I am gathering my recipes and trying to decide which ones would be good to share. I have loads of recipes...in my head. Most of the things I make are not from a written recipe, so I am having to write down and try to quantify the ingredients for each dish as I add them so I have something to post other than the finished product. The other problem is deciding which recipes are even worthy of being posted. Do I go with the simple and quick meals that are good for busy families? Do I focus on the recipes that only use fresh ingredients and R-Meat? Do I only post the show stoppers? The recipes that make me drool typing about them? I could always just go with a mix of everything. The quick and tasty, fresh and delicious and the drool worthy. Variety is the spice of life after all so I guess that is the way to go.
I made a stir fry the other day and decided that I might want to post it so I had better write it down and take some pictures. Writing down the ingredients was pretty straight forward; I started with a pretty easy recipe. The picture taking...now that was a learning experience. First I lined up all my ingredients in pretty pinch bowls. I piled all the veggies on a pretty cutting board and arranged the other ingredients around them. I took a few photographs and rearranged them. Took a few more pictures. Then I realized I forgot an ingredient... Start again. After getting the perfect shot of my ingredients it was on to the composition of the meal. And a picture of each step. I wash my hands a lot when I cook anyway, but I think I went through a bottle of soap in this one meal. I couldn't touch the camera with greasy, wet, or food-particled hands, right? And to get the perfect shot I needed to make sure I stopped after every teensy step so people would know what I was doing, right? So of course I had to take a picture of the oil in the pan (wash your hands.) And the meat as it hit the pan (wash your hands.) And the meat after it cooked for a minute (I don't think I washed my hands this time.) And the veggies when they hit the pan (wash your hands.) You get the idea. I continued taking my pictures from every angle imaginable, trying to get that cookbook worthy shot I had in my head. I learned that when the steam is rising from the pan, an overhead shot is probably not the best... I also discovered that the light coming from the hood over the stove is not really "ideal" for photographs. Oh well. Live and learn. It kind of takes the "cooking" out of cooking to document it this way. It was a little weird at first, but once I started seeing the dish I was making as more of an art piece than a meal, it was really fun. I think I get so caught up in my life sometimes that making dinner becomes more about getting food in peoples bellies expeditiously than actually creating a food experience. I look forward to creating my next meal experience and documenting it for you (even with all the hand washing.)
In the end, I got more than dry hands and dirty dishes, I got some valuable experience and some nice photos. I will post that first recipe as soon as I finish editing the photos and tweeking the written recipe. I am really excited to share our recipes with you! Super Mac's mom was a great cook and I have some of her recipes that I think people will go nuts over. I plan to have some of the recipes follow the growing season. Some of the recipes to look forward to in May/June: Asparagus Soup, Strawberries and Cream Pie, Pork Chops with Grilled Asparagus and Wild Rice, Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble. Yum! I hope you enjoy reading and trying our recipes as much as I do creating them!
Until next time,
Nicole
No comments:
Post a Comment