My mind screams “STOP!” Can’t. Stop. With. Just. One. Fingertips dyed orange. This can’t be good for you. Judging by the nutritional panel, my suspicions are confirmed. Although, the label clearly states “zero transfat”. Hey, I’ll take it! Munch on!
Category Archives: Appetizer
Devilish Eggs
The Devil is in the eggs. It sure is. Love ’em. I can never eat just one. I googled recipes for deviled eggs… there are thousands! But among them, it seems that they all have similar basics: eggs (obviously), mayonnaise/ salad dressing, mustard or vinegar of some sort, salt and pepper. From there the variations are endless! Most seem to come from old family recipes and are distinctive in their own right. Ever try the pre-made deviled eggs from the grocery store? Not quite the same as Aunt Marie’s, right? Personally, I find store bought deviled eggs to be pretty tasteless and otherwise boring. A complete injustice to how absolutely delicious a good deviled egg can be. Unless their homemade, they’re not worth bringing to your next potluck or barbecue, Just Saying…
So eggs… they are tricky to photograph. It would seem that there is not much to them. Clean lines, uniform color, singular shape. Some would say uninteresting, or as the French would say – ennuyeux, ho-hum, nothing to write about. I beg to differ. Light from the front, back, sides? It’s not that easy with a white egg. It can blend in and show a lack depth. Not as easy of an assignment as I initially thought. Since I like using natural light, it’s taken me a few tries to find which light and setting I like best. It helps to see the inspiration of others around the ‘net to get some ideas!
Backlit to show off it's simple shape
And beyond the white, I love seeing eggs of differing colors. What a delight to go to your local farmers market and see the variation in hues from white to blue, green and various shades of brown. My hubby tells me that it’s what the farmers feed the chickens that cause some of the color variations and that the size changes depending upon the chicken laying the egg. Also too, I noticed that depending on the eggs, sometimes the yolk colors vary in intensity too. Pretty cool.
Tick-tock... 25 minutes and the time's up!
None the less, once cracked or peeled (in the case of hard boiled eggs), the insides taste the same. It’s up to you how you want to doctor up your favorite deviled egg recipe! In our house, we like it with a little tobasco, pickle juice and some red pepper flakes. I’d be curious to try out some other add-ins for our next potluck!
OH my Lumpia!
Two full days. That’s how long it takes me and my 9 and 3 year old daughters to make approximately 400 Filipino egg rolls, otherwise known as lumpia. In this instance, we were making my family’s version of lumpia shanghai. In comparison to the typical Chinese egg roll, lumpia shanghai is smaller, thinner and the filling is comprised mostly of meat with little vegetable ingredients. They resemble little cigars. Light golden brown, meaty filling, packed with flavor. By far, these little egg rolls are my husband’s all-time favorite of Filipino food. They are addictive, as one of our friends described them. Small enough to pop in your mouth and keep coming back for more without feeling guilty. That is until you realize you’ve eaten a dozen or so! I serve them with a sweet chili sauce. Of the 400, approximately 75%, has been consumed within the 1st few days. Thankfully, I packed away some in the freezer so we could have some another time! 
This photo shoot was an after thought. We had been so busy rolling the egg rolls and cooking them in the fryer that I almost forgot to take some photos! As for the picture I chose above, I like the focal point and the lighting isn’t too bad on the eggrolls themselves. I like that I was able to capture the golden color of the eggrolls… some of my other photos turned out too dark, or too yellow. The lumpia comes across looking crisp and fresh. After looking through the shots, my sister suggested that I stage it with a bowl or a drizzle of sweet chili sauce. Yes, adding the bright orange to red sauce probably would have made for a nice accent. A good suggestion for the future. Needless to say, I needed to take the pics quick, as my models kept dwindling in number every time I walked away!
my photogenic food 