Macaroni and Cheese

I've been wanting to make this macaroni and cheese recipe for a long time and since it is basically a huge casserole, why not invite some friends over? So I invited Mike and Emily over who just recently got married, but there was an alterior motive. Emily is a photography whiz! She has been so helpful during my learning process so the least I could do was cook her a meal. =)

I'm starting to see that photography is really about give and take and it's starting to get frustrating. This shoot was no exception. There wasn't as much light as I had wished so I had to increase the aperture, but with that, I lost some focus in the shot when that was not my intention. You'll see that the thyme is a little out of focus; gosh, I really need to learn how to shoot photos indoors! I'm also very confused with how much ISO I should use. In my photography class, the teacher really advised against it, but sometimes I just don't know how to bring light into my picture. Luckily, Emily gave me a few tips about using white balance to bring more light and ambience to a picture so I will be experimenting with that. Enjoy!

Intelligentsia Love.

I will be posting soon! but enjoy these in the meantime. =)

Banana oatmeal flax muffins

In lieu of the new year, I decided to make a healthy muffin. My coworker Claudine gave me this recipe and I only altered it a little bit. Instead of 2 tsp of cinnamon, I used 1 since I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon. This recipe is so simple and healthy, I will definitely be making it again. It is not sweet at all so don't expect the taste of a blueberry muffin, but it tastes great with bananas and is a great source of fiber. I will definitely be eating these for breakfast for the next few days.

I wasn't happy with the photos that I got from this shoot. It was overcast outside so I didn't get a whole lot of light and just didn't put in the time to style the scene that well. I keep letting laziness get the best of me. =) I do have some exciting events coming up soon though! I've gotten involved with a group of my high school friends to open up a pop-up restaurant for one night and possibly more if it goes well. We have some great recipes planned out and I can't wait to get some pictures posted, but it probably won't be for a while since we have a lot of kinks to work out first. Anyway, I hope you like the muffins!

SUSHI POT LUCK

So I've tried to upload these photos all week but blogspot was being slow on me so here they finally are! On Saturday, a bunch of friends and I got together to make Japanese food. Nate and I had taken a sushi making class a long time ago and learned how to make mushroom inari rolls so we brought this to the pot luck. We all also made sushi rolls with various fillings like cucumber, avocados, and mangos. To make sushi rolls at home, all you have to do is get Grade A sushi from a Japanese market and get creative with fillings. It is pretty affordable and a little goes a long way.

Anyway, the inari rolls are easy; you just have to buy inari rolls and shiitake mushrooms. You saute the mushrooms with equal portions of soy sauce and mirin, then stuff the inari with rice, then the mushrooms and voila! you are done. I don't know the exact measurements because I just eyeball it now, but just make sure there is just enough liquid for the mushrooms to absorb. Don't overdo it. Anway, I encourage everyone to make sushi at home. I haven't gotten food poisoning once yet! =) I wish I had pictures of everything from that day like the twix bars and boston creme cupcakes Rui made, but I only got pictures of the sushi and the inari rolls. Enjoy!

Banana-blueberry smoothie

I went to breakfast this morning with my sister and her friend Megan and my sister and I were craving a smoothie, but the restaurant only had a green matcha smoothie. Who would order that? Anyway, I got home and walked Cooper over to Trader Joe's to pick up ingredients for a smoothie. I played around with the proportions and the results were perfect! I was a little nervous that the smoothie would be too tart because the blueberries weren't very sweet, but it turned out really good.

I wish the colors were a little more vibrant, but I made due with what I had. I also wish I had a straw to put in the cup/jar but that's ok. If you can tell in the first picture, I really tried to concentrate on the blueberries and LOVED that you could see some water droplets on the fruit. I LOVE MY CAMERA.

I will be posting some more pictures shortly of a Japanese themed pot luck we had on Saturday. We had sushi, mushroom inari rolls, soba with dashi, Boston creme cupcakes, and homemade twix bars! I didn't get pictures of it all because I was too distracted playing BOGGLE, but I will post what I have later.

Sauteed chicken breasts with tarragon

Happy New Year!!! I know I always state the obvious in my blog, but gosh, lighting makes such a big difference in photos. I cooked this meal during the day, even though to me it was more of a dinner, but it was totally worth it. I wanted to make this first post of 2012 special so I decided to choose a recipe out of my Thomas Keller cookbook called "Ad Hoc at Home". I made Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Tarragon and I must say that tarragon has really started to make an impression on me lately. I've used it for this asaparagus soup recipe that I will have to post sometimes and now this dish. This recipe was so easy and I will definitely be making it again. I paired the chicken with a simple salad with this amazing pear champagne vinaigrette and pears from Trader Joes and some white wine that I used in the dish.

I really tried to focus on the photography this time around. I tried experimenting with the shutter speed to get a shot of the sauce being poured onto the chicken, but failed miserably. I forgot that with a faster shutter speed came no light captured so all my pictures turned out black. Well, at least I'm learning. I also spent a lot of time trying to think of styling techniques which is why I bought the flowers, cheese and a baguette. I thought they would be a good backdrop and have been craving RedHawk's Cowgirl Creamery (the cheese that is displayed). It is the stinkiest cheese I've ever had, but SUPER good so try it! ;)

I'm not really sure what I will be cooking next, but I will make sure that it is sometime soon! I want to try to post at least once a week. Wish me luck! Here is the recipe for the chicken. I will go back to putting the recipe on a picture from photoshop, but didn't get the ideal picture for that this time around.

Ingredients:

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp curry powder

6 chicken breasts

salt

canola oil

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp minced shallot

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp coursely chopped tarragon, plus 1 tbsp tarragon leaves

black pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix the paprika and curry powder in a small bowl and season the chicken breasts on both sides. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. (I did this for about 1 hour out of impatience)

2. Lay each chicken breast between two large pieces of plastic wrap and pound until about 1/4 inch thick. (This part is fun)

3. Season the chicken with salt and heat on a pan with canola oil for about 1 to 1.5 minutes on one side. Flip over for another 1 to 1.5 minutes until fully cooked through.

4. Set chicken aside, perhaps in an oven at 200 degrees to keep warm.

5. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in the same pan and add shallots for about 30 seconds.

6. Pour in the white wine and cook for about a minute before adding the chicken stock.

7. Bring the mixture to a boil then stir in the chopped tarragon and remaining 2 tbsp of butter.

8. If there is any juices from the chicken in the oven, add that too.

9. Season with salt and pepper and serve with chicken.