Make Me Cook

Well, I just had to blog about this, because Lara is one of those people I’ve been dying to meet. She’s a local and she is a Food Geek like myself. So imagine my utter delight and glee when she contacted me to interview me!

My sit down coffee chat with Lara went on for about 2 hours, I’m sure it would have went on even longer if it were not for parking meters expiring and running out of quarters to feed them. Lara is probably one of the sweetest and most bubbly fun Food Geeks I have met so far. I love absolutely every minute of our time over coffee and left with a taste of wanting some more time to hang out. Lara “gets it” when it comes to food. She’s a geek like the rest of us and it is refreshing and wonderful to sit down and talk to people who are on the same page… people who just get it.

She’s also an amazing at home coffee roaster. She has served me as a source of invaluable information on the articles she has written on coffee roasting and bean tasting. Her writing has inspired me to roast at home, which is a fun exploration. When I showed up for the interview she had a cute little box sitting on the table waiting for me… inside it was her “Kickass Blend”. Hand roasted that morning…. what an honor

So L… thank you for a wonderful visit, Sitka & Spruce is calling our names
Coffee with Kelly Cline a Lara Ferroni Interview

No, I haven’t forgotten this place. And most importantly I haven’t forgotten about you wonderful people who come here and read my ramblings Truth be told, I’ve missed all of this.

A dear friend of mine Marilyn gave me a big needed kick in thebutt to give this blog some attention. So here I am writing with a bruised behind to let you all know what has been happening.

I’ve been SUPER busy. When it is not work it is family life. Those of you who know me well know that my Father has been battling cancer for some time now. We’ve been dealing with that and the constant scares of it popping back up everytime his blood count is off. I just heard today that he is going in for back surgery, which is totally unrelated to his cancer problems thankfully. That’ll be the first part of June, so I’ll be helping my Mother get some things prepared down at their house to help ease along his recovery. The upside of all of this is that he won’t have the pain he currently is experiencing in his back right now anymore. I just get a little scared everytime he goes into the hospital, actually anytime anyone I care about goes into the hospital… I turn into a nervous mother hen

On the busy front, I’ve been shooting ALOT. I went to the coast and did some shots at a bed and breakfast and took my Mom with me to give her a break, as she needed it badly. I made her play the part of Photography Assistant and had her holding bounces and moving the props where I needed them. She had a blast doing that. I’ll post a granola recipe and a little parfait recipe to go with it in a couple days (I really promise it will happen).
I’m also gearing up for a charity project to help out the victims of Hurricane Katrina, more on that later. My deadline is the beginning of June, and I’ll be posting more about it as the time gets closer.
I’m also working on a couple other gigs, I can’t say too much about them yet, so when the time comes I’ll be sure to let you all know.

As far as work goes, I’m super happy with the progress of things. I’m seeing my work at places like Food Network, All Recipes, Chefs.com and I even had a kitchen product catalogue for Spoontree Inc. use my images to grace a majority of their catalogue pages. The talented designer, Jacom, over at Avid did a SUPER job on putting the catalogue together. I’ll be posting that later on, since my quick post is turning into a novel hahaha.

If you run over to Chefs.com you can get a peek at my images being used all over that site. Yesterday, my image (that they purchased from our stuffed chili challenge) was featured on the front page in their little flash movie that they change out daily. But it is also used at the header of the article as well. Pretty cool. I took a screenshot of it, and put the original next to it… but most of you will remember from when we did those nummy chicken stuffed chilies.

I’m gearing up to give this blog some much needed love. A re-design in in the works. Something exciting and new, I hope that you will all like it. Also, some features that you can use as tools in your everyday cooking routine and a bunch of new recipes coming down the pipe line. The index of recipes will get finished and there’s a few more suprises ahead. Just you wait and see. And don’t you worry about me forgetting about the past recipe challenges, believe it or not I actually have the hand scrawled notes of these recipes firmly in hand awaiting translation into something legible I’ll be hitting you with more recipes than you will know what to do with

The fresh fruit challenge beckons, so get yourselves ready for that goodness. We’ll have that done and ready to go in time for those Summer picnics so you can WOW your friends and relatives

Thanks for hanging in there with me, and especially a huge thanks to all of you who have been messaging me with your kinds words and support. I have miss you all too. I’ve been gone too long, and now I’m back to stay

Often I am asked if what I shoot can be eaten. You bet your butt it can! Alot of folks are under the notion that anyone who styles food has a bag of nasty tricks up their sleeves to get it to look so great, it may be true of some but not all. You won’t find motor oil syrup for your Pancakes, or mashed potatoes in your Ice Cream Sundae here. What you see is what you get. If you came over to my studio, as soon as I had finished taking my shots you could snatch the meal right off the set and eat it up… and often times this is exactly what happens, if I don’t get to it someone else surely does.

My belief is that food is a beautiful thing, without all the fakey nasty treatments. If you go to a magnificent 5-star resturant you are presented with a plate that deserves a reservation in a fine art gallery. Your food doesn’t come to the table with a warning about not eating the plastic platform, the metal pins or the tampon in your risotto… and it shouldn’t. So why should it be any different when you are taking a picture of food? Simple answer is.. it should not be any different at all. It’s all about freshness and taking care to love your plate enough to dress it beautifully, something that any foodie can appreciate.

So yes… what you see here, that’s what I am most likely eating for dinner (or snacking on) and loving it! And if you don’t believe me then you can ask my big butt… it’ll tell you what’s what.

As of tomorrow, I am one step closer to the grave and the other on a banana peel… cripes. I’ll be needing a fire extinguisher for safety reasons while they light the bonfire… errr cake. Damn, I hate getting old. I miss the birthdays of days gone by, my fondest memories being those of the cakes my mother used to make for me. My two favorite cakes were the doll cake, a southern belle type doll with eyes that closed when she laid back and a big bell shaped gown of moist delicious cake dressed in frosting ruffles and lace… of which my brother felt the need to blow out my candles that turd! And the other was a painting of a horse rearing up on it’s hind legs with a pastural scene behind it, not piped frosting but frosting hand colored then literally hand painted with palette knife and brush onto the square cake. It was an edible canvas, my own little devourable masterpiece, one that would have made DaVinci both drool and turn green with envy. I have always looked forward to my Mother’s cakes eager to see what new creation she has come up with and to taste the moist deliciousness wrapped up in homemade real buttercream goodness.
Mommy I want another dolly cake so I can feel young again!

I had the pleasure tonight of tasting the present that was left behind by “Bob” from Denmark when he visited right before Christmas. I finally got up the nerve to give it a try… and I am in love. So much so, in fact, that I plan on dissecting the flavors in the bottle and replicating it in recipe form to share with you all.

I want you all to be in love too.

Love is tasty and it’s name is Danish Remoulade!