use real 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**

The workshop kicks off on Monday.

This evening we had long-time out-of-town food blogging friends up to our place for dinner (and to meet Kaweah).

We’re rarin’ to go!

todd pours the champagne

who’s gonna take this glass?

popping the second bottle

a toast!

and dinner

Recipe: cherry granita

I’m up to my elbows in swag, random dishes, glassware, and food styling props. Our great room looks like a warehouse as we get ready to host the food photography and styling workshop next week. I’ll do my best to post about all of the great people and fun stuff we’re doing, but… someone’s gotta drive the bus! And it’s hard to drive and shoot at the same time, see.

not recommended

Summer is here and it has punched me full on in the face. Yeow. I have some friends who love the heat. [No wonder he was the perfect companion to go shoot Death Valley with me.] The benefit of a “dry” heat is that the shade can be quite pleasant. So we found a compromise earlier this week when we went to Pica’s Boulder for lunch and Jason was all, “Ooh! Let’s eat out on the patio!” Mine keen eyes scanned out the only corner of shade covering a third of a table. That’s where I parked myself while Jason happily roasted under the sun like a big chicken slowly turning golden brown.

tacos al pastor – zomgodelicious

Any recipe you see here that involves the application of heat to food was prepared at least two weeks ago, because I’m nearing that state where I am perfectly happy to sit down and eat cold watermelon for dinner until my tummy becomes a giant water(melon) balloon. When it’s really hot, my mind locks onto a few key items: ice, raw fruit, raw vegetables, cold water, iced tea, sushi. The marriage of fruit and ice is especially comforting since I am intolerant of ice cream (well, lactose).

cherries are in season

luscious, deep reds

I had tested a so-called cherry granita recipe earlier and it wound up being a cherry sorbet of sorts. Not what I was looking for and a heck of a lot of trouble to boot. This recipe is quite straightforward with the fruit front and center – the way I wanted it to be.

simple syrup

into the blender

**Jump for more butter**