Sleepless Sunday

Good evening, Folks.

Let's just say my worries are getting the better of me, tonight. Getting the photography business up and running is just as hard as everyone claims (of course). It feels like I accomplished nothing today because at the end, we are no where closer than yesterday. =[

That aside, I have an obsession with lolita clothing. So much so that I aspire to make myself the clothing. However, the patterns I've scrounged for are mainly in Japanese and about 2 sizes too short.

If I could make myself these clothings, had I the skill and the money for materials, I would be dolled up and decked out as often as possible. Even in cold weather! There are adorable coats to throw over cutsey dresses with bows and frills. It would look like a little girl dressed me up every day as her larger than life toy. And I would relish in every frilly moment.

Granted, I love climbing trees (we should do that tomorrow!) and hiking. Wearing boots and getting dirty! Crawling around on the floor to take pictures or just because the rug looks so inviting when boyo is lying there... temptingly. >}

It's elegant, classy. Cute and reminiscent of more cultured times. The extra few layers would, I feel, inspire manners, doors opened, pleases and thank yous. Others to stand up straighter and smile a bit truer (not only laughing at my frilly cupcake of a self, but because they'd recognize a dream inacted!).

Oh, sleepless dreamer. How your idea(l)s mock you.

Most off, I long to photograph strange scenes in these elegant pieces. With confetti falling, black and white. A bit of hand coloring and a slightly demented feel. Something is... off. No eyes, faceless beauties. Seemingly in ordinary life wandering the streets and unobserved by others. Something is taking place. A lift off the ground. Were those streaks really raindrops? A pastel pink. An all gray world. A vision that haunts me. Needs to get out of my head.

High collared wonders with plumes and tapered legs, sitting in a cafe with her hat askew. Green and black, with wisps of gray frothing from her sleeves and her decorative cup of brew. Stripes, a high backed chair, a discarded parasol. What's happening here? This one is underdeveloped.

I am awake. Yearning to create. Longing to see what I've been seeing in my mind. Create. The clothes, the scene, the mood, your feelings. The photograph.

Everyday has moments I long to capture, had only I the means to not be in my head.

Butter and Cheese

The beautiful thing about cooking, is you can sit down and tell all your worries to the squishy, semi-cold butter that's helping to create something tasty. You can vent at the block of cheese you're grating. They will never tell your woes. And it will be delicious.

Granted, I don't actually talk to my food. But it helps knowing that it's going somewhere. That it all will melt away and leave you with something warm, aromatic and scrumptious.

Baking when you're upset, at least biscotti or scones for me, always makes me feel better. Cooking, on the other hand, can get just plain nasty! Ever hear the phrase, "How you feel affects the food you're making"? Not my baking. =} And lately, not my cooking.

Anyhow, I won't bore you anymore. Here are some images from the past few adventurings. Ending with today's scones and the recipes. Enjoy.




Ham and Cheesy Scones:

1 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. pepper
1-2 dashes of hot sauce (i.e. Tabasco)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 c. cubed ham
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. diced onion
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
Grated cheddar cheese (amount varies to your tolerance)

-Pre-heat oven to 400*F. Sift the first 5 ingredients into a medium bowl and set aside. Separate out the egg yolk and in a small bowl, whisk with the heavy cream until well blended. Add the cubed ham, parmesan, and diced onion to the dry ingredients. With a fork, fold in the egg-cream mixture into the dry ingredients until all is moist. Be careful not to over work.

Once dough is formed, remove onto a lightly floured surface. (I use a pastry mat on my kitchen floor!) Knead the dough a few times with your hands, incorporating a bit more flour if too sticky. Roll out into a circle and cut in half, then in quarters, and finally into eighths. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and place them on, giving at least an inch between each slice. Brush the tops with a bit more cream and place grated cheddar cheese atop.

Bake 15-18 minutes until the cheese is nicely melted and the exposed tops are a light brown.
Let cool and enjoy. =}


To be posted:
Salmon, chive, and neuf chatel scones. <3

"Lost in your Arms" goodness

I'm a hopeless, irrevocably, inexcusable, sappy, dreamy-eyed romantic. Part of me wants notes scattered with petals on the floor and for you to always call me Beautiful. Not babe. To be swept off my feet and hear something akin to I am the blood in your veins. The marrow in your bones. I am a part of you as you are a part of me. Forever.

Granted, this on-spurt of romantic goo is probably because of the old dime novels I've been devouring lately. Ah, Julia Quinn. Why do you make that sort of love seem so attainable?

Have you ever blushed so hard your ears burned?

Made scones today. With white chocolate and apricots. Made boyo chicken a la Julia Child for lunch. Now it's dinner time and I'm thinking something Italian. Perhaps I'll just run over and pick up some pizza. Or make what we have here. That would be fine as well. =}

American-esque

Let me begin by stating the past few cooking attempts after the biscotti have been nearly disastrous. Somehow, they scrounged by without being horrid, but even I didn't want the leftovers. I made a miso soup with udon noodles and it turned out bitter, sour, salty and sweet. It wasn't bad... but it wasn't good either. Following for dessert was my recently famous eggnog. Only, we were both a little chilled (sickly so) so I opted to try heating it up to just barely above body temperature.

Well, you can guess where that went. Neatly into the trash. Again, it wasn't bad, but it turned into a custardy pudding. Not the creamy, hot, rich drink I had in my mind. Blehk. Then (probably just to me) the nutmeg on top tasted peppery. Peppery! I double checked to be sure it was nutmeg... it was.

So, what's so American-esque, you ask? Why, tonight's dinner, of course! Boyo had some baked potatoes in the oven already and we had some sweet corn that needed to be used.

Forgive me, but let me be the first to say that I am a bit slow when it comes to the obvious in life. I scoured my mind thinking how on earth I was going to tie in baked potatoes, corn on the cob and something with protein (boyo's suggestion) in together.

Tofu + tempura + baked potato? Nah.

Tofu + Bok Choy + stir fry + baked potato? Nope.

Tofu + fried rice + pineapples + baked potato? Ick!

Then it finally hit me. BBQ...

Only, I don't have any BBQ sauce and I have no catsup or tomato sauce/paste/base. Not even fresh ones!

What I did have was a delicious Peach Salsa I'm addicted to. So guess what I made?

Peach-a-que Sauce! How did I make it you ask? Well, let me show you. Forgive my measurements, I tend to do everything by eye and not by cup. =P So these are my guestimates.

Peach-a-que Tofu:
Sauce:
2/3 cup Smoky Peach Salsa (mine was from Fresh and Easy)
1/8 cup Apple Cider Vinager
1/2 cup Brown Sugar (don't pack it! )
2 dashes of Oregano
2 tsp. White Pepper (you can use black, too)
1/2 tsp Cumin (less is better than more!)
2 dashes Paprika
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 cup Water
1/2 shot Espresso

Tofu: slice 1/2 inch thick and normal width "planks"

** Bring all of the ingredients of the sauce to a boil over medium heat and allow to condense down and thicken stirring occasionally. Once it's about 1/3 condensed, throw in tofu and cover. Reduce heat to a medium-low. Give the pot a good shake every few minutes to keep the tofu coated and to prevent burning.

For the baked potatoes, I mixed 2 green onions cut into pieces with what I had left of sour cream with an equal portion of greek yogurt. I left the corn whole, blanched in hot water. No butter.

Once finished, I set our floor spots and had boyo crack open a Brewski (right?) and viola! Il est américain!

Quite tasty for a slow brain's work. =] I hope you enjoy, lovelies. <3

Biscotti Mornings

Today I woke up and decided to cook. =] I realized how much I've really missed cooking and so biscotti started it again. Then wheat pancakes (I'd forgotten the baking soda until about 1/2 way through. Guess who ate the flat cakes? Moi!) and a spinach-scallion omelette with white pepper and to top is all off, a mild pure maple syrup. I am now a true adorer of omelettes a la Julia Child. Creamy and rich inside and not quite cooked rock hard. Gooey wonders. <3 Granted, they are pretty rich with the butter, but one or two a week and they are marvelous!





I've been taking a lot of advice from Julia the past few times I have cooked. Not often lately because of a nasty cold which, after 2 weeks, is still lingering about. I must admit that even to myself, my own cooking when not following her recipes, has improved.

Here is a sneak peak into our fridge to see what I'm working with! It's usually not this full, but we went shopping yesterday and what a sight it is to behold. <3

(Above: Shameless advertising for F&E.)Isn't that fruit just the cutest! I wanted a small one anyhow and lo-and-behold, a little heart shaped guayabana.

I realize that I don't post any of my photography here beyond my attempts. If you're ever curious to see what that's up to, visit www.voirlamour.blogspot.com.

And now, I must be getting ready for work. Adieu!

Can we glue it back on?

Today was one of those days that you sit down and think, "Why the hell didn't today go well? I felt great!" (well, minus the cough, sneezing and runny nose.)

For those of you who don't care fine. You've come to the wrong place. For those of you that do, even better.

Day started at 1AM when I awoke dehydrated to find boyo unable to sleep again. He said he'd come to bed soon so I went to bed. Only to wake up at 4AM (he's asleep, thankfully), then 6AM. Then 6:50AM, then 7:40AM to finally misread the clock and think it's 9 o'clock, but it wasn't and I woke boyo up. Hurrah. =[ It was 8 o'clock.

Ah well, we all have those, just get up and go, right? Reading The Rainmaker and it told me something along the lines of, "don't drink coffee because you'll spill it on yourself and the stain will distract your customer." Did I mention I was meeting with a model to set up a shoot today?

The website we used was freaking out, so as it was working, I sent her a message verifying today. No response last night so I figured I'd text in the morning. She had my number if she wasn't showing, no big deal. Quick text, "Can't make it." But nothing. So, all dressed up, I take a final sip of my coffee and it dribbles down my chin and all over the front of my sweater... shirt. Thing.

Get to the coffee shop, realized we hadn't had breakfast we get a sandwich, which was pretty tasty! Sundried tomatoes, regular tomatoes, a bit of mayo, onions, a little mustard, mozzarella cheese AND chedder . Toasted. Oh yeah. Tasty!!

Send the model a text and, whoops! She's can't make it. For legitimate reasons, mind you! We plan on rescheduling and off we go. Some hours later, boyo and I get indian food. It's pretty tasty as well and the ladies behind the counter are in a good mood today. I smile and spicy, delicious veggies are all mine! With ginger beer! Punjabi Tandoor on Activity Road. A must have. A crave!

Off to home, nearly bursting at how quickly we devoured our food and off we go again, this time, to get me to work. Which wasn't bad! Mind you I overheard that the restaurant owners are ready to call it quits and confirm this rumor going around. but ah well. Oh and an issue with W2's.

Come home to find our picnic table destroyed. A nasty mess. Watched a bit of photographer's videos and relax on the floor with my love and I decide, (because I've been thinking of getting my hair cut and because his hair was bugging him so much that he was pulling it out), to cut his hair.

Just to try what the hair clippers manual said vs. the video I watched last time, I used the clippers and kept them on the very long side, to be safe. I like his hair on the longer side.

Let's just say, people may give us a military discount now. Without asking for I.D.

Yes, lovelies, I chopped it off. No intentionally, but again, he doesn't care how his hair is.

I am sad for him. I sincerely wished to pick it back off the floor and put it back. To close my eyes and hope it never happened. It really does make my heart heavy. I know it's just hair, and I know it shouldn't bug me as much as it always has, especially getting my own hair cut, but boyo's? It makes me feel like our pet hamster died.

(and we don't even have a hamster.)