Tagged: food
Tips for food photography
- Use natural light – plan your food shots around good weather and take advantage of the natural light during the day.
- Don’t use flash – It is much harder to take pictures indoor using kitchen lights/lamps. It distorts the colors and the ambiance of the setting.
- Colour coordinate – purchase fabric that gives texture.
- Fresh ingredients – pick fresh ingredients for the photos and add micro-greens as a garnish for a nice touch.
- Add oil – use a brush and dab some oil on the protein for a glistening photo.
- Plating – make sure the presentation plate is sparkling clean! Practice on a side plate first so the presentation plate doesn’t get dirty. If you have sauce to go with the dish, test the consistency of the sauce by placing a bit of sauce on a plate and tilt the plate so it is not too runny.
- Camera angles – use a variety of camera angles to capture the best shots. Don’t be afraid to take too many shots. (see below!)
Keep it simple and have fun with your photos!
Links:
Try a free download of Photoshop Lightroom 5, click here.
Click here to learn basics of Lightroom 5 with tutorials by product experts.
When potlucks work!
Last week I suddenly got an unexplainable, yet irresistible, urge to organize a cheese & charcuterie party at work. Although it probably would’ve turned out better had I done all the work myself (wink!), I wanted this party to be a potluck. Many people out there say that they hate potlucks. The reasons are always the same: “Blah, blah, blah, I’m not good at cooking, blah, blah, blah, I’m too tired after work to prepare something for the next day, blah, blah, blah, I’m allergic to everything that isn’t Chicken McNuggets, blah, blah, blah. . . .” Fortunately, the group I work is full of people who love to cook and talk about it in glorious detail. There isn’t a day that goes by without some kind of “food talk”: Monday morning conversations usually start with “What did you cook on the weekend?” followed by an exchange of recipes. I’m not even exaggerating.
What was I talking about? Right! Potluck! Okay, so I wanted to shake things up a bit at work by organizing a potluck at the office before the long weekend. In order to make this stand out from the company’s usual summer barbecue, I decided to be a fancy pants and make it a cheese and charcuterie party. I made a quick poster and stuck it to a bulletin board so that people could fill out their names and what they were bringing. This is always recommended to increase the variety of goodies available and to prevent people from wasting money on the same stuff (do we really need 5 wheels of brie?). A lot of people were really enthusiastic about the idea – I overheard some colleagues ask one another “What are you bringing to the party?”
All in all, we ended up with a pretty good spread: pâté, dry cured chorizo, salami, brie cheese, different flavours of goat cheese, swiss cheese, gouda, sharp cheddar, antipasto, artisan bread, crostini, breadsticks, figs, hummus, and homemade pepper jelly.
I was overjoyed while observing people sharing what they really liked and commenting on the new types of food they’ve tried for the first time. I recommend organizing something similar at your own workplace – social events among coworkers boost office morale (at least temporarily), and (GASP!) you might discover something new.
Feedback and comments I received after the party
- A few of the ladies in the office were rather surprised to discover that most of the men contributed to the potluck – who would’ve thought that somebody too lazy to put a toilet seat back down would actually lift a finger to contribute to a girly cheese & charcuterie party?
- Everyone wanted to know when the next lunch party was going to take place with a different theme.
- Some people wanted the same theme again.
- Some wished there was wine to compliment the food (why am I not surprised?).
5 useful items to bring to a cheese & charcuterie potluck
- Large boards to place food on
- Gloves for food handling
- A few knives for spreading
- Small spoons
- Tongs
- Garbage bag
- Plates, forks, napkins
- Karaoke machine
Please feel free to leave comments below if you have organized some interesting themed potlucks at your office.
Can’t get enough of fabrics…
One of the things I love to do when shooting food photography is playing with the different textures for the backgrounds. When I get bored of the current fabrics I have, I go out to a fabric store and spend at least 2 hours looking for new materials for my collection!
Here’s my 6 second Vine video on my fabric shopping adventure.
Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill
Today I’m reviewing one of Toronto’s hidden gems: Diana’s Oyster Bar & Grill. My friend Elaine and I checked the place out on a recent Friday evening. The place was packed, which should be expected on a Friday night, but we fortunately got a seat at the bar (which was where we wanted to sit anyway since Elaine is a hopeless drunk). We started off with one dozen oysters: 4 Fat Bastards (Washington), 4 Kusshi (Washington), 2 Lucky Lime (P.E.I), and 2 Acadian Gold (New Brunswick). My favourite was the Acadian Gold, because it was very smooth tasting with a nice sweetness to it. Elaine’s favourite was the Fat Bastard, big and meaty (she doesn’t appreciate the finer things in life, like I do!).
After the oysters, we shared some crab cakes. They were light and fluffy and served with a spicy aioli. For our main course, we ordered the farfalle with mixed seafood in spicy marinara sauce and a fettuccini with fresh lobster in brandy cream sauce. The farfalle was cooked perfectly; noodles were al dente and had a good mixture of different kinds of seafood. For the fettuccini dish, although it could have used a bit more seasoning, it was still a fantastic dish (could have used more lobster too, but that’s just me being greedy!).
Elaine and I met with Wilson (in the below picture), who has been with Diana’s since the restaurant opened in 2010. A few questions we asked Wilson:
What is your favourite type of oyster? East Coast – Colville Bay (P.E.I) & West Coast – Fanny Bay (B.C)
Cooked or Raw? Raw
Do you add any sauce to the oysters for yourself? Nope, I just use lemon, that’s all I need!
Have you ever encountered a bad smelling oyster? Yes! Once you open the oyster and the air comes out, it smells so bad that you have to run the other way.
What do you do when you have an odd shaped oyster and cannot open it? We throw it out if it’s really busy.
Wilson’s steps for shucking oysters
- Place the oyster on a flat surface and wrap a cloth around it to prevent sliding
- Insert knife between the shell
- Slide the knife into the oyster
- Cut the oyster from the bottom shell
- Serve the oysters on a bed of crushed ice with fresh horseradish and a lemon wedge or preferred sauce such as seafood cocktail sauce
Diana’s Oyster Giveaway
Here’s a chance for all you followers in the GTA to win a voucher for a free appetizer, 6 oysters (based on availability) @ Diana’s. Leave a comment below of your favourite type of seafood preference and how you like it prepared (grilled, raw, poached, steamed, seared or baked) to be entered into a random draw. Contest closes July 14th 2013 11:59pm. The winner will be notified by email on July 15th 2013. Good luck!
Green, white and red-iculously tasty!
MAMMA MIA! It’s-a meee-a, with your exclusive in-depth look at Piazza Italia 2013-a!
Last Sunday, my friend invited me to the Piazza Italia 2013 at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex. Italian cuisine is one of my favourites! I LOVE taking my Nikon to food shows and capturing everything I can. Quite the challenge when you are carrying a plate of food in one hand and a camera with the other. At one point, I had to stick the wine glasses in my purse, which barely fit due to the free jars of Nutella at the bottom of my bag. 🙂
The event showcased Italian culture, gourmet food, wine and entertainment. Click here for more information!
I can has food blog?
Hi everyone!
Welcome to my first blog! So why addicted2yum? According to my mom (if you can believe her – I’m not sure if I do), I enjoyed stuffing my face even at a very young age. I wasn’t picky either: I was one of those rare kids that eat everything. “Yummy!” was one of my first words, along with “dada”, “poo poo” and “KitchenAid Mixer”. As a curious toddler, I was always in the kitchen while my mom would prepare meals. More often than not, I was in the way. . . I wanted to help but was not tall enough to reach the counter. After tripping over me several times, she bought me a toy kitchen set to keep me out of the way. The rest was history…
In my early 20’s, I signed up for some cooking classes at a local college in my spare time. I eventually completed 11 classes, thus earning my Culinary Arts certificate. Along the way, I stole my sister’s fancy camera so I could start a collection of food photographs worthy of any Jamie Oliver cook book (that’s right Jamie: I went there). The time has come to unleash this juicy goodness upon you! I look forward to sharing my thoughts, recipes, and foodie adventures with you in addicted2yum!
addicted2yum 