyed the outspoken Marla at Family Fresh Cooking who said in her post, “We built silly frosted cakes as an “ice breaker” activity.”

The room in my cabin was quite small with two bunk beds and barely room to turn around. Fortunately there were only two people per room, so I had the top bunk upon which to put all the stuff I brought. I had to drive my car up the hill through the forest to unload it all. You can see an example of the fish artwork on the cabin walls and the stained glass on the cathedral windows of the lodge.

Saturday morning we got our group photograph taken and then it was back to the lodge for the whole day of lectures. Here you can see Art Ramirez talking about photography and photoshop. I was particularly fascinated by the Sponge Tool and Liquify Tool instruction. Denise Vivaldo was as instructive and humorous as ever. The rep from the National Onion Association instructed us on how to dice an onion.

After the photography lecture, we were instructed to go out on the lodge deck and practice our photography skills. We could photograph our piping treats or some peanuts.

Our Fearless Leader, Patti Londre, of Worth the Whisk, was also out on the deck, so I photographed her as she mugged for the camera.

Sunday morning, after reloading my car and driving it back to the parking lot, I arrived at the lodge, only to find that people were still piping. These guys were really into the piping thing and I was wondering if they had been there all night, piping away.

After we ate our brunch, it was time for the awards to be given out. As I mentioned, the Wilton Piping Award was given. Then the winner of the “Guess how may olives are in the jar” was announced. And finally the Golden Pinecone Award for the blogger who epitomizes the best food blogger characteristics. The winner, of course, Rachael of La Fuji Mamma.

The one big realization I had during this whole weekend is that these food bloggers were a really smart group of women. I heard the statement “When I was in law school…” a number of times. The two I enjoyed talking to the most were my roommate Andrea Juarez of ForkFingersChopsticks (yes, she’s a lawyer) and her blog tells the minute details and history of ingredients. Current posts reveal everything you ever wanted to know about popcorn. It’s really interesting. The other was a fellow cabin-mate Adair Seldon of LentilBreakdown. If you want to read a food blog filled with smart, wicked humor, hers is the place to go. I’m so glad I met you guys.

The weekend was over and I am already looking forward to next year. Farewell Camp Blogaway.

Next weekend I am going to be attending the Camp Blogaway Food Blogger Bootcamp, which is taking place at Camp de Benneville Pines in Angelus Oaks, California. That is in the mountains east of Los Angeles and I will be enjoying all of the activities planned by Patti Londre of Worth the Whisk from Friday afternoon through Sunday brunch. We will be staying in cabins and sleeping on bunk beds in sleeping bags.

Patti has planned three days jam-packed with activities for food bloggers, such as a Hands-On Wilton Decorating Workshop and Competition, workshops on Photography with Art Ramirez, Recipe Writing with Barbara Ostman, Food Styling with Denise Vivaldo, Running Your Blog like a Business with Patti Londre and Search Engine Optimization with Danny Jauregui. There will be Panel Discussions with Public Relations Pros and a Mad Housewife Wine Tasting.

Then for fun there will be Sunrise Hikes, Karaoke, Massages, S’Mores, Fireside Lodge Lounging, Cinematherapy, a Prop Swap and Golden Pinecone Award!

But the best thing will be the opportunity to get to know 50 other food bloggers, to share stories and tips, to learn what their blog focus is, how they did it. I am really looking forward to that!

Here are some photos we received from Patti Londre of the Camp area to boost our enthusiasm. Three days away from Los Angeles and our real lives to being immersed in the forest and food blogging. Yea!

OH, and it has been highly recommended we bring heavy duty ear plugs, a flash light with extra batteries and to always walk with a buddy after sundown. If we bring snax, they need to be stored in the lodge, as there are bears that may break in if they smell food in the cabins or cars. Oh my!

So I will be giving you a day by day report when I return. Expect the unexpected!

Finally, Linda Steidel’s book, For Every Season There is a Salad, has been released and I got an advance copy to review. Let me tell you, this is a gorgeous book, with delicious recipes and beautiful photos that make your mouth water. Just take a look at the cover and that shows you the quality and craft throughout the whole book. Linda has a gift for making uncomplicated dishes look extraordinary.

On Friday, May 14 Linda will be doing a BOOK SIGNING at Barnes and Noble’s Manhattan Beach Store from 4:00-6:00 PM. There is plenty of parking, so don’t miss this chance to buy the book and have her sign it for you. It is always so interesting to talk to the author of a book in person and hear the whole story.

For Every Season There is a Salad is arranged by the season and is the first in a series of “season” titles Brio Press will release by Linda. From Summer to Autumm to Winter to Spring, Linda celebrates the distinct, savory and exciting dishes of every season. She will convince you that a salad is never just a salad!

This is an example of the beautiful photographs by Mark Choate that appear throughout the book. And the Table of Contents makes me want to cook every recipe, such as:

• Greek Orzo and Grilled Shrimp Salad with Mustard Dill Vinaigrette
• Curried Crab & Watermelon Salad with Arugula
• Mac & Cheese Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
• Grilled Fig & Arugula Salad with Gorgonzola Toasts
• Souffled Goat Cheese Tomatoes & Savory Greens with Lemon-Garlic Vinaigrette
• Grilled Asparagus with Smoked Salmon & Tarragon Mayonnaise on Bitter Greens

Today, May 1st, I went to a book signing by Linda in Redondo Beach and also got the opportunity to talk photography with Mark Choate. It’s always fun to talk to someone who shares one of your passions. Here is a photo I took of them.

So, who is Linda Steidel, anyway? You can read my previous post about her and the famous Corn Bread Tartlets. And by famous, I mean her post has had thousands of page views, the majority from my photos of the Tartlet  on FoodGawker and TasteSpotting. Remember this little guy?

You can visit Linda’s website www.LindaSteidel.com for more information about her and her wonderful new book.

Last Saturday the California Avocado Commission hosted a Food Bloggers lunch and cooking demonstration at Ciudad with Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Ciudad is located in downtown Los Angeles in the middle of the city-scape, the sky scrapers towering all around it. About 20 of us bloggers and food writers came together with our cameras and appetites to watch the Too Hot Tamales prepare four courses, all containing avocados, which would be perfect for Cinco de Mayo celebrations. 84.1 million pounds of avocados are expected to be consumed in one day during this year’s festivities in the U.S.

Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken

The event kicked off with a “Guacamole Challenge.” We bloggers, in pairs of two, were given a bowl of avocados and a long table-full of bowls of other ingredients to create our own personalized versions of guacamole. Some of the unusual ingredients were soy sauce, kim chee, tamarind, bacon, pomegranate seeds and bananas. My partner was Michael Limbo, a writer for the food section of Los Angeles Magazine. We were given five minutes to make our creation, so it was hilariously hectic, with all the people around the table trying to get their hands on the various items. We made a pretty classic guacamole, although it did have mango in it. We called our creation “Cado-Avo.”

Next came the judging for “Best Name” and “Best Guacamole” which was done by Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger and Jeremy Tummel, the Executive Chef of Ciudad. If Mary Sue and Susan disagreed, Jeremy was to be the tie-breaker. The name of each guacamole had to be explained and each tasted, while the creators described what ingredients they had used. There was a lot of laughing and teasing during this process. It was decided that the Best Name award went to “Pomocado Mole” and the Best Guacamole went to “Spud Not Guac Fully Loaded” which they said tasted like loaded baked potatoes. Awards were given and photos taken of the winners.

Next we were  treated to a cooking demonstration by Mary Sue Miliken and Susan Feniger. They had a large cooking station set up in the back of the restaurant dining room with a grill and six-burner stove in the center. You can tell these two have been working together for years, because they finish each other’s sentences. Mary Sue is the straight man and Susan is the comedienne. They kept us laughing through their whole cooking  demonstration. If you would like to see a video of the Too Hot Tamales in action, you can go to the California Avocado Commission website.

The first dish was a Crispy California Avocado Taco, which had a wedge of avocado encrusted with quinoa, poppy and sesame seeds, and then deep fried, served with a chipotle corn relish. For a printable recipe and more.

Next was a California Avocado, Bacon and Tomato Salad with frisee, watercress, romaine, red onion, mustard vinaigrette, crispy capers, and homemade croutons.

It was pretty much agreed that the Chilaquiles looked like a brown blob on the plate, but they really tasted good! Chicken and California Avocado Skillet Chilaquiles with corn tortilla chips, salsa roja, panela cheese, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime. For a printable recipe and more.

I have never had a dessert with avocado in it so this was a revelation. California Avocado and Mango with yogurt, honey, lime, touch of cayenne. The little shooter glass held a California Avocado and Orange Liquado, sort of like an avocado smoothie. The lavender shortbread cookie was divine. For a printable recipe and more.

And the best moment of all… I got my book autographed and my photo taken with the Too Hot Tamales!! I am their total groupie and not ashamed of it!