Poached Eggs With Sauteed Spinach & Mushrooms

For those of you who know a little about me, even just a little, you have probably heard me say many times that I don't eat breakfast. And it's true. Somewhat. If I don't eat a little something mid-morning, I am about to chew my knuckles by the time 1pm gets around. But having breakfast at home before I head out the door? Highly unlikely. I have tried. It makes me want to crawl back into bed and cozy under warm blankets.

 

Lunch is about the same story. It makes me want to take a long siesta. Don't fall for the stereotype that every French people must have a two-hour lunch, a steak-pomme frites and a glass of wine for lunch. At least not this Frenchie, and I am far from being an exception to the rule. Like most working folks in a business that can't wait around (food on a photo shoot is a living element, y'all!), I eat "sur le pouce" (on the go). I usually sneak in the Oxmoor House Test Kitchen to see what I can nibble on.

I live for dinner. And brunch. When I have the time to chop, dice, stir. Mix and taste. When hearing onions sizzle in the pan signal that I am making a home, not simply living the minutes between the time I had coffee and that well deserved glass of wine in the evening. The smell of garlic wafting through the air as I smash it on the counter with the back of my knife? The promise of a tasty reward in my plate as I go sit down to read on the back deck.

There is no sweeter time for me than knowing that I will have the time to enjoy the food I prepare. So, breakfast and lunch? They are so timed and methodological that I don't want them. Dinner is my time to let me feel like my day was good and beautiful and that I had a great time whatever I was doing. Because at the end of it, I got to come home, play with the old pup, craft dinner and enjoy the rest of the day til sleep drew me under the covers. 

I feel the same about Sunday brunch. I will never pass on brunch. The promise of a leisurely morning. A moment when everything is still in planning mode. Pajamas pants and big plans.

Don't blame me for having brunch for dinner a couple of times a week. When the only few things you have to think about are whether to have your eggs poached or fried and that your bread toasted or not. Or whether you would like plenty of sauteed spinach and mushrooms with that egg or a side of roasted squash.

 And when thankfully, you do not have to decide and you can have it all...

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Seared Scallops Salad With Blood Orange Vinaigrette

A little update: the workshop that I am teaching with food stylist Tami Hardeman and prop stylist Mindi Shapiro is selling fast and we only have one spot available. If you are interested in more details, please read here. Thank you!

Spring is finally here. On paper for some. All around us here for sure. It's been a couple of weeks that we have been able to enjoy the first blossoms, the first days without a heavy coat and Spring produce appearing on the stores shelves. I enjoy winter, evenings spent with a warm bowl of soup in front of a roaring fire, turtlenecks sweaters and colorful scarves. I am looking forward to zucchini blossoms and fresh peaches. And yet, I hurried to get as much of my favorite winter items in the last month. Blood oranges specifically.

I did cook and bake them in anything and everything I could think of this winter. And had them plain after my morning run with the old pup. Bag after bag after bag. Many a t-shirt and cutting board were splattered and stained by the colorful juice. Pile and pile of blood orange skins were dried to flavor hot brewing tea in the evening. I love this time of year. The end of warm fizzy blanket and the beginning of bare feet in the grass on crisp sunny mornings.

What more appropriate way to celebrate the lead into a brighter and lighter season than with a refreshing salad of tender scallop, smooth Boston lettuce and tangy blood orange vinaigrette. After a couple of weeks of cooking from Southern Comfort, I got inspired by one of the salads in the book, took the three main components, lettuce, scallops and citrus and ran away with it. I changed their lettuce - grapefruit combination for Boston lettuce and blood orange.

Pan seared and core tender scallops nested on a bed of smooth and super fresh lettuce. All drizzled with a generous amount of tangy blood orange vinaigrette. A super fresh and easy salad when all you want to do is feed yourself right and get outside to enjoy the warmer weather. Pure good mood - good weather food.

Happy Spring!

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Registration for the Food Photography & Styling Workshop in Atlanta is now open!

Registration for the 2 day Food Photography & Styling Workshop in Atlanta is now open!

To register, please visit HERE.

We are so excited to be able to bring this one to you and to share our experiences, tips and techniques with you. One photographer, one food stylist and one prop stylist in one studio over two days. Woo!

Here is a recap of the workshop: (more details and info about it and the instructors on the registration page)

When: April 20th & 21st 2013 

Where: Atlanta Georgia 

Workshop limited to 12 

Fee is $1250 and includes:

- 2 days full of instructions with three established professionals
- lots of demos and one on one guidance

- meet & greet on Friday April 19th from 7pm til 9pm, 

- dinner Saturday night in a restaurant in Atlanta (location TBA) 

- lunch, snacks and refreshments for both days (travel costs, transportation and lodging not included)

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A Two Day - Food Photography & Styling Workshop In Atlanta, April 20th -21st!

Have you ever wished you had someone explain in an easy way what aperture is? Depth of field? How to diffuse and bounce, highlight and contrast in the best way possible? 

Have you ever wondered how on earth you would style that big bowl of stew to make it as appetizing as the perfect slice of cake standing next to it? 

Have you ever wondered how a prop stylist layers and composes a shot to compliment the food? Where does it all start? The food? The props? The camera angle?    

How does it all come out together to create images that make your stomach growl they are so appetizing? 

Well...how about a workshop with three instructors, highly skilled in their respective fields to take you through all this? Over two days?! 

Yep...

I am so excited about this workshop! For the past few weeks, I have been planning with two women I absolutely love, food stylist Tami Hardeman and prop stylist Mindi Shapiro, an awesome workshop in Atlanta Georgia. (Read more about the instructors here)

Tami and I have taught workshops together and it's always a treat to be able to have a dialogue photographer-food stylist as we teach and this time, we both are thrilled that Mindi, staff prop/photo stylist at Oxmoor house will be teaching with us. 

We all work in this field as our "real everyday" jobs but the need to come together and teach and create independently from clients fuels us with lots of energy and passion that we want to pass on to you. 

The class is targeted to all levels and all three of us will be there to take your photography, food styling and prop styling to the next level. Gently and efficiently, we will give you the tools to let you express your creativity with your styling and photography.

Here are the details: 

When: April 20th & 21st 2013 

Where: Atlanta Georgia 

How many students: 12 

How much: the workshop fee is $1250 and includes: 

- meet & greet on Friday April 19th from 7pm til 9pm,

- 2 days full of instructions with three established professionals,
- dinner Saturday night (location TBA)

- lunch, snacks and refreshments for both days (travel costs, transportation and lodging not included) 

Restrictions: 

Package is all inclusive. No substitutions. Schedule subject to change. 

There will be no refunds for this workshop – please know you can attend before you register. 

 Registration will open on Monday March 18th at 10:00am EST. Please go here to register.

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Ozark Pear Cake & Feeling Home

Yesterday, I packed a change of clothes, the 16 year-old pup and we headed down to Charleston for the weekend. I almost said, "home to Charleston" but home has become this "in between" where my heart resides. Charleston will forever be home. This is where I fell in love. With him. With the South. With this incredibly puzzling time of history. With a city living at a sound of a very peculiar beat. Where unbelievable friendships formed and tested time, growth and loss.

Yet, there is not much of what people would consider a home remaining for us in Charleston. Our house there is now empty and Bill moved in with his parents for the time being. But we have a home. We have multiples. They are not made of wood or stone. They have been build with our hearts, our stories, our tears and worries, our joys and laughters. While I could become completely nostalgic and sad of times passed, I just take a moment to appreciate the fact that we have made a home of wherever we are together, regardless of wherever is.

Everytime I make the drive down to Charleston, my heart stops in its track at the first sign of marsh land and tall grass. There is a definite look to that part of the world. It lures you, grabs you and never lets go of you. I do miss sunsets and sunrises over the marsh. At the same time, I have fallen completely in love with the luscious foliage of Birmingham, the drives up and down the hills of the city, the genuine kindness of the people there. I was dragging feet getting out of the house yesterday morning to get down here. I felt home. I was going to the other home.

 Home is truly where the heart is and I am incredibly lucky to be able to call both places home.

There is something that will always make me feel anchored to a new place and that is baking. The simple act of putting a cake in the oven and being rewarded with the scents of vanilla, pears and cake batter is enough to make anyone feel good anywhere. I could be in my grandparents' home and making an apple tart with my grandmother or with my mother next door making madeleines. I could be here or there and I would feel the same. Grounded.

If making a simple cake is any reflection of the life I lead, well, I made this cake at home in Alabama and took it home to Charleston to be shared this morning around the breakfast table at my in-laws. I am happy and comfortable in my own skin wherever I am. And right now this wherever is "in between". And I will always make a good simple cake to remind me of that (Recipe after the jump).  

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