This photograph didn’t turn out the way I had intended, but it still holds some charm for me. One day I’ll find the perfect image for TiltShiftMaker.
Posts Tagged ‘photograph’
As Pictured Below: Dreamy ducks
Posted in As Pictured Below, Photographs, tagged animals, ducks, Huntsville, iPhone, photograph, TiltShift on February 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »
As Pictured Below: A short-lived peace
Posted in As Pictured Below, Cats, Photographs, tagged animals, cats, fight, home, iPhone, photograph, sleep, ToyCamera on January 17, 2010| 1 Comment »
When they were younger, Yin and Yang used to curl up and sleep together almost every day. They’ve spent the past few years carving up territory and sleeping in separate rooms, however.
This photo was taken recently during a particularly busy weekend of what we’ve come to call “It’s on.” A fight in the morning, a fight in the afternoon, and maybe a bonus fight at 10 p.m. I guess when they fight that much, they’re just too exhausted to find separate sleeping quarters.
As Pictured Below: Pomegranate binge
Posted in As Pictured Below, Eats, Photographs, tagged food, fruit, juice, photograph, pomegranate, seeds on January 5, 2010| 2 Comments »
I’ve been on a pomegranate kick the past couple of weeks. I find pomegranate juice a little too strong (and a little too overpriced), but I love the seeds themselves. I guess it appeals to the part of me that still wants to play with my food.
The final holiday project: cake balls
Posted in Christmas, Eats, Photographs, tagged Bakerella, cake balls, Christmas, food, gloves, holidays, iPhone, kitchen, party, photograph, red velvet cake, whistling on December 28, 2009| 2 Comments »
I don’t make pretty food. (I also don’t seem to be able to make pretty photographs of light-colored objects.) So why I zoned in on Bakerella’s Red Velvet Cake Balls several months ago is up for discussion.
Whatever the reason, I decided they were the perfect dessert for wherever I was going to spend Christmas. Red velvet cake, mixed with cream cheese frosting and coated in white chocolate, seemed to be the most festive food I could contribute.
I had seen plenty of attempted cake balls on last year’s holiday party circuit. Most were delicious, but they were also about the size of ping-pong balls, making them difficult to eat. Most also suffered from a common rookie mistake: The balls hadn’t been properly chilled before they were dipped in the chocolate mixture, and thus coverage was spotty. Picture big, unruly wads of cake with about 75 percent chocolate coverage.
From the moment I hauled out the mixer, I knew this project was going to turn into a big mess. My old, scratched-up countertop has lost any stain-guarding properties it may have ever had, so I had to be ever so careful not to drop any (OK, much) red batter. Luckily, I had food-safe disposable gloves in the cabinet, because I don’t think I could sell bright red palms as part of the charm on Christmas morning.
Part two of the mess was the actually coating of the cake balls with melted chocolate bark. Bakerella says to use a spoon to dip and roll each cake ball in the chocolate. This didn’t work out for me, and I was left with uneven coverage. A couple of comments on the post recommended using a toothpick for the dipping and rolling; this worked out much better, only it left a tiny hole in the top. A tiny hole that looked way worse after my futile attempts at re-dipping or filling. (I realize now that a little creative drizzling would have upped the wow factor substantially.) And if I didn’t remove the toothpick soon enough, it left a huge crack in the top, leading to a small pile of discards. Tasty, tasty discards.
The non-discards were also delicious. And I guess they looked good enough to eat, since I don’t have that many left.
I’m almost sad to see the holidays end, since now I don’t have much reason to turn the kitchen into my own experimental lab. My solace is the hope that the office Whistling Guy will take the Christmas songs out of his repertoire.
As Pictured Below: It’s on
Posted in As Pictured Below, Cats, Photographs, tagged cats, home, Hotmix, iPhone, photograph on December 22, 2009| 4 Comments »
Just another Monday night at the Haggerty compound: two 13-year-old cats (brothers) posturing for domination of a towel-filled basket. Shot with the iPhone and stylized using the Hotmix filter on Vihgo.
(No cats were harmed during the making of this photo. Even as the basket kingdom was taken by threat, an under-the-bed kingdom was being formed.)
Culinary pursuit ends in delicious victory
Posted in Christmas, Eats, Photographs, tagged appliances, childhood, Christmas, cookies, cooking, crystallized ginger, food, ginger, Gingeroos, hummus, kitchen, Las Vegas, molasses, Nashville, oven, OXO, photograph, recipes, Trader Joe's, vacation on December 14, 2009| 14 Comments »
I’ve been on a cookie odyssey for a couple of years in search of a proper substitute for Trader’s Joe’s Gingeroos, which I discovered while vacationing in Las Vegas. (And yes, I DO always visit grocery stores on vacation. You should too.)
I don’t think molasses was a big component of my childhood treats, because these cookies were richer, darker, more sultry than any I had ever tasted. Chunks of crystallized ginger closed the deal … these were my new go-to favorites, only it was not to be. Double tragedy: The nearest Trader Joe’s is two hours away in Nashville, and they don’t seem to stock Gingeroos.
Admittedly, by cookie odyssey, I mean that I found one nearly suitable recipe and tried it a couple of times before my oven joined the Great Appliance Rebellion of 2009, rendering all cookie-baking attempts futile at best, infuriating at worst.
Then, November. My search is renewed after installation of a new stove.
I had found this recipe last year, but never got to try it. Miracle of miracles, it appeared in a sponsored link atop my gmail last week. It was culinary fate.
Triple Ginger Cookies, from the recipe journal 101 Cookbooks, are a huge ordeal to make, but they’re worth every minute. They’re what I call “grown-up cookies.” Not everyone will like them – they give off a bit of heat – and they’re not the kind of cookie that you eat a half dozen of in one sitting with a big glass of milk. You relish one or two with a cup of coffee or other hot adult beverage that may or may not be spiked with Bailey’s.
Just to make things interesting, I also made my own crystallized ginger for the recipe. I remembered paying a premium for crystallized ginger last year (around $4 extra a pound at the Fresh Market), and this recipe uses A LOT. The clerk at my Asian grocery store said they hadn’t received a shipment of crystallized ginger in months, so my backup bulk supply option was off the table.
Crystallizing ginger was a pretty big ordeal, too, but it made the house smell DELICIOUS and it reinforced my assertion that I do too need that OXO mandoline that I’ve got my eye on.
I’m not going to claim they’re just like Gingeroos, but they’re close enough.
Next kitchen project: the perfect hummus recipe. Also maybe, just maybe, fixing that hole in the ceiling.
The Tiles that Bind
Posted in Home, Photographs, tagged awkward, bathroom, beige, color, decor, decorating, design, dilemma, glass tile, home, homebuyers, house, paint, photograph, plumbing, redecorating, renovation, renovations, shower, tiles on October 21, 2009| 5 Comments »
I’ve toured a couple dozen brand new bathrooms over the past couple of weeks. The Huntsville/Madison County Builders Association’s Parade of Homes gives renovating rubberneckers carte blanche to take a look at the latest and greatest in home design and decor, without that awkward “We’re not really looking to buy a house” moment that invariably occurs during the average Sunday open house.
I currently have a deconstructed master bathroom awaiting further action, so I need inspiration. If only beige inspired me, I’d be in business.
The color: Every Bathroom in Town Beige. Nice tiles, and excellent installation, but so incredibly beige.
There seems to be an “offend no one” movement in the home decor business, with beige being the No. 1 non-offending element. I’ve never purchased a brand new house, so I’ve never had the opportunity to turn up my nose at walls that are just the wrong hue of olive, or kitchen cabinets that are too shiny. With any house over, say, 10 years old, you’re pretty sure you’re going to be redecorating anyway.
Which brings me to the tile dilemma.
I like color. Lots and lots of color. Tile is reasonably permanent – it’s not like paint, which can and should be changed on a whim. So I stand the chance of picking out something that will offend the delicate sensibilities of some beige-loving potential buyer down the road.
But in the end, how much of my decor should be dictated by some imaginary future buyer, especially when I have no idea how long I’ll be living in this house? Do I have to live with beige because it’ll make it easy to sell the house in three years? Five? Ten?
I’m looking at glass tiles now. They shimmer in the light, and the color spectrum is endless. I found two bathrooms on the tour that featured some fantastic examples of glass tile use.
Still working the beige tiles, but a glass-tile design in the middle really gives it some flair.
These blue circular tiles are more vibrant than they appear in this photograph.
There are plumbing and window-installation problems to be solved before I have to worry about the final tile decision, so I have plenty of time to stew over it. It’s going to be one heck of a shower when it’s all done, whatever the final color scheme turns out to be.
As Pictured Below: Our House
Posted in As Pictured Below, Cats, Home, Photographs, tagged bathroom, bathtub, budget, cats, decorating, design, HGTV, home, leaks, photograph, plumbing, remodeling, renovation, tiles, zombies on October 12, 2009| 1 Comment »
It’s just not proper homeownership without holes in the floor and exposed plumbing.
Like zombies, renovation projects take on a life of their own.
Window leak + crappy bathtub = tear out the tub to fix leak. We were going to replace it anyway.
Ah, but the floor tiles should go down first to line up properly with the base of the new supershower. And if we’re picking out tile for the floor AND the shower, shouldn’t we be thinking about what the new countertop is going to be made of? And if we’re getting new countertops, we’ll have to have the cabinets refinished.
What? We’re not sure we have cabinet refinishing in the budget anymore?
HGTV, you magnificent bastard. We’re going to have a proper chat one day.
As Pictured Below: View from the Top
Posted in As Pictured Below, Home, Photographs, tagged American Dream, bathtub, cursing, drywall, heights, home, husband, iPhone, leaks, phobia, photograph, real estate, renovations, repair on October 5, 2009| 3 Comments »
So what the real estate agent doesn’t point out when you’re buying a two-story house is the blatantly obvious: The second story is awfully far from the ground. Far as in go buy a 32-foot ladder far.
Luckily, the husband and I aren’t afraid of heights (these kind of heights, anyway), so we were able to caulk a leaky bathroom window this weekend. Tragically, it doesn’t seem to have been the leak we were looking for. To find that one, it looks like we’ll have to remove the bathtub from the master bath a few months earlier than planned.
The American Dream: It involves more drywall dust, cursing and soldering than you think.
As Pictured Below: Free Market
Posted in As Pictured Below, Photographs, tagged handcuffs, home, iPhone, litter, Mardi Gras, photograph, shopping, Target on August 17, 2009| 2 Comments »
Wow, Target. I’ve never seen broken handcuffs littering the ground before, and I’ve been to Mardi Gras A LOT.
I can only hope some poor guy escaped before he was forced to look at shower accessories.
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