use real butter

Recipe: tuna ceviche

You still have until midnight tonight (Mountain Daylight Time) to leave a comment on the Food and Light recap post and possibly win a most excellent swag bag from CHEFS catalog! So get crackin’!

We’re technically only two weeks into official summer and I feel as if my face is smashed up against the glass. There is an urgency to cramming as much as possible into the summer months because that weather, that light, that “free time” is so fleeting. It’s not terribly unlike the alpine wildflowers who until recently were buried under feet of snow. With a fast melt off and warm up, the wildflowers are going gangbusters. Just a quick walk through the hood is evidence of that.

the colorado state flower (blue columbine)

wild rose

indian paintbrush (for diane!)

This is the most beautiful time of year here in Colorado. That’s saying a lot because Colorado is pretty spanking gorgeous any time! Even yesterday evening when pissing rain, hail, and brilliant bolts of lightning came crashing down around our house – it was awesomely beautiful the way only Nature can be. The big question on my mind was if there would be fireworks. Our little town puts on an impressive display each year over the reservoir. It’s a small affair compared to the ginormous fireworks extravaganzas we caught at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, but this setting appeals to me more. But it was foggy, rainy, and there was still lightning at 8:30. We sat in the car on a pullout by the side of the reservoir waiting. Mountain weather changes quickly. And so it was last night at 9pm that the fog rose, the rain stopped and the lightning moved south. I love me some fireworks.

The generally busy schedule of summer means we are keeping things simple in the kitchen. I honestly believe if it weren’t for this blog, I’d just eat watermelon all summer long. You may laugh, but it’s been known to happen in the past… However, raw is what I love during this time of year. So why not ceviche?

tuna, avocado, capers, red onion, green onion, cilantro, lime, garlic, jalapeno

dice the tuna into little ruby-colored gems

**Jump for more butter**

Hai! There’s a giveaway buried deep at the end of the post. Cool stuff that I know you will love. What is cooler? You have the chance to win x3 because Tartelette and White on Rice Couple are also holding giveaways! Great minds… (okay, we planned it that way, but still!) You should totally enter all three.

Few things keep me from this blog for long: chemotherapy, emergency surgery, and apparently food photography workshops. I should say running food photography workshops. Who knew?!

I sort of knew, but now I really know. It’s an enormous amount of work and I can honestly say that Food and Light could not have happened without the logistical and technical support of Todd and Diane (veterans of organizing and running workshops), Jason (single-handedly built our workshop a new network when the venue’s network was brought to its wobbly knees), and my Jeremy (for everything) – four people who consistently go above and beyond without ever being asked to. They did me a solid. Thanks, guys.

todd and diane present on artificial lighting techniques and equipment

… to an attentive group

Don’t even start to think that this workshop rocked on the efforts of just five people. No way. Helen, The Maestra, pwned the styling like nobody’s business, always happy to share tips and experiences with workshop participants. She even demonstrated how to turn unsightly bean dip into something marvelous. Pro Photo Rental provided us with several beautiful professional lenses for folks to try out. Matt and Nicole graciously presented stunning pastries to the workshop each morning for shooting (and eating!). Special thanks to Lisa, Anita, Dana, and Annie for staying behind to help us break down the venue (and break out happy hour at The Kitchen Upstairs).

watching helen work her artistry on bean dip

attendees look on

Most of all, I cannot emphasize enough how wonderful our workshop group was. We had good people. I mean, we had truly kind, generous, friendly, enthusiastic people in attendance. You could not have picked a better crew. They listened, asked questions, shared with one another, helped each other, and created an excellent atmosphere for learning.

diane styles greens and peas

And that is what the workshop was all about – learning. Having spent a billion years in graduate school watching some good and a lot of bad instruction, I have my (strong) opinions about teaching. We didn’t want to load the workshop with lecture after lecture. Heck, if that were the case we instructors would have walked out on ourselves! Two-thirds of the in-session workshop was reserved for hands-on, one-on-one, run-with-it time. They ran with it.

annie practices bounce fill

kelsey styles her shot

**Jump for more butter**