Capture: Better Food Photography
223 Responses
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Hebe, in reply to
I'll have to find me a recipe for strawberry muffins when I get my baking gear
Slice a strawberry lengthwise, so you get an almost heart shape; make sweet pikelets and put the strawberry in the middle of each in the pan just after you pour ithe mixture in to cook . Went down a storm with the girls at kindergarten. Happy 1 to all your family --it's a big day for all.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Ah, excellent idea, and one I can certainly manage with current equipment. I'll have to try that. Thanks!
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
When a child is one, a strawberry by itself is a present. You are a great dad thinking of her and wanting to bake muffins.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Thanks.
Unfortunately, the weekend has been moved to create a long weekend on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for Qingming/Tomb Sweeping Day. So my wife and I have to work. Her maternal grandma will make sure the rural Chinese customs are fulfilled during the day - noodles to represent our wishes for a long life. My wife will get a cake on the way home from work. But a party really would've been nice. At the very least I'll make sure to get her some strawberries on the way home.
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In case you are fond of bacon. This is a bacon stand outside a butchery. Anything to do with bacon you can buy it. Innsbruck, on a chilly night.
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Isabel Hitchings, in reply to
Sometimes, food is more fun when it has been in the fridge too long.
Hummus.
Or after three months in a lunchbox in the redzone - peanut butter and jam sandwich crust.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Finally managed to get some of the missing ingredients and tried that strawberry pikelet idea. My technique is woefully rusty, thanks to me having been so badly spoiled by my mother in law and the superlow cost of eating out at low-end restaurants. But I succeeded, although there's a few things I could improve next time. Like figuring out how to rotate them so they get heated evenly without breaking them. Trouble with gas stoves is that when you turn them down low the heat easily concentrates in the centre of the pan. Not a problem when you're using a wok, but can be an issue with a frying pan.
Then my daughter ate a little bit and spat the rest out. Sigh. There's no pleasing one year olds. My wife liked them, though.
And in the process I discovered the NZ Women's Weekly might actually be quite useful for recipes, and then realised all I need to do to make apple crumble is get some butter and coconut. Yum yum.
Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely be making more of these in the future.
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Gudrun Gisela, in reply to
Good to read you had success with your first birthday dinner . It made me think how difficult it must be to prepare food not commonly created on a gas cooker.
As for the little one spitting out her food? She will change by the time she is two and you have been whipping up pikelets like a pro. -
Hebe, in reply to
So cool that my desperation-day idea (food expected for the kindy shared lunch and 45 minutes to produce it) ends up at a first birthday in Beijing! I'm happy to be able to contribute to your family's day. Re turning the pikelets: the mix should be thick enough to pour a small puddle and hold its shape after a little spread (not flat out like a pancake). Add some more flour and keep them small (about 6cm diameter) to help turning. A heavy-based pan is the key to cooking fritters -- an old cast-iron one is ideal, get it hottish, then turn down to medium. The cast-iron keeps the heat all over, and you can avoid using the hot bit in the centre.
You can adapt this to apple fritters by using less flour and egg mixture, adding cinnamon and lots of grated apple, cooking on a medium-high heat in butter, and sprinkling with icing suger or caster sugar or good maple syrup when they are cooked. They come out spikey with crispy apple bits.
The Edmonds cookbook is the go for retro Kiwi food in foreign climes. Most of the recipes are forgiving and are easily adapted to what you can obtain. I cooked for years in one large cast-iron frypan with a metal handle so it could be a baking dish, frypan/wok, or with a lid becomes a pot. Fancy overequipped kitchens are not my thing!
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My favourite ever cake ...
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Und a pav
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And a bit of a boil up
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
Yep, my mix was definitely a bit thin, and a heavier, cast iron pan would've been nice, but I can only work with what I've can get here. Also, a proper tablespoon, rather than having to drop two dollops from a desertspoon would've helped. It is always possible that I could persuade my wife to buy an electric hotplate, which would help solve the 'heat concentrating in the centre of the pan' issue...
I have some leftover mix, the strawberries I got yesterday were rather disappointing (super expensive supermarket (aimed purely at Westerners, that's why) but half the strawberries were all squishy and all the rest were at least bruised) and it's finally been decided we're staying in Beijing for the holiday, so I'll give the apple fritters a go, see if I can thicken up my mix and control the heat better.
As for Edmonds, turns out I won't have to ask my mum to send me a copy.
Once again, thanks for the tips.
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
I generally prefer to cook with gas. For one thing, you have much more instant control of the heat, there's no need to wait for the element to heat or cool. But yes, it clearly has its disadvantages and requires a bit of adaptation for some things.
And yes, I'm sure that once I get my cooking and baking skills back the wee one will realise that Daddy's good for more than just driving her places and reading her stories.
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Hebe, in reply to
Also, a proper tablespoon, rather than having to drop two dollops from a desertspoon would've helped
You poor man. we could do a whiparound for you...
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
I'm sure I'll cope.... Like by buying a bigger spoon when I go shopping soon.
But speaking of equipment, I just had cause to remember (i.e. pull tab on a can breaking) that it took me quite literally several years of searching before I found a can opener. I have never managed to find out why can openers are so rare in China. And before I came here I never would've imagined being so overjoyed at finding one or treasuring such a thing.
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Islander, in reply to
And before I came here I never would’ve imagined being so overjoyed at finding one or treasuring such a thing.
And that is why, Chris, I always carry my Leatherman X6 Juice*... not only can-opener, and a lot on small handtools but also - tadah! a corkscrew! There's a surprising amount of wine still stowed in bottles that dont have screw-caps...
*Or earlier incarnations thereof: when I used to travel overseas (last time in 1998) I used to put it in my washbag but clip it back on my belt as soon as we exited airports.
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Hebe, in reply to
And that is why, Chris, I always carry...
A multi-fit sink plug, my Swiss army knife, a length of rope and some plastic bags..
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Islander, in reply to
Ready for any&*every*thing!
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Well, in my defence, I keep a multi-tool, torch and 2 map books in the glove box of my car, a sponge and chamois under the front passenger seat with wiper fluid that I always buy 2 bottles at a time (it's really dusty most of the year here). I keep a plastic bag in my camera bag. But the place outside Beijing I'm most likely to visit (trips to other places are extremely rare, therefore planned accordingly) didn't have indoor plumbing until only last October, so no sink plugs.
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Hebe, in reply to
And these days, being where I am, cellphone with money on it, id, and a couple of spare jackets and jerseys in the car for people what might need them along with stout shoes at all times. Ye gods, I sound like a survivalist.
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Islander, in reply to
You wanna see my van……..!!!
(Bed, clothes for all seasons, food & cookers (from open fire – my nanna’s girdle-iron
-to electric stuff)water, medical kit etc. etc. etc. – d’y’know what? Over the years I’ve lived on the Coast* (and I’ve always – aside from one aberrant car- had vans) I’ve used every last bit of my emergency stuff?If that’s survivalism, I’ll plead guilty – but I just call it being prepared for forseeable eventualities….
(Chris W – my van map collection is AWESOME! (But, she whinges in self-defence,
is only because I love maps…which also explains the book collection…))*Mind you, I've lived on the West Coast for 42 years...
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Chris Waugh, in reply to
she whinges in self-defence,
No need for self-defence there. Maps are both useful and immensely awesome. I've always loved poring over maps dreaming of the faraway, exotic (or even close by and just slightly different) places on them. Most of my maps are kept at home only because it is rare for me to travel outside the range of the maps kept in my car. But they're there, waiting for that "one day", when maybe we decide to drive down to the beach at Beidaihe for a summer holiday, or whatever...
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Islander, in reply to
Yes.They are dreams, as yet unwalked upon (but we will know where we are going-)
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Success! A satisfied customer.
Still haven't got the gear for muffins, cakes, and whatnot, but have enough for pizza, although the oven dictates a series of mini pizzas. My better half was pleased, and the wee one would eat a bit, point at the pizza, and shout "Na!" (which is actually surprisingly good Mandarin for a 1 year old and could be equally interpreted as either "bring! (it to me)" or "that! (is what you must give me now)" - she knows what she wants and makes her feelings very clear).
I must say an oven that creaks, groans and bangs as it heats up is a bit scary to use. Especially in a kitchen so tiny and with a power cable so short that getting it going requires a very careful negotiation of extension cord from power source between oven and sink.
And, of course, it was a new recipe, at least for the dough (haven't baked anything in years, got a lot of work getting my skills back up to speed), with the usual new recipe jitters. Give me a few goes to get me more familiar with it and all will be well.
But satisfied customers! Now that's what cookings all about, right?
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