Skip to main content

Jahresarchive: 2013

Satsuma & Pomegranate Cake

Satsuma 1

Starting years ago, I always thought that by this time of the year I would get tired of anything Christmas before it is even the holiday and yet, it never happens. In the world of food photography, we tend to start Christmas photo shoots in the summer. In the world of cookbook publishing, we take full opportunity of the season upon us to shoot the next Christmas. So, when your inboxes get filled with holiday promos on Halloween day, part of me screams "no, no, no! We’re not there yet!" and part of me is already filled with ideas about menus and decorations and awaiting impatiently to put all these into action.

 

Satsuma Cake 1

This time of year I look forward to a little more baking, roasting veggies and long simmered soups. For loved ones, family, friends. For our little team of two also. Not a whole lot of things beat baking on a Sunday morning and filling the house with the aroma of vanilla bean, apple, quince, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc…

 

Satsuma 3

One thing that always get my head geared up for the season is the abundance of citrus around. Gorgeous Meyer lemons, sun bursting oranges and my favorites,satsuma oranges. Their aromas, soft skins and subtle flesh always bring me back home in a way. I find myself recreating the same full fruit bowl my mother used to bring us after dinner filled with clementines, oranges, nuts and dried fruits. That was our dessert. Simple, easy and the perfect light break in between heavier holiday meals.

Satsuma 2

I admit, I would take a citrus dessert (most) anyday over a chocolate one. Thin slices of citrus, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of fresh mint. A citrus loaded cupcake. Kumquat tea cakes. My list goes on.

 

Satsuma Cake 3

During the holidays, I love to incorporate every citrus I get my hands on into cakes and confections. My favorite thing to make on a short notice and when the cravings hits on the weekend is a simple creme fraiche, olive oil and satsuma cake. 

A few seeds of tart pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top and I am go to go…

read more

Two Favorite Salads: Fennel, Cucumber And Mint & Roasted Trout, Watermelon Radish and Dandelion Greens

fennel cuke salad

The month has been busy at work with a few really cool cookbooks I got to photograph, meetings for other books that will be shot that I can’t wait to shoot and work on. Long days at work left me little time at home, most of which was devoted to plan and execute the workshop I taught on Saint Simons Island with my friend John. Oh man…this workshop will stay in my memory as one of my favorites. Teaching with a friend is a wonderful experience, but teaching with someone you consider family is even better. We plan to do this again next year so stay tuned!

 

fennel cuke salad

This past weekend I got to workshop with Tami, my other sibling in a parallel universe at the Mixed conference in the mountains of Virginia. We had a special three hour workshop in addition of our session and we decided to throw the attendees a real challenge by styling brown food, a very brown chickpea stew… Ugly food turned sexy and appealing under their cameras. We were thrilled to see how they embraced the challenge!

 

Trout Salad

It feels good to take a few days off from work and do these. They are revitalizing to me. They are of course taxing on the brain and body but I love being able to share the experiences and resources garnered along the years. And meeting really talented folks who only need a little push to start unleashing their creativity and owning their talent. Watch out world, there are some pretty gifted photographers coming your way!

 

Trouts

Traveling always takes a toll on the body and the diet. While I try to make good choices, I do lose my willpower once in a while and can’t always find the things that truly feed me happy such as lots and lots of veggies and fish. In between two trips and loads of late evening shooting, I make a point at eating both. Lots of salads with grilled fish, lots of soups with poached fish and variations galore.

 

Radish Salad

These two salads are current favorites. A fennel and cucumber salad adorned with scallions and mint with a light splash of oil and vinegar. The other one is a watermelon and dandelion greens salad right from the farmers market bounty that I find right now, topped with roasted trout and a simple vinaigrette. Easy to make, simple and refreshing. A perfect little detox on a plate in between a few road trips or a couple of holiday meals.

 

Trout Salad

Have a wonderful week and a cozy Thanksgiving!

read more

Farro and Vegetables Stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed Tomatoes _ Plated

I can’t say it’s the weather that pushed me to turn the oven on all weekend and bake, roast, braise, etc.. I am not nesting. I am not feeling blue. I just had the urge to crank it full blast in spite of gorgeous skies and a refreshing 85F. Yes. Anything below 95F is refreshing to a Southerner…

I can see hints of Fall peeking here and there. The leaves are slowly changing and the evening bring on a cooler breeze and a sweater. But, we are still in flipflops and tee-shirts during the day. I wore boots once last week and even that was pushing it.

 

Fresh Tomatoes _ table

This in-between is actually my favorite part of seasonal transition. I feel I can breathe. The new light cast by the sun is balm to my soul. The cloudless sky, crisp air and lush foliage just get me in the mood for heartier meals and dishes. Even if it’s just me and the old pup back at the house.

With the husband gone back to Charleston for a few weeks, I can’t sensibly make a large coq au vin, pot roast or lasagna without eating the leftovers for days (unless I have friends over every night)(and I have a thimble sized freezer so I can’t portion/freeze/rotate). Instead, I gravitate towards smaller, individual sized portions for most dinners.

Peppers 2

My favorite thing to do this time of year and while cooking for one most nights is to make stuffed vegetables. With one simple preparation I can have stuffed onions, tomatoes, zucchini or eggplant comforting me for dinner after a long day on set.



Les Farcis is a cultural institutions in my family. My grandmother was famous for her "petits farcis provencal" filled with ground meat, rice, onions, garlic, lots of basil and thyme. To this day, no one in the family makes them quite like she used to. And no, it’s not because of that elusive and often times nostalgic way to remember a grandmother. She had her own way of mixing ingredients in her own proportions in order to create a heavenly balanced dish.

Fresh Tomatoes _ Hollowed

My mom’s stuffed vegetables were something else too. Especially the big red peppers. Filled to the rim with a variation on her mom’s. I loved stuffed pepper night. They were generously moist, opulent in flavors and big! And I was always intrigued as a child with the idea of putting all of one’s meal ingredients (minus dessert) into one big plump vegetable. I thought there was some genius in that.

I just follow in their footsteps by cooking my own variations of stuffed vegetables. When I find them, I use little round zucchinis, known as eight-ball zucchini and fill them with leftover ratatouille and rice or local sausage I find at the farmers market (recipe here). When I am by myself, anything I throw together and stuff a vegetable remains meat free.

This time around, I used farro instead of rice and added a healthy mixed of eggplant, zucchini, onion and fiery hot peppers. A good dose of parsley and time. A little sprinkle of feta right before they went in the oven and I was in business.

The end result was perfect for sightly cooler nights and a simple dinner at home.

Stuffed Tomatoes _ Baking dish

read more

Red Wine Cherries With Ice Cream Or Goat Cheese & Mascarpone Mousse

Rainier Cherries

We are currently at the part of the year I love the most. When Fall is just tiptoeing at the front door and Summer decided to linger on. Cooler mornings, crisp evening and yet bright sunshine and balmy temperatures during the day. The market displays the de rigueur squash and pumpkin while the last of the tomatoes, peaches and cherries are still going strong. I am afraid I am on the last batch of cherries I had pitted and frozen this summer, devising one last treat before apples, pears and pomegranate come around full force.

Red Wine Cherries & Ice Cream

I cooked the first braised dish of the season tonight and really it was because Bill was pushing me a tad. He is less and less traveling back and forth to Charleston and we are well adjusting to being a unit again. Next week will mark one year I have moved to Birmingham. Seems like it was yesterday. Seems like I have been here longer too. Seems like I was in Charleston just days ago. Seems like it was an eternity ago. I am here and there.

Red Wine Cherries & Goat Cheese Mousse


Everyday I learn more about myself and people. About what it means to photograph for a huge publishing house, with great talents and great projects. With big dreams too.
There are issues, there is a little drama here and there but overall there is this intense desire to create beautiful imagery. At the end of a really hard day, I still wake the next morning and say "Man! I love my job". I am looking forward to what the next year will bring at work. And home now that Bill will be here more often.

Red Wine Cherries & Goat Cheese Mousse 2

Adjusting to each other is the easy part for us. We really dig each other…that helps! We have our quiet times. Our about town times. All punctuated by little indulgences here and there. Like Wine Soaked Cherries With Vanilla Ice Cream or Goat Cheese & Mascarpone Mousse. The cherries are divine on their own but flatter the most simple vanilla ice cream with gusto. They play a quieter part with soft and unctuous goat cheese and mascarpone mousse.

Red Wine Cherries & Goat Cheese Mousse 3

read more

Squid Ink Pasta With Stilton Blue & Fresh Figs

Pasta Plated _ plate

Feels like forever since I last posted here. Wait, it’s been forever!What can I say..There was work, lots of it and at a fast pace, summer hang outs with friends and weekend discoveries around town. A trip to France that pumped all my energy and emotions and getting back in the groove of things which has been easier than anticipated.

Mise Pasta Figs

I am spending the weekend in a cabin in the northern Georgia with my bestie Tami from Running With Tweezers and I can tell Fall is right around the bend. I am a bridesmaid at her wedding and we decided to do a bachelorette weekend all together in a serene and peaceful house. The Appalachian mountains are quite lovely and tranquil during Fall.

Figs

We are just spending a couple of quiet days catching up, genuinely talking about our hopes, fears, giving each others support and words of wisdom. Cooking, snacking, drinking wine and relaxing on the back porch doing nothing of extreme importance. A couple of days to read, relax and enjoy the sound of the river below. I needed it.

Adjusting our internal clocks.

Adjusting my own after three weeks spent in France surrounded by family, great meals, long dinners under the sun and shaded homestead was easier than I thought. I went back into the kitchen right away and cooked comforting meals every night. The husband is still back and forth between here and Charleston so it’s been me and old pup Tippy (will be 17 this coming year!), a good book in the evening and catching up on y’alls blogs and instagrams…

Pasta Plated _ Table

On the weekend, easy peasy meals have been most welcome. The weather has been hot and humid, typically Southern and there has not been much time spent baking, roasting, braising, etc… I am looking forward to those days when Sundays turn into lamb roasts, onion soup and braised chicken. Until then, it’s a loaded heirloom tomato salad, a minty quinoa and cucumber salad or better yet, a quick pasta dish with nothing else than a couple of add ons and a drizzle of olive oil.

When in France, I picked up the coolest black and white spaghetti at a gourmet store. Striped squid in gluten free spaghetti. I feel like playing Mikado with my brothers again everytime I boil a handful. My to-go lunch one hot Saturday was a simple quick toss of said pasta with Stilton blue and fresh cut figs. A little olive oil and I was in business. Simple method, simple flavors. Cooking like we do in my family.

A preview of Fall in a plate.

Figs

read more

Announcing a 4 day Food, Lifestyle, Styling & Cooking Workshop on Saint Simons Island, Georgia, November 4th-8th 2013!!

Workshop St Simons H&J

I am away in France at the moment for family reasons but in the whirlwind of the last 10 days, I need to focus on something positive and that allows me to share with you one of the things I love doing the most (beside my current job!) and that is to teach workshops whenever possible.

I am really excited to announce that I am teaming up with my dear friend John Ondo, Chef at Lana restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina for a 4 day workshop on the beautiful Saint Simons Island, near Savannah, Georgia, combining cooking classes and photo/styling….!

 I am seriously stoked about this one… 

I have known John for many years and have photographed him and his crew many times. His restaurant is like home to us. It’s also the one restaurant I always take workshops attendees when we teach them in Charleston. There have been many a wonderful meals there. 

One evening, we started brainstorming a workshop combining both our crafts and here we are! We will be tag teaming taking attendees through hands on cooking and photo classes.

In this workshop, I will share with the attendees my photo and styling processes. Anything from procuring ingredients, cooking for photo, styling, working with different light situations, composing a shot, and photographing it; all in various indoor and outdoor situations. Students will get to spend time with John work his craft in the kitchen through various small group cooking classes covering lots and lots of different ingredients and dishes.
Through both our personal guidance, attendees will develop their own creative process for styling, shooting and editing their own set ups.


Workshop St Simons John


We will take a day trip to Savannah Georgia,
just up the road (!) as we say here and set up a picnic in one of the city’s picturesque squares. We will take the group to one of my favorite spots there, the ever photogenic Back In The Day Bakery. I will also share with the attendees my favorite spots for prop and surface shopping and they will ample free time to shop at their heart’s content. We will conclude the day with dinner in town before heading back to Saint Simons Island. 

Throughout the workshop, I will take the group through studio/home as well as on location shoot, be it a bakery or a restaurant, a food focus event, etc…John and I will share with you the tips and hindsight we both gleaned from being the one in front or behind the camera and how to best approach light,time and space constraints. 

But the fun does not stop there! While the workshop will be spent primarily in natural light situations, I am fully aware that not all of us have the luxury to shoot natural light year-round, thus I will take attendees through a complete yet easy to understand strobe set up working with speedlights (off camera flashes) and easy to use strobes such as Alien Bees. I will give you my process and techniques to make every shot look as natural as if you were by your window in a nice cozy sunny day while using strobes as either supplemental light sources or primary ones. 

Nothing is off limits with questions, from how to pick ingredients and how to cook them, how to manage your cooking/photo time efficiently, knowing about photography for blogging, cooking for photography, photo as a hobby or even the business of photography. Both John and myself will be 100% available to all your questions.

While we are in the gorgeous setting of Saint Simons Island and Savannah, Georgia. 

Hope you will join us!


Workshop St Simon Helene

Here are the details: 

When: November 4th – 8th 2013 

Where: Beautiful house on Saint Simons Island, Ga (click on hot link for pics) (closest airports are Brunswick Golden Isle, Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport and Jacksonville International) 

How much: Fee is $1,850 and includes: 

4 nights accomodation (most rooms are shared)

3 days of technical and practical instruction with on-location shoots, natural and artificial light setups, cooking classes

1 full day of sightseeing, shooting, picnic, prop & surface shopping in Savannah, Ga. 

All meals, including a dinner out in Savannah. 

Reception cocktails and appetizers on the evening of the 4th. 

Snack, refreshments, happy hour, etc.. 

Transportation to our workshop activities (it does not include travel fares to and from the workshop) 

There will be no refunds for this workshop – please know you attend before registering. Full payment due at time of registration. 

The workshop is open to 12 people. 


Registration is NOW open!  To register please visit here.

Lamb Kebabs and Lamb Burgers With Tomato & Grilled Corn Salad With Sriracha Vinaigrette.

Lamb Skewers With Tomato&Corn Salad

I moved to Birmingham at the tail end of the Pepper Place Farmers Market which filled me simultaneouly with great sadness to have missed much of its summer bounty and with great excitment about the upcoming Spring when it would be back in full swing. Within a five minute drive, I am there around 7am every Saturday I am in town. And then I hop to a couple more markets around town just to make sure I am not missing anything. It makes me feel connected to home and summers spent in the Alpes going to the market with my mom. I’d go stir crazy running from stand to stand. Berries, tomatoes, cantaloupe, honey, fresh cheeses, cherries, peaches, herbs galore.

 

Corn

So yes, that’s what I do on Saturdays. I take a virtual trip back home, even if just briefly with such early morning escapades. My panier (basket) in tow and lovely memories of squeezing my mom’s hand with excitement upon each stand we would stop and visit. I grow even more nostalgic when I see my family’s pictures on Facebook or other of all the fun shared during "les grandes vacances" (summer holidays) when they all gather at the family home. This ability to transport myself back to that place in my life grounds me into the present as much as it makes my heart sink I am not there with them.

 

Tomato &Grilled Corn Salad With Sriracha Vinaigrette

I love closing my eyes and reliving sounds and smells of my childhood. The cicadas by my bedroom window. Fresh cut cantaloupe with a dash of Port for the adults. Kebabs and veggies sizzling on the grill. Wildflowers and cool clear streams on our hikes in the morning. There isn’t a closer place closer to summer vacation paradise. Many training wheel were cast aside there. Many nights spent sleeping "a la belle etoile" trying to catch a meteor shower.

 

Tomato & Grilled Corn Salad With Sriracha Vinaigrette


I think that’s my happy place. L
ovely simple summer foods. Tomatoes and grilled corn. Marinated meat thrown on the grill. Fish cooked just so over hot coals. And the simplest of salads, burgers and drinks on a hot summer day. 

Nothing like local ripe produce and tasty meats to make me feel in the throw of Summer, just as if I were back home. When the market stalls overflow with fresh corn, heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, you can be sure that they end up in my basket in no time. I was thrilled to be able to get local lamb from one of our freelance food stylists, Ana, who operates Dayspring Dairy farm. The same lady who always comes to work with a few dozens eggs from her chickens and gifted me with sheep milk ricotta a few weeks ago. Dayspring Dairy's lamb is young, mild and very tender. A pleasure to create a meal around and share with friends for an impromptu dinner.

 

Lamb Skewers With Tomato & Corn Salad

Big chunks of lamb shoulder were marinated in a flavorful concoction of cumin and chili, grilled just until medium rare and served with tzatziki and my new favorite tomato and grilled corn salad. Oh, yes… That salad has been made several times a week for the past month. I can’t stop at a serving. Or two. Fresh corn, grilled with a dab of olive oil, big chunks of big juicy tomato and a Sriracha vinaigrette. Yes again. So good…I get *this* close to not sharing when I make it.

 

Lamb Burger

I rarely eat a burger just to eat a burger but, if you ask my closest friends, I do go all out when I decide to have them over for burger night. Loads and loads of different buns, sauces, garnishes, pickles, etc… However, when it comes down to my favorite way to eat a burger, I am pretty straightforward. Toasted bun, garlic aioli, a thick slice of ripe tomato, arugula and red onion. That’s it. Makes me a whole lot of happy.

So here you go, I wanted to share a few favorites of the summer so far.

Hope you are enjoying time with friends and loved ones!

 

Lamb Burger

read more

Pizza & Salad Night. Sort Of… A Rice Noodle & Lobster Salad And Grilled Pizza With Lobster, Spinach and Feta

Lobster Salad 2

The last few weeks have been somewhat of a blur. A good blur. I wrapped up the shoot of the new Lodge Cast Iron book that should hit the shelves this Fall. Got to shoot the most amazing food for a Cooking Light book for 2014 and just started shooting a really hip and fun cookbook for Southern Living. Long days, gorgeous foods, awesome team and an empty brain at the end of the day are the perfect recipe to prevent me from being productive on the blog, ahah!

A little hibernation took place also. You see, after 8 months living in different cities, my husband finally brought the last load of his boxes and officially moved in a couple of weeks ago. And well, after months apart, albeit with a few visits here and there when our schedules permitted, I chose to spend time away from this page and fill it with "us" instead. We had plenty of things to do around Birmingham together that we had put on hold while we were apart. Our evenings were spent cooking dinner, having a glass of wine on the back deck and talking. Weekends were filled with short outings or longer road trips to discover our new state.

Lobster Salad Mise

And then there was our 15th anniversary. Neither of us could believe it. Not that we were surprised we had been together this long. No, just the simple notion that it really does not feel like 15 years. We remember each year as if it had just happened. And the realization that, with these 15 years, our couple is all sorts of thing. Strange, hard to comprehend at times and for others, awesome, rocking. Serious, funny, unbalanced, observant. Quiet, musical, sonorous. Certainly not dull, conventional or lacking stories. A solid, rocking fifteen years of fun, struggles, and lots and love of love and communication to season it all.

We had a big party with our new friends, neighbors and old ones who made the drive to come celebrate with us. Kids running around, dogs chasing each other and adults taking part in a lovely evening of sangria and grilling on the back deck. We are very much looking forward to the next 15 years together with the people we love and the friends we make.

Lobster Salad Mise

In between going out to new restaurants, pubs, events and hanging with friends for dinner, we both felt like a little clean-er or/and simpler eating was in order. Peaches made their appearance on many salads and were devoured au naturel or grilled for dessert. Tomatoes were sliced, cut, chopped and dressed in many various ways to steal the show of our dinners. And then there was these whole two giant lobsters left from a photo shoot that I had picked over and frozen with the hope of creating the perfect recipes for the sweet tender flesh of the lobster.

I settled on a super fresh salad with an Asian flair: big chunks of perfectly steamed lobster with ribbons of cucumbers and carrots and long threads of rice noodles, lots of mint, lime and chili for a little kick. The second recipe I wanted to try for the lobster was a grilled lobster pizza with plenty of spinach, feta, Vidalia onion. Since the lobster was already steamed, grilling the pizza dough and then layering the ingredients at the last minute on the crust kept the lobster meat tender and juicy. Paired with a little herb salad and a cold beverage and we had all the making to a lovely meal a deux.

 

Lobster Grilled Pizza

read more

Sheep’s Milk Ricotta Mousse With Strawberry Compote

Mousse

 A little workshop update before getting onto today’s dessert: there are a few spots available for the workshop I am teaching with food stylist Tami Hardeman and prop stylist Mindi Shapiro July 26-28th in Birmingham (details here).

Two full days of complete hands on instructions about how to food style, prop and photograph challenging items such as cocktails, drinks, casseroles, dips and spreads. We will give you all our techniques and tips while working in a naturally lit professional photo studio in downtown Birmingham.

Now…

Every time I see berries I think about my parents, my family, my childhood, Provence and the Hautes Alpes. I can’t help it. We would spend the greater part of the summer in the Alps where my parents have a chalet and pick berries by the side of the road. Wild strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. It was one of the activities we loved to get involved in, as much as trout fishing on Sundays or snail "hunting" after the rain with my grandfather.

Strawberries

Buckets of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries would then be turned into jams and jellies. Jars upon jars would fill our pantry, my grandparents pantry and would be gifted to neighbors throughout the year. I always thought of my mother and grandmother as jam fairies. I do my best to follow suit and preserve or turn into jam the bounty of each season. I make smaller batches. I experiment a little bit more with spices and combinations.

I try to keep their teachings and legacy alive. I also turn much of what I gather and pick into baked goods, infusions and ice creams. When I get more than I can handle I make cobblers and crisps. Or clafoutis, sauces and compotes. Nothing gets lost. I love just cooking a big pot of berries into a soft compote to be spooned over yogurt, ice cream or mousse. A super simple way to end a summer meal. Soft textures and layers of flavors.

Sheeps Milk Ricotta

A few weeks ago, one of our freelance food stylists gifted me with a dozen eggs from her chickens and sheep’s milk ricotta from her dairy farm, Dayspring Dairy. I knew right from the start that I wanted to turn the ricotta into a mousse. And layer it with berrries or berry compote. There is something special about homemade dairy. More so when you know the story and people behind it and what it took to have such treasure in my hands.

To make the most of that ricotta, I simply folded it with honey and whipped cream and layered it with softly cooked strawberries. A little soft, a little chunky, a little sweet and a whole lot perfect.

 

Mousse

read more

Lemon Yogurt Cake & An Ode To My New Town…

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

I have to start this post by going over an email exchange I recently had with a reader. I think it was quite enlightening on both sides from various reasons. He sent me a message asking if there was still spots available in the workshop Tami, Mindi and I are teaching in Birmingham, Alabama in July. (details here) My answer was a resounding and honest "Yes! Would love to see you there!" and here is part of the exchange that ensued that made me profoundly sad and just as excited.

Him: that’s great! But why on earth Birmingham, Alabama?!!

Me: ? what do you mean?

Him: it’s A-la-ba-ma. Ugh…

Me: hey! I live here now!  Have you ever been to Birmingham? Alabama?

Him: No.

Me: then why the prejudice? Preconception?

Him: I so wish you had it in Atlanta, like the one in April.

Me: so you’ve been in Atlanta? Georgia?

Him: No.

Me: seriously now. Why not Alabama?!

Him: you know, history and stuff. People. Not much happening there.

It went on a bit longer but I will spare you the dialogue format.

 

Cherries_

Yes. Alabama has a troubled past. So does Georgia. So does South Carolina from where I hailed. So do many states in the US. So what…? It made Alabama history that much richer. Its residents that much aware of the outside view the rest of the world has on them and their desire to prove it wrong that much stronger. I am proud new Alabama resident. I have fallen completely in love with Birmingham and the state surrounding this amazing growing city.

Troubled past makes your present. Your present does not have to follow suit to your past however. Birmingham is full of life, full of neighborhoods vibrant with people casually meeting up for a glass of wine on their back deck or walking over to the nearest neighborhood par or restaurant. Pockets of life, bursting with creativity. Artists, galleries, studios. A music scene bursting at the seam. Many a James Beard nominated and winnning chefs. The food… Oh my, the food. Alabama is not red pick up trucks and barbecue. It is. But it’s also so much more…

Summer berries

One thing that struck me about Birmingham was not only the incredible food scene and how friendly people were (and I come from friendly city Charleston…and we got nothing on Birmingham. Trust me!), but how lush, pristine, clean and green the city was. And how much it was nothing like I thought. And I am sure a lot of us thought. And think. Still. That conversation with a reader is not new or unusual. I am happy to change their minds or at least show them some of the attributes that this city bears.

Birmingham hosts Southern Living magazine, Cooking Light magazine, Oxmoor House, Hoffman publications and numerous crazy talented photographers, food stylists and prop stylists. And I had no idea about that either when I got a call to consider a photo position there. And I was blown away. And so happy to be in this mecca of talents. Both culinary and visual.

Wild Blackberries

If there is one city to discover on your map this year, Birmingham should definitely be it. If there is creativity boiling inside of you but no one to help you harness, shape and deliver it, this city definitely deserves a second look. And more. It’s almost ridiculous to me how much Birmingham has to offer and that I find myself in the midst of it. Yep. Call me a proud new resident.

So, would you join us for a weekend of learning, sharing techniques, tips? Tami, Mindi and myself can’t wait to see you here. Where arts of all forms meet and create. Where Southern charm intertwines with urban sophistication. Some spots are still available. Details HERE.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

 In the meantime, I am leaving you with one of my favorite cakes. The first one my grandmother taught me how to bake. The quintessential "Gateau Citron Au Yaourt" or Lemon Yogurt Cake.

read more