Playing with a photo tent.

Here are a couple of shots that I took with the photo tent I bought from ebay. I'm still quite a noob when it comes to photography, I need to take some sort of a class on this subject. But I think the pictures came out pretty decent still.

Sticky Rice

I'm sure that many of you out there know what sticky rice is, but do know how it is prepared?? To many, the sticky rice that you know is probably the sushi rice correct? Well the sticky rice that I grew up with in Thailand is a whole different breed. The sticky rice that the Thais eat is a medium grain rice that to the untrained eyes looks just like any regular rice. But the method of preparation is quite different. The traditional way of cooking sticky rice is to first soak the rice in water over night, then you drain it and put it into what looks like it could be an upside down woven bamboo hat. The "hat" is then put on top of a metal vase-like pot with boiling water inside to create the necessary steam needed for the cooking of the rice. The length of time needed for the rice to cook is not really known, you just have to keep checking and testing the rice for doneness.

Update

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog. I've been pretty busy and when it's busy, it's hard to try and take pictures of the food as they are going out the door. I am waiting for some slow nights where I can take my time and catch a few cool shots of the food again. One productive thing that I did was purchasing a table top photo tent, it was around $30 on ebay. Nothing fancy really, just a simple collapsable 20"X20" photo tent. But hopefully it'll help enhance the quality of the pictures that I take. Anyway summer is here so I am excited for this years crops and new dishes/ideas so I will definitely try to get more pictures up on the blog. Cheers Narin

Simply Roasted Cornish Hen

It's amazing how many people out there have a hard time roasting a chicken. It's straight forward, simple, and delicious. Maybe people are just intimidated but the fact that it's a whole chicken.

Wild Edibles

I recently went on a day hike at a local mountain 10 minutes from where I live. During my hike I was very happy to have stumbled upon a nice patch of ramps and wild mint that grew pretty much along the whole trail. When I picked a mint leaf and crushed it between my fingers I was quite surprised at how mild the mint aroma was when compared to the store bought mint. In the end I decided not to pick any of the mint but came home with a good handful of ramps. While driving back home, I was wondering what to do with the ramps and also what to do for dinner. I really wanted to keep it pretty simple, a few ingredients and let the natural flavors come through. Now I guess I could have just sauteed the ramps and eat it along side of something and that would have been delicious, but I wanted pizza for dinner. So the end result was: Grilled flatbread with bacon and wild ramps, homemade ricotta, garlic oil. The ramps mellowed out nicely and the sweetness really came through.