This blog has ended. I have started again here.

Kind of a crap-out

The reality is, I don't have the energy to write up multiple posts on our amazing 5 night 20th Anniversary Trip to St. Maarten.

Suffice it to say, it was everything one hopes for in an island trip. Now granted, we haven't been to Hawaii, which, from all I hear, is one of the ultimate destinations in island vacations, but our time in St. Maarten was pretty darn nice.

I am not going to throw up a bunch of pictures here with all sorts of annotated blurbs.

Just go here, and set it on slideshow (you can adjust the speed with which you want to spend with 113 images) and you will get a flavah of our good time!

Images by Others that I Like

I think, I will try and get some rather more regular quick posts up of various things without having to worry about the images that accompany my text.

So, today I inaugurate a new series. This is when I will provide the link to an image that catches my eye and why. In many cases, I have already posted a comment to the image back on the photographers blog, so there may be a little bit of repeat here and there.

On the photoblog artographer, there was this image which I totally love because:

1. amazing but muted colors
2. the water and reflections
3. he got it all the elements from foreground to background in the frame in an integrated manner.

Do you love this?

Due to very important copyright images, I am not going to post a copy of the actual image so you'll just have to click away!

http://artographer.shutterchance.com/photoblog/gear_/

Can't Play Without Sticks - Evidently

So, we are back from St. Maarten (blog post coming up) and trying to get back in the swing of things in a non-Caribbean island way. Very hard, let me tell you. I keep looking at the island pics and sigh!

Oh well. So, back to the routine of life. It was good to see the boys and the dear daughter again. And feeling somewhat guilty, we rounded up the boys to take them to the park so they could get WET!

From our house, Dumbarton Oaks park is +/- 10 mins away on a normal day. On this day it took nearly an hour. The dutchman was cursing a bit - certainly not the easy peasy way of life we had just experienced in St. Maarten, but full on weekend traffic construction DC nonsense. How long does it take to fix a road? 500 years? AARGH!!!



The picture above is taken out the side window of the jeep. Bo is in his usual position, tongue hanging out, big smile on his face. It doesn't seem to matter where we go; it's all an adventure for them. You can sort of see the bicyclist on the top (the path we were trying to get to), the traffic cones and the line of cars behind us. Very frustrating.

We finally made it and took the straight path to the water. Many other dogs were there and Tucker, being the extrovert of the two, made some friends, but the day was basically devoted to the getting, and moving and teasing and throwing of sticks.



In our two golden household, the boys very much have preferences. Tucker is all about the sticks. Sticks all day, every day, in every situation and flavor. Bo is the tennis ball freak. Sticks are a distant second choice. But here, because we forgot to bring any balls, sticks had to suffice for Bo which totally cuts into Tucker's dominance of the stick game.



Tucker pretty much did not have a moment when he didn't have a stick in his mouth. Is he ever going to outgrow these obsession? Our backyard would really breathe a sigh of relief if he were to move on to something else ...



Luckily, there were some moments of sharing.

A Safari to the Tidal Basin

They actually call it that - a photo safari. I had signed up for my first photo group experience online not knowing what to expect. This one was billed as Sunrise with the Cherry Blossoms. Essentially, it meant turning up at the paddle boats at 6:15 armed with camara, lenses and tripod. That's right. You read that right. 6:15 am!



All I can say is I must really like to take pictures to wake-up, get dressed, and make my way in early morning dark. Sunrise was supposed to bring that wonderful light that illuminates the cherry blossom petals and makes the water glow.

Well, so I get up, get dressed, and drive to GW (no parking at the tidal basin), and take a taxi to the meet-up spot. Only, there's no sunrise. There's darkness and gray and fog.



Ha! Is it murphy's law? I was rather excited to do this photo shoot and hoped to learn some tips and techniques and get some nice pictures. I had even ordered a new fast zoom lens, the Sigma 50-150 f/2.8 just for the occassion.



Turns out I didn't learn much of anything. It wasn't really a lesson, just a faciliated group experience. What I got out of it was the safety of people around at a time and place that I would never go to alone. Surprisingly, all of the 15 or so people that signed up for this particular safari were women. I read somewhere that 51% of DSLR buyers are women, so maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. I used the tripod for the first time ever and was really clumsy with it. Seems like I will have to get some practice with it to figure things out. In the end, I mostly bagged the tripod and carryed it around with me ackwardly. Still, all in all, I'm glad I did it, and will do more of these. Hopefully, next time the light will cooperate.

Here's one of my fellow safari members taking a picture down low.



I have two favorites from the morning. Gotta make lemonade from lemons, right.





One of the benefits of being there at 7 in the morning is you catch a seat at a picnic table

Finding flaws

Don't you hate it when things you think are great have flaws? So, the other day I was heading to Whole Foods to pick up a few things and, like I often do, I had my camera slung over my shoulder.

I swear I didn't know about it ahead of time for sure, although I had the "possibility" of it in my head somewhere, but I told myself, nah, that's just paranoia.

Turns out, Whole Foods has this really paranoid and all corporatey rule about photography in their stores. As in, no photography ever. You probably knew about this already but I didn't.

So there I was, in Whole Foods and I came across a display that looked interesting. I pulled my camera up to take a picture and before I could hit the shutter for the third time, a whole foods employee came up to me to tell me not to take picture. "Corporate Policy."

I'm not sure about this, since I never really asked, but it seemed that the security guard was everywhere I was. And in fact, when checking out, there he was again at the end of the line just hanging out. Icky. Generally I am one of the converts. Love the whole vibe of the place. Ask me if I felt completely let down. I did. I will still shop at WF, like I have a lot of WF-like choices, not, but still ...

Who do you love?

The dutchman would (should :-)) say the obvious things. But there is a new love in the mix these days.



He doesn't have a name for it, like red rider or rocketman or whatever boys name their powered and mechanical toys. But the unamed toy is a thing to be savoured, and stroked and dreamed about. Or so he tells me. I can sort of relate as I have those feelings for my camera but, I don't quite think it's the same.



Like many things in life, when you buy a bike, it's just the beginning. There are endless things to attach and modify and change and improve. A couple of Saturday's ago, a very happy couple of hours was spent installing a fancy-shmancy new seat.



The installing didn't take all that long, but once you've got the tools out, and the polishing cloth is there, why, time doesn't matter. And even the boys got in the action.







They call it Honda Love

A Tale of Two Sauces

Green Sauces that is. Did you know my love for greens is not limited to salad leaves and spinach and chard? My rock-solid real greens love is reserved for herbs. And that would, of course, mean fresh herbs. Part of my spin through the market on sunday is to stock up on my herb trifecta: parsley, cilantro and dill.



Yes, there are other herbs out there. Basil, rosemary and thyme come to mind. But week in and week out, the trifecta stands tall. It's a sad day if I open the fridge and there isn't one of the big three in there waiting for me to yank a hunk for one thing or another.


Hunks of herbs to garnish are one thing, but sometimes you need the full monty. You need entire bunches to make yummy, herby green sauces.



I am sure you have your own secret stash of green sauce recipes, but that's ok, they can remain secret. I, on the other hand, will magnanimously share with you the top bananas in my stable: Green sauce, and Cilantro green sauce. Yes, I know, really exotic names for these sauces but what can I say. Green sauce can be distinguished from Cilantro green sauce by the fact that it does not, in fact, contain cilantro. Parsley and Dill are the main actors in this sauce.

And since I am really inconsistent with my exact measurements and directions, I have visual aids this week. Here is the cookbook from which the base recipe is taken from



and the page with the specifications (if you want to see the recipe, click to make the image bigger)



You can see from the picture that I have pencilled in a few extra things. Basically I take a bunch of italian parsley (flat-leaf) and a small bunch of dill and wash and rinse the mostly de-stemmed herbs. I give them a rough chop.


Ok - did you notice the knife? Yeah, it's a bit artistically buried in the mound of wonderful parsley and dill. But, for the record, it's only my favorite knife in the whole world, and it comes to me via my very generous & savvy sister (she knows the good stuff).

Here is another shot of my Shun knife just because it's knife love. Go ahead, click on the image so you can see the Shun goodness.



In the processor goes garlic (to taste 1-4 cloves; I usually add 2 small ones since even though I love garlic, sometimes it overpowers and this is one of those instances) and that gets whirred until minced. Then I stuff the parsley and dill into the processor and whirr away for awhile.



Into the bowl goes a little water, some cider vinegar, a little lemon juice, a little dijon, some olive oil and a couple of spoons of sour cream or creme fraiche. A little salt and pepper. Really, I can't even begin to figure out measurements. Take a look at the recipe and go from there, although I have to say I don't use anywhere near 1 cup of olive oil and I usually have way more than a half cup of parsley. Which doesn't really help you, I know. Experiment.



The other extra that I use is Sambal chili paste (see pic way below). It's the secret - bam - ingredient. Only use about a teaspoon or two though as it's pretty potent.

It should be smoothish - I can't get it completely pureed but that's ok. Stick it in the fridge and it will thicken up somewhat.

Cilantro green sauce (cilantro chutney) has - drum roll - cilantro as the star. This is a very piquant sauce to slather on almost anything. Well, you would slather it on everything if you were me. It's basically an Afghan green sauce that I used to obsess over many years ago when Kabul West was open in Bethesda. The cilantro chutney at at that restaurant was the highlight for me. I would always ask for seconds and thirds of the condiment as if it were the main ingredient and everything else on the menu was in support of it. Ass backwards. Alas, Kabul West went the way of many a restaurant and is no more. Luckily for me, I found a reasonable substitute and have been making it ever since. At the end of the post you will find the basic recipe. You decide what modifications you want to make.

All you do is take a bunch of cilantro, de-stem most of it and spin it dryish.

Check out this mini salad spinner from OXO. Another kitchen gadget love. I've got the baby and the big mama spinners and seriously don't know how I would live without them.



Into the food processor, chop the garlic and once in little pieces, add the cilantro, some toasted walnuts (crucial ingredient in this chutney) some cider vinegar/lemon juice, salt and pepper. The secret ingredient here again is the Sambal chili paste. Remember a little goes a long way.



It should look like this. Of course, adjust for your tastes but it's meant to be a sharp and assertive and, like the other green sauce, packed full of vitamins. Did you notice that this chutney doesn't require oil. That's not a typo.



Can you tell which sauce is which? The parsley green sauce is on the left and the cilantro chutney is on the right. I have to say, in looking at the pictures of these sauces that the parsley sauce look a bit runny and not quite creamy enough (I do believe I totally forgot the olive oil altogether which would have emulsified the sauce a bit more and it should be a tad creamier looking. But, it still tasted mighty fine and it's quite a bit thicker now than it was when I took these pics). which all goes to show just how much leeway you have with these things. Still, I'd start with the recipe from the book before you stupidly leave out things like the emulsifying oil - doh!

I don't have a long list of suggestions for what to use with these sauces. The parsley and dill sauce is a must with chilled salmon (and cooked salmon for that matter), and the cilantro chutney gets glopped onto everything and anything. And in the winter, you really can't beat these uncooked, fresh and raw green sauces to cut through all the stolid winter fare.

Enjoy.



Afghan Cilantro Chutney
(base recipe)

1 cup roughly chopped cilantro
2 garlic gloves
1 green chili
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup lemon juice/vinegar
salt

place ingredients in processor and process until a textured paste is achieved.

Another sunday, another morning at the farmer's market

I actually skipped two sundays. That's two sundays where I didn't roam the vendors and stock up on local and healthy goodies.



You know, it's sometimes good not to be too obsessive about things. I find that when I don't make it to the weekly market, I appreciate it all the more the next time I do go.





Taking the camera with me has become de riguer of course, and I am very excited about the changing nature of the market as we transition from winter to spring. But, for the moment, things are still very much in winter mode with most of the vendors. At the Dupont market, you know spring is around the corner when the hours change, as they will next sunday.





On this sunday, however, I was drawn not to the apples, my normal magnetic north (say it ain't so), but to the chard, swiss chard that is. There is no way you don't smile when you see this green. Mother nature outdid herself when she designed the stalks of chard.

Sometimes it's one color, like this orange sherbert chard



but often, one bunch of chard will be a mini rainbow






you imagine that the chard is really masquarading as an uber healthy green, when really the stalks are candy sticks



but it's not all food, healthy or otherwise at the market



the flowers and plants are just as important



the lillies were gorgeous as usual, and it's hard to resist them when they are massed together





Of course, it's even better when you combine the two