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Category: Personal | View all recent posts |
Image Of The Month • May 2010 |
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| MAY. 2, 2010 |
| This month's image reminds me of what I love most about the magic of photography, it's amazing ability to freeze life's precious and fleeting moments forever.
It's tub time for my friend Leanora's adorable daughter Selina, aka "The Little Bean" ;-) One lucky photographer got to guest star on hair washing duty! I did my best salon chat, very posh ;-) |
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Louisiana Update |
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| APR. 27, 2010 |
| First of all I want to send out a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to send messages of love and encouragement when I posted recently on facebook about finding a scary growth on my girl Louisiana. The outpouring of support was truly touching and many of you have followed up asking for updates. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So here' the update. The report from the vet was inconclusive and didn't show either a definitive presence cancer or fatty cells. In one way that's great but it's also a little unsettling because it's so vague. The advice was, that based on her being 15 years old and the lab results, it was better to leave well enough alone for the time being and not proceed to surgery at this point. Dr. Santero, my amazing vet from Brander Veterinary Hospital said that even with removal of the growth there were no guarantees of beating any would be cancer. Balancing that with her age, the delicate nature of the area where the growth is and the discomfort the surgery would cause her I agreed. I changed up her diet and she's happily eating again and seems to be in great spirits. Definitely a lot slower and sleeping more than she used to, but still doing pretty great all things considered. I took her out this past weekend to Point Isabelle in Richmond CA to hang with with friends - Joy, Jules, Olive and whole Bianchi clan. It was Olive's birthday!! Louisiana had a blast running around and it's was great to see her having so much fun again. After that we stopped in San Rafael at Double Rainbow for a little afternoon ice cream. That's where I shot this portrait of her ;-) Without too much gushing I guess it's pretty obvious, I'm crazy about her!!! Thanks again for showing so much concern for a member of my family, I really appreciate the good vibes!!! Much love to you all - Michael |
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Corsentino recipe #1: Spinach, wild rice, tofu & fuji apple salad |
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| APR. 8, 2010 |
| This recipe is based on a salad I probably had about 20 years ago at a place called The Mad Batter in Cape May, New Jersey. I just checked it out online and the restaurant is still there after all these years, due in no small measure to this salad I'm sure!! I'll never forget it because it was just that good. I used to make this salad all time and I then I kind of moved on.
Well, it's back!!! I made it again last night and was reminded of just how rockin' it is. I thought I'd share it with you guys and use it as the premiere recipe for my new semi-regular blog recipe series!! Enjoy ;-) |
 Mouse over this image to see before & after versions. Learn how I used Kubota Images Tools to create this look after the recipe. |
| Spinach, wild rice, tofu & fuji apple salad
Servings: 2 When you start with the earthy notes of the spinach, add the nutty flavors of the wild rice, throw in the brightness of fuji apples, the sweetness of yellow raisins, a tangy garlic-balsamic-mustard vinaigrette and cubes of firm tofu you end up with a combination that can't be beat. This salad is dead simple to throw together. It will take you no more than 10 minutes at the outside to prep and serve. So no excuses, let's get cooking ;-) Note: these measurements are best guesses because I never measure. So move slowly, enjoy the process, taste as you go. If you let taste be your ultimate guide you'll really be cooking ;-) Let's start with the vinaigrette, it's easy peezy: Ingredients: 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp dijon 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 4-6 cloves minced garlic kosher salt fresh ground pepper 1. Mince the garlic and add to a medium size bowl 2. Add the mustard, balsamic vinegar, and salt & pepper to the bowl 3. Place the bowl on a kitchen towel, this will prevent it from moving around. Slowly pour in the olive oil while whisking all the ingredients together to emulsify (fancy word for mix together). You want to keep whisking until you get a syrupy consistency and then your vinaigrette is good to go!!! Next let's get our salad prepped and ready for dressing: Ingredients: (all ingredients except where noted available from Trader Joe's) 6 cups baby spinach leaves 1 cup fully cooked wild rice 2 Fuji Apples 14 oz of firm tofu 1/2 cup yellow raisins 1. Rinse the spinach and spin it dry if you have a salad spinner. If not just shake the hell out of it in a colander. Add it to a bowl that seems way to big for tossing later. 2. Slice the fuji apples (skin on) into 1/4 slabs and then cut the slabs long ways so they're about half and inch think. If you're the matchstick kind then go crazy and slice 'em up thin. Add the slices to the bowl with the spinach. 3. Remove the block of tofu from the water and pat it dry with paper towels. Then cut the tofu into one inch cubes. Add these to the bowl with the spinach and apple slices. 4. Add the yellow raisins by sprinkling them over the top of the other salad ingredients in the bowl. 5. Microwave the trader joe's fully cooked wild rice in a covered bowl for about 30 secs. and add it to the bowl with everything else. 6. Gently toss the ingredients using tongs or large spoons to mix it evenly. Sweet!! So now you're ready to put it all together. Using the whisk or a spoon slowly add the vinaigrette to the salad bowl being careful not to overdress it. So you want to add it in stages, then toss everything with tongs, taste a few leaves, add some more, etc. until ready. Well that's it! Pretty easy huh? Please leave comments and let me know what you think when you get around to making it. How I created the look for the image in this post: While we're focusing on recipes I think I'll sweeten the pot and make it two for one by giving you the recipe for the image above too? This is a photography blog after all, isn't it? Mouse over the image to see the before and after versions.I snapped this with my trusty iphone. If I can get kind of result from an iphone image using Kubota Image Tools imagine what you can do with your "serious" cameras ;-) I wanted to create an old world, provençal look for the food photography I'll be using on my recipe posts. Here are the nine simple steps I took using Kubota Image Tools to achieve it: 1. Ran "Daily Multi Vitamin" for pop (Artistic Actions Vol. 2) 2. Ran "Sharpen KPD Magic Sharp" for extra sharpness (Production Set Vol. 2) 3. Created a Levels Adjustment Layer with Increase Contrast 1 preset selected 4. Burned down hot spots with "Smokeless Burn" (Artistic Actions Vol. 2) 5. Ran "Split Tone Blue and Warm", opacity reduced to 68% for a cool, muted, old world tone (Artistic Actions Vol. 2) 6. Ran "Berba" texture, overlay blending mode at 80% to give it a worn look (Bor-Tex/Earth Textures) 7. Ran "Edge Burner" to vignette (Kubota Artistic Actions Vol. 2) 8. Ran "Sushi Sloppy Border Grow" for a cool distressed polaroid-esq border (Bor-Tex) 9. Created a Solid Color Adjustment Layer, picked a mustardy yellow color and set the blending mode to softlight to give the image a nice warm tone. |
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