Candied Walnuts and Coconut Caramel Corn

I always love it when I work with my lovely friends over at Pie Drunk.  While Allison and Liz are good friends of mine which it make it fun, they are also a bit better cooks than I am.  Sometimes on days like the one a few weekends ago, it is more relaxed for me when someone else does the cooking and I can focus on the photography and styling.  Typically this is how it is on a studio shoot, with a food stylist, and the photographer working in conjunction to make a really wonderful photo.

These two recipes are fun, don't take too long, and OMG so delicious. Allison made the candied walnuts, and can be made in about 30 minutes.  This is delicious as a snack, or to top on a salad.  Feel free to add some of your favorite herbs to this recipe, like some Rosemary, Lavender, or Thyme.   Here is a link to the recipe she used Dawn's Candied Walnuts.

Liz made the "crack"  coconut almond caramel corn which takes about an hour.  Here is the link for this recipe Coconut Almond Caramel Corn.  As with the previous recipe, feel free to add some fresh herb of your liking. Both are wonderful to make and give as gifts. You can package some up canning jars, which you can find at your local supermarket, and tie off with a little twine.  And a cute little gift you have! 

In other news, I am dying to show the new cover I shot for Sip Northwest which should be out any day now.  I love working with these ladies.  Always so much fun.  I also am very much looking forward to getting out of town soon with some of my favorite people and heading to Missoula, Montana.  Of course I am excited about taking photos out there and just having a much needed change of scenery.  Woohooo! Maybe driving out to some hot springs, going on a hike, or just watching a movie.  I definitely have a travel bug, and it's been too long since my last vacation, in September! ;)

 

A Day with Flowers: Bouquets and Boutonnieres

Last weekend I had such a great time photographing flowers with my friend Rachael.  She has been working in the floral industry and doing flora design for 20 plus years and so I was very excited at the prospect of photographing some pretty wintery bouquets.  She had the fantastic idea of adding some little woodsy boutonnieres to the bunch too.  All of the flowers are from Young Flowers and I thought they turned out really beautiful!  I have included a list of the flowers used below.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Loose Bouquet on aqua and white background:

pink peonies

lavender roses

green dianthus

orange pin cushion protea

blue thistle

calla lilies

pussy willow

fern curls

pink anemones

Boutonnieres:

crespedia
thistle

pussy willow

air plant

mosses

wood chips

berry from Amy's front yard

fern curls

escargot begonia leaves

Bouquet in vase:

pink peonies

roses

green dianthus

calla lilies

pink anemones

escargot begonia leaves

Happy New Year!

Well I haven't posted anything in a few weeks.  Usually I try at least every other week.  It has been a little bit slower for me, as the kind of photography I do is over the holidays, and I definitely started moving into the slower pace of things.  I went to just outside of Shelton, WA a few times to go visit and stay with my parents.  They moved there from my hometown Issaquah, some odd years back and built a house there on the water.  It certainly is a change of pace from living right in the city, being 2 hours away from Seattle.  I also spent a lot of time with friends and family over the past few weeks with the holidays.  I got exercise, I went snowshoeing, running, yoga, to the boxing gym.  I looked at lights, watched Christmas movies, ATE, ate a lot, played with animals.  I slept in, rested.  I enjoyed the time off.

Now it's the start of 2014, and over the past week it's getting/gotten busier again for me, which is really good! I think I do a lot better when I am really busy actually.  I had some shoots this past week, which I am excited to share soon.  And I have a couple blog shoots on the horizon too, this upcoming weekend.  Which will be really fun and  I am looking forward to spending some time with some lovely creative ladies. 

In 2013 I graduated from photography school, started my own business, lost some very loved people, sadly, gained some others with new friendships, enriched existing ones and time will only tell what 2014 has in store.  The types of resolutions I make are like this:  I want to experiment more in photography, I want to travel more, and I want to see more live music, get a storage unit for my props!!! Doable, and enriching.

So I hope you all had a fantastic 2013, and hoping you have an even better 2014! 

Here are some pictures I took over the past month on my way to stay at my folks and back.

Enjoy!

Amy

 

Holiday Sugar Cookies

I already have said how much I love the holidays, but it's true. I love them!  Last weekend my friend Allison came over and we made some classic sugar cookies.  We cut them out with very cute holiday shaped cookie cutters and dusted them with some powdered sugar.  Then we went foraging around the neighborhood on capitol hill for some trimmings to decorate the photograph with.

This weekend I am going to  Central Cinema one of my favorite movie theaters in Seattle to watch Gremlins and then go look at lights with friends at  Candy Cane Lane or this crazy thing in Issaquah Ginnaty Light Show.  I have some snow shoeing planned, a solstice party with some long time girlfriends, a night with the family watching Elf, and A Christmas Story. I hope you are enjoying the start to the holiday season as much as I am! 

Enjoy!

Recipe  (this makes 2 dozen cookies) Used from All Recipes

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup and 2 teaspoons white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured (or powdered sugar) surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Holiday Cocktails & Mocktails

Well it's officially the holidays, with Thanksgiving just over and Christmas a few weeks away.  I have to admit, I really, REALLY, love Christmastime. I think it comes from years of really not liking the holidays.  It just felt like so much pressure to me. Now though, it's different and I totally embrace the holidays. I love every little part. Going to look at lights, seeing Christmas movies, (I usually see Gremlins & A Christmas Story), my friend's annual White Elephant party, making Christmas cookies, SNOW, visiting my parents. :) I like making my house smell like pine with scented candles, and mulling spices on the stove during the day.

On the subject of the holidays, I was really lucky to be able to shoot again with Rachel Grunig, an amazing Stylist here in Seattle. Check out her website here. I really wanted to shoot more drinks, and she had already had this idea in mind of doing a holiday cocktail theme.  It was such a fun day! She has such an eye, and comes so prepared, and is really fun to work with too! What more could you ask for? She even sent me over the recipes from items we shot.  I am very happy with all the images.

I am including recipes of the drinks below, and of course, you can always substitute the alcohol with some sparkling cider or ginger beer, or just leave it out, for people that don't drink, kids, or preggers friends. I have put suggestions in each of the recipes. 

Enjoy!


Champagne, sparkling cider, or ginger beer, with Rosemary & Cranberry Garnish, sugared cranberries on the side

 

Ginger Bourbon Fizz
1 part bourbon, 2 parts ginger ale or ginger beer, garnish with a large orange twist, (non alcoholic, just omit bourbon)

Spiced Persimmon Eggnog
eggnog
dark rum (or ginger ale or ginger beer)
1 persimmon, pureed
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
star anise

In a glass, combine 4 oz eggnog and 1 oz dark rum or ginger ale or ginger beer. Sift a pinch each of
cinnamon and nutmeg over the eggnog. Finish with a hefty swirl of persimmon puree and a star anise.

 

Persimmon Fizz
1 persimmon, pureed

1 tsp ground ginger

Brut champagne or sparkling cider
cinnamon sticks

Mix ground ginger into the persimmon puree. Place 1/2 oz persimmon puree into a glass, top with champagne. Stir and serve with a cinnamon stick.

*This also tastes delicious made with sparkling cider instead of champagne.

Persimmon Fizz Garnished with Rosemary

 

Double Chocolate Ginger Meringues
3 egg whites at room temperature
pinch salt
2/3 c caster sugar (also called superfine or baker's sugar)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp ground ginger
2 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

1 TB cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 250 F and line a baking sheet with parchment.

These work best when made with a stand mixer, but an electric hand mixer will do in a pinch.

Add the pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat in a clean bowl on medium-high speed until foamy and approaching the soft peak stage. Increase the speed to high and gradually add the caster sugar, 1 spoonful at a time. Keep beating the mixture until you reach the medium-stiff peak stage. The mixture should stand up firmly when the beater is removed, with just the very tip of the peak curling over. Whisk in the vanilla and ground ginger, then fold in the chopped chocolate. Sift the cocoa over the mixture and fold in. Do not mix thoroughly - you want to achieve a streaky effect.

Drop spoonfuls of meringue onto the baking sheet. Bake at 250 F for one hour, then turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside to dry out for an additional hour.

Pumpkin Pancakes & More

A few weeks back, I was asked by 2nd year designer Christen Toepel from the SCCA graphic design program if I was interested in collaborating together on a photo shoot.  I was definitely interested! Check out her website here www.christentoepel.com.

I get very excited now by any opportunity to just play around and have fun with food photography.  Especially if it means a chance for me to expand, and try something new.  This is a bit less nerve wracking then working with a paying client sometimes...  Christen was going for a fall/wintery theme, so the 3 things that were decided on were pumpkin pancakes with apple compote, mulled wine & cinnamon rolls.  Here are a few favorites from the shoot.

On a sadder note, one of the instructors from the photography program I went to, Robbie Milne, passed away last week.  I will always remember him laughing at (with) me, "Amy it's cheese! It's not supposed to be depressing!!".  When I would try to do something moody and it just wouldn't turn out quite right...He had a great sense of humor and a big heart.  He will be missed so much.


Here is a link for the pumpkin pancake recipe:

Pumpkin Pancakes- Allyson Kramer

Here is the apple compote recipe:

Apple Cinnamon Topping
4 large apples (or 6-8 small apples), peeled and cored
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup (180 ml) apple cider
1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cut the apples into 1/8-inch slices and cut those slices in half. Put the apples in a saucepan and add the lemon juice and apple cider. Stir apples to coat thoroughly with the mixture. Cover the apples and cook over medium heat for 7 minutes.
Add brown sugar. Turn heat down to medium-low and cook uncovered until the juice thickens and the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in cinnamon.


Mulled Wine- from Bon Appetit

Sadly, the cinnamon rolls are directly from store bought dough, because we kept trying to purchase them at Bakery Nouveau, however it was going to take 2 and a half hours for them to be made.  They were still quite delicious!

 

Roasted Tomato Soup with Goat Cheese Croutons

This past weekend, my lovely friend Allison came over to help make some roasted tomato soup. She has become a regular in my photo adventures, which is great since she has so much baking experience, and is just so fun to hang out with.  Here is her baking blog, which she recently started with another pal, Liz, you can visit it here at Pie Drunk.

We had decided we were going to make something savory, and I wanted to try out this soup from the What Katie Ate cookbook.  If you don't know of Katie Quinn Davies, she's an amazing food photographer,  and you should definitely check out her blog What Katie Ate.

Here is a link to the recipe Colm's Tomato Soup.  This recipe omits using the croutons on top, which are definitely worth it.  (It also omits putting the soup in a food processor or blender once you are finished, so I would suggest that as well) To make the croutons, you need to slice a baguette and briefly toast the slices in the broiler. Once toasted, spread goat cheese over the top of the croutons and put back in the broiler, and once the cheese is melted remove. Top the soup with a crouton, and then several sprigs of thyme. Delicious.  You can also top with a little bit of cream too, if feeling extra decadent. 

As far as what I have been up to, well I shot for a few magazines last week and just trying to (finally) get over being sick.  I am working on some smaller projects the next few months, and had a really fun day of shooting yesterday (blog post on that next week).  I got to hike Rattlesnake Ridge today and I'm feeling really lucky to have spent the day out in nature with friends and get away from the bustle of city life, even if just for the day.

Enjoy!

Amy