Sunset in Amed, Bali, Indonesia
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
If you follow me on twitter you know that I have been battling with canapes this week. Yes, my personal demon is a two bite item that is appropriately sized for a toddler.
All night I had a reoccurring dream that I had to make thousands of canapes but had no plan, the walk-in refrigerator was never ending and I had forgotten how to cook. It was a rough night y'all.
But, it paid off. Today at school we had a "Grand Buffet" filled with canapes and while I would definitely tweak a few things it turned out beautifully!
the final product
chicken, spinach, and bacon en croute (middle) with black bean and corn galantine (left)
Edited to add: the center pieces are made from smoked chicken breast wrapped in spinach in the en croute (middle) and chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto (left)
Edited to add: the center pieces are made from smoked chicken breast wrapped in spinach in the en croute (middle) and chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto (left)
smoked turkey canape with chive cream cheese spread and roasted red peppers
Edited to add: these canapes are sitting on top of toasted wheat bread
Edited to add: these canapes are sitting on top of toasted wheat bread
black bean salad with roasted peppers, corn, and topped with cilantro lime sour cream
pickled zucchini, squash, and onions
accompanied with a fresh salsa of tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and cilantro
I will tell you though, I am looking forward to cooking things that aren't fun-sized!
I love the mountains
I love the rolling hills
I love the flowers
I love the daffodils
I love the fireside when all the lights are low
Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dahBoom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dahChris and I went camping this weekend in Pisgah National Forest.The leaves are turning and they are putting on a spectacular show!
The colors span from bright green to yellow to burning orange to the deepest copper.
We also came across several little creatures out in the woods:
a slithering snake (that I almost squashed)
a very hungry caterpillar who tried to eat our graham crackers
and ladybugs galore!
To really see the difference in the leaves check out this picture from the same area that I took only a month ago:
September 2010
October 2010
The Chicago Air and Water Show was great! We brought a delicious picnic of chicken salad and tomato and basil salad and watched the amazing aeronautic display!
We saw the Blue Angels
Parachutes
Cute little biplanes
Grumpy Chicago grandfathers
Incredibly drunk half naked people
There were over 2 million people watching on Saturday!
But only a few were brave enough to dive in to ice cold Lake Michigan!
We saw the Blue Angels
Parachutes
Cute little biplanes
Grumpy Chicago grandfathers
Incredibly drunk half naked people
There were over 2 million people watching on Saturday!
But only a few were brave enough to dive in to ice cold Lake Michigan!
At the tail end of my grand adventure through Europe I spent a few days in the amazing town of Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre area of Italy. If I ever have the chance I would love to spend a few weeks in Cinque Terre taking Italian lessons in the morning and hiking in the afternoon.
All of the people in Riomaggiore were so nice. I speak about 3 words of Italian and have excellent pointing skills; but, I was able to get around and work it out because everyone there was so patient and kind. I couldn't be more in love with this little town!
One morning I decided to take a hike along the coast line to another town and then a moderate to hard hike from that town, up through the mountain ridge, back down to my own little town.
This was the only map I had. A terrible terrible map with just basic squiggles for directions. Being fairly foolish, I decided that I could make it! I was a girl scout and a camp counselor (can you see where this is going?).
I made it along the path, called Via dell'Amore (Lovers Lane), stopping to take lots of pictures of these amazing cliff-side towns.
And without much trouble I made it to the trail and and started hiking. But being the responsible hiker I am, I checked the warning first:
(I actually took this picture with Stephanie from Le Sigh of a Fashionista in mind!)
After about thirty minutes of hiking I came across this sweet little altar. It was no more than 6 feet tall.
The gorgeous fall leaves reminded me of being home in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina (my personal happy place).
After about 2 hours of hiking I had made it about 3/4th of the way up the mountain when I encountered this:
and this!
WILD BOARS? WILD BOARS! WILD BOARS!
I didn't actually see any boars. But I was on the look out.
After 9 hours of hiking, wandering, a bus ride, a train ride, and generally being lost I made myself a huge carbo-loaded dinner of lemon linguine with squash, tomatoes, prosciutto, and fresh ricotta:
(this is the picture appeared on the blog just a few days ago and got me started thinking about this story!)
All of the people in Riomaggiore were so nice. I speak about 3 words of Italian and have excellent pointing skills; but, I was able to get around and work it out because everyone there was so patient and kind. I couldn't be more in love with this little town!
One morning I decided to take a hike along the coast line to another town and then a moderate to hard hike from that town, up through the mountain ridge, back down to my own little town.
This was the only map I had. A terrible terrible map with just basic squiggles for directions. Being fairly foolish, I decided that I could make it! I was a girl scout and a camp counselor (can you see where this is going?).I made it along the path, called Via dell'Amore (Lovers Lane), stopping to take lots of pictures of these amazing cliff-side towns.
And without much trouble I made it to the trail and and started hiking. But being the responsible hiker I am, I checked the warning first:
(I actually took this picture with Stephanie from Le Sigh of a Fashionista in mind!)Warning: do not wear high heels while hiking! Well, thank you, how thoughtful AND helpful. To be honest, I wasn't wearing the best of hiking shoes; no boots, only a pair of worn down converse.
After about thirty minutes of hiking I came across this sweet little altar. It was no more than 6 feet tall.
The gorgeous fall leaves reminded me of being home in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina (my personal happy place).After about 2 hours of hiking I had made it about 3/4th of the way up the mountain when I encountered this:
and this!
WILD BOARS? WILD BOARS! WILD BOARS!I didn't actually see any boars. But I was on the look out.
I hiked for another hour (about 3 to 4 hours total) and finally made it to the top! Wooo! At this point I knew I needed to turn right to head across the ridge but I just wasn't actually sure where to turn but kept my eyes open for a sign or arrows or something.
As I kept on the path I soon realized that I was incredibly lost. I had really only two options: try to keep on going or turn around for what was guaranteed to be a steep and slippery four hour hike home. So... what did I do? I called my mom.
That's right, I took my international blackberry on top on a mountain in Italy and called my mom. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hey Momma. Sorry to interrupt your meeting but I'm lost.
Mom: Yea? Are you okay? Where are you?
Me: Oh yea, everything is fine. Nothing to stress about. I'm just in the middle of the woods in Italy.
Mom: In the woods?! You have no idea where you are?!
Me: Erm. yea.
Eventually I found my way out of the forest, but at that point I had passed over the mountain ridge, out of one national park and into another. In the distance I could see a large town. I decided that town was the best bet for a ride home-- I would find a bus, a train, a donkey, something! I walked down a long winding road for 9 kilometers. After asking for directions and making some lucky guesses I got into town and found the train station. Using my Eurorail pass and passport (which, THANKFULLY I HAD IN MY BACKPACK) was able to take a 30 minute train ride home to Riomaggiore.
Getting off the train I was welcomed home with this amazing sunset!
As I kept on the path I soon realized that I was incredibly lost. I had really only two options: try to keep on going or turn around for what was guaranteed to be a steep and slippery four hour hike home. So... what did I do? I called my mom.
That's right, I took my international blackberry on top on a mountain in Italy and called my mom. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hey Momma. Sorry to interrupt your meeting but I'm lost.
Mom: Yea? Are you okay? Where are you?
Me: Oh yea, everything is fine. Nothing to stress about. I'm just in the middle of the woods in Italy.
Mom: In the woods?! You have no idea where you are?!
Me: Erm. yea.
Eventually I found my way out of the forest, but at that point I had passed over the mountain ridge, out of one national park and into another. In the distance I could see a large town. I decided that town was the best bet for a ride home-- I would find a bus, a train, a donkey, something! I walked down a long winding road for 9 kilometers. After asking for directions and making some lucky guesses I got into town and found the train station. Using my Eurorail pass and passport (which, THANKFULLY I HAD IN MY BACKPACK) was able to take a 30 minute train ride home to Riomaggiore.
Getting off the train I was welcomed home with this amazing sunset!
(this is the picture appeared on the blog just a few days ago and got me started thinking about this story!)This story could have turned out badly, forcing me to use my survival skills (of which I have none) and spend the night in woods. But honestly, I am so glad I got lost and spent those extra hours wandering through the woods. I'm also so glad I made it home that night!
But I will tell you that I was so sore after 9 hours of hiking and walking that I had a hard time walking for days!
But I will tell you that I was so sore after 9 hours of hiking and walking that I had a hard time walking for days!
I had a great but very busy day today in Chicago. I don't have a car here and am way too broke to take cabs everywhere so I use public transportation. Chicago actually has a great public transportation system. I was a busy little bee running all over the city getting things done and rode 5 different busses and went on the L (that's what the subway is called here because it is ELevated) 3 times!
By far and away my favorite thing I did today was "developing" some of my digital photos in the lab portion of my weekly photography class at the Chicago Photography Center. I take a class one night a week for 3 hours where we talk about the theory behind taking great photographs. In the lab portion of our class we get 3 hours with a trained instructor who teaches us how to manipulate our photos in Adobe Lightroom. So far, Lightroom seems leaps and bounds better than Photoshop (which I have used an itsy bisty bit before) if all you want to do is edit pictures. If you want to airbrush out a possible double chin or some speckling that suspiciously looks like cellulite then Photoshop is the way to go; but since I am gorgeous and perfect looking in every photo I think I will stick with Lightroom.
After finishing my work on my class assignments I had some extra time so I worked on a few pictures from Italy. I love love love they way they turned out and want to now work on ALL of my Europe photos on Lightshop!
Here is today's work!
** ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't find them on my memory card. Seriously? I spent like 3 hours on these guys. So annoyed. Maybe it's just a PC to Mac problem? I can find some but not the beautiful ones I was so proud of. Instead, here are some pictures from France. I'll track those photos down and WILL post them!
My absolute favorite hostel sign EVER. It was definitely a worrisome moment In Paris when I saw that before checking in.
I have a special love for church candles. I'm not Catholic but I still love them. I think it's the idea that each of the candles represents the wishes and hopes of individuals. The warmth and the light coming off of them are amazing in person.
And who can resist a Parisian merry go round?
I hope your all having great and productive days without lost photos!
xoxo,
M
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