Food Photography #2: Three Flavors of Light 47

Today, let's take a look at some of the different flavors of basic lighting: Ambient Lighting, Built-in Flash, Off Camera Flash.

“The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives.” - Audre Lorde

©2012 Lee/Spinwave Photography
Click to enlarge photo.

                                                   

Lighting Flavor #1: Ambient lighting

Ambient simply refers to the existing light. Ambient light can come from sources such as the sun, light bulbs, or candles. That doesn't mean the existing light sources can’t be manipulated to suit your needs. You could change the angle you shoot at, turn lamps on or off, move a candle to a different location, or use bounce cards to boost the amount and angle of the light.

To see what the ambient looks like, set the camera to “P” mode (it’s just like auto, except you can set the ISO and turn the flash on/off yourself). With the ISO set to 100 and the flash off, the Canon G12 calculated f/2.8@1/25th and took this:

Click to enlarge photo.

That’s actually a nice photo and most people would be really happy with that (there’s a reason people say, “P’ is for ‘perfect’ “). I see gentle, mostly-even diffused light, adequate detail and texture, with enough specular highlights and shadows for visual depth.

There are, however, two things that really bother me. The first is the black-hole-ish area in the lower right-hand corner. This is a natural consequence of all the light coming in from one direction. The other is the blown-out sky that distracts you from the real subject of the photo, the food.

So how do we reduce the background brightness? The first thing most people think of is to simply dial down the exposure compensation. That’s moving in right direction, but this is a global adjustment and will darken the subject as well as the background. If only we could separate the two! Oh wait—we can, by setting the camera to manual mode and adding some light with a flash.

Lighting Flavor #2: Built-in flash

Click to enlarge photo.

I turned the on G12’s built-in flash, turned the mode dial to “M”, set the aperture to 2.8 and increased the shutter speed to 100 to darken the background.Whoa! Too much light on the subject! Using the G12’s menu system.

I adjusted the flash output as low as possible (1/3 power) and tried again:

Click to enlarge photo.

Now that’s more like it. Increasing the shutter speed from 25 to 100, darkened the background. But now we have a different problem: the salad is only half-lit due to the position of the G12’s built-in flash.

A bounce card could help balance the lighting, but it wouldn’t get rid of the flash reflection in the window. And depending on the angle of the bounce card, a second reflection might show up.

Lighting Flavor #3: Off-camera flash

Time to bring out the big gun. Flash gun that is (or strobe, or external flash, or Speedlight, or Speedlite). I’ll stick with the term “flash“.

We could simply place the flash directly in the G12’s hotshoe. But without a nearby white ceiling or wall to bounce the flash off of (another lighting flavor for another day) this would create a similar effect as the built-in flash. We really need to get the flash off the camera body to control the direction of the light.

The easiest method of using a flash off-camera is by using an extension cord. In this case I used a Canon OC-SC2 cord (these were replaced by the OC-E3 a few years ago, but they have the same functionality). When paired with a compatible flash, all the TTL metering info is sent through the cord to the flash for a (hopefully) perfect exposure.

Click to enlarge photo.

I dialed the flash down to -1/64th power and experimented with the flash in several positions, settling on 45-degrees to camera left and about 60-degrees above the plate:

Excellent speculars, shadows, depth, color and detail. With just a little bump in contrast and sharpness in post-production, we get the final image at top of post. (all other photos are straight out of the camera). 

Special thanks to Ed at Spring Creek Coffeehouse & Deli for the excellent Grilled Veggie salad (mixed greens, grilled onions, grilled bell peppers, grilled mushrooms, tomato, cucumber, avocado, feta, and olives) and for allowing me to photograph on location.

 My apologies to readers for the lack of set-up photos. All of my assistants had scheduling conflicts for this shoot.

 The tools: Canon Powershot G12, Quantaray QWC-900WA flash, Canon OC-S2 off-shoe cord; post-production in Apple Aperture.

Food Photography #1: Creating texture & depth 278

Hello all, my name is Lee and I am honored to guest-post tips on food photography for Renaissance Culinaire. We are going to try to make this a monthly feature, so send us feedback with questions or suggestions on what we should photograph next!

Avo-Tuna Cerviche ©2011 Spinwave Photo

Today's post focuses on the attention-sucking feature I like to call "black holes". While shadows are important to creating the illusion of depth, black spots with little-to-no detail will quickly suck a viewer's eye into its vortex of darkness (thus the nickname black hole). Here's how to identify and correct them:

Click to enlarge photo.

In addition to the black holes, the light flattened the texture of the tuna and avocado chunks. So we added a foam-core reflector close-in, camera-right:

Click to enlarge photo.

That filled in the large black hole in the center of the food, so you can see the green of the avocado and a bit of its texture. But I felt that we could get a little more texture in the food with another reflector positioned at the front of the lens and angled downward. The reflector was actually closer than illustrated below--it was actually resting on the lens hood. The result:

Click to enlarge photo.

The second reflector added some specular highlights (a.k.a. "shiny spots" or "shine"), which is the other component of creating the illusion of depth. The effect is less dramatic in the photo as the light was dissipating even faster now as we approached 5pm in the city. The waning light also left one black hole that we could not fill in without resorting to flash (a future post topic).

- Lee; Spinwave Photography

The Tools: 1. foam-core reflectors (available at Michael's craft stores in various sizes for around $5); 2. Canon 5D MkII used for the food photos, (but any camera with a Manual mode works great); 3. Canon G12 for set-up shots; final settings for food shots are f/2.8 @ 40, ISO 2000.

Special Thanks to: Heather of Heather Bayles Photography for assisting; Shigezo Portland for allowing us to photograph in their restaurant and for the wonderful Avo-Tuna Ceviche (Tuna, avocado, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, soy sauce & wasabi dressing).

I've Been Schmapped! Northwest Photo Short-list 1

Apparently I have been Schmapped! Well I just checked my flickr mail and look what was inside:

Hi Amber,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the second edition of our Schmap Northwest Guide, to be published at the end of this month.

Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos has been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photo from our final selection phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse the first edition of our Schmap Northwest Guide.


While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

This is the photo that they wanted :





Wow, that's kind of cool. My Northwest Flavor is traveling the web :) This is a picture of the Fremont Bridge in Portland, OR.
The Fremont Bridge is a steel tied arch bridge over the Willamette River located in Portland, Oregon. It carries Interstate 405 and US 30 traffic between downtown and North Portland where it intersects with I-5. It has the longest main span of any bridge in Oregon and is the second longest tied arch bridge in the world (after Caiyuanba Bridge across the Yangtze River, China).^[1]
The bridge was named for John Charles Frémont, though one of the connecting streets was previously named Fremont Street in honor of the same individual.
The bridge has two decks carrying vehicular traffic, each with four lanes. The upper deck is signed westbound on US 30 and southbound on I-405. The lower deck is signed eastbound on US 30 and northbound on I-405. - facts Via Wikipedia

This photo was taken with my little point and shoot 3mp. It was raining and stormy when I took it - I kind of manipulated it a bit with contrast which made it grainy and added some deeper concentration of color. It is best viewed larger.

Recalling Fondly Old Town Pizza in Portland, OR 4

If you get the chance to visit Portland Oregon, be sure to visit Old Town Pizza.

click here to see larger image

Nestled on a side street in Portland's old town, you will find Old Town Pizza in a unassuming building with obviously aging architecture. As you walk inside - there is an air of bygone days.
You can almost feel the presence of the once vibrant inhabitants that walked under the old growth timber beams framing it's 2nd floor, or hear an echo of their footsteps and distant laughter from the working men who threw back a couple - drinking their modest ales on their retreat homeward.

As history has unfolded, a slightly more wicked slew of personal accounts from the early 1900's surrounds these grounds where Old Town Pizza sits. The tales are numerous, Apparently many a sailer was hijacked, while consuming their beverages or a warm meal, or talking up a pretty painted lady , seated above the tunnels in pubs--- all at once a trap door (a.k.a "Deadfall") would open up in the floor and a random sailer would fall , into the hands of awaiting anxious men, to be taken deep into the catacombs, and scurried through the eerie tunnels ^w, which lead to the basements of other buildings , where the men would be held captive in holding cells, to be bought and sold to ship captains in a lucrative human trafficking ring. The name "shanghai" came about because most of these ships were bound to The Orient. On Halloween this period in the Portland, Oregon history is a favorite among local Portland residents, and sometimes at various times of the year a Shanghai Tunnel tour can be had.

Old Town Pizza has been in Business since 1974, once you walk into the place, you are transported to another time period. All the furniture is antique from the 1900 - 1930's period. The walls are also decorated with antique souvenirs from bygone days. Try wandering up stairs and you will find little enclaves of cozy furniture such as old couches and smoking chairs, positioned around coffee tables so you can set your pizza and pitcher of favorite beer and gather for a feast. These great seating areas evoke fun conversation. And are lighted by the warm glow of old period lamps - which creates a wonderful ambiance.

The pizza is great, with a light crispy crust outside and soft insides, it is fired in a brick oven. You may want to find parking elsewhere and walk a few blocks to get there, because open street parking spots are far and few between.

I have found going there a great experience, and there is a special area that you can find once you walk inside and make a left - toward the right far corner, and it is a little room, where you can be seated in booth style around a table - that at one time housed a freight elevator shaft. It was converted and there isn't a ceiling - if you look upwards you can see several windows that seem to reach for the sky - and you at once will feel dwarfed by the towering buildings that flank the room.










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Food Photography : Banana Strawberry Torte 24

kyung of David O'Conner & Lee Photography, in Portland, OR, graciously agreed to set up shop (i.e portable studio) one day after class, to photograph some of my plated desserts --- which were awaiting in the reach-in to be photographed. This was Kyung's first dabble into foodie photography --- as their company works capture more of the traditionally human element.

This dessert was my for my final presentation. It consists of French sponge, brushed with strawberry syrup, filled and finished with banana scented marscapone cheese, then garnished with fresh fruit and a chocolate screen, than drizzled with mango syrup. The plate design was given a stained glass effect , piped on first with tempered chocolate and then filled with honeydew melon -Midori syrup, Strawberry syrup, and mango syrup.

The flavor combination was very good --- the marscapone is so velvety, and it offset the banana wonderfully, and it didn't compete with the buttery layers of the sponge, just enhanced them.

I made all the components from scratch (with real fruit) and used my own recipes and calculated the per plate cost etc. I will post more of this experience in a post to come.

I really like plated desserts --- they are soo fun :)


Related Posts:

• Dessert Costing : Banana Strawberry Torte
• Food Photo : Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Sauce
• Photography : Blackberry Granita w/ Banana Mouse
• Food Photography : Banana - Midori Strawberry torte

Glimpses 0

Here is a collage of pictures over the recent year, I took. If you click it and are a flickr member, you can follow the notes made on the collage and be taken to each individual picture page.

Glimpses, originally uploaded by Amber *.

I am sorry that I have been away from the blogosphere since spring...I have lot's of things happening right now. I moved away from the Portland area and that has taken up a lot of my time, with the packing and everything. But it was quite liberating too --- as I was able to sort through things I had packed away which I had been hanging onto, sentimentally since I was 17 years old...Needless to say if you browse a goodwill in Portland you may purchase one of mine or my families' former possessions. It is amazing what one can accumulate over 10 years, whether it be paperwork or just odds and ends. I also was able to locate my old letters written by old friends that I miss...Hopefully our paths will cross again someday soon.

I promise I will be keeping up with my food blog once I settle in --- Until then, fare thee well!

Oregon Hazelnuts + Recipe : Praline Paste 18

Hazelnuts. Have you seen the groves of trees while in Oregon? . Drive toward Wilsonville, Oregon and you will see them. Interspersed between suburban sprawl and small businesses, the further you proceed --- slowly the vast quilt of these orchards starts to fully engulf the land. Hashed out in a herringbone pattern, these are stubby trees with intricate canopies. They spread their branches enveloping the crops of nuts in an umbrella of leaves


The Willamette Valley is responsible for %99 of U.S hazelnut production. A great site to find out more about Hazelnuts, including tasty formulas (recipes) and other links, is Oregon's Hazelnut Industry website.


Nuts are unfairly avoided due to misconceptions of being unhealthy and full of fat. This may be true for certain varieties of nuts, but Hazelnuts are a heart healthy choice. They contain %91 percent mono unsaturated fat and less than 4 percent saturated fat. Not to mention significant amounts of protein, fiber, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, folate and many other essential nutrients.


Today I will share a great way to introduce hazelnuts to your palate. Learn how to make this paste from scratch. Praline paste is usually a baking item you rarely see in supermarkets. It is mostly found in specialty shops such as cake decorating suppliers. However, I couldn't find it at The Decorette Shop , Portland Oregon's own cake specialty supplier. To purchase praline paste you are most likely going to run into prices ranging from $15 -20 per 2 lb container. It can be very expensive to purchase retail.


Praline Paste Formula:

Lightly Toast whole hazelnuts on a baking sheet.

In a stainless steel sauce pan, combine equal parts sugar
and water. Do not stir . The mixture will reduce --- allow
to caramelize (you will see the sides start to color first).

Once the sugar reduction has caramelized, remove from heat.











The lightly toasted hazelnuts are
added to the sugar reduction.
They are then stirred briskly,this should
be done very quickly as the sugar reduction
will start to harden.

You want to coat the hazelnuts in the caramel.
The heat from the caramel will warm the nuts
and allow the hazelnuts essence to permeate
the caramel.

The nut caramel is then poured onto a greased
marble slab. The cooled caramel will be less reddish
brown in color.












Allow the caramel to cool. Once cool use a spatula to
spread and press the nut caramel in an even layer.

Flip the cooling layer
over. Allow to harden.







Once the nut caramel has hardened, use a rolling pin or some
other weighty tool to break up the hardened nut caramel.
The pieces should be small enough to fit in your food processor.

Put nut caramel pieces into the food processor and pulse unit the pieces begin to smooth until a paste. Continue to process until desired smoothness.






Store in an airtight container. This paste is great to jazz up your pastry cream -- just add a small amount of praline paste to the cooled pastry cream before adding to cream puffs.

The Culinary Equipment Fairies...Blessed me With a Baking bounty! 0

queue the "sugar plum fairy theme"..... The curtain draws, the house lights flicker and fade. In front of you - a stage, the set painted and built to resemble a porch?

As I had described in earlier posts, I had posted a blurb in the "wanted" section of craig's List . Mentioning my need to find culinary/baking things, used, at a discounted price.

Because let's face it, being a student is not cheap, but let alone having to pay childcare on top of the normal expenses is even more devastating to finances.

The response I got was great. A local caterer was willing to sell me ALLOT of baking things for $25 total. [You can read about what I got here.... ] I had been using my Cuisinart Custom prep Food Processor , that I got 3 years ago for a wedding gift, to mix. It works fine for non finicky doughs.

But I had wanted a kitchen aide for a long time. Money was not playing into my favor. Someone offered to sell me one for $50 dollars. [You can read about that here...]

Someone who wanted to remain anonymous, sent me an email. She had offered to give me a copy of Professional Baking , for free. So I was not going to turn that down. My daughter was ill so I had my husband go pick it up. And when he got there, there was a box on the porch that said "Have Fun Amber!", the box was full of cool things :

a Stoneware loaf pan; A Black n' Decker "Handy chopper" ; A wire cake cutter ; 4 other baking related books ; 3 large cake molds ; A set of Canape molds ; Unopened - artichoke pesto, almond paste,marzipan, poppy seeds ;A large unopened bag of instant yeast ;a large bag of bay leaves ; A large can of Gum - Tex; A Cream Whipper/filler;

A copy of The Naked Chef - Jamie Oliver ;



A brand new-in box , Zenker "Super Cake Baking Tin - Which I love!

Her generosity blew me away. I was not asking for charity by any means. I had items listed in my post , which if buying brand new , retail for pretty spendy prices. I specifically noted in the post I would like to purchase used items, at a discounted price. And here I was blessed with this baking bounty.

How can I convey how great these culinary equipment fairies are??? We humans tend to get caught up in our own pursuits, forgetting there is a world out there. That there are caring people. It is so easy to feel alone, to feel soured by images we see plastered all over the news & television screen. You almost have to grow a hardened shell, retreat into your own little world, to deflect that.

A Big Thanks To those who have been so kind! Also to my readers, for listening....

(originally blogged March 22nd, 2005)

Why Baking ? Events that shaped my views 0

Although I didn't wait that long - I too witnessed myself at a crossroads. I had been working in the medical field - as a biomedical tech./phlebotomist/Medical assistant. 5 years total.

Before that though, I had gotten culinary training & a chef certificate. I knew that I wanted to lean toward bakery. I interviewed and scored an internship at an upscale bakery downtown.

There I learned the Art of cake assembly & decorating of 12 different fine European style torts & gateaus [6 inch rounds (6 inch tall) 8 inch, 1/4, 1/2, full sheets]; bombs [layers of génoise chocolate sponge, cappuccino mouse, formed & then poured with chocolate ganache finished with a shell border & chocolate curl] cappuccino tarts [shortbread tart shells with a chocolate layer, filled with espresso ganache, then topped with chocolate ganache & finished with chocolate adornments]; Fresh fruit tarts[shortbread tart shell, melted chocolate @ bottom, sweet cream cheese, all types of fruits cut & arranged across the face of the tart, then covered with apricot glaze]; éclairs; gourmet cookies; tartlets; Bouche De Noël [with meringue mushrooms] ;Lemon meringue tarts; Cheese cakes; etc.

After I graduated from my culinary training I eventually was hired on, and they hired me also to fill their retail orders for Mondays. So I would come in on Sundays and basically have the cake room to myself. I would get All the products ready & racked to be transported to the 4 retail stores they had. It would take me 4-5 hours.

On one of these following Sundays, I noticed that the cake room had been stacked from floor to ceiling {every bench, every cranny was filled] with bistro chairs & tables from the retail area of the bakery. But when I entered the bakery that's what really stressed me. They had been stripping the wood floors and re-applying chemicals to varnish the floors. There were very little walls in the space - so all these fumes were drifting into all corners of the building.

The fumes were so bad I had trouble focusing. My then boyfriend was in the contracting trade, & he had made comments about the safety of working around those fumes- -- not to mention the products safety. I also am extremely sensitive to fumes.

I went upstairs to the Owner's office & repeated verbatim , what my then boyfriend had said.

The owner snickered & told his male 'companion' ,

"Show Amber to A table"

We walked down the stairs. He led me to the cake room & pointed to a small marble topped bistro table, the only one without chairs or tables stacked on it.

Well I finished my duties -- yeah it took me 8 hours instead of the typical 4. My mind was meandering , and the fumes were not dissipating (no windows/ air) . After I left, I resolved not to go back there again. I figured if the owner didn't care about me or the product -- why work there?

But part of me has been holding on to that since. I felt conflicted. That was the only job I have ever walked away from. I loved what I would do each day.

My friend Joanne had told me:

"You ARE SO lucky! That is my dream job!"

Then part of me wonders if said boyfriend was devious enouph to make me think I should quit? He had been guilty of other far worse things, which came to light later on. He knew that I loved that job. But then again that is really ridiculous.

My second week of school I asked my Baking instructor if I could speak to him. I sat down and told him the whole story. I had to hold back tears. My voice wavered with all the pain and self conflict I had been holding so near to my heart. I asked him if fumes like that were a bad thing.

He replied,"

"That it depends on the products you had been working with. If it was buttercreams or pastry creams --- anything of that nature, the fumes would be absorbed...."

The more that I told him, the better I felt. He told me to let it go. So I am not as apprehensive as I was the first few days of being in the bakery environment again.

When I look back , or when people ask me "Why Baking?". I think the true turning point was maternity leave, after the birth of my first child. Then I decided to go part time, as my job was really demanding & stressful. There were no set hours & overtime was happening quite frequently. Once I did that , only working 1-2 days a week instead of 50+ hours. I was able to really do some soul searching. I realized what I really wanted in life.

Blurb: Parental Anxiety, torrential Rains | uncomplimentary tastes 0

"Twenty, Twenty - four hours to go....I wanna be sedated...." [---Sung by The Ramones. ] And inevitably the theme song for my night of Hell.....

Well when I last left the blog, my daughter was very ill. Now, the intermittent fever of 104 ° F had ceased, she was medicated. And best of all she was driving mommy nuts in her oh-so-cute-toddler fashion, which is normal and pleasant. So we were relieved, and feeling out of the danger zone.

And that is why, when a friend invited us to stay at their family beach house in Seaside, Oregon - I gleefully excepted. It was going to be fun : good friends, laughs, drinks - all on the Oregon coast. Oh adult conversation and the like - where could we go wrong?

Yes where? When? Funny how the human body sneaks up on you. After the rainy drive through Portland...



now some of you are thinking , Isn't Portland & the Pacific Northwest in general - rainy? ultimately yes, but we have had a very dry Winter. Also the temperature has not dipped under 55°F in the last month - even elevating to 75°F , with plenty of sun.

....The mists were dense on the mountains and made the coastal forest appear ghostly and mysterious. Water littering the concrete spilled out into the cracks and red clay that made up the forest floor.

Water was streaming up my passenger side window - pushed outward from the sheer force of wind, intensified by the speed at which we were traveling.



We traveled onward, ever nearing the small coastal towns that lined the hilly forest scape, with names like "Mist" and "Veronia".

Once we did arrive in Seaside, the streets were sparsely inhabited. Locals & a few gutsy tourists braved the Gail force winds, plummeted by rain. We arrived at the house - a big beautiful craftsman, with a river stone facade and stereotypical low lying porch with columns. The inside was light and airy, it had a 1930's cabin feel. The kitchen was my favorite - large and tiled from floor to ceiling. There was a large island with range top, overhead a pan rack hung strung peppers, garlic & herbs. Every appliance you would want in a modern kitchen was there. Then you could walk into the dining room - a long heavy rectangular table & comfortable wicker lined captains chairs lined the room. Over head a rustic candelabra hung low, making for an intimate dining experience.

The house was full of windows. Full of big overstuffed Italian leather chairs - inviting you to lounge, while the waves could be heard crashing outside. The View from the Eastside of the house provided a look out onto the sand dunes, beyond was a view of the ocean. Nothing else to inhibit the view.

We settled in to the guest bedroom - complete with it's own living space & bathroom. Everything was going fine. The weather however had made up it's mind to send out the banshees - to howl their mournful, threatening cries. To thrash the waves about, making them swell into a woeful threatening mess. Sand was now a weapon furled at unsheltered victims - stinging flesh.

As the night wore on we made stir fry, unfortunately someone had purchased sweet potatoes & Thai peanut sauce for the dish. Now I have nothing against either ingredient, but when paired together - they do not complement each other, especially if added to a host of other ingredients: broccoli, onions , garlic, red peppers, Tofu, hot pepper. What happened is the sweet potato broke up & the starch encased all the other ingredients. The peanut sauce dampened by the sweet potato was not good at all. It had a bitter after taste.

If I had had my way I would've used teriaki sauce, omitted the sweet potato all together.

My daughter was screaming at the dining table, and I got up to take her to our room. She starting having stomach cramps and intestinal troubles. I couldn't get her to sleep. Finally after 2 hrs of trying,she layed down on the bed and fell asleep. Once she was secured I went upstairs to have some espresso and Baily's Irish Cream. As the night wore down, we realized that the weather wasn't improving, and there was a scramble to get the DVD player connection working. Unfortunately the surround ect. Was much more complicated & we didn't have the correct cables.

My daughter woke up, 2 hours later, screaming and the events that followed were quite scary indeed. She was writhing at times in pain. And her diapers were horrible. I was up with her, trying to settle her until 6 a.m. She would not lay down & would scream violently. We decided to wait it out until the morning - then if she wasn't better we'd go to urgent care. She had no fever, which told me it was something viral.

Sure enough by morning she was more herself - I let her sleep until noon. But even so she still wasn't doing well. I wasn't much for company - I couldn't stop fretting over my daughter's health. Plus I hadn't that much sleep and I was emotionally drained. I told my husband we should leave. We packed and said our goodbyes, I felt frustrated that we couldn't stay. I didn't want such "mommy" duties to get in the way.


Coming home....

More Random street comments... 2

Well, while making some adjustments to my formulas, I was approached by a man with a mullet & a pink backpack.

He asked me if I was a student of {a really crappy school- that somehow has a good reputation w/ the general public}, I said "No", he said "good girl".

I thought he would leave me alone but he swung back around. He started talking about how he "had owned 40+ restaurants, was a sous chef, world traveled & could cook anything."

Then he proceeded to brag in a nervous yet confident tone about "leading the march, for all the injustices in the world....The bus drivers pass me up when they see me, they won't stop...I will fuck anyone up who tries to put me down...I'm going to get him --- make a mess out of him, and put it on the internet (I laugh nervously) NO, I Will! Fuck these people who don't treat homeless people right!

Then he throws a earring at me. "This is what preacher does..He hands out things to all the street kids -ain't that cool? That's what I'm about. I don't do any drugs or alcohol. At the AA meetings I go to {o.k ?} I see these punks go & then buy drugs outside of the meeting -- fuck that! I go after them, tell them I'll mess them up if they do that shit around here...."

After He was gone, a guy with punk gear on, sunglasses & a la brae piercing looks over at me and says: "Were you impressed? Well were you? I think he was trying to win you over."

O.k not impressed, just weirded out. I pray he doesn't act out his plan. But if he does I will have a suspect --- his face is ingrained in my memory.

What did I learn from this experience? No more Smiling & nodding. If I am uncomfortable leave. If you hear something wrong - memorize that person's face - you never know if you'll meet the next America's Most Wanted .

Assembly of Cake 0

Today I make cake. I have been requested to make some kind of cake with a "baby foot" theme, for a baby shower.

I ordered 2 full sheets, of devil's food[chocolate], from our cake dept.

Today I will be taking a little drive over the river to The Decorate Shop, the only cake/candy supply shop in the metro area. I need a cake box. They always have great service, and the price s aren't bad.

I wanted to do a poured ganache but I am still thinking maybe a lighter buttercream might be better. Plus I can use the white background, the colors are pastels.

I am thinking that a standard sheet cake will do the trick. Too many people for a 8 inch round.

I need to get a smaller metal spatchula [3 1/4 "] , one with a point at the end, to help smooth over the delicate decorations.

I am doing a raspberry & ganache filling. The sides will be smooth. Either a dot or basic shell border.