Where the Magic Happens

After returning from my dish extravaganza yesterday, I was in serious need of some snax. Dish shopping is tiring when you’re lifting up heavy plates and imagining how they would look in photos with various foods.

I had a plate of dates with coconut butter. We finally finished our jar of almond butter. Now, what time is it?!

It’s sunflower seed butter time! I’m comin’ outta rehab .

I also finished off a tub of plain yogurt (~1 cup) with a banana. I love when bananas are at this stage–ripe with plenty of brown spots but not mushy yet.

Love green bananas? I read in the latest issue of Health magazine that slightly green bananas have more resistant starch. The starches turn into sugar as the banana ripens.

Workout:

60 min. elliptical + 10 min. abs and stretching

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Dinner was a dish prepared by Peter, Head Chef at Peter’s Kitchen. It’s been awhile since his dishes have been featured here. I had something on my mind already but my dad insisted on cooking something for me….in less than 10 minutes.

I’m going to try and get him to write a guest post since so many of you ask for tutorials/recipes. Stay tuned.

Here’s a preview:

Peter, posing with a head of broccoli in his chef coat….errr Road Runner t-shirt .

After a humongous dinner, I somehow made room for some cantaloupe. So ripe and so sweet.

Then, I picked up a package from the HLS roomie Sarah!

Sarah is one of the first bloggers I met (back in Jan ‘09 when I was a blogless reader). We met up at a restaurant in Hillsborough, NC with Kath, Matt, and a few other readers. Several months later, after I started LLE, we began to communicate more and more. We sat next to each other at HLS 2009. Then in the Fall of 2009, we watched Food (Th)Inc. together, organized an NC blogger meet-up, and then had several more meet-ups! You can see all of my blogger meet-up posts on my Favorite Posts page.

Sarah has always been one of my biggest cheerleaders…at school, with Live Laugh Eat and in life. I’m so sad that we live hundreds of miles apart now .

P.S. I think Sarah has the best handwriting of any doctor I’ve ever known. I bet pharmacists love her prescription slips .

She is a big AllieBar fan too, so I brought her some when I went to HLS 2 weeks ago. She sent me this delicious granola made in Chapel Hill, NC as a thank you.

I’ve gotten Little Red Wagon Granola once before when I was living in Hilton Head. Of course I tried the Carrot Cake flavor. <–during my first week of blogging (!!).

I was excited to try another flavor last night, Chunky Monkey. It has banana chips, chocolate chips, pecans and almonds. Mmmm!

I opened the bag immediately.

….and went back for more and more and more…

…and more. I’m not sure if there are any chocolate chips or pecans left in the bag!! Thank you, Sarah–I miss you too!

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Yesterday, I asked you where you take your food photos (if you do). Well, I thought it would be fun to show you where I take MY photos. You know, so you can see where the magic happens .

Usually, I go out onto the balcony for the best lighting….

…and get tangled in that hairy plant every time!

It has chairs that I can stand on to get a bird’s eye view….while getting some funky glances from the neighbors.

I occasionally use this little table when the sun is shining directly onto the bigger table. I try to avoid direct sunlight because it can be quite harsh.

Have you ever wondered why some of my photos have a blue blur in the background? Yeah, it’s that darn beach chair right over there.

If I feel like it, I typically grab a placemat on my way out. Don’t ask why the tags are still on.

If I’m lazy or don’t have the ability/time to take everything onto the balcony (such as when I’m doing step by step photos for a recipe), I use this lovely window sill by the kitchen table. It only gets good lighting during certain hours of the day though.

I would love it a whole lot more if those grey bars weren’t there.

Remember several months ago when all of my food was photographed on top of a concrete slab? Yeah, that was right here on the ‘porch’ of my apartment at school.

That apartment was like a cave and the only place I could get a good amount of light (or any light at all) was outside on the porch…or on my bed HA! It wasn’t the most modern looking apartment but we all know the air conditioning definitely worked!!

I went out there every single day, even when it was snowing.

I’m gonna have to find a whole new set of good photography spots once we move to the new house. The kitchen has a ton of windows though so it should be easy. Hopefully I won’t have to go outside when it’s frigid!!

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Tell me: How do you like your bananas? What’s your favorite granola flavor?

Tagged as: Almonds, Bananas, Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Chocolate Chips, Coconut Butter, Dates, Granola, Pecans, Yogurt