Pantry diving

I did a little culinary experimentation Monday night and came up with a winner.

A cool little cous cous dish that can be a great addition to a salad or work as a side dish for grilled meat.

I liked it. MF liked it. A couple lucky people at work got some samples, and they liked it.

Yup. A winner.

Go check it out: cool cous cous with edamame (and toasted almonds!)

Round Robin: By the Numbers

It's another photo challenge over at Round Robin.
Since this one was my idea, I guess I have to participate, right?
The topic is "By the Numbers."
Head over to Round Robin to see who else played.

Most of these were taken on the recent seafood-eating excursion to the Redondo Beach pier.
Who knew there were so many numbers involved in eating seafood?


Your orders, 01401 and 18387 will be ready in 20-30 minutes.
(And hammers are available in the beer department.)


Speaking of the beer department... Carta Blanca... 1 quart for each of us.


Hammers. For a mere $3 deposit each.


Our finest table coverings were recent editions of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.



I saw some numbers here in a few fonts I liked.
Not that I know what it says. But it sure looks cool

And the number that started it all. Nothing to do with seafood here.

This was taken at the parking garage at work.

It was one of the first pictures I took with the new camera, a Canon G9, that I got back in October 2008.

'Tis all.

Hope to see y'all back here soon with some cool underwater photos from my dives at Anacapa!

Feeling crabby ... in a good way

Things have been crazy here when it comes to the manfriend. He has been working like crazy. It's been tough with his schedule and my schedule to try to find time just to hang out and do something chill.


We finally had a chance Sunday, a very beautiful day, to get out and get some fresh air and some fresh food. Seafood!



We headed down to Redondo Beach to get some grub at Quality Seafood on the pier. (For locals, this is on the side near the international boardwalk, the Fun Factory, etc.) MF stood in line and picked out a couple crabs for us and had them steamed.


I did my thing with the bivalves and got us an assortment of clams and mussels, also steamed.


While we waited for the food to be ready, we grabbed a couple beers, some lemon and a little cup of butter for dipping. Then we copped a spot at one of the many outdoor tables. It was busy, but not too crowded. Some days you have to wait a while to find a spot.



We spread out of fancy newsprint tablecloth and then it was about time for our clam and mussel appetizer to be ready.

Yes, hammers are indeed available in the beer department - for a mere $3 per hammer deposit.



The assortment I got was black mussels, some manila clams and some larger top neck clams.
We inhaled those pretty quickly, washed down with some cold Carta Blancas.

Next up was the main event: the crab.
This is a labor intensive meal.
The crab is cooked whole and served whole.

Which means dismantling it before eating.
I joked that it is a defense mechanism for the crab.
If they are going to be that tasty, they have to be a pain in the ass to eat to try to deter people from wanting them. It did not deter us in the least.


We cracked and whacked - with the hammers we got for a $3 deposit each - our way through the poor crustaceans.
The poor tasty crustaceans.

It was a lovely day to sit outside (in the shade, mind you) and enjoy the people watching, the food, and in an odd way even the roving mariachi band.

Tea time

The article is up online. CLICK HERE to read it.

There are four recipes and lots of pretty, pretty pictures by a real photographer, not just me with my point and shoot.

Almost tea time

After having so much fun writing the travel article about one of my dive trips, I decided to try my hand at writing an article for the food section.

Since I have put on many tea parties over the years, I thought it would be fun to write about that. My take on it will be how to put on a beautiful tea party while also keeping it simple.

In the past I would roast the chicken for the chicken salad sandwiches. I would make a roast beef for the roast beef sandwiches. I would make scones and a cake for dessert. One time I even made my own lemon curd and clotted cream. The only thing I never did was bake the bread for the sandwiches.

For the recipes in the story, I took advantage of the great precooked things my favorite grocery stores have to offer. The food was still delicious and beautiful, but I saved myself hours of cooking time and a lot of mess.

And, since I want this to be extra pretty for the paper, I also took advantage of having a professional photographer available to do the photos. We got to set up in the beautiful back yard at the home of the paper's garden expert.

I also got to use some of the lovely dishes I have collected over the years. Some I found at antique shops, some on eBay and some were my grandmother's. It was nice to be able to use them all to make a fun, eclectic set for the food.

It was a warm lovely day and the photographer from work, Leonard Ortiz, did a beautiful job.

But those are not the photos you get to see here. You are stuck with mine.

Once the article is published (scheduled for April 2), I will share his far superior work.

I did get to help him, be sort of the photographer's assistant, during the shoot. Which was fun and educational. I learned a few tricks about lighting.

And the recipes that have lived in my head for years? No recipes for now. Sorry. Those also will go up once they have been published in the paper.

But really... how cute are these little desserts canapes?

Making excuses

I was chastised the other day for not paying more attention to this blog recently. By my mom.
Yeah, yeah... I know!

Here is the thing: I used to blog in the morning. I would get up, make tea, get my photos ready and blog.

But these days I have not really had a morning. My work schedule has changed a bit. It was a good change, since it means getting home earlier (in time for dinner before 9 p.m.). But it also means going in earlier.

I now leave the house right about the time I used to sit down to blog.

So I just need to get myself acclimated to this personal time change. And I need to learn how to blog at night apparently.

Or get up at 6 a.m.

Yeah... funny. That is so not happening.

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Light Moves

I went in on another Round Robin Challenge

(head there to see who else played).

The idea for this challenge is:

Take a picture that shows the quality of the light.

By that I mean the hues of a sunset, water reflected on water,

refracted light, something interesting with light.

I have to confess that mostly I relied on stuff I had already shot.

So let's start with that, then I will give you my new shot at the end.

And here we go:

St. Thomas sunset

Port of Long Beach
a little on the grainy and seedy side


Pepto-Bismol port sunset


Fifty-fifty
sea and sky


Water, light, magic

Shadow play


Moonfright


The water's fine


Just under the surface


I've been on that blimp
(and on that bridge)

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Can you tell I like sunsets?
And water...

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So I really do need to get back into the habit of
taking pictures, pictures, pictures.

I was really good for a while.
I do carry the camera at all times.

But usually everything is such a rush.
Rush to get to work.
Rush at work.
Rush to get home.

Note to self: Slow down. Look at things.

Take more pictures.