BRUNCH!

So, we went back to my favorite brunch place - and this time, I brought my flash card, see - progress:)

It was actually a really nice day, so we ate outside, it was wonderful, and I think the little guy really enjoyed it as well.  At this place, my favorite thing to eat is the all-you-can-eat buffet...and so my picture is my first (of three:)) servings from the brunch buffet -YUM!

Camera T1i, lens 24-70mm f2.8L...as for the picture, 1/250, ISO200, f2.8...I was able to do a high shutter speed and low ISO (less grain) and easily do no flash since we were outside, so the quality of the picture is pretty good...my goal was to have the background blur, but I think my aperture was a bit too high (f-stop too low) cause I wanted a bit more of the plate in focus, perhaps should have done 3.2 or so...anyway, it just give me something to improve on, so that's good...

Post processing, I increased the saturation and contrast, and took down the curves a bit cause it was very slightly over exposed...I do think it looks yummy though:)

Oh, and most exciting - I FINALLY got new batteries for the Speedlite - I got 20, so they should last for a while, unless the little guy needs a lot for his toys!

FOOD!

I think I've figured out the way to get through this thing - all 365 days of it, and that is to take a few early random pics (today I took some of my son sleeping), and then I will always have :something" in case I dont get anything inspired.

Well, I'm sure that you are looking forward in great anticipation to see my son sleeping (specially because of how rare that is - i.e. usually if he is sleeping, he is sleeping on top of me and so there are no pictures of it), but, you will have to wait for that one.

Today, I bring you a picture of food.  I find pictures of food interesting because - at least at most places - the food always looks so mouthwatering in the pictures, and then when they bring it out, it ends up being so disappointing.  Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't be saying that right before showing you a picture of my dinner.

Anyway, I digress...

So, this is a picture of the dinner that I made tonight (and for bonus points, look below for the recipe:)):

It is curried lentils and quinoa, with spinach, Quorn Chicken, and a Tofurkey Italian Sausage in it.
As far as the picture, I've found that any time you take a picture of food, you need more light than in a normal picture, but not too much to completely destroy the details in the food.  I took this picture in the kitchen which has beige walls instead of the white walls that I'm used to bouncing my flash off of - so I had to put the Speedlite at M 1/1 (the highest power).  Shutter speed was 1/100, ISO400 (didn't want much grain since this was a big "details" picture, in retrospect, I could have gone down to a lower shutter speed and ISO and even brought out the tripod to get a better pic - but honestly, I wanted to eat it not take pictures of it:)), and f4.0.  I had the f-stop at 4.0 cause I was closeup and wanted some blur in the background, but didn't want everything but my focus point to be blurred.  I really am pleased with the blur in the picture, I spot-meter focused on the raisin in the center, and those are crispy sharp, and the back of the bowl/background is blur but not too blur - I like!

I used my 24-70mm f2.8L lens again, and my T1i...I will say that his being the first time I've taken a picture of something still, I love being able to take my time. Sigh...not really a luxury that taking pics of children allows:)

Ok, now for what you've been waiting for - the recipe (this is for 2 large servings)
A quick note about the recipe - my husband is vegetarian (I'm mostly, but not all the way), so I don't cook meat in the house, so any recipe that I put up is going to be vegetarian:
Takes 15 minutes to prepare.
1/2 cup of lentils
1/2 cup quinoa
1 tsp Everglades Seasoning
1 tsp curry
1/4 tsp Red Pepper seasoning
1 bag baby spinach
1 Quinoa Chicken cutlet
1 Tofurkey Italian Sausage
1 cup Greek Yogurt (dont use the normal yogurt, it doesn't work)
big handful of raisins

Put quinoa and water in a microwave safe dish, microwave for 15 minutes.  During this time, put lentils, Everglades seasoning, curry, red pepper seasoning, Quorn cutlet, Tofurkey sausage, and water in pot on stovetop, boil without a top for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After about 10 minutes, cut up sausage and quorn into bite size pieces (they are soft so I cut them with a spatula), after 15 minutes when most of the water has evaporated off, add spinach, stir and cook for 2-3 more minutes.
Plate it with the quinoa first, then the lentils, then yogurt and raisins on top (the yogurt and raisins make it, trust me)...

Enjoy!