andrew and michelle engaged ...

here's the slideshow set of andrew and michelle's engagement session last weekend ... click here for the slideshow ...

noise or no noise ...

while out in chicago this past weekend, shot andrew and michelle's engagement. two shots from it, cropped, processed in b&w, up'd contrast, darkened, vignetted. added noise to second picture, i love both shots, i cannot decide which one i like better, with or without the noise added. each has its own quality.

chicago self portrait ...

another day, another hotel. intercontinental, chicago. great bits and pieces in the hotel room, particularly the mirror ...

i am addicted to dumplings ...

i absolutely love chinese dumplings, the pork and chives ones. homemade ones though include a lot of bite in the habanero form.

pork dumplings/pot stickers
- 1lb ground pork
- scallions
- cilantro
- ginger
- 2 tbsp hot garlic chili paste
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1.5 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 3/4 cup very finely chopped savoy cabbage
- 2 habaneros very finely chopped
- chopped chives
- pepper
- wonton wrappers (or make your own, takes too long though)

i actually find that putting all the ingredients into a food processor works best (not the wonton wrappers though) and mix. combine in order though, i usually put scallions, cilantro, habanero, ginger, garlic, and cabbage in first to get a properly sized fine chop, then add in the remaining ingredients.

find a comfy seat, with a small bowl of water and some wet paper towels. put about 3/4 tbsp of the mixture into a wonton wrapper and crimp. repeat. repeat about 100 times. when complete, i usually place them all on a tray and put into the freezer to zap them right away, so i can store them (of course leaving some aside to enjoy right away).

to cook, place 6-8 into a small frying pan on high heat. put about 1tbsp of vegetable oil (i use cook spray and a non-stick pan). fry for about 2-3 mins on each side, or until a big brown. add in enough water to fill bottom of pan and cover 1/3 up the dumpling. cover with a tight lid and do not remove lid for 3-4 mins. plate and server with dipping sauce below.



dipping sauce:
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup black vinegar
- 1 very finely chopped habanero
- 1tbsp garlic chili paste
- 1/4 cup lite soy sauce
- finely chopped chives, cilantro, and mint too
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce

combine. yeah, that's all, combine!

lone sailboat ...

sunset shot (actually there are few variations i modified and posted two here, but the first one is most certainly an original, unmodified ...

a bit more of hawaii ...

i was going to process through all my pictures and then post some, but i realized that will take forever, so why not just post a bit at a time. it'll probably be better for my sanity as i'm cooped up inside these winter months as it's freezing and continuously snowing outside. seriously, it's snowed almost every week now. there's nothing but dirty snow everywhere. this is the hdr set.




























of course the obligatory this is what it looked like before i left ...

a small hint of summer ...

somehow some tomatoes are available, as are avocados, perhaps from chili?

lump crab napoleon with pesto vinaigrette and herb goat cheese ...

- handful of grape tomatoes (or vine ripe/heirloom if you can find some)
- basil, lots of basil
- lump crab (maryland blue crab is best, again if you can find some)
- your favorite herb goat cheese
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- extra virgin olive oil
- white vinegar
- 1 tbsp maille mustard
- parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper
- honey

coarsely chop a handful of grape tomatoes with 3 basil leaves, add a bit of salt, put into a round form and pop into the fridge while preparing the rest. add about 20-25 basil leaves into a blender, add in olive oil, vinegar, honey, 1 tbsp parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, mustard and about 3 grape tomatoes. blend well. remove the tomato form from fridge, place onto a plate, top with lump crap and sliced avocado. add as much pesto vinaigrette surrounding the tomatoes as you prefer, crumble goat cheese.

it may be freezing outside, but it's a taste of summer!

stromboli is good ...

quick and easy dinner, stromboli! just take some pizza dough, a small bit of your favorite tomato sauce (homemade) and a choice of meat - i use pepperoni ... assemble, roll and bake.

vacation preview ...

back from vacation, here's a two shot preview. first one is me rocking my tan of two days (i think?). second is a random picture of a sail, wait, all the pictures from vacation are random! well over 700 pictures to process. back to reality now.

away message ...

i'm currently away, yes, taking a break from life. a quick visit out to oahu/waikiki. hopefully will have a chance to grab some great photos.

be back next week!