July 2012 – The Kitchen Illiterate

2012, The Real Week Thirty

Somewhere along the way, I lost count of my weeks. I’ve never been very good with numbers. I guess I got a little ahead of myself, but as it turns out, these are the photos from the real week thirty. It was a good one.

July 22 – Sunday was a big photography day. I was experimenting with the light in our apartment, trying to figure out good spots and times of day to shoot so I can take advantage of the minimal amount of natural light we get. I loved this picture of a loaf of bread. The bread itself was really tasty, too.
Continue reading 2012, The Real Week Thirty

Building Your Batterie de Cuisine: Part Three

Alright, you’ve been cooking for awhile now. You’ve assembled your basic arsenal and added a few extra fun tools here and there with each new recipe you’ve tried. You’re starting to eye some fancier gadgets, and the recipe you’ve been eyeing next calls for a bundt pan. It might be time to step up your game.

This is the super special bonus list, and includes things that might pertain more to one style of cooking over another. For example, if you’re not a baker, a KitchenAid mixer might never grace your counter. But a slow cooker might be your best friend.

Many of these are things that I’ve bought over the years as I’ve needed them, rather than going out and buying them all at once. I bought baking sheets right away when I moved into my first apartment, because I consider them a kitchen essential, but muffin pans came later. Mini muffin pans came wayyy later. So don’t feel like you need or should even want all of this stuff. Just let your own culinary experiments guide you.
Continue reading Building Your Batterie de Cuisine: Part Three

2012, Week Thirty

Another full and fun week in Oakland.

July 15 – We went hiking in Marin on Sunday. I’d forgotten how dry things get in summertime here in California. The East Coast is sooo lush and green in July, it’s quite a contrast. I’ll still take dry and brown over green, but monstrously humid.
Continue reading 2012, Week Thirty

Building Your Batterie de Cuisine: Part Two

Last month, I wrote about the most basic basics you need to have a functional kitchen. If you don’t have a decent chef’s knife and some pots and pans, your culinary attempts will be frustrating, and you’ll probably decide that cooking’s not for you and order some take out. And that would be a shame.
Continue reading Building Your Batterie de Cuisine: Part Two

2012, Week Twenty-Nine

Last week Oakland decided it wasn’t summer anymore. The temperatures dropped, and Friday was grey and downright cold. Oh fickle, fickle Bay Area.

Our week started out with a cookout at Roberts Park, welcoming some friends back to the lower 48 (they have been living in an isolated area of Alaska, and are now heading to Vermont). It was great to see friends, and to spend some time swooning over a very cute little one:

July 8 – Who knew a pen could be so exciting?
Continue reading 2012, Week Twenty-Nine

2012, Week Twenty-Eight

We are halfway through this year, and, well, I’m not doing much better at remembering to fully document my life. I think some of my photographs are getting better, but I still have a lot to learn about light. That’s why I am REALLY looking forward to the Joy the Baker and Tracy Shutterbean Food Photo workshop I’m going to in just a few weeks. In the meantime:

July 1 – I made salad dressing, and took pictures in some really unflattering light. Unflattering to shallots, anyway.
Continue reading 2012, Week Twenty-Eight

2012, Week Twenty-Seven

At the beginning of last week, I was still at ALA in Anaheim. As it turns out, I missed one of my favorite food bloggers, Adam the Amateur Gourmet, who was giving away cupcakes in the exhibit hall. Worlds colliding! And I missed it. I was probably in a meeting somewhere. Sigh.

I did get to spend some time in the exhibits, where I usually find about a bazillion books I want to read. Since I can’t bring them all home, I take pictures of the books I am most intrigued by. So for two days, those are the only pictures I took. So exciting.

June 24 – This one looks awesome. I grew up eating Mexican Food in San Diego and it is serious comfort food to me, even more so than mashed potatoes, I think. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this.

June 25 – There weren’t as many cookbooks in the booths as I had hoped, but I did see a few beautiful specimens. This one was intriguing, even though I don’t usually like cookbooks from magazines. The photos were great and the recipes looked easy, healthy, and creative. I’ll keep my eye out for this one.
Continue reading 2012, Week Twenty-Seven