OliverB

I'd think this was a glitch somewhere. Might be a good idea to call a restaurant ahead of time to confirm next time? I've never used open table, but tend to confirm by phone with airlines and car rental etc. Especially around busy travel times.

any of Jamie Oliver's books might be good too, well explained and his funny banter might just fit well with a teen. Anything I've ever made from the 4 books I have turned out really well. If she's confused about simmer vs boil, her smart phone is probably the quickest way to find an answer though. Or any of the results google gives for cooking terms explained, like this one http://www.d.umn.edu/~alphanu/cookery/glossary_cooking.html I'd pick something that will offer lots of things she likes for starters. Like a pasta book or pizza or Mexican etc. edit to add: youtube is also a great source for little instruction videos

thanks, I think you're right. Read up on them, they've been around since the late 1800, so I guess they're known in Britain as well. Sounds better than the bitter real things too :-)

that looks great! I'm thinking of making this for Thanksgiving, but am confused about the grape nuts. Does he mean the cereal or real pits from grapes? I somewhat think the cereal, as the real ones are quite bitter, but want to be sure. Also can't find "real" grape nuts or stones, which also makes me think it's the cereal. Is it?

I'd throw it out without even opening for a sniff. Not worth it. Besides, when I sniff on something thinking it might be bad it WILL smell bad to me, no matter how perfect it is. Think of it as a customer, if you were in a restaurant and heard this happened, would you order the dish anyway?

I can't find a link to register on the site, is it in the book? I registered my MC set long time ago, but the site looked different then I believe

it's something I need to do in the coming weeks, I'm out of space and have books on top of books. I will move my German books to an other room and start getting rid of magazine books (cooking light etc) and other books I never use. My "admired chefs and restaurants" books will stay. I might move my specialty books out of the livingroom too, charcuterie, pickling, things like that. I actually could get rid of Modernist Cuisine, I doubt I'll ever cook from it, but I won't. Nor the Fat Duck book, which I own twice, the first large edition and the smaller mass market one. Very doubtful I'll ever use them. But they're so pretty :-) But my recently self imposed rule is, if there's no room, no more new books, or old books have to go. At least into a box in the garage....

that looks tasty! as for the small parts, the lamb I got was "undocumented", meaning one lady had gotten pregnant but they didn't know who the daddy was and somehow could not sell it into the "free" market for that reason. It was not very big, milk fed only. I tried to saw through the spine with a hack saw to get ribs, but gave up quickly, I guess a real bone saw would be beneficial. Your post and my new book "In Charcuterie" will probably make me buy one of those now. Thinking of half a pork, maybe a whole one if not too big. I really enjoyed the butchery I did in the past and there are lots of good things in that new book I'd like to try. What I could cut/saw from the middle of the animal was not very meaty with the tools I had.

I did this once with a whole lamb. Was fun, but I won't repeat it. Trying to saw through the spine and ribs with a hand saw was a pain (I gave up) but it was fun to try once. I took a couple butchery classes a couple years ago, which got me inspired. I probably should have gotten a pig instead, the lamb left me with lots of odd small parts that aren't really that useful. I guess I could have used my table saw, but the idea of cleaning it afterward is not appealing. The fact that you can cut European cuts is the most appealing to me here. The place I occasionally get a Berkshire from also skins it, they don't have the big scalding tank to scrape off the hair and even if, it's a lot of work with these hairy beasts. I was disappointed not to have the skin on some cuts, but shaving the beast would have made me even less happy, LOL

one thing I learned the first time I carved, cut the lid at an angle, or it will fall in.... We carved ours on Sunday, first spots of mold showing up already. I tried different things (bleach, fungus bathroom cleaner, etc to prevent this with no luck) to prevent this. That's why I now carve them close to Halloween, then they go out in the driveway to mold and liquify into a 'zombie' pumpkin over the next week or so, then I use a shovel to throw it into the bushes down the hill :-) And yes, roast the seeds of course!

I just buy it now, pretty cheap and lasts for ever. When I made it myself I strained it, the solids settle on the bottom anyway. Skimmed some of the foam off with a spoon.

I've been looking for it for a long time, now my Trader Joe's (of all places) has it: Black Garlic! Under their own brand, two to three bulbs in a small resealable bag. The stuff is delicious! Check it out, buy lots, so they keep carrying it :-)

the sets they sell at supermarkets and target etc work well enough for one. Scoop spoon, little saw, some extras. Cheap.

well, I had to give up, the outer shell came off just fine, but the inner skin did not budge. I boiled them the next day, thinking that might loosen the skin, no such luck. Stuck them back in the oven (peeled off the outer shell) to see if drying the skin would help now, nothing. I gnawed on a couple, but could not use them. Maybe they were too fresh? Not ripe enough? The skin was glued to the nut. I'll stick with frozen ones, this was not a fun experiment and delivered no reward :-( Oh well, thought it would be fun to eat with the kids, I loved them when I was little, but this was not worth it. Interesting idea with the oil, probably won't try it, I don't have storage space for large amounts of used oil and would hate to throw it out, but it certainly seems to work great there!

thanks, I'll watch the youtube links later today. I gave up last night, impossible the get the bitter woody skin off. I think I'll boil them today for a moment, see if the water helps loosen the skin. No idea what kind they are, what I got out tasted great so I think they are ripe and they are very fresh as far as I can tell. But I'll also go back to frozen pre peeled from now on.

to my delight fresh chestnuts showed up at the market today. To my dismay, they are impossible to peel. I did the cut an X in the flat side, stuck them in the oven at 425 for 30 min, they opened up nicely and look great, but it's completely impossible to remove the inner brown woody skin from them. No knife or other tool works, we can dig out some flesh and discard all the rest, which is a shame and a waste. And it's not like the chestnuts I remember from being a child, they peeled just fine. Did I do something wrong? Is there something wrong with these? Is there a trick? You can buy frozen roasted chestnuts, so a machine seems to be able to do this just fine, why can't I? Any ideas? Tips? I'll put the remaining ones in a bag until tomorrow and see if somebody has a suggestion, otherwise I'll have to throw them out. :-(

oh, thanks all, some very tasty sounding ideas here! I got the breaded and fried from an other friend too, she fries them in bacon drippings, which sounds quite good! I'll have a go at some of these for sure! I like the flavor and I'll probably make little patties with my left over "salad", bread them and fry them. And I have to make a gumbo, something I never made but love to eat.

I'm trying to like this vegetable, it's healthy, and actually tastes good, but the slime factor is a bit much. I tried roasting, that was somewhat ok. Now I tried a raw recipe, just sliced thinly, some soy sauce, and some shaved bonito. Tastes great, but the whole thing turned into a giant slime ball, a green salty slime ball. Like something out of a giant's nose I guess. Do you like Okra? If so, how do you make it? Is there a way to avoid the stringy slime? It looks like Alien saliva when I lift a spoon full out of the bowl... before I give up on this, I'd love to hear from those that like this stuff and have a good or even great recipe to share :-)

never heard of roasting them on the stem, I halve them and roast them cut side down for a bit of crunch, actually gonna do that within the next hour. They are also great pickled if you have too many to use up right away. Very very good. I only bought them on the stalk once because it's so cumbersome. Does the stem become edible? If not I'd not do that roasting part. And I'd be afraid the syrup would burn. I just toss them with olive oil, s&P and roast at 300-350, turn once.

yes, the blue is most likely white balance (though you'd be surprised what a blue shirt or cook book cover etc can do) and is relatively easy to fix, depending on camera and software you use. Most of the time at least. What Baselerd said, take a picture of something white and find the white balance adjustment in your camera, adjust accordingly. I guess your camera only takes jpg images, if it can shoot RAW you can adjust the white balance later on the computer (easy, but an other topic). As for your ice cream and other melting/flowing things, that's where you can use a stand in. Very often mashed potatoes are used for ice cream for example. Food coloring and a bit less liquid to keep it a bit 'crumbly' , for your purpose a mix with a similar color would be fine. Or just a ping pong ball or anything else that looks somewhat similar in shape and color. Once everything is set up (and you'll get fast with practice you'll know what to do and can maybe even skip that) you bring out the real dish, plate and photograph. I'd suggest making notes, printing the image you like on just a piece of paper and putting the notes with it, keep that in a binder or do it all on the computer. If you use lights, make a sketch of where they are to step back and take a photo of the setup. Also note where the window was, distances etc.) Little reflectors are easy to make yourself out of white board and you can use black board to reduce light (kind of an anti reflector). Maybe just set something up one day and play with these options, not changing the food, only the light, reflectors, camera position, etc. If you really get into it you can get a DSLR, no need for anything super expensive and fancy. At least not for a while. And you're not looking into making posters or billboards. Or upgrade your pocket camera to something with more settings and options/controls. The book you picked is pretty good, shows the basics, shows tricks, and touches on processing as well. Once I visit Italy again I'll come by to taste some of those pretty things you make! :-D

thanks for your review! I think I'll pass on it, if there's little about how they took the photos. Are there new photos, or is it mostly those I already have in the cook books? If there is a lot of new content I might reconsider. Even if the size is a bit large for me. The pricing jumped around with MC at the beginning too, from discounted to list to something else. Not sure why that is. I won't order it at full price, that's for sure. Their photos are really stunning in so many ways, I'm sure I'd enjoy having it, enjoy!

thanks for the clarification, did not know you're in italy. I'd suggest to google and youtube "food photography" and if your local sites don't turn up good results go to the .com version instead of .it. Most websites should show up fine for you in Italy, some youtube content might be restricted geographically, you'll just have to try. I just did the above and found several interesting looking sites and videos. I don't know your camera, I'd suggest to get a tripod (can even be a table top one or something cheap) and then set up one piece of your food and try different things. Set up close to a window that does not have full sun. Get something white, a box, a sheet, etc to use as a reflector on the non window side of your food, move it around, remove it, take photos. You should quickly see the difference that makes. Get a large sheet of white strong paper (what they might sell to make posters etc) or a cheap poster of something and use the white backside. Moving your table and the reflector around should quickly show you how the light changes. Maybe also use color backgrounds or surfaces, colors that complement your dish. If you don't have a window or can only work when it's dark already (it's dark by 8pm here in California) then get a table lamp of some sort and try to find a daylight balanced bulb or better florescent bulb (they don't get that hot usually) and use that. If you're careful, you can maybe somehow tape some white paper or baking paper over it (don't set your house on fire!) to diffuse the light and make it softer. Try different angles, from straight above to very low on the table. Focus on the "hero" part of your creation. Some of the other terms have been explained above. Maybe also get a basic photography book if you're just starting out. I also found a book called fotografia de alimentos de alta calidad on amazon.it, maybe that's something worth looking at? I don't speak much italian, can't tell from the description. Also Wolfgang Petersen's book "Understaning Exposure" is available from amazon.it - a very good book. Also available for tablets/kindle on amazon.com I hope that helps! Have fun, play around. Use a black background (I sometimes just use a t-shirt) and also maybe use accessories, for example break a piece off a cup cake with a fork and have that and the fork in the photo, to show the inside texture of your creation. ETA: just looked at your site, your food looks great! Do you have software to edit your photos? I use Adobe Lightroom, there are others. Your photos could maybe use some color correction and saturation increases (can't tell, since I did not see the original food), might be worth looking into using Lightroom or photoshop elements, neither are very expensive.

can't really recommend a book w/o knowing what one wants to do and knows already. The ones I mentioned are all good IMO, some more geared to the pro or aspiring pro food photog, others more general. See if you can get them at a library, some might have the "look inside" option on Amazon. My first check with any photography book is, do I like the photos? Surprisingly, that's often not the case, there are books (not on food photog) that are filled with what I'd delete and reshoot. With food, there are the more basic ones showing you how to set things up, use window light and maybe a reflector etc, and there are those that teach you how to prep the food, the dishes, supports, etc. Use mashed potatoes instead of ice cream, spray this or that art supply on glasses to make them look cold and fogged up, hairspray or what have you on the food, making it inedible, but so much prettier (kind of like working with a model and MUA). I love food and I love photography. The books I listed all have something in them that's of value to me, but it's very subjective. Look at them in the store (my Barnes and Noble always has at least two or three of these) or get them from a library. I find it hard to recommend any photography book w/o knowing the person asking. Some books start at the basics (not quite "this is a camera", but somewhere about there) and others jump right into what ever topic they are about. Some spend a lot of time on lights, reflectors, accessories, others are more bare bones available light etc. Professional food photography can be very involved, needing assistants, stylists, maybe even the chef/cook on hand (add sauce just before shooting as it spreads, salad wilts, etc). One book I looked at recently had not one single photo I liked in it, but it gets great reviews on Amazon.

to me that's the point, it's not just salt, there's other stuff in there. And personally I can taste it. I have lots of different salts, some taste very similar, some very different. Not counting the smoked or lemon flavored ones of course. It's fun to play with.

I'm a photographer (among other things) so I'm definitely gonna take a look at this. From what I read it's not just a photo album (would not buy that) but it shows how they took those stunning and way different photos, with setup, lights, etc. If that's true, it would be a well worth it's money addition for me, I love the photos in all the other books, best food porn ever created IMO. If you're not into photography, it's probably pretty useless and way too expensive to have sitting on the coffee table, stick with the cook books then :-)