sometimes “foto friday” morphs into “foodie friday” – and by sometimes i mean there is a first time for everything 🙂
it’s getting to be that time of year, when i just want to load up on comfort food like this and be lazy and gain 10 pounds of winter weight and not even sweat it — i’ll take it off in february. for now, bring on the fireplace, the couch, and the spuds!
this is about as basic as it can get, though… of course, with a little audrey flair! Continue reading
so, salmon season is pretty much over… i think we’ll get another run or two but that will be it. do you know how you can just kind of guess that the season is about over? well, have you been to the grocer and SEEN the size of salmon filets right now?! massive! like, i mean MASSIVE fish! they’ve been cruising around eating up the other fish, gettin’ all fat and delicious on us… THAT’S how you can usually tell it’s the end of the season. they’re HUGE!
whenever there is a one-day special or sale of any kind on salmon, i nab it up. i don’t like freezing my fish, so i’ll just buy enough for a nice meal with the roomie or cook a little extra for salads. all seafood is so much more expensive out here in the land-locked states, so i don’t eat it nearly as much as i would like. frozen fish just doesn’t taste as good… i prefer only eating wild-caught, in season, as local as possible fish.
the real secret ingredient to this dish and part of the inspiration for even buying the fish was to use some of this absolutely amazing marinade that was gifted to me as a generous sample. it’s a locally made product which is a basil-based vinaigrette that i was immediately hooked on the first time i tried it when the vendor was demoing the product with some simple bib lettuce. i didn’t find a website for the actual producers, but i do know that this particular bottle in the above foto was made only 3 days prior to me consuming it. talk about fresh!! i’m so lucky.
if you can find it, get it. you can buy it online and it’s actually cheaper than the store that way. the ingredients are so simple, if you had the right combo of good oil and vinegar you could almost mimic it. but i tell you, it’s the best dressing i’ve ever tried!! i’m not sure i’ll ever go back to another dressing again! and i have tried a TON of vinaigrettes! italian-style dressing is my absolutely fav, but it simply has to have the right combination of good oil and good vinegar and the right kind of spices. i mean, when you’re basing your dressing around FRESH basil, i guess you can’t go wrong… Continue reading
so… here’s the thing about me… or at least, here’s how things have typically been for me…
although i see the world as very “gray” — i LIVE it very black and white. what i mean by that is… it has appeared that for me i’m either super high and on top of it creating world peace the whole nine… OR, i’m super down and depressed feeling useless and hopeless and thinking even the flowers are out to get me… there is hardly an in between. seldom did i feel comfortable, content, “in a groove,” or most of all – peaceful. that wasn’t always something i could FEEL and feel okay with…
i suppose this stems from a shaky childhood and the survival instinct of maturing faster than most due to losing a parent. it could also have to do with my astrological chart, or the fact that i am a very very impatient old soul… but the truth is, it has always been hard for me to find a balance, or to find some comfort, some love, and some peace in the every day. i speak of this in past-tense now because i can, because i am confident in saying that i no longer live like that. i’ve spoken a handful of times now on how i feel i’ve changed over the last year, and am continuing to. i’ve written about not only feeling the change but seeing it actually play out. i make conscious choices each day to effect how i see life. what’s frustrating is when i see people in life for who they are, and all they want to do is fake it — it’s just annoying, because i want to be like “you ain’t foolin’ me” but… i have to be a friggin’ politician about things sometimes and i’m kind of over that…
i digress, as usual. Continue reading
what i loved about living in the lower east side of manhattan was that all i had to do to “get out” and feel like i left the city was take a short walk. within a few blocks i would stumble onto things like this – little treasures. a cute little park in a big apple city like new york. a place of serenity in the concrete jungle. i just love it.
this little park was somewhere along 17th street, most likely in alphabet city, where i found a lot of little hidden parks…
this was hanging along the fence…
look at these adorable little potatoes. aren’t they cute?! when i saw them i let out a little squeal and snagged them up. they are in fact called, “pee wee potatoes” and rightfully so, they are itty bitty! like, no bigger than a small pebble, i love it.
i just kept them whole, smothered them in EVOO and a S&P and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about a half hour or so, until tender.
then take them out and let them cool a bit… {isn’t it interesting how the colour changes}
serve as is. i ate this entire bowl, they are out of this world delicious! sweet and creamy and they ‘pop’ when you bite into them… so much fun.
right around july this year, my blog really took a turning point. i have fine-tuned what it is i want this blog to represent. i have collected some dedicated readers, and i’ve also created a dedicated set of specific blogs i post each corresponding day of the week. it feels nice to have some structure.
if i had time, i’d post 7-days a week. and hopefully very soon i will be able to do that. my “day job” is going great, and my foto job is starting to take a turn as well, for the better. i am digging all the positive change happening in my life lately. i’m so beyond grateful…
and since march when i began this blog – i’ve created a cool 127 posts, stacked up over 250 followers, and graciously received over 1,000 likes.
so… THANKS! 🙂
i appreciate you.
and you know what else i appreciate? Continue reading
i’m pretty sure it’s fig season..
and i love me some figs… just love ’em…
i decided to try ALL THREE kinds of figs this year… even though i have always heard that black mission figs are the best… i wanted to give them all a fair chance and then decide for myself… i had only had the black figs prior to this little experiment… Continue reading
i like to make up names for my food…
i can’t remember where i picked this idea up… maybe it was during my cleanse, i was talking to someone about dairy and particularly mayonnaise and how i don’t really like it and i wish there was a better dressing for my tuna sandwiches. then i heard about trying an avocado in place of dressing – and HOLY SMOKES! what a better sammy it makes!
so, here’s the extremely simple recipe : Continue reading
i’ve been thinking a lot lately. about a lot, lately.
i don’t always have time to sit down and write – and i’m not even writing, i’m typing. how did people WRITE back in the day?! this is the kind of stuff i think about… i mean, i know how they did it – it just baffles me when i think about the fact that they did. it blows my mind how much we’ve advanced and yet how much we lack basic knowledge of what i would consider “common” things… for example, basic writing. at one point in our human existence, we had to take a pencil or pen and a whole ream of paper and sit and write what would now be viewable on a 30 plus inch screen. what gets me all rant-y about it all is that we have no idea how great we have it… we fill our lives with meaningless crap and other people’s ideas of what “life” should be. and LIFE is so very simple, so very easy… if we can but let go and realize that we aren’t living it, IT is living through us… does that make sense? well, at least this is what i believe.
we get to breathe every day. do you know how much has to exist, work together, and create inside of our bodies for that to happen? it’s ridiculous! i wish i could go back to like, what? – 9th grade science – and learn all about the human body again… and really pay attention this time.
or just go the library and get a huge book on it.
or google the $h!t out of it. Continue reading
that’s me. and last night, i dreamt about that hat… hA – i’m not even kidding. I MISS THAT HAT! seriously, strangers would stop me on the street and compliment me on that hat!
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new york city is known for being photographed in black and white. and with just cause. black and white images say “classic” to me – timeless, ageless. and new york is all of those things. and i found myself shooting in black and white a lot when i first moved there… i’d say for my first year or so i would find myself editing my images and i’d end up converting most of them into black and white, simply because colour seemed to distracting — there is SO MUCH TO LOOK AT! Continue reading
sometimes, i just want crunch, texture, tangy, salty, slightly cheesy, light food. and usually i crave a salad. i eat really well, generally speaking. i have a healthy, well-balanced diet. and so if i’m craving something, i listen to that craving. i have noticed i’ll crave something like this simple salad after i’ve loaded up on too many carbs or rich proteins. it’s like my body finds a way to tell me i need the balance… so cool.
i’ve been kind of a slacker eater this past week. i was up in the mountains for work a couple weeks ago and the company gave us a pretty hefty per diem for food, so i just splurged. plus, it’s a 3-hour ride so we snacked and snacked! also, uhm… continental breakfast!? yes, please. every morning! Continue reading
these fotos are kind of old, back when i had just moved to new york – i’d been there maybe a year. and they were taken sans tripod. i think it was in september – i didn’t anticipate the weather being as cold as it was. but did you know humidity works in the cool temps?! holy crap yes it does!
i had some guests in town from colorado and they wanted to squeeze in as much tourism as possible. the empire state building was always a go-to for me when i had visitors. it never gets old for me. even though i don’t like the heights, i like the view. i took another trip up during the daytime with a friend, i’ll have to find those fotos. will i pay 30 bucks and visit again when i am in the city in october? mmmmmaybe not. we’ll see. it’s nice to know people with rooftop views – that’s like prime real estate in new york! Continue reading
these were absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS!! perfect for the football game, easy to make {if you can stand making the risotto ahead of time earlier in the week}, and out-of-this-world delicious! a coworker suggested this recipe to me when i told her i was trying my hand at risotto… i was eager to try BOTH!
here is my recipe for the mushroom/leek risotto that is beginning this dish. start with that – and 2 eggs and some breadcrumbs… i had *just enough* to make these : Continue reading
so, i decided to change “wordy wednesday” to “whatever wednesday” — i just can’t put that kind of pressure on myself anymore – haha 😉
so, in honor of my first “whatever” post, i am going to repost something i wrote a while ago that i find awesome and should be shared with as many people as possible. when i first posted this way back when i started my blog, i got more hits than any other day, and more facebook shares than any other day… so i figure, this is information people actually care about…
as you know, i’m a huge foodie. i love anything with colour – so basically anything that has been in the ground, grown in soil, rich in nutrients from the earth, fibrous, healthy, and completely natural. so basically, i am pro-veggie. i firmly believe the human body has the power to heal itself using diet. we truly are what we eat. and when i discovered that some foods actually look like the body parts they help heal, i was floored. talk about intelligent design! we are truly incredible human machines.
oh and in case you’re wondering what my stance is after that whole organic vs. conventional stanford study, i don’t care… and i actually didn’t even read it, i don’t need to. it’s just like when they supposedly found this brand new thirteenth astrological sign suddenly – what was his name? whatever, it doesn’t matter. i’m still a sagittarius/scorpio cusp with cancer rising and a capricorn moon, i’m a total product of my natal chart, to a T – some random astronomer isn’t going to come along and suddenly tell me i’m not who i feel i am. and some fancy rich group of college kids isn’t going to come along and change why i eat organic food, either. {sorry, do i sound snarky?!} Continue reading
i’m just going to keep this simple.
we all know what day it is. and although i don’t want it to be a somber kind of day, there is always a little bit of that in the air when we reminisce about this day. and since i have lived here, and walked these streets, a piece of my heart will always be in new york city – on this day and every day.
xxoo
i have been wanting to try to make my own risotto for weeks now. there seems to be a stigma attached to making risotto – like it’s the hardest thing in the world to make or something. i don’t know, i think it’s just time consuming, so many people don’t want to bother with it.
when i batch cook, i don’t mind taking a little extra time to make something i can eat for a few days. also, someone recommended another sweet recipe for leftover risotto, which i plan to make this week for thirsty thursday – so stay tuned for that!
i was inspired by leeks. i never really use them and yet i love the flavour. mushroom risotto is kind of classic, so i figured i’d just toss the leeks in with the familiar favourite. shitake mushrooms are loaded with flavour as well, and they have wonderful healing properties. plus, they were one of the only organic and local mushroom selections available, so i opted for them. Continue reading
here’s my “true fat tire story” —
so… by now you probably all know that i got promoted at work – and if you didn’t, now you do 🙂
it’s a good thing. added stress is always annoying, and with management usually comes more stress… but i decided that on my shifts, there will be none of that, no drama, no “issues,” no stress. that’s just how i roll.
i digress.
so, after my promotion, i was all like “i want to buy myself a congratulatory meal!” and so, the first thing i always go to when i want to treat myself with food – is seafood. i love love love me some seafood. anything that’s been in the ocean, really. but my favourite go-tos are shrimp, crab, scallops, or salmon. mostly shellfish, mostly delicious maryland blue crab meat. i have been craving them ever since i made my homemade potato chips… when i visit NYC in october, i’m actually considering making a day trip back to the bay, to mow down on some chesapeake catches! Continue reading
i have seriously been sitting at my computer all morning – i started 3 different blogs, got distracted, ate breakfast, cried a little {good cry}, and then started all over. i blame nicki minaj. i have been listening to the song “fly” on repeat since i woke up. it’s my new theme song. my favourite lyrics :
“Everybody wanna try to box me in
Suffocating every time it locks me in
Paint their own pictures then they crop me in
But I will remain where the top begins
Cause I am not a word, I am not a line
I am not a girl that can ever be defined
about 2 weeks before i left new york city, a friend suggested we take a walk across the williamsburg bridge. “how often will you get to walk across bridges once you leave?!” she said, convincing me to go. i didn’t need a whole ton of convincing; though at the time i remember feeling really ready to leave new york, and it was hard to drag me out of the house at times… funny how that works, because now i miss the heck out of it! good thing i’m going back for a visit…
there are many messages throughout new york city – stickers, graffiti, signs, posters, strangers yelling things at you, etc.
the williamsburg bridge is no exception. in fact, i dare to say it boasts the most messages of any place i’ve visited in the big apple. i mean, the entire bridge is like a graffiti art gallery. every inch of it is covered with something to see or read. my camera got quite the workout… Continue reading
food & foto 