December 2016 - Tartelette

Feels almost like giving you guys an early Christmas present! I’m quite excited to announce this upcoming comprehensive foodie workshop in Charleston SC, January 23rd-28th 2017. Nothing like what we’ve done before!

We’ll share with you all the food related topics we can think about and that you may ask! Lots of casual Q&As by the fire and lots of demos. Food photo & styling, social media content, recipe developing & cookbook writing, hands on cooking demos with local chef John Ondo and our special guest Gina Homolka from Skinnytaste! So so excited!

The workshop is for all level, whether you are a blogger, photographer, recipe developer, foodie, working from home, or someone who just wants to broaden their horizon with like minded people in a relaxed atmosphere over hands on cooking classes, practical hands on food photography & styling demos, and casual Q&As by the fireplace where no topic is off limit.

Registration page HERE.

We are thrilled to bring you such a wide variety of topics photo and cooking related:

Understanding your equipments and how to choose the right tools and settings for the job. ISO, focal length, aperture.

How to understand and utilize light no matter what you are shooting.

Shooting darker, moodier images and bright lighter ones and the do’s and dont’s of each to achieve great results.

Hands on demos of food and prop styling for recipe shoots or for gatherings.

Photo for Instagram, Facebook or other social media content, shooting with a smart phone, use of filters

Developing your brand/voice, social media and working with brands. Networking, sponsors, hashtags, groups, etc..

Developing original recipe and writing a cookbook

pantry and equipment essentials

Sourcing ingredients

Cooking demos where John Ondo will share a few of his favorite Mediterranean influenced recipes

Cooking demos where Gina will share some of her favorite Skinnystate recipes

All this right by the ocean. Which is a gorgeous place to be this time of year…

Note that the workshop is limited to 8 attendees so we can devote all our time and knowledge in a casual setting to the group.

Arrival day is January 23 by 4-5pm when we will start by a casual meet & greet at the beach home, followed by dinner prepared by Chef Ondo. Attendees will have an afternoon free to wander about Charleston get some personal work done or just chill. A trip to the docks to get fresh fish and a visit to a favorite antique store are also on the itinerary. Departure day is January 28th by 11am.

Registration is open HERE.

The workshop includes:

All workshop sessions

full accommodation

Breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Refreshments and snacks

Most rooms are shared – there is opportunity for single rooms on a first sign up basis

Workshop is limited to 8 people.

Fee is $1875 (does not include travel fares to and from workshop)

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

Like most photographers, I "met" Dana Brandwein and Daniel Oates through the prop stylists I’ve worked with along the years. As a lover of beautiful props myself, I instantly found myself drawn to their line of ceramics, DBO Home.

The funny thing is that on a photoshoot, we use plates and dishes for the photos, carefully clean them and put them away. We rarely eat from them. For some rare, one of a kind pieces, that makes sense. But not so for DBO Home’s ceramics. I realized over the last few years working with them on sets that these were not only unique, handmade pieces but also functional and gorgeous on any tablescape. In any occasion.

So when Dana emailed and asked if I were interested in doing a photoshoot with some of their pieces for their Tastemakers' Table feature on their site, it was basically a no brainer!

I already had in mind the pieces and color palette I would love to work with. I picked dinner plates, platter and cheese board from their Burl series and mixed them with the delicate look of their Kashmir collection. A perfect balance of strong masculine dark grey with creamy accents of light blush and soft grey flowers. The color palette alone makes me happy. Seeing the pieces work together is completely thrilling.

I asked my friend and prop stylist Angela Hall to create a table around those pieces and left it completely to her to pick what she thought would make an inviting Friendsgiving table of sort. What she came up with made me giddy the first time she showed me. When we put it all together in my backyard, it simply looked amazing. Decked out, yet inviting. Much like DBO Home ceramics. You may feel like they are too pretty to eat from but trust me, they are strong and feel so good and practical in your hands.

We gathered our favorite peeps around a holiday orientated menu and had a fantastic time enjoying the work that Dana and Daniel put into each of their pieces. Because they are handmade, each is a bit unique, slightly different from the rest. Shapes are irregular, details are strong. Much like everyday life. And I won’t be waiting for another big dinner to use them again!

You can see the pieces as sets and more photos from the table on the DBO Home site. They would make great additions to any table, any time of the year!

If you are interested in what we cooked and enjoyed that evening here is the menu with links to the recipes.

Appetizer: Cranberry Pomegranate Baked Brie from my friend Liren at Kitchen Confidante

First Course: Creamy Parsnip Soup With Pear and Walnuts from Marcus Samuelsson (minus the sun chokes)

Main Course: Porchetta Spiced Turkey, Gaby’s insane wild mushroom stuffing and a salad with roasted acorn squash, blue cheese and pecans with a coriander seed vinaigrette that I made up in my head.

Dessert: Cardamom Poached Pears with Mascarpone cream (similar to this)

Monatsarchive: December 2016

An All Things Food Related Workshop that you can think about!! January 23rd-28th 2017!

DBO Home Tastemakers' Table