2005 Volvo V70 HDR

2005 Volvo V70 HDR, originally uploaded by nettsu.

Just testing the flickr/blogger interface :)
oh and I just wanted to blog this photo ;) more expirements with HDR - i should stop at some stage. I'm really happy with the this photo - I love how the reflections on the bonnet came out. The only thing that kind of bugs me is that I took the photo too early in the morning so there's still some dew/frost on the windscreen & the roof which makes it all look a little flat.

Ah well - it's all part of the fun of being a photographer :)

Another Food Post - Peanut Butter Pie

I think I'm becoming obsessed with food... I really do.

So anyways. We had dinner at a friends earlier this week, and I decided to bring dessert. So I went through my magazine & recipe collection and noticed a recipe for Peanut Butter Pie. Larry loves Peanut Butter so I though a-ha I'll give this a go as yes well you know he likes Peanut Butter... (and everyone else seems to as well).

Here's the end result:


Recipe:
Peanut Butter Pie
Serves 16

180g Digestive Biscuits
90g unsalted butter
3 tsp caster sugar

Filling
1 cup (250ml) pure (thin) cream
1/2 cup (75g) caster sugar
320g cream cheese, chopped, at room tempature
375g crunchy salt-free peanut butter

Topping
150ml thickened cream
150g dark couverture chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
20g unsalted butter

Preheat fan-forced oven to 160 (180 for a conventional oven)
Process biscuits in a food processor until crumbled. Add melted butter and sugar. Pulse to combine. Then press into the base of a 22cm springform cake pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

For the filling, place the cream and sugar in a saucepan and simmer over low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Blend the cream cheese and peanut butter until combined. Add the cream mixture and pulse to combine, then spoon filling on top of pie crust and leave to cool.

For the topping, bring the cream to just below boiling point in a saucepan over high heat, then remove the pan from the heat. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl, then pour over the hot cream. Leave for 3 minutes without touching. Gently move the dish around to melt the chocolate and butter into the cream. Pour the topping over the pie, then chill in the fridge, uncovered, for 4 hours or until set.

This is originally from the book maggie's kitchen and it then appeared in Delicious (small story about this to follow).

So a couple of things
This is so bloody rich - very, very tasty though!
I burnt the base :( - I had it in the enough to long so there wasn't really much of a base with the actual pie... live & learn I suppose.

So the funny little story - I got a kick out of this... when I was making the pie on Tuesday night - I was posting photos to twitter, as well it's not unlike me to overshare the intimate details of my life really... one of my followers is a photographer for penguin books who published Maggie's Kitchen and delicious reused the images. So he recognised his own photo :) I just thought that was kind of cool in a small world kind of way.

the 2nd batch from the super ikonta

Hmmmm...
not sure what to say really
I think getting used to composing with the super ikonta is taking some time. Dropped 4 rolls off earlier this week at the Elizabeth Street Camera Centre. And after a misunderstanding (err???) there was a note for them to be scanned to CD, I had to wait for them to be scanned to CD, they did a bad scan :( I originally thought it was an issue with the camera but after some advice no. It's my lab. That sucks. I know have to try to find a new lab to do the developing and scanning for me.

Anyways
here's the photo I'm the happiest with
Compositionally it could have been a bit stronger - I should have moved to the right slightly but the main thing I was after was the reflection of Eureka in the seat. Which I got. The passing traffic & the tram were just bonuses :)

Also had my first 2 rolls of B&W film dropped off for developing.
That's a challenge.
I like the gritty feel of B&W through the super ikonta. Much better than shooting b&w in the holga. Only issue I really have is that it seems over-exposed. Which is probably to do with my lack of understanding with the camera....

a brief food interlude...

Namely as I haven't had the chance to pick up my developed films yet :(
I was intending my next post to be about my first B&W rolls through the super ikonta but you'll have to wait...

so anyways...
Last week when I was grabbing some lunch from Woolies (Safeway) at QV - I noticed the current Donna Hay magazine. Now I'm not particularly a Donna Hay fan - maybe it has something to do with the Courier-Mail/Daily Telegraph syndication. Maybe it's because I don't find her stuff usually that inspiring (although the food styling & photography is normally pretty good).

So anyway I decided to make her sticky date pudding from the current issue.

The end result:

Let's just talk about rich! The amount of butter in this pudding is somewhat scary...

The recipe:

2 1/2 cups (210g) chopped pitted dates
1 cup (250ml) boiling water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
100g butter, chopped
3/4 cup (135g) brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising (self-rising) flour

toffee sauce
150g butter (chopped)
1 cup single (pouring) cream
1 1/2 cups (265g) brown sugar

preheat oven to 180C (355F). Place the dates, water and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Place the date mixture in the bowl of a food processor with the butter and sugar and process until just combined. Add the eggs and flour and process until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Cut into squares.

Watching the dates, baking soda & water fizz was fun :) It was like science at work

To make toffee sauce, place butter, cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Spoon over puddings and top with cream.

Boil butter & cream - is this person crazy!!!! But it does work - it's just a case of standing there and waiting for the worst!

Not sure if I will make it again due mostly to the richness... but as I never made it before - it was interesting...

Getting a coffee hit

It's quite rare for me to consider and plan an image. And I guess this does tie into my attempts to be more of an aristic photographer rather than just seeing something and snapping it.

So anyway a flickr friend yesterday posted a shot of his starbucks coffee and referred to it "liquid crack." I'll save the starbucks rant for a different time (but seriously America - STARBUCKS IS SH1T!!!!) so based on the addictive nature of caffeine and corporate america, I came up with the rough idea for this image. The only regret I really have about it is the lighting. The lighting should be better but the image still works.


I was actually a bit nervous about uploading it as it's a tough image to deal with in some respects.

The reactions have been quite interesting. The main problem is that as my flickr is linked to my facebook - a few people at work have seen me snorting espresso.

One of my managers actually finds it disturbing. The other manager said that I need to keep in mind that I am supposed to becoming a responsible parent (that one was a bit what the?).

Now I'm not usually in the habit of having to explain myself at work in terms of my 'art' - but I don't think the people at work see me as an artist. They see me as a photographer. The difference being that I take good photos rather than create good images. This falls into the create image camp.

I stand by my image and I stand by my artistic expression :)
I like this - it's not perfect - but it works as an image
it's funny and it's a statement on a few levels

Have a good weekend
Peace
Michael

The Super Ikonta

Is just super!

I still have no idea of how to use it - I'm using the red dot method (it's like "auto" until I manage to work out just in the hell I'm supposed to use the f-stops and the focus ring...). It's weird really - I've read the manual 3 times and it still makes no sense...

I have to admit for a 55 year old camera - I am really quite impressed by the quality of the images it produces.


As my lab doesn't do the auto-level thing - I generally do auto-levels in PS. I have some getting learning to do with it as well - I need to learn how to compose etc - there's a couple of shots which there are bits on the edge that realistically shouldn't be there. But that's the learning process really ;)

It's funny - I also now carry film with me... I have a roll of B&W and 160VC in my bag...