Pre-Blog

I was always told to not play with my food, but for a long time now I've been guilty of taking pictures of my food.  I often embarrass my friends in restaurants and halt my family's dinner to take pictures of the food we are about to eat.  I mean it took effort to prepare, why not appreciate that both in the moment and later visually?  It is also a good way to remember recipes I've enjoyed or dishes I've ordered.  I'd like to share some of my favorite food photographs from this past summer that are pb.  Pre-blog.  The reason I started this blog was because I knew I needed something to do with all of these pictures.  So please, enjoy viewing as much as I enjoyed eating them!

My mom and I attempted a Bobby Flay salad with shrimp and mangoes (grilled tomato and avocado on the side)

I made the delicious pasta featured on Food Network's June issue

Red pepper, tomato, basil, garlic and provolone open-faced sandwich

Sweet potatoes and onions on the grill

Grilled potatoes, veggies and pork on the grill

Lemon and garlic green beans, Sicilian penne with cauliflower and grilled chicken

Findings from the Farmer's Market

Basil gnocchi with heirloom tomatoes and toasted pine nuts

Grilled chicken, potatoes and peaches a la Lee Swanson

Basil linguine with fresh basil, tomatoes and parm

Vegetable tempura from Sushi Tango

Ratatouille pasta at Lucia's

Asparagus soup with basil and goat cheese

Breakfast at Grand Cafe

Roasted tomato ravioli with capers from French Meadow Bakery

Food Gawking 101

If there is anything I am good at, it is eating/looking at food.  I can't say I have mastered the kitchen, but I certainly know how to look at food and watch people make it (thank you Food Network).  Sometimes I even like to walk around Whole Foods to look at the all beautiful produce and my mom and I have even been to Kitchen Window countless times, simply to admire yet rarely to make any purchases.  Foodgawker.com is becoming one of my favorite places to look at food, find recipes, learn more about ingredients and observe discussions about food from other people's blogs.  There are SOOO many food blogs out there it is pretty intimidating and overwhelming, but you have to start somewhere right?  Blogs are a great place to share photographs that are specific to a certain topic, unlike Facebook.  It is a multimedia format so I can post photos alongside text which works perfectly when discussing food.  So, in the spirit of simply gawking at food, I have decided to share some of my favorite photographs I took while traveling to France earlier this summer.

Potatoes at the open air market

Olives at the open air market

One of the few home dishes I cooked; green beans, potatoes and a baguette; all from the market.

Beef tartar with mint and jasmine rice. YUM!

Homemade apple rhubarb pie with homemade crust.  All fresh from a farm where I stayed

Raspberry tart

AMAZING tomato, basil and eggplant spread, homegrown at a farm.  Served with homemade bread.

Breakfast.  Homemade bread with homemade jams: blueberry, apricot and orange.  Yeah, the butter is homemade too.

Course after entree, before dessert.  Goat cheese from a local farm.

One of the best things I ate in France, quiche with goat cheese and a homemade crust.  Maybe it tasted so good because it was after a 5 mile hike.

Foi Gras last night in France

An experience to say the least.  Fresh oysters in Sète, a harbor on the Mediterranean Sea.  Just lemon and saltwater.

Also from Ortholon, pistachios and pineapple.

Like a kid in a candy store.  Like a kid in La Cure Gourmande in the medieval town, Aigues Mortes to be correct.

Rose pastry from Ortholon.

Chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio cake (?).

Let me know which ones are your favorite!