photo of the day- 08.31.11

wellness and food

My brother, Sean, is in town right now.

He lives on the east coast, so I treasure every second I get with him.

Sean is an acupuncturist and Qi Gong instructor and, along with his wife, does private catering to clients who are looking to integrate alternative medicine with a healthy diet in order to achieve optimal health. Both Sean and his wife, Jenny, believe that food is our greatest weapon against disease.

The dishes they prepare are primarily vegetarian and incorporate a lot of raw foods, as well as legumes, whole grains, vegetables and fruits. They are sensitive to people with allergies and focus on low-glycemic, anti-inflammatory food.

But aside from all that, the food is DELICIOUS! I know this because I have personally sampled a whole lot of Sean's food over the years. He makes some of my favorite dishes on the planet and there are a number of dishes I request every time I see him, (well, except for his beet smoothie. I just can't hang with that one.)

Here are a few of the things he's made in the last few days...

Baba ghanoush with quinoa flatbread

Raw beet soup

Raw collard spring rolls with marinated vegetables

Baked yams with coconut milk

props 'n surfaces

Just spent a couple days making new surfaces and going prop shopping.

I love my job.

so much to share, so little time

Remember how I promised to get back to my "photo of the day" as soon as I returned from Italy?

Yeah.

Sorry about that.

In my defense, it has been a non-stop whirlwind of work since Joe and I returned. I have been teaching workshops, finishing the shooting for a cookbook about Pike Place Market, shooting the photos for a gluten-free holiday baking book, (more on that later), shooting portraits, and falling more and more behind on my post-production work.

During the month of September, I will be shooting the photos for an Indian online cookbook, shooting more portraits, going on a little vacation to the California wine country with my sweet husband, teaching a workshop, and shooting food photos for 2 new clients.

It's a little crazy around here.

I am not complaining, though. I LOVE my work.

Since I have been neglecting the blog for a little while, I have a bunch of things I am overdue to share. And, since I don't love the writing part of blogs, I am going to keep the words fairly short and sweet and get to the photos.

So...as I have mentioned, Joe and I were in Italy way back in July.

After shooting the wedding, we spent time in the mountains above Assisi at the greatest agriturismo in the whole wide world. I highly recommend it. After that, we spent time in Bologna, Florence and Rome-- all of which were amazing.

During our time in the Emilia Romagna area, however, we hired a private guide to take us on a food tour, where we visited 3 production houses and learned how parmigiano-reggiano, traditional balsamic vinegar of modena, and lambrusco wine are made. It was an incredible experience, and our guide, Gabriele, was great.

Parmigiano-Reggiano factory

Lambrusco winery (note the AMAZING view from this place. It's an agriturismo, as well as a winery, so you can stay here!)

They fed us a delicious lunch, complete with 2 types of Lambrusco! Yippee!

The home where the Acetaia di Giorgio balsamic vinegar is made. It is insanely delicious, by the way.

As I mentioned above, I came back to a lot of work, some of which involved shooting a gluten-free holiday baking book.

This was an amazing experience, from start to finish. The cookbook is being published by Chronicle and is due out in Fall of 2012. I had the opportunity to work with 2 incredible women-- Jeanne Sauvage, the author, and Helene Dujardin, the talented woman I hired to style the food on the shoot.

Jeanne is the most fantastic gluten free baker I know. Her breads and sweets are delicious and you would never know they are gluten free.

And Helene is the author of one of my favorite food blogs, a pastry chef who does a lot of gluten free baking herself, and an insanely talented photographer and stylist.

The three of us laughed, chatted, collaborated, shared ideas, and kept one another upbeat every step of the way.

I could not have asked for a better experience.

Lastly, I have added a new class to the mix!

It was so much fun to team up with Becky Selengut for the Good Fish class, we have decided to do a cooking/shooting/styling class together. This class is perfect for someone who has already taken the Natural Light Food Photography workshop with me or who already has a good understanding of their camera, basic exposure and composition. Becky and I will talk about food and prop styling and students will have ample time to practice their photography and styling skills. For dates and more information, go to my website and click on the "workshops" tab, (you'll need to scroll down to see all the classes.)

pie

Yesterday was a perfect Sunday.

The sun was shining, I had a nice morning with one of my closest friends, my dog snuggled with me for an extra long time. But, mostly, it was a perfect Sunday because I learned how to make pie.

I don't mean that I read a recipe and made a pie. I mean, I learned how to MAKE PIE-- from scratch, without a recipe. And I learned how to do it from the Queen of Pie, Kate McDermott.

I cannot find the words right now to tell you how amazing Kate is, or about the awesomeness of her class, Art of the Pie. My friend, Kim, did a lovely job of summing up the experience so you should read what she wrote.

What I CAN do is show you my pie. The pie I made with my own two hands, from scratch, after learning from Kate. It was the best damn pie I have ever eaten.

Take Kate's class. You will not regret it.