use real butter

Recipe: chinese dry-cooked string beans

It’s the last day of spring and there is a winter weather advisory issued for our mountains until 6:00 this evening.

I am not complaining.

3-8 inches of fresh snow in addition to the 30+ feet in the backcountry is our reprieve for the zero (0, nada, nil) days of skiing we managed in March when so much glorious powder fell at the big ski resorts. We were busy, we were traveling, I got sick… We’re still busy, but we’re not traveling (at least not in June) and thankfully, we aren’t sick!

yes, still skiing

the lower alpine lakes are thawing

Yesterday was Father’s Day. On Mother’s Day you expect every brunch joint to be packed out the door. On Father’s Day, we brace ourselves for the onslaught of families who want to take Dad to the mountains for a hike or to burn things (I really do not understand the obsession of people from the flats who come up to our mountains to burn stuff). But this year, the campgrounds remain under snow in late June. The trails are under snow. Even the parking lots have a few feet of snow lingering about where cars would normally be. I like it like that, for obvious reasons…

putting the skins away after the climb up

the anticipation of skiing out makes my mouth water

wooo! jeremy gets his turns in (in june!)

Also, this is my 1001st post. 1000 is a nice round number, but it was a special post for my dad, so I didn’t want to detract from it. 1001 is a palindrome, which I love more than round numbers – so there. The only significance of my 1001st post is that I clearly never shut up.

String beans (green beans) are in the markets and they’re looking pretty good. I’ve been wanting to make Chinese dry-cooked string beans for a while, but it always goes to the bottom of the list because Jeremy has a slight allergy to string beans. They make his throat itchy. That’s a real shame because my mom cooks them up better than any one or any restaurant I know of. Oh well… more for me.

string beans

trimming the ends

I suppose the name “dry-cooked” refers to the fact that there isn’t much liquid used in the recipe. I found that a little confusing considering that the beans are essentially fried in oil – a lot of oil. But you don’t consume all of that oil, thank goodness. Aside from the beans, the other main ingredients are ground pork (this is optional), dried shrimp, and Sichuan preserved mustard green tsa tsai. The dried shrimp and preserved mustard greens you’ll most likely have to get at an Asian grocery store.

dried shrimp and sichuan preserved vegetable

cut the beans into 3-inch pieces (i just cut them in half)

**Jump for more 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: favorite chinese fried rice

It’s snowing big heavy flakes tonight! We have seven inches of snow on our deck right now and I’m thinking a little backcountry ski might be in my near future.

[UPDATE: Here’s the view from our deck this morning. The forecast was 2-9 inches and we have 14 (it’s still snowing). I LOVE IT!!]

I’m ready for a little break as it has been non-stop around here since I returned from California. I had to test out some new equipment that arrived while I was away and of course, the guinea pig’s name is Kaweah. Kaweah got a brushing, then a (much-needed) bath, and another brushing. It wasn’t for the photo, it was because she was shedding her winter coat all over the house and because she had her stink on BIG TIME.

now she smells like lavender

A client shoot kept me off the streets and up late at night earlier this week. The first day of the shoot we were staged at Chris Cina’s newly-opened restaurant (Hideaway Steakhouse). I cannot wait to actually EAT there because Chris is the chef and if you’ve ever visited his website (gorgeous food, gorgeous photography) you’d want to eat there too. Not only that, but Chris is one of the nicest people ever. The second day was in the home studio – just me, lots of food, and Kaweah following me around waiting for a peanut or carrot to drop.

how can you not love fruits and vegetables?

And then there were the property viewings… We are not moving anywhere! I hate moving. I hate house hunting. I can barely stay awake to shop for clothes for myself let alone a house. But you see, I have a big incentive to look for a nice place in town because it means my parents will come and hang out in Colorado. Last summer they visited us and scoped out a few properties, then they wined and dined around town and really enjoyed themselves (Dad LOVES The Kitchen – who doesn’t?). That is important to me because I want them to be happy, but I also want them to eventually live here year-round so I can take care of them and be there for them as they age. That’s what Chinese daughters do. That’s what Kris and I would have done together, but now it’s just me. Of course, at my parents’ rate they will be hiking the fourteeners well into their nineties!

these are some nice digs

All of this has conspired against me cooking any of the lovely vegetables I picked up this weekend with grand plans to make some dishes I’ve been craving. It’s been simple food like sautéed English peas, eggs, toast, vegetable soup, grilled green chile & swiss cheese sandwiches. So let’s dig deep into the queue and get a recipe for my favorite Chinese fried rice recipe that I shot in 2008. I know – where the heck has that been hiding? It’s been hiding in my February 2008 cooking photos folder. I document, archive, and save *everything*.

preserved whole mustard green – salty and crunchy

this stuff makes the dish

I’ve been making this fried rice since college and I’ve been eating it all my life. I think this is my mom’s recipe and it’s most certainly one of my comfort foods. It’s also one of Jeremy’s favorites so I like to make a batch for him before I go on travel. As with most Chinese dishes, this one is mostly prep-intensive and quick to cook. They also make great leftovers.

some pork mixed with cornstarch, sesame oil, and soy sauce

diced onion and julienned preserved mustard green

**Jump for more butter**