Ramblings – Page 15 – Fervent Foodie

Ramblings

New Toy!

January 27, 2011 7 Comments

Ok guys… Who noticed how disturbingly good looking my dinner pictures were yesterday???

Clear and crisp?

Lick-your-screen-delicious???

I know, right?

Whelp, these nice photos were courtesy of my new toy!!!

A light box! I’m so excited! Sayonara grainy dimly lit blaze food pics!

This lovely new light box replaced the light box that I attempted to make a few months back… but that experienced a career ending injury:

Poor guy Sad smile

Let’s take a look at some comparison photos.

First up, standard kitchen table shot:

Kitchen table shot with flash (note how everything looks weirdly shiny and bright):

Light box photo:

This is the standard no-flash shot versus the light box shot:

The pictures on the left is the best of TEN photos I took on the kitchen table (amidst much frustration I might add) while the picture on the right is the FIRST photo I quickly snapped in the light box.

Time = money, baby.

I’m pumped to play around with this new toy! Open-mouthed smile

I’m also pumped to eat these leftovers for dinner tonight!!

Ramblings

Happy 200th Post!

January 23, 2011 4 Comments

It’s crazy to think that this is my 200th post on the blog! As soon as I came to this realization I started clicking back through that last 199 posts. While it was really fun to reflect, I came to the realization that my blog posts were 97% about the food and not so much about the fun that went along with the food. To me, fun and food go hand in hand, and if there’s anything I’d like to do differently in the next 200 posts, it’s to focus on the food AND everything that goes with the food—the fun, the friends, the family, and the happy. I am 3 chapters in to the Happiness Project after all Smile

Highlights of the last 199 posts:

17. I made yogurt pancakes

18. I fell in love with overnight oats
19. I went to Columbus, New Orleans, Charlotte, and Charleston!
20. I got my first calendar centerfold
21. I met up with some CLE bloggers
22. I looooooved eggs
23. My coworker showed me love
24. The BF moved
25. I. joined. a. gym….
26. I ate a crap ton of food in charlotte (AGAIN)
27. I started strength training

My Favs, Ramblings

10 Tips for Tax Season

January 19, 2011 12 Comments

Those of you who are NOT tax accountants probably think of taxes on one of two days during the year:

a.) the day you get your w-2

b.) April 15th (AKA the day your tax return is due)

Ohhhhh how blissful that must be! Tax accountants, on the other hand, live and breathe taxes. We are number crunching, tax law massaging, carbo loading monsters this time of year. Understandably, this season puts crazy stress on us and leads to periods of extreme unhappiness followed by periods of extreme slap-happiness in rapid succession.

Up and down, up and down.

Smile –> Sad smile –> Surprised smile –> Angry smile –> Rolling on the floor laughing -> Crying face -> Vampire bat

This is tax season #6 for moi and E.V.E.R.Y year I see myself and my coworkers fall into this instability.

Not this year, Uncle Sam. Not this year.

10 Tips for tax season.

Find time for fun.
Eat healthfully… Especially when it’s 10 pm, you’re still at the office, and that Krispy Kreme donut has been calllllllllllllling your name all.friggin.day.
Breathe.
Exercise woman! All that stuff about exercise and endorphins is true and don’t you forget it!
Back.away.from.your.desk. BACK AWAY.
Smile. Even it it hurts. (AKA fake it til you make it, baby)
DO NOT project your stress on to your lovely coworkers. They’ve got enough poo on their shoulders without you flinging more at them.
Go pee (you know you’ve been holding it for the last 2, possibly 3, hours)
Dance. Bust out at least one dance move, at a minimum, each day. Work it…. workkkkkkk it.
It’s just taxes.

Ramblings, Travel

Things I’ve learned over a week in Charlotte

January 3, 2011 4 Comments

The people in Charlotte are nice. Like SUPER nice. Like almost weirdly nice. I love them.
Carwashes in Charlotte are a whole heck of a lot cheaper than in Ohio… 30% cheaper, to be exact. Though, they will look at you funny when you ask to stay in the car as you go through the carwash. Apparently, that’s not how they do it here in Charlotte.
Everyone is really nicely dressed. Not in a I’m-better-than-thou sort of way, but in a I’m-putting-my-best-foot-forward-today (and every day for that matter) sort of way. I’m a fan.
Chicken paws are not the same thing as chicken breasts!
Speaking of chicken, why is the chicken breast at the butcher counter at Harris Teeter only $1.99 a pound??? That’s cheaper than the stuff they have on the shelves. Mystery.
Either u-turns are legal here or we’ve broken the law 7 times in the past week. I’m hoping for the former.
North Carolina is part of the South. People actually have accents here.
A Charlotte native can spot an Ohio accent a mile away… I didn’t think there was such a thing as an Ohio accent. I was wrong.
Public transportation is awesome.
People are young here. Like a city chock full of Doogie Howsers.
I’m pretty sure it’s possible to eat at a different delicious Charlotte restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a whole year without having any repeats. I may have to try that sometime. Charlotte knows a thang or two about food. (Stay tuned for more on that topic!)

Ramblings

A Foodie Gift {cookie-mix-in-a-jar}

January 1, 2011 5 Comments

In my opinion, nothing is better than the gift of food! For Christmas this year, I decided to make some cookie jars using one of my favorite cookie recipes – the Nestle Tollhouse Recipe for Oatmeal Scotchies (oh-so-conveniently located on the back of the butterscotch chips bag).

These gifts are so easy, and with a little elbow grease and creative flair they really turn out beautifully!