How I Spent Six Hours In The Kitchen, By Choice

Remember that Sunday night family dinner idea I had? Perhaps, it's gotten out of hand!

My brother requested Indian food and being one up for a challenge, I took it on.

After a week of pouring through cookbooks and reading websites I selected recipes with ingredients available in the garden that sounded appealing.

The menu included:

Vegetable Samosas

Cilantro & Mint Chutney
Tomato & Onion Relish

Beets with Mint & Yogurt

Yes, it was really that pink! Not high on my must be made again list though.

Raiti
Curried Vegetables
Red Lentil Dal
Naan
Rice

After six hours in the kitchen dinner was ready. Justin was already at the table, even though he knew the table needed it's photo shoot.

Not something I feel compelled to do very often, but certainly worth the effort. Dinner was yummy and we have leftovers for the entire week!  Photo of the day? I think I'm going with the first one since I didn't take a picture of all of the dirty dishes.

Next week I'm making salad.

Ingredients for a Perfect Day

Can I show you the ingredients for my perfect day?

It started with photographing fresh little baby toes.

I then followed it with watching Ian receive his first karate patch. I loved watching the serious look on his face, followed by a big smile when he received it.

We then ended the day with today's harvest in the garden.

Can it really get much better? And how can I possibly pick one photo to be THE photo of the day?

From My Home Garden To My Dinner Table

My goal in July is to eat only from our garden, buying only a few essential items we can't grow.

This morning I harvested all of these.

And this evening we turned it into this. I love when my long beans are ready. Expect to see them often.

And this.

And this. Shea even said, "I liked the squash." He hates squash typically! Now if I can just get Ian to eat it.

Have I mentioned how much I love my garden? Which would you pick as the photo of the day? It seems I only took food photos today. Not one single smiling face!

Garden Improvements Brought To You By My Community

Today my neighbors made me cry over my garden. A good cry.

My garden is my place of absolute peace and joy. Every morning it is the first place I go and most evenings we stay out until well past sunset.  I photograph it, I sit in it, I putter around, and we cook from it daily. Almost every meal.

While riding our bikes to eat this. Yes, the same one we had yesterday. We never should have discovered SugarPlum Vegan Cafe.

Neighbors just down the street were shoveling mulch into a wheel barrow. The pile was huge and they were almost finished. They offered the rest to us. We immediately said yes and spent the next three hours putting it in the garden. It was a project on our list, but not planned for today. From dirt to magic.

It instantly transformed my happy place into an amazing oasis.

The chicken coop is ready for occupants next week and the dirt path you see will be a pumpkin patch by October!

Do you have a special oasis? Somewhere that brings you joy? I'd love to hear about it.

Nostalgic For Heirloom Tomatoes

I can't help myself. I'm obsessed with planting tomatoes and with photography. This is the month that the collision of the two really begins. All of my tomatoes are taking shape and beginning to turn red.

I couldn't help myself today. A little heirloom photography with a Matt K Lightroom Preset. It just worked for me.

Just wondering, are you sick of seeing my garden?

Photographing Transformation In The Garden

I love that photography can document changes in our life and the world around us.

Do you remember seeing this moment from my garden?

And this early morning moment?

And the recent competition this won?

It has now transformed into this.

Picnic Dinner In The Dining Room

Our Sunday night family dinner grew with the addition of our neighbor and our dear friends. We had the garden table extended and covered as the temperature neared 103 degrees. Sweating through a meal from the garden in the garden just wasn't very appealing, so we brought dinner inside.

Shea and I spent most of the afternoon making tapas and sangria, a perfect warm weather meal. I gathered the meal from our garden and rounded up some of my favorite cookbooks. The menu consisted of

Patatas Bravas
Papaya Pear Squash with Onions
Roasted Beets
Bruschetta
Spanish Cucumber Salad
Garlic Hummus
Olive Tapenade
Strawberry Ice Cream
Homemade Bread

I didn't realize until I had the table ready to go that I'd completely skipped taking photos of each dish. We'll have to make it again so it gets it time in my studio!

I did grab the camera in time to capture the two of these boys.

The table photo is my POTD, but now I'm thinking Justin and Ian might be the better choice!

From The Garden SOOC

Straight from the garden to our dinner table -- tomatoes, garlic, onions, and basil. My garden brings me joy, photo opportunities, and now a little sustenance too!

Served on homemade bread after a visit to my studio!

Vote for the From The Garden Picture of the Day

Which do you prefer?

The bee on my blooming leek?

Dinner? Beet, carrot, potato, radish, cucumber and tomatoes all from the garden!

Or the artichoke about to bloom!

Did you notice they are all landscape? That is unusual for me.

Let Summer Begin

Today is the last day of school for this guy. Now he can put away his mean teacher face!

Which means we're thinking about a little bit of this.

And more time tending these.

And perhaps a nap or two.

I'm ready for summer. How about you?

A Visit To My Studio

I discovered the recipes of VeganDad a few months ago. He hasn't let me down yet. Tonight I modified his risotto recipe with ingredients from my garden. I spent a little time with it in my studio before gobbling it up. I haven't eaten risotto in the two and half years since I started eating a vegan diet. It measured up to my memories!

50mm | ISO 400 | f/2.2 | ss 1/160

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I edited the white balance in Lightroom a little more than I would normally, the light in the window was just not right tonight and I was too lazy to find my flash! I'm sure no one can relate :P

Roosters, Super Friends, and My Garden

In case you've wondered where I've been the last few days, here's a recap in photos. They are all taken straight from my real life to your computer screen, unedited, because that is the place I'm in!

We spent time with  Super Friends. A blog post on that story, coming soon!

and a rooster or two.

And in my garden.

I love this time of year! Eight more days until our summer can really begin! I'm looking forward to lots of play, garden goodness, and picture taking. What are you looking forward to?

Can You Guess What My Photo of the Day Is?

Most of our weekend was spent in the garden. I planted some, cleaned up some, weeded a little, and mostly sat and enjoyed the surroundings. Shea worked on the chicken coop palace the entire weekend. They will be very well kept chickens! I think it is up to code as an apartment if we ever need the extra space!

Most of my photos were from the garden of course. So it seemed fitting to pick one for a little quiz.

Any guesses?

I'll tell you tomorrow!

Salad Extravaganza Day 1

The lettuce in our garden is about to bolt. It is time to eat lettuce. We've deemed it salad week. We are each making salads this week with a few rules. One thing from the garden must be used in addition to the lettuce. One herb from the garden must also be incorporated.


I was a bit of an over achiever tonight.


I picked a beet, carrots, and an onion from the garden. 

50mm | ISO 500 | f/2.8 | ss 1/60

I added in thyme, basil and oregano for the salad dressing, using a great recipe from Veganomican, one of my go to cookbooks.


I roasted the carrots and beet. Sliced the onion. Baked some croutons from left over bread Shea made. Tossed it in a quick dressing also from Veganomicon. I roasted a few pine nuts to add some protein to the mix.


And we had dinner. Almost completely from the garden.

50mm | ISO 1250 | f/2/2 | ss 1/400

I took the salad picture in my studio. My shutter speed could have been slower to get a lower ISO, but I'm happy with the result.


I'm not certain how I can top tonight's salad.

Carrots, Questions, And Exciting Stuff!

Picture of the day today. Picked from my front yard garden in all of their orange and green goodness. They tasted as good as they looked! Last year's carrots were funny shaped, multi-legged, gnarly little things.

50mm | ISO 400 | f/2.5 | ss 1/80

I know I said I'd limit my garden photos. I just couldn't resist.

Can I continue to brag about my accomplishments? The rest are not of the garden variety.

I've had a busy but exciting week. My photo was selected as the winner of the CreatingKeepsakes Fabulous Photo Contest! It was a picture of the day a month or two ago. I just love the real emotion it captures between the two of them.

Did I mention my photos of a friend's garden were published in a book? Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn to be exact. Photos and a credit in the back. It is now perched on my coffee table and for some reason just falls open to a certain page!

In even more randomness, remember Saturday's photo quiz? The photo was taken about 7o'clock PM. I bounced my flash off of my husband's stomach! He had a light colored shirt on so it reflected nicely back onto Ian without giving that harsh flash look. We had a good laugh about the benefit of his stomach size as well.

And for the person who asked about the speedy puppy photo yesterday. I did take it on manual. You can notice in the last photo, I changed my shutter speed just a smidge, thinking I was overexposing some. I wish I'd left it alone. The perils of Manual mode! I am choosing #2 for my POTD. Thanks for casting your vote!

Want more good news? I'm teaching one of my favorite photography classes starting later this month! You can register for a discounted price until tomorrow afternoon. We are closing registration early this time, so please don't miss out.  I will be explaining manual mode, shutter speed, and smidges!

So, what's going on in your world?