packed my life in a box

Seeing that I have to moved out of my current house by the 15th of May,(realistically I'll need to have my stuff somewhere by the 6th) I have been packing like crazy. Today I will try to get the kitchen and the rest of the little stuff done. I have a place I REALLY really really want. I have to wait and see what the bank says. GAH!

I think tonight I will go to cranes roost with my mom, if she agrees, and practice with the flash one last time. I want to write down the settings that I have so I can have notes for the big day. It's 11:07 I better get going.

Hello Spring!!

 I am so happy it is not cold any longer. And I guess coming from a Floridian that seems like a really stupid statement. No Floridian knows cold. 

Meet Natalie: Fun and beautiful. She and I spent one night and one beautiful day at the beach condo her family owns. It was just the vacation getaway I needed. She is one of my favorite people right now. She has so many things on her plate but wakes up with a smile on her face every day. Congrats. At the beach I practiced a bit with my camera so this is what I have...

the table at the breakfast diner

  Look at this cutie pie

life update

So I started doing some photography work. I am very excited about this because I have always adored photography. Somehow, I got a position as a second shooter for Shannon Smith. I actually showed my parents her website (etc) when they bought me my rebel. Of course I have never taken photography seriously up until this point. Right now I have a Canon Rebel EOS xs. It is a nice camera but it is definitely beginner compared to her camera. I have the lens it came with and I invested in a 50 mm f/1.8. I have two batteries and battery pack (which wasn't essential by any means I just think it makes me look more legit) Two memory cards, and a wireless remote. Oh and recently for fun I bought a fisheye adaptor. Might be useful at weddings? But highly doubt it?So my job is detail shots like on the right (NOT MINE, just an example)




Well along with this job I can't really post any of my photos. and it's not a really it is a can not(period). But that's okay. I have ownership of all my practice photos outside of the job. I am so thankful to work with Shannon she is wonderful. She is young and fun. But what I like the most is she is willing to teach this lost soul.

So thank you Shannon

eeks

I haven't been doing much cooking lately. I've been eating a lot of buttered toast and vegetables for dinner. Kind of funny how sometimes you just don't cook.
However, I want to make a shrimp bruschetta pasta before work today. I came across this recipe. Sounds really delicious. Good item to bring to a friends dinner party. Or starter to a dinner. Or even dinner itself!

Ingredients

• 2 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 pieces thinly sliced French bread
• 9 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 3 limes, juiced
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 Spanish onion, sliced
• 1/2 radicchio, thinly sliced
• 1/2 ounce assorted mushrooms (button and shiitake)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 slices bacon, chopped and cooked
• 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• 6 large shrimp
• 6 large scallops
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• 2 tablespoons freshly sliced green onion

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Drizzle olive oil over bread and toast lightly in the oven.

In a large bowl, add tomatoes, lime juice, balsamic and sugar and stir to combine.

In a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, add onion and cooked until caramelized. Add radicchio and mushrooms and cook until radicchio has wilted and mushrooms have released their liquid. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add minced garlic and cooked bacon and stir to combine. Remove from heat and allow to completely cool.

Fold cooked onion-bacon mixture into the tomato mixture and add the chopped cilantro.

Preheat grill to high.

Grill shrimp and scallops until opaque. Season both sides with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Remove from the grill and slice the scallops and shrimp in half.

Top each toasted bread slice with the tomato mixture, grilled scallop, and grilled shrimp and garnish with sliced green onions.

Carrot cake balls

I made a small batch of these and left at least 20 more balls in the freezer for another time. Every single person who ate of the carrot cake balls were in love with them. I would like to make the red velvet cake balls with dark chocolate covering. Originally I was going to use milk chocolate to come the carrot cakes but a friend of mine was with me when I was buying the ingredients and we both decided that white seemed more suitable for carrot cake. 
Recipe is borrowed from Bakerella.

Red Velvet Cake Balls
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

Before Brandon and my trip I made us a delicious dinner. I was really impressed with myself. I get a good majority of my recipes off of food network.com the following came from there. I think that they are very good recipes because you can often change little things and make them your own.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
• 4 filet mignon steaks, about 1 3/4-inches to 2-inches thick
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 large beef tomato
• 1 package spreadable goat cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup French fried onions

Directions

Crush the black peppercorns coarsely and pack liberally on both sides of the beef.

Drizzle a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar over the tenderloins and set at room temperature for 20 to 25 minutes to marinate. Grill tenderloins to likeness. While resting, slice the tomato into 1/2-inch thick slices and spread each slice with goat cheese. Spread it thick! Set the tomatoes aside.

Heat a saute pan and add the remaining balsamic vinegar and sugar. Reduce until halved. Set the filet atop the goat cheese tomato slices and drizzle with the reduced balsamic sauce. Top with the French fried onions and serve immediately.

This was some of the best filet mignon I've had and it was made in my house with out a fancy grill. I pan seared the steaks on each side for about 4-6 minutes on high heat with a good amount of oil in the pan. Then I put the steaks in a bread loaf pan and under the broiler for 5 minutes. I let them sit after coming out of the oven to keep its delicious flavor in every bite.

I felt very satisfied after this meal.

Internet research

I am going on a trip with Brandon to Connecticut for the holidays. I am trying to find some good recipes for the 22 hour drive. YIKES! But in my search I came across this website which has some of the cutest sweets I've seen in a while. Bakerella!! I really like that valentines gift idea. I know v-day is a good while away but I might do this for Brandon.

So far I am going to prepare Vegetable quiche cups, mojo chicken (for sandwiches), dried fruit, carrot cake balls, and bran muffins.

Over the last year I have been very busy moving and getting my life on the road I'd like it to be. Unfortunately I didn't update this blog. :( I am going to avidly try accomplishing a few posts every now and then. As of lately I have been doing a lot of cooking for my boyfriend especially. A few holidays have also passed so I made some blog worthy food for that as well. I think I'll add some photos of some food I made just to get on track.

Oh geeze.. cute cup cakes

soon to be werewolves...