Farmer's Market

I haven't had much time to cook lately, but here are a few photos I've taken in the last week! I was totally drawn by all of the beautiful vibrant colors.

Scallops over Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad

For Valentine's Day, Nate and I decided to stay in and cook to avoid the restaurant bussel. We chose to make bacon-wrapped scallops over the kale and brussel sprout salad from Parsnips, not Potatoes on Valentine's Day, but Whole Foods was out of scallops that day! I guess everyone else had the same idea so, we decided to wait until the weekend to make it. I went to the Farmer's Market and found beautiful purple brussel sprouts, which I feel really brought some color to the dish and I was ready to start. As I said, the scallops were originally supposed to be bacon wrapped, but I didn't do my research because the bacon would not stay on the darn scallops. I ended up cutting them up and turning them into bacon bits for the salad. Then, I used the bacon fat instead of chicken fat (listed in the recipe since that was what was used at Parsnips, not Potatoes) to dress the salad. I didn't really notice a difference from the chicken fat version so you are fine either way!

The scallops were super easy too. I had tried to make scallops before but they always ended up gritty and firm so I turned to my Ad Hoc at Home cookbook. Thomas Keller recommended brining the scallops in salt water for 10 minutes, then cooking them in clarified butter. The key is not to crowd them or else they start steaming instead of caramelizing. Anyway, below is the recipe for the salad. Enjoy!

Parsnips, Not Potatoes

I've recently been a part of a pop-up group called Parsnips, not Potatoes with a few of my high school friends and we had our first event last Saturday for a Valentine's Day Special. Shin was the head chef while myself, Kristin, and Matt helped with things food related. Yumi and Mimi were in charge of decorations and Phiton was in charge of photos, videos, and the website. I wish I could say that I took these photos, but they were taken by the very talented Phiton.

Anyway, this was such a great experience and I plan on helping out more, but gosh starting up a restaurant is a TON of work. Timing of serving is difficult, prep takes days, great presentation is difficult, the list goes on and on. But I must say, the food we served was all phenomenal thanks to Shin, so much that I'm going to try to recreate the salad with a different protein this Sunday. Here is what the menu was:

1. Petite Croque-Madame Topped with Fried Quail Egg And Mornay Sauce

2. Roasted Chicken Thigh on a Winter Slaw Kale

3. Beef Bourguignon with Short Ribs Over Root Vegetables

4. Walnut Crumble Deep Dish Fruit Pie Apples, Pairs, Cranberries And Figs

So if you like what you see, be sure to check Parsnips, not Potatoes out! Their next event is in April.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do I like Starbucks? Not particularly.

Did I see their Valentine's day cups and want to go get one? Yes

Did I go on February 4 thinking they would have them, but they didn't? Yes

Did I go again on February 8, just to get the Valentine's day cup? Yes

Did I get a Grande instead of a Tall because the Valentine's day cup only came in the Grande? Yes

Did I ask for an extra cup? Yes

Did Starbucks' Marketing technique work on me? I would say so.

Super Bowl Sunday

I need a backyard. I need a fixed lens. I need a studio! This weekend, I went to Mike and Emily's for Super Bowl Sunday where the lovely Emily made us baked taquitos. I can't say they were the most authentic taquitos because 1. they were baked and 2. they had cream cheese inside, but they were delicious nonetheless! I shot the first picture outside in Mike and Emily's backyard and gosh I really love shooting in direct sunlight. I can increase the aperture as much as I want, which really gives a lot more focus to the photo, which I LOVE being able to do.

Then the second picture was taken with Emily's fixed lens, which was super fun to play around with. It's a great lens to have for indoor photography, where I need great help in. I think it's time to start saving up for a fixed lens! =)

Waffles

Waffles! I had been craving waffles for a long time so it was about time that I made them. This is Nate's mom's recipe which is supposedly famous around Washburn, Wisconsin so I decided to try it out. I wish I could say that I actually cooked the waffles, but I'll admit that Nate and his brother Jeremy were the ones cooking while Val and I were just sitting around drinking coffee. The waffles turned out perfectly though. They were so fluffy and tasted great with blueberries. I played around with my shutter speed to get a shot of the maple syrup being poured onto the waffles, which you see above. To get this shot, I needed a lot of light so I made a makeshift setup on the computer chair next to a window that was pouring in direct sunlight. You do what you gotta do!

I realize I never talked about the pop-up restaurant that I helped out with. I wish I had pictures to post, but there really wasn't time since there was so much prepping to be done. It was a great experience especially because you realize how much people appreciate good food. Our chef got raving reviews and I can't wait to help again for the Valentine's day special. I will be posting again soon because I got some great pictures from Super Bowl Sunday of food that Emily made. She even let me use her fixed lens for a little while and got some great pictures out of it. Stand by!