Food Photography: Week 8 - Chinese

So, Jeff pulled Chinese Food for my food challenge this week. We weren't really sure what we should make since we don't really cook a whole lot of Chinese. Then Jeff recommended we go to the Asian Food Market in Middletown and pick up some Char Siu Bao (Pork Buns)! Jeff and I started buying Char Siu Bao at the Asian Food Market during our first year of marriage and it now it has become a special treat in our house.

We bought the Char Siu Bao that is made at the Asian Food Market which we don't normally do since they are generally sold out.  Jeff and I usually buy the kind that is packaged in the frozen section.

I think the meat that is in the homemade ones is of better quality then the frozen ones, but I think I like the flavor of the frozen ones better. Good to know for next time :)

Jeff ended up buying the below "thing" (I'm not sure what it's called) while we were at the market. It was wrapped in leaves and had rice, beans, and duck in it. We steamed it with the buns (We're not sure if that's what you're supposed to do). It was different, but we enjoyed it.

Young Women's Basketball: 2013 Season

We are back in basketball season people! We have been practicing for a few weeks now and the girls are getting so much better! We are having a short season this year which is a little sad, but it should still be a good time!

The girls played their first two games last Saturday. They didn't win, but I thought they did great since we were down a player and a couple of the girls have never played basketball before! My pictures however are not so great! I was just having an off day. I will get better ones next time!

Food Photography: Week 7 - Omelet

Yes, another breakfast food. I'm a little over taking pictures of eggs and hope I get a break from it for awhile.  I just find it really hard to take good pictures of eggs! It's really hard getting the color right.

Jeff and I made omelets with red and orange bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and mozzarella. They were pretty good.

Food Photography: Week 6 - Eggs and Sausage

And here's the eggs and sausage. I think the sandwich turned out better. :) They were good eggs. The little black bits in the eggs are sautéed onions, which were very good.

Food Photography: Week 6 - Breakfast Sandwich

This week I drew "Sausage and Eggs" for my food photography challenge. I was thinking of just making scrambled eggs with breakfast sausage, but Jeff had something else in mind...a breakfast sandwich. Since the breakfast sandwich sounded so good, I decided to do both this week :)

Jeff made a breakfast sandwich with sausage, swiss cheese, avocado, whole grain dijon mustard and a poached egg. I requested the poached egg because I thought it would look prettier than a fried egg. While the egg did look good it was a little tricky to eat on the sandwich (kept slipping out) and I ended up eating it with a fork and knife. It was still really good. Jeff said he would make it again but serve it as an open face sandwich.

 Jeff insisted on me taking a picture with the yoke broken. He said that that's what people want to see with a poached egg. I thought it didn't look as good, but he was the cook and I didn't want to mess with his masterpiece.

SNOW....SNOW....SNOW....SNOWWWWW!

Last night we went to bed with about three inches of snow and woke up to 7.5 inches. Storm Nemo has come and gone, but left us a nice layer of powder for Brie to play in! I'm grateful for all the snow because Jeff has been complaining that we haven't had much of a winter (To Jeff winter = snow). I find his complaining funny since it has already snowed a couple of times this winter. Apparently there is an snow inch requirement in order for it to count (aka...enough for him to use the snowblower). Silly Jeffrey.

We bought a snowblower a couple years ago (after the terrible storms of 2010/2011) and haven't really had the chance to use it. Jeff said when we bought it that we probably wouldn't get another storm. I told him I was fine with that. Sounded like good insurance to me! I was glad that he got to use it this morning. Boys and their toys!

Also, this storm gave us the chance to learn that Brie loves water in . She has been going crazy outside in the snow. She will eat a little snow, then go for a crazy run, then eat a little more snow, and then go jump on Jeff. It's been a good morning for her.

Preparing for the storm....

Yes, another storm is going to be hitting our area. We won't be getting the worse of it, but we should get a few inches of snow.

Here's Brie preparing for the storm. She's such a big helper.

Food Photography: Week 5 - Ravioli

Ravioli! I really didn't eat a whole lot of ravioli when I was growing up, but I have made up for it over the past few years :) Ravioli is now one of my favorite meals. I personally love lobster ravioli best and get it whenever I see it on a menu at a restaurant. Jeff and I discovered that Costco sells fresh ravioli and now buy it all the time. It is now one of our go-to meals. I was delighted to find that they had heart-shaped ravioli for the month of February! I thought they were a must for my little Food Photography challenge. I will admit that shooting ravioli was a lot harder then I thought it would be. I think I will have to give it another go sometime.

Food Photography: Week 4 - Pears

Ok, this is my last January fruit post. :) I decided to do another pear shoot (inspired by an assignment I got in my Digital Photography I class). I will admit that I thought it would go better than it did. I only ended up with two pictures that I thought were ok.

Thanks to Home Depot for the boards they gave me! Jeff and I went in looking for something I could use to make some different table tops or backgrounds and a nice worker there gave me these boards for free since they were a little chipped and they were going to throw them away any ways!

Food Photography: Week 3 - Jumping Fruit

You're going to be getting a lot of food pictures this week. I'm trying to catch up for January so I can get back on schedule for February. :)

A couple of week ago I took a few pictures of "Jumping Fruit." I saw some pictures of this online and thought it was really cool. No, my pictures didn't turn out anything like the ones I found online, but I feel like they are a solid first try. I think I will try this again when I have better equipment :)

Young Women Celebration of Excellence

Yet another late post.

In December the Young Women had their Celebration of Excellence (I think it's technically Young Women in Excellence, but we called it Celebration of Excellence)

We had a little lunch and program after Church in honor of the Young Women. The girls served their families lunch (soup and salad) and then presented the value experiences they worked on during the year. The girls did such a great job! I just love them.