Places to Get Food-#4 in a Series-Alexandria, PA
Route 22- Alexandria PA- the info I found on yelp says it is like a time travel experience, going back about 25-30 years when you enter! I pulled over to the side of the road and photographed it but then wondered if I should be procuring food in this series and write a review?
A Cooper’s Hawk and the Five Lasagnas
Usually you see a Cardinal or Blue Jay or Sparrow but not with him around!!!
Oh why didn’t I bring the 70-200 lens this weekend? And even if I had, who could have switched it if it were in the camera bag and not on the camera body? Looked out the window to see how the weather was and what a surprise! This hawk was sitting out on top of the swingset and as I slid the glass door open, trying to be so quiet, I was sure he would fly away. I got two shots off and his head moved and he flapped twice and was gone in a flash. Looked up Ohio hawks online and this one seems to be an immature Cooper’s Hawk. He was definitely looking for breakfast. He heard the shutter on the camera, turned his head and was gone.
And that was the planned post for Monday, already set up to go.
Then I get a comment from Joanne in Nebraska (Sunday’s Hot Air Balloons) and a special request for the five lasagnas pic so here they are and a link to the Butternut Squash Lasagna recipe by Giada Di Laurentis, 3rd from the left. We omitted the nutmeg from the Butternut Squash recipe- why? we didn’t have any. Aunt Mary cooked all five with some assembly assistance by Anna and Michael. The lasagnas were accompanied by Garlic Bread and salad and fresh fruit. Here is the ground sausage and meat recipe- omitted the sugar and the fennel seeds from this recipe. The four veg lasagnas were the most popular! Anna wrote labels for each one. Many guests tried a sampler of a few of them. Butternut Squash was a favorite.
Spinach, Four Cheese, Butternut Squash, Ground Sausage and Beef, and Roast Eggplant & Zucchini Lasagna
A Place to Get Food- #2 in a Series- Wenatchee, WA
Wenatchee, WA. This photo is now hanging over my bed as of last week. Not sure how my dreams will be affected. I like the colors. Full name is EZ’s Burger Deluxe on Wenatchee Ave. I was visiting my brother in Okanogan, WA. Shot it from the parking lot across the street.
Selected by Juror Chris Jordan for Works of Man show- Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado. Spring 2009
Places to Get Food- #1 in a Series- Seaside, Florida
Another little project I started a few years back. This one is in Seaside Florida. Not a WordPress challenge, but my own. I love the table and two chairs.
And thanks for taking time to vote- 330+ blog views on Monday- Poll results- 12 people voted for Octopus photo and 8 voted for the Sunflower Seed Roll. 
What Flavor is Summer?
The berries from the Farmer’s Market- blueberries for pancakes and muffins and the huge black ones like jewels and the strawberries and raspberries… some for preserves. Juicy peach. Cherries from Chelan. Or the brief sour ones. Melons. Zucchini and eggplant and basil right off the plants in your DIL’s garden. The sweet corn from the farm stand. Just back from Columbus OH and missing the family so Steve and I drove to the retro theatre the Oaks in Oakmont- my favorite movie theatre in the area with spacious leg room and a big screen. We saw the documentary Buck (stunning photography of the west) and afterward we got ice cream cones (this is a single!) at Brr-Kees Homemade Ice Cream Stand, smooth and creamy and delicious. My summer flavor is coffee ice cream. Shot with the phone. Extended the feeling of summer vacation and I didn’t think about the start of the new school year in 3 days time.
What flavor is summer?
A generous single scoop of coffee ice cream!
Stale Blue Peeps Still Life
What would you do if it’s June and you found an opened box of Marshmallow PEEPS® on top of your daughter-in-law’s washing machine in the laundry room? My son’s washing machine, too but there they were, sitting there, already opened. Someone had eaten half the double box of the little chicks. And true, Easter was the end of April so how hard and dried out must they be by now? Then I thought to myself, I like them with a bit of stale crust, not fresh. When was the last time you ate a Marshmallow Peep?
Darn, they’re BLUE.
I’m always going on and on about how I don’t like to eat anything blue. Wah Wah Wah. Blue food grosses me out I always say. Blueberries are really deep purple not blue. I never liked those raspberry popsicles, either. Blue food seems so fake, like the frosting on a Smurf Cake!
HA! Okay, I won’t eat one but– there was some great light streaming through their foyer windows, even with the new UV protection film they had put on last week. What to photograph? The older kids at dive team, youngest sleeping, Jack watching Tom and Jerry. I took the box of blue PEEPS, put them on the stone tile floor, turned them a bit, let the light catch on the cellophane and reflect from their sugary skin. Oh yes, I was photographing the stale blue peeps, how interesting the light was. I could see a bit of sparkle from the sugar coating. I wondered if they were still moist inside? When was Easter, I calculated the degree of freshness. That stale factor seemed attractive to me and I what does it matter anyway because remember I don’t eat anything BLUE.
I’ll just separate the one from the herd, flock, group, family, row…..yes, there it was, the white marshmallowy interior of a PEEP. \
The guts exposed.
Let me adjust the white balance on the camera settings with the white insides showing now. See how the light reflects on the white?
Oh I remembered the Mother Goose Rhyme about old Hannah Bantry or maybe she was young.
Hannah Bantry,
In the pantry,
Gnawing at a mutton bone.
How she gnawed,
How she clawed it,
When she found herself alone.
And you know what happened next. I broke the cardinal rule about Don’t eat anything BLUE. I ripped off the tail end of that PEEP and it was chewy and very stale. Dried to perfection. Just seasoned not raw or gushy. Totally disgusting. Delicious. Childhood remembered, but they were yellow then. I ate it, chewed it, swallowed the sweet sweet sweetness of the sugary confection. And photographed the evidence. PEEPS® and I are about a year apart in age.
I put back the other ones in the still opened, airing-out-box of PEEPS®, right back on top of the washing machine in the laundry room.
I confess.
I ate it AND enjoyed doing so but limited consumption to a lone PEEP. Honest. Even though it was BLUE!!
There are all sorts of shapes, recipes and crazy info about PEEPS® and the Just Born Manufacturers.
What will you admit to eating when no one is watching?
Tastykakes Still Life
From the archives. Jim’s Steaks in Philly. Tastykakes. Behind glass. Mary wrote about Drake’s, Hostess, and there’s Little Debbie brands from different regions. Each one has a snack cake specialty - Ring Dings, Ho- Hos or Twinkies or Oatmeal Creme Pies!
There was a commercial, Tastykake Cake and Pies.
Piccolo Forno in Lawrenceville
Butternut squash and leek risotto for the main course. Ordered the house salad first and excellent dressing arrived in the cruet. Delicious and not too crusty bread. We didn’t have a reservation but you can call Piccolo-Forno . We were lucky we got a table right away. No wait. It was bustling. Only drawback the surfaces reflect the din so it’s a bit loud. Food and service very good. To read a review click here.
Everything was delicious!
very good!
Book Club Held During Power Outage
It was all candles. Candles on the mantel, the table, the desk in the hall. It was very dark. I thought all of us looked great by candlelight. We discussed The Help and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The power was off for about two hours. Fortunately the night before I baked a Gateau di Sirop (recipe)with a bottle of Steen’s Cane Syrup. Baked Split Second Cookies with Bon Maman Fig Jam. Extra sharp cheddar and Honeycrisp apple slices. And Tess and Chris brought me a box of St. Moritz truffles from Oxford Centre downtown. Lovely. A gold box with an oval window in the middle. There’s a spider and a tiny dancer one and a pumpkin one and each one is delicately embellished. Just before everyone arrived, Laura had sent a picture on my phone of a lovely ring on a finger. Then she called. James Weaver asked her to marry him and she said YES. It was a happy night!
Tess told me every flavor and I promptly forgot almost all of them. Going to have to eat each one and be surprised,
Leftover Brioche? French Toast- 3 images
Talking to my sister(NYC) Sunday morning I asked her the best way to warm the brioche from Saturday. She responded French Toast! and so while we talked on speakerphone I made it and it was so good. Had never made it out of brioche before although have seen it on a menu. Soak. Saute in heavy pan with a bit of butter and oil. Eat with warmed maple syrup or jam.
Slice and soak in egg and milk mixture.
Jack and the Giant Curly Fry
Dining at the Ohio State Fair. One fry was like an entire potato! From the archives.
Jim’s Steaks South Street Philly
In Philly for about 24 hours for wedding Sunday at noon. Steve and I drove up 16th St and he got out and read the Historic Marker at Louis Kahn’s office building 1501 Walnut St., drove past my parents’ old home on Lombard, and South Street where we actually waited in line with the other tourists. There is a lot of construction near Independence Hall. We drove by Ben Franklin’s grave where Mark and his Grampie used to throw pennies. Drove out to City Avenue through a lot of traffic where we saw a man come out of nowhere and cross highway 76 and jump on a car hood two lanes over. Lots of police cars from all directions a minute or two later. We tried to watch the local news to see what happened. Unexpected. Glad he didn’t pick my car to jump on.
The Saturday night line at Jim's Steaks on South Street, Philly.
Cooking Five Omelettes at One Time
UCONN-Rome dining hall Grillmeister cooking five omelettes simultaneously, while the fillings heat up under the small paper plates we’d each handed him with our filling choices. His cooking skill was something to watch. We had waited all week to get in the omelette line and today was the day. Well worth the short wait. Back to oatmeal tomorrow before we leave.
You should have seen him twirl the spatula!
Recent Comments