use real butter

Recipe: stir-fried baby bok choy

There are a few spaces left in the Food and Light workshop to be held in Boulder, Colorado on August 2-3, 2011. If you want to take your food photography skills to the next level, if you’re in a rut, or even if you are just getting started – it’s a great opportunity to learn, work hard, make friends, eat amazing food, have fun, and experience a little bit of glorious downtown Boulder in summer.

shooting in my home studio

We have a rock ’em, sock ’em line-up of instructors who were not only selected for their stunning body of work, but for their ability to teach and teach well. I’m quite proud of this team because our collaboration from the beginning has been cooperative, jovial, enthusiastic and most importantly – we are all focused on providing the best experiences for our workshop attendees. In a month, we will be sending out a questionnaire to Food and Light 2011 participants to gauge what each person’s skill level is and to find out what topics they want us to cover and what specifics they want to be addressed. It’s highly customized to the individuals because we only spend a small fraction of the workshop giving lectures. Most of the time is spent shooting and working one-on-one with the instructors.

matt is a our canon man (photo courtesy of matt wright)

Did I mention that Matt wrote a photography manual to raise money for Japan’s relief efforts? He did. He’s amazing.

This year we’re changing things up a bit and spending our second day of the workshop in a restaurant setting at The Kitchen Upstairs. We’ve got the whole place to ourselves! The first day will still be at that beautiful light-filled Rembrandt Yard art gallery we booked last year. This way we can get some studio work at the gallery, some dynamic shooting at the restaurant, and a group family-style lunch at the restaurant (fun!!!). I’m even going to request Diane’s *favorite* waiter :)

todd working the cake (photo courtesy of white on rice couple)

Besides the fundamentals, we plan to cover: styling, composition, motion, lighting (natural and artificial), and we’re adding a short session on digital post-processing. Our sponsor Pro Photo Rental will be providing Canon and Nikon pro lenses for attendees to test drive. That’s super awesome. As stated on the website: Our goal is to not only teach you the fundamentals of food photography and food styling, but to give you the tools to continue learning when the workshop is over. So I hope you’ll consider joining us because it’s going to be a blast!

diane in the studio (photo courtesy of white on rice couple)

There’s never a free moment around here and that’s largely because I cram as much as I can into my calendar. My friend is writing up her dissertation and I read with some horror that she hadn’t been eating well a few weeks ago. At Cornell, when close friends were “in the cave”, I whipped up a few batches of food for them so they wouldn’t have to worry about cooking/feeding themselves. It’s only natural that I’d offer to bring her some food. Ya gotta eat, right?! I asked if she liked beef and broccoli, hot and sour soup, kung pao chicken, bok choy… She said she’d love anything I made. I hope she likes bok choy.

baby bok choy (because baby everything is cuter)

lop off the base

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: vietnamese pickled green mangoes

I love to travel. But I also love to stay home. Can you be a traveling homebody? Because I think that might be what I am. For me, there is such a thing as too much travel even though I get excited making plans and enjoy exploring and seeing new places (and old places – you don’t ever see it all). If I’m home for long periods of time like I was during my cancer treatments, I don’t start longing to go someplace else. I like where we live. I like doing the things I do around home.

like having lunch with a friend (snarf’s sandwiches are the best!)

Right now I’m sort of dreaming of the time when I’ll be able to have friends up to our place for dinner. I’m looking forward to doing spring maintenance on our house. Thoughts of flowers blooming in Boulder light up those dusty corners of the brain. I’d love to be able to get a good stretch of time to take care of some work projects. And of course the mountains are calling to me for a visit. But first I’m visiting elsewheres… good places. Very good places. I’ll tell you all about it later.

(testing new studio equipment) these two will have to fend for themselves

Last year on a trip to Southern California, I spent a couple of days with Todd and Diane. It’s like ethnic food safari hanging out with those two. AND it’s Hella Fun. So on my crazy quest for passion fruits, we encountered many other delectable treats like jackfruit, banh mi, boba tea, pate chaud, and this heavenly pickled green mango.

diane is all “oh yeah, that’s good stuff”

I was fascinated because I am a bit of a pickle fiend. Western or Eastern style pickles – they are all awesome. Sour, salty, sweet, spicy, crunchy. Oh goodness, my salivary glands are going off like lawn sprinklers in my mouth just thinking about pickles. I felt like a kid in a candy shop when I pointed to the large glass jar and asked Diane if those were pickled mangoes. Her eyes lit up and she said yes, they’re really good – do I want to try some? Before I could answer she was asking for a container to buy some from the little Vietnamese ladies running the shop. We stepped outside onto the sidewalk and Diane popped the lid open, “Here, try some!” Crunchy, sweet, and tart with a bite from the chili peppers. I nodded and made mmm mmm noises as Diane declared, “You need to have some pate chaud next!” and marched me to the bakery next door.

green mangoes

rice wine vinegar and sugar

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chinese steamed crabmeat egg custard

engagement: mountain bike
dress: $35
cake: $20
guests: 12 + 1 dog
weather: rainy and cold
location: my advisor’s living room in Ithaca, New York
ceremony by: The Honorable Marjorie Olds
years together: 18.5
years married: 14
best guy ever: Jeremy

We’ve been married fourteen years on Tuesday. Jeremy and I had completely forgotten until my mother called over the weekend and reminded me about our anniversary. It’s funny that our moms remember, but we don’t. Our moms are so cute.

jeremy enjoys a delightful lunch at l’atelier

I know when most people see Jeremy they just think “random white dude”. He is a classic introvert and few people stop talking long enough to get to know him. That’s their loss, because he’s a real treasure. Plus, if you’re some loud mouth who can’t get over how awesome you think you are, he probably doesn’t want much to do with you anyway.

When I see Jeremy, my heart is filled with all kinds of wonderful meltiness. It’s so cliché and yet the truth of the matter is that I fall in love with him more each day. You’re probably thinking, “What have you done with Jen? She hates that mushygushy crap!” Okay, let’s just say that our relationship is muy excelente. Thank you, Jeremy, for being the best part of my life.

sunshiny day in boulder

We know of many people who go through what Jeremy calls “practice marriages” before they find a truly good partner. The ones that snipe and bully, that don’t respect the other, that never listen, that lie, blame, or are insecure – they don’t last very long. Or if they remain together they make me feel like punching one or both of them in the face for acting like such jerks to one another. In contrast, it’s a great feeling when you see the people you care about in healthy, loving relationships.

chives, shiitake mushrooms, chicken broth, crabmeat, eggs, salt, tobiko, white pepper

whisking the broth into the eggs

Last October, I got to spend time with two of my favorite couples in San Francisco: Chuck and Hungry Bear of Sunday Nite Dinner (but you may know Chuck from Food Gawker) and Anita and Mike of Dessert First. Chuck invited us (Mike, Anita, and myself) over for dinner after BlogHer Food ended. Hungry Bear started the meal with these delicate and wholesome Chinese egg custards.

place crabmeat in the ramekins or tea cups

pour the egg mixture over the crab

**Jump for more butter**