A Day at the Races

I miss my Hasselblad. I realized how much I missed shooting with it when I recently dusted it off to shoot a cyclo-cross race in Palos Verdes. Not to mention, I really miss using film and experimenting with all the different kinds. You don't really get that option with shooting digital. Sure, you can mess around with your image in PhotoShop but it's not the same. You're changing the image after you've already taken it.

So I've decided to give myself an assignment and take my Hasselblad out to the races. Cyclo-cross races, that is. In the coming months, I'll be posting some portraits and action shots of the 'cross events in an effort to document what the cyclo-cross culture is all about. I think I'll stick with shooting B&W film to diminish any distractions - cycling kits can get pretty colorful.

Here's my first shot using an 80mm lens and Fuji Neopan. My boyfriend, Wendel, rides for the super-fast and super-stylish team called Palos Verdes Cyclissmo (sp?) and here's a portrait of him along with his teammates. He's the second guy from the left - the poor guy broke his collarbone a few weeks ago so he couldn't participate in the race. Hopefully my pictures will get him super pumped for when he can get back into race mode. :-)

November Objects of Desire

These are some things I've got my eye on for the month of November....

A box of chocolate from Jacques Torres
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A subscription to Donna Hay magazine now that Gourmet has sadly folded.
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a frosty November day
(Photo by Anatoly Kraynikov on Flickr)
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A Touch of Color to my "winter" wardrobe. Boden USA always has bright and cheery clothes to spice up your closet.
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A Pair of stylish leather slippers from a shop in Australia:
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A Top 10 spot in one of my Cyclo-cross races!
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Decisions, decisions

I love red cabbage and I probably love photographing it more than eating it after seeing these images I took. I'm very happy with the outcome - so happy that I can't decide which one I like the best. You decide and let me know.

'Tis the Season

Work has been crazy so I haven't had much time to devote to blogging until now. A few months ago I finally bought my first cast-iron skillet. I've been wanting one for so long and I'm not even sure of the reason for my delay. I'm holding out on purchasing the high-end Le Creuset cookware but I found a great skillet by Lodge.

Seasoned cooks may already know about the merits of cast-iron skillets, but for those of you newbies, it's one of the most versatile pieces of cookware available. You can cook almost any food in cast iron cookware. It has great cooking properties - Heat is evenly distributed and held, making it ideal for deep frying, searing, and even baking. I like it b/c it can go directly from stove-top to oven. And it gets better with age compared to your non-stick pans which can scratch easily.

But before you get too excited and start whipping up frittatas, be sure to properly season your pan. Seasoning ensures that you've created the base of your non-stick layer. Start by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Take your skillet and lightly coat the inside of the pan with bacon lard, vegetable oil or shortening. Place the pan in the middle rack of the oven, turned face down. Place a cookie sheet in the lower rack to catch any grease that drips from the pan. Season the pan for 1 hour, remove and let cool. You may need to repeat the process a few times especially if you want to start out with cooking eggs.

When you're ready to clean the pan, use soap and water or try kosher salt. Many people are against using soap but you don't want rancid grease to spoil your next meal. .

Place the cleaned cast-iron frying pan on the heated burner of your stove for a minute or two to make sure that it is bone dry. While the pan is still hot and on the stove burner, lightly oil inside of pan (I mean a light coat) with a neutral cooking oil. I use a paper towel to spread the oil lightly over the pan.

Leave frying pan on the hot burner of stove for a few minutes. Remove from hot burner and wipe excess oil off the pan with a paper towel.

And that's it. I'd love to try and bake a cake with it so it may be the subject of a future blog post.

Dual In the Sun

A few weekends ago my boyfriend and I competed in a cycling relay to get amped up for racing season. The race we participated in was called "Dual in the Sun", a relay race for mountain/cyclo-cross enthusiasts in Simi Valley. It was an hour-long race around a 2.5 mile course that took you on fire roads, single-track and a couple hill climbs with rock outcroppings. It was fun but tough and I was thankful that it was a relay. :-)

We aptly named our team the Lucky 13 Hellcats and made some cool t-shirts. I have to thank Hieu Luong who created the logo - it's exactly how I imagined it would turn out.

Anyway, enjoy these pictures of the race and natural surroundings.

Go Hellcats!

Mara

Labor Day

It's hard to believe that Labor Day is upon us. As I child, I always greeted it with mixed emotions. On one hand, it signaled the beginning of a new school year and the end of summer vacation. On the other hand, it meant I got to wear corduroys and sweaters, buy a backpack full of school supplies and anticipate Mother Nature's new wardrobe bedazzled in amber, scarlet and gold.

These days it comes as a solace - an extra day off, a day to sleep in, a time to catch up on things. My plans? I'll be heading off to a BBQ and bike race. And I definitely plan to take some photos. Speaking of which, I was looking through my archives and recently stumbled upon these shots of a cherry tree in my mom's backyard that remind me of Labor Day. The cherry them isn't particularly synonymous with Labor Day but I guess it reminds me of dining on burgers and BBQ treats underneath this tree.

I also included some pictures of one of my favorite spots to visit at the height of summer - Stonybrook Park in upstate NY.

Enjoy!

My 50th Birthday Party

When I turn 50, I hope to have my dear friends and family celebrate the occasion with a big party and lots of wine. I hope that I'll be able to look back on some terrific accomplishments and look forward to many more.

Why all this talk about the future? My boyfriend and I recently had the pleasure of attending a friend's 50th b-day party and to me, it was the ideal scenario. We celebrated at a local yacht club in Redondo Beach and the evening included lots of delicious food, drinks and even a live band.

The birthday boy also happens to own Castle Rock Vineyards in CA so we were each given a tasty bottle of Pino Noir. The labels were designed for the special occasion and his birthdate was cleverly noted as the vintage year. Even the back of the bottle was inscribed with the a description of how the vintage had pleasantly matured through the years. :-)

Anyway, I guess it's something fun to think about - much better than thinking about whether or not I'll still have a job in the next two weeks. Oh well.