Wichita Falls Food Photography | Food, glorious food

Gee, I wish my favorite hobby wasn't centered around food. I do so enjoy it!

I was out yesterday at one of my favorite, upscale restaurants  shooting some food pics for an upcoming website developed by Crane-West.

I wasn't hungry when I got there, but I was feeling light Pavlov's dog when I left. I hope nobody noticed the slobber running down my chin and onto my shirt. How embarrassing!

Here's a few photos from yesterday's shoot. I hope this makes you run out to Pasqual's located at 3001 Garnett Ave, Wichita Falls, TX 76308. I'll embed their website link as soon as it's completed.  If you need website development or advertising, give my friends at Crane-West a call at (940)691-2111 (they're awesome)!  If you have time, stop on by my food photography gallery.

 

Have a great Wednesday!

: ~ P  Frances

F3 16/50 Breakfast of Chimp -ions -- I mean Champions!

My dad had a lot of nicknames (terms of endearment) for my sisters and I. One of them was knucklehead I, knucklehead II (that's me), and knucklehead III. My favorite nickname was monkey joe I (that's Barbara), monkey joe II (me again -- I think I have middle child syndrome), and monkey joe III (that's Pam). I really miss my dad -- and not a day goes by when I don't think of all the sacrifices he made for his family and country. Oooppppsss, welling up -- didn't mean to get blue writing this.

Ok -- back on track.

I'm not a breakfast food kindof girl. I like leftovers, you know, supper food (or is that dinner food -- I get confused because to me they are the same meal -- the evening meal).

Rick brought me back a souvenir from the NBA All Star Game in Dallas, Tx. What is it? Oh, a sample of Wheaties Fuel. I know, no hat, no tee-shirt??????  That's OK, he showers me with plenty of wonderful things!!!!

I digress (again).

I have to admit that it's pretty tasty (without milk -- gag don't like milk). It's almost like little bits and pieces of Snickerdoodle cookies.  If you are a cereal eater, check this one out -- it's  like dessert!

And finally -- onto what I consider the breakfast of chimp-ions (monkey joe II's of the world)!

A yummy burger!!!!!!

My son Nick sent me home with a  couple of doggie bags the other night from his cookout. He used ground pork and ground beef (equal mixture) and seasoned it with a packet of broccoli beef seasoning. He likes to experiment with food -- and I'm always willing to be a tester. BTW -- the burgers were great!

Uuuuummmmmmhhhh Nick, I need a refill!

So -- what do you have a hankering for at breakfast time???

Have a great Wednesday!

;~D  Frances

F3 4/50 and other matters

Hola and a happy Friday to you all!

Is it me, or when you get old, does time zip by like nobody's bidness??????

I tried the Pioneer Woman's -- Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich recipe and wow, zap, zing, holy cow Batman -- we have a hit!  As a matter of fact, we like this one more than MM's favorite sandwich.

This chicken sandwich has just a few simple ingredients -- and is waaaaaayyy to easy!  Really, if you like chicken breast sandwiches, bacon, and cheese -- you  must click on the recipe and try it out.  Why, I do believe it makes for a great Super Bowl sandwich!!!!

I don't have any pictures of it -- because I didn't want my camera around bacon grease, and then Rick and I gobbled down two sandwiches each -- so there was no final product to shoot!

I did however, get a shot of the potatoes I used in making french fries.  I used the only potatoes I had in the house -- which were new potatoes.  And hey -- they came out yuuuuuuuuummmmmmmy too!

 

No pictures of the fries either, they were wolfed down in 3 seconds flat!

Now onto day 4 of the 50/50 challenge -- and I do mean challenge.  My brain cells aren't talking to each other, and I think they've shut off the oxygen to the creative section of my brain.  

So -- since I made fries, I had no clue what to do with the leftover vegetable oil -- so I poured it into a Kerr's canning jar.  Then, I noticed the beautiful amber glow -- and went ahhhh haaaaa -- picture #4!!!!!!!!

Whew -- why oh why did I get myself into a photo challenge???????

Have a great weekend!

;~D Frances

Understanding the histogram II (or color me stupid part II)

Rrrrrrrrrrrr -- I hate the fact that I don't take my time to read things (I skip to the pretty pictures!!). Yes, my name is Frances Knowles, and I'm a skim reader. I always have been and always will be. Give me a book -- I'll find the good stuff, get to the "uh, this is putting me to sleep" stuff and flip pages until the book picks up again.

How does this all tie into yesterday's post on understanding the histogram? Well -- color me stupid -- I didn't pay attention to the fine print. Actually, there wasn't any fine print -- I just didn't pay attention to everything in the article.

Today, I was going to try out using the EV button (+/-) to improve on what my camera is indicating as a correct exposure. First of all, I shoot in manual 99.9% of the time (I started out shooting in manual and never think  about the other modes). Ok, so my camera is in manual, I take a picture, look at the histogram, notice that it could be pushed some, so I start increasing the EV button. Hmmmmmmm, not working out like I thought it should. I try it again. Still not getting the right results.  What's up??????

So, I go out to the Digital Photography School's website and search for exposure compensation.  Now the light bulb starts to glow  ever so softly! The EV button does not work in manual mode, because duhhhhhh, I'm in manual mode (I control everything!!!!).   So basically, I was doing the same thing yesterday (manual, setting the aperture, decreasing the shutter speed --- as I would have if I was shooting in aperture priority mode and increasing the EV compensation (comes out in the wash the same).  Basically, when in Aperture mode, increasing the EV will adjust your shutter speed (see  shutter/EV changes as noted in the image below).

Here are my results from today's experiment using exposure compensation.  Image #1 is the starting point (camera indicated this as the correct exposure).  Note -- I've lost details in the shadow areas as indicated by the histogram running off the left hand side (dark side).  I knew I was going to crop for the vase only and wasn't concerned about the area to the far right of the vase.

The winner of today's experiment is #2

Since I don't normally shoot in aperture, shutter or program modes -- I'll watch my histogram and make adjustments to my shutter speed as I did in my previous blog post (quite honestly, I think I'd probably forget to set the EV back to 0).

Now -- for pictures of the Stromboli I made last night!!!!

 

I had to mark Rick's with the red pepper flakes -- because his had Italian sausage in it and mine didn't (!I used pepperoni instead of Italian sausage)    The recipe came from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book.  Rick ate every bit of his Stromboli, I saved half of mine for brunch today.  So far I'm batting 100 with this book. 

Well, enough of my ramblings. I hope I've enlightened you. I feel like my light bulb is at least a 40watt bulb now (I'm shooting for a 100 watts)!

Have a great week!

;~D Frances

Bragging on the Bread Book (again)

Ok -- so I was going to really get with my workout program starting Monday. So far -- I've made it to the Y one day. I did jump on my dogs' trampoline some yesterday as well as use a barbell to do squats. I say it's my dogs' trampoline -- because soon after I bought it -- they claimed it as their daytime napping center.

I need to start working out more -- because I'm eating a lot more bread. Ever since Becky gave me the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day bread book -- I'm never without fresh bread.

Yesterday, I made the olive oil dough -- so that we could have focaccia bread with our soup.

I can't stress enough how easy the recipes are. I haven't had a bread failure yet (notice, I'm narrowing failures to bread only)!

 

Image of the book and the storage bin with olive oil dough  (minus what I used for the focaccia)

The best part of this process is --  (1) is that you can use one recipe for a number of different breads, (2) you use the amount of dough you need for that day and put the rest in the fridge for use later, and (3) I CAN'T FAIL.

You can get more info on the uber fantastic Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by clicking here.  For those of you looking for a healthier bread -- not to worry, they have a Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day book.

On a side note -- I bought the food storage container pictured above at Sams Club.

Have a fatastic Friday (I mean fantastic Friday)!!!!

;~D Frances

PS
What's a day without a dog shot???

Happy Tuesday

Carolyn

First of all - Carolyn is the hostess with the mostess! Every year -- she gathers her friends together for her annual Christmas Ornament exchange party! I don't get to see some of these wonderful ladies -- but once a year at Carolyn's party.

I told her way back after my first party -- that she has the best and truly lovely group of friends -- I still believe it to this day!

I don't have much time to work on the pictures I took last night cuz I'm meeting my friend Elizabeth for a tour of Sheppard Air Force Base -- so I thought I'd hunker down and at least get a few pictures off!

Coco trying to help herself to Charla's dessert

Before I close, I want to give Becky a huge cyber hug and thank you for the bread making book and tools!  I made the Roasted Galic Potato Bread from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book that she gave me -- and it was a hit!!!!  The bread was moist and flavorful, and the crust was chewy/crunchy.

I made an extra loaf for Rick -- and when I got back from the party -- he told me that he had to pull himself away from the bread -- in order to save me a piece!!!!   Woo hoo!  You can't imagine how thrilled I am that I can now --- finally --- make bread!  This is the third recipe I've made from the book -- and all three came out looking good and tasting great!  If you know someone who likes or would like to make homemade bread -- order them a copy of this book.  You'll be their hero (and hey -- you might even get a loaf or two)!

Have a great Tuesday -- and check back later for more pics from last night's party!

Take care -- Fraces

Hollah for some Challah (Bread)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great Thanksgiving day with Rick's sister's family in Altus, Oklahoma!

The only problem was -- I over ate. Actually, I over ate for a family of five! I was so stuffed, I didn't have dinner! What??????? No dinner!

Rick's sister Becky is a wonderful cook. She made two dressings (one cornbread, one squash), mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, green bean casserole and fresh bread! OMG -- if you've been reading my blog, you know that I have tried, and tried, and tried to make a decent bread -- to no avail. She makes no knead breads --- no knead???? Yea, no knead. I think I'm in heaven!

She baked a Challah Bread that is out of this world. I'm not sure if there's anything better than hot, fresh bread and butter!

Becky was so kind, she went over the cookbook with me, showing me how easy the no knead recipes are -- anddddddd -- she's ordered me a copy of the cookbook!  THANK YOU SO MUCH BECKY!!!!!!!  I can't wait to whip up my first batch of no knead bread. Oh yea -- and you know I'm going to post a picture of my beautiful bread creations (that is, if they are indeed beautiful)!

Becky also made a couple of homemade pies -- one chocolate and one pumpkin.  Because I over ate -- I had absolutely no belly room for sweets.  Rick went gaga over the pumpkin pie -- so I asked Becky for the recipe.  It's a Paula Deen recipe which you can check out by clicking here.

Ooopppss -- kindof missed the turkey.  Rick has been deep frying turkeys for the past several years -- because -- it's the only way to go!!!  Once you've had deep fried turkey, you just can't go back to oven baked. 

He normally injects the turkey with Tony Chachere's creole style butter marinade, but none was to be found locally.  So -- the turkey got shot up with some other brand that was just as fabulous.

 

 

 

 

So, it is now the day after, I think I now have room in my belly for more food -- and Black Friday is in full swing.  Speaking of Black Friday -- I thought I'd try my luck at my first ever Black Friday Shopping experience.  I went to one store -- saw the lines that wrapped around the store in order to check out -- and walked back out.  I have no patience with shopping or waiting in long lines.  Guess I'll never be able to experience the wonderful Black Friday sales.  Oh well -- I'll at least keep in tact whatever small amount of sanity I still have!

Anyhoo -- I hope you all have a great weekend!

;~ '} Frances

Elm Storyboard

Wow, it's another beautiful day in the neighborhood!  Grass -- still growing, not mowed!  Manana, manana!

Anyhooooo -- I love the storyboards on the CoffeeShop  blog -- soooo, I thought to myself, wonder what I can take pictures of today and slap into one of those wonderful storyboards??????  Light bulb on -- the elm tree out back!

Sooooooo -- I grabbed my camera and took a number of shots of the sun coming through the beautifully spotted, amber and green colored elm leaves.

I then decided on the CoffeShop's 20X10 5 pic storybaord and went to work.  If you haven't visited the CoffeeShop and you use either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements -- I highly suggest you cruise by because Rita's site is a wonderful resource!!!!!

I'm trying to become a little more domesticated and bake bread.  I tried making brochen yesterday -- they weren't bad -- but, not gonna win a blue ribbon at the fair either.  Today, I tried a different brochen recipe -- and they were a little bit better -- but still not round and puffy, more flat and sortof puffy.  I do believe I'm not getting the desired results due to lack of technique.

I found a great blog with videos on how to knead the bread -- so I think my next bread making venture will be this guy's recipe (we have about 20 rolls to eat before I attempt the next batch-o-bread, pooooooor Rick!)   Soooooo -- I'll report back in on bread making 101 after I try the next recipe!!!

Brochen is supposed to be round and lot puffier (sob).  Dropped one after the photo shoot, dogs gave the  Brochen a paws up (but they'll eat anything!!)!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

; ~ '}  Frances

Colorado R&R

Hugs and kisses to Rick for taking me away from the 100 degree temps of Texas to the beautiful, lush green (and much cooler temps) of Lake City, Colorado. We spent a very relaxing week -- fly fishing, four wheeling, and my favorite -- eating!

I would guess that during the summer months, Lake City is inhabited by about 70% Texans. It's quite amusing to see so many Texas license plates!

The fishing was great for Rick and his Uncle Dub -- as they caught quite a few large trout -- for me, not so good. I caught one teenie, tiny trout on my first day of fishing, and the big goose egg from there on out. It's really not a big deal for me -- as I enjoy the practice (sounds like I'm in denial or something).

About four years ago, instead of taking a 4-wheel drive jeep on the mountain backroads (Alpine Loop), Rick has opted to doing the drive on a four-wheeler. I prefer the four-wheeler as it makes the day less scary. Jeeps just seem too wide for these narrow roads -- so I'm glad we've made the change.

We saw two moose while there. The first moose sighting was at Lake San Cristobal. We were driving around the lake when we noticed about six cars pulled over to the side -- and the car's occupants were out of the cars looking out toward the middle of the creeky area of the lake (not sure what you call it). The crowd had spotted a huge bull moose eating! We had a lot of fun chatting it up with the onlookers while watching the feeding moose.

Our next sighting was of a cow moose at Deer Creek. If you click on the moose picture below, you'll notice that there is a sign that has "Deer Creek" imprinted on it. I thought it was funny -- but, it doesn't take much to amuse me. Another moose watcher told us that the cow had two calves with her earlier. Rats -- how cool would that have been to see the mom and babies??????

Lake City has a number of wonderful restaurants. We love Poker Alice's (Pizza), Lake City Bakery (breads, sweet rolls, you name it -- they bake it), Cannibal Grill (hamburgers, hot dogs), the Sportsman (gas station that serves great BBQ), and an Italian Restaurant which I can't remember the name. We always end our trip with Rick's Uncle Dub and Aunt Sidney at Bruno's Restaurant. Bruno and his wife -- serve the most amazing food. It's five star dining -- I kid you not. We always look forward to the soup, bread -- and the main course. If you like wild game or a good steak -- Bruno's is the place to go.

Wow, it's not even 10:00 a.m. and I'm getting hungry!

If you'd like to learn more about Lake City, Colorado, click on today's post title (Colorado R&R).

Enough of the gab -- it's picture time! Enjoy and have a wonderful week!

Click on image for a larger picture.

Shot taken out the car window, somewhere in New Mexico.


Moose at Deer Creek (hey, who said moose can read?).


Dumpsters are locked to keep the bears out.


Garden shop (Pottin Shed) located behind our cabin (notice the sod roof).


Lake City Bakery (our first stop every morning).


We love shopping at Dan's Fly Shop. Dan and his wife are the best!


Photo of umbrellas at Kip's Gill in Creede, Colorado.


Rick soaking in the sun at Kip's Grill in Creede, Colorado.


One of the private streams we fished (Rio Grande)


Pssst -- what's the password? Had to get by the cattle before we could hit the Rio Grande for fishing.


Headed home, leaving New Mexico.

Dallas

Did I mention that Andrea Bocelli is AMAZING????? We went to his Dallas concert this past Saturday -- and were blown away by his voice! Also with Andrea were two wonderful singers, Eglise Gutierrez and Heather Headley. He has two more concert dates in the US, Madison Square Garden in NY, NY and Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.

The majority of the concert consisted of songs from operas (Carmen, Traviata, Nabucco). Rick and I were both talking about how short the two hour concert seemed. It just proves that time flies when you're having fun! The concert ended with Time to Say Goodbye. He was gracious enough to satisfy the concert goers with several encores -- one of them, my favorite, The Prayer!!!

We stayed at the Sheraton downtown Dallas, where I took a photograph looking outside my window. I, of course, popped the puppy into Photoshop. Here's what the final looks like.



Oh, almost forgot my "brush-with-fame" moment (PS Rick said (with a huge sigh) "you're not going to blog about this, are you?). We were having dinner at the Palomino (great restaurant FYI) when we noticed Babe Laufenberg arriving (would you believe this was my second time being tables away from him????). They were seated two tables to my left. Then (OMG) Jason Garrett tried to squeeze by me, but being quite comfortable with the position of my chair, I declined to let him through. Not really, it just makes for a better story! After he saw that there wasn't enough room to squeeze by (that's why I'm going to the Y this morning), he went around the other way. Shucks!

I can hear you all saying -- that's a brush with fame? Sad to say, it's a yup for me.
I'm up here in Wichita Falls, Texas -- where the closest I get to fame is being in the Kay Yeager Coliseum during a concert. If you're not a Dallas Cowboy's fan, then you'll have zero appreciation for my story -- and I apologize.

If you're looking for a nice restaurant near Downtown, Dallas, click on today's title for more information on the Palomino restaurant.

Well, time to work off this weekend's overeating session.

Have a wonderful week!

Frances

Confessions of a foodaholic

My name is Frances and I'm a foodaholic. I think my favorite pastime is eating. Gee, if only my metabolism could have stayed reved up all these years, unfortunately, my metabolism is at a crawl these days. Rats.

At the top of my fav foods is Italian food. Love it! While in Philadelphia, we came across LaScala's. MMMMMMMMMMM yummy. We were fortunate to grab a table outside, as the weather was fantastic and so was the people watching.

I ordered the Rigatoni ala Vodka (with chicken) and Rick ordered the Cavatelli with Bolognese Meat Sauce. I am now officially hooked on pink vodka sauce. For dessert, I had their Tiramisu and Rick had their bread pudding. I managed to get a picture of my dessert, but I was so into my dessert that I forgot to snap a picture of Rick's dessert. Oh well, a girl's got to take care of herself! Their Tiramisu was the best ever. It was light, creamy and absolutely delicious!

I can't wait to go back to Philadelphia (Boston is still #1 on my list) and see more of the city and eat at LaScala's again. Click on today's title and it will send you to their website.

If you're ever in Philly, check them out (and please send me a doggy bag -- PUUUUUHHHHLEAZ!!!!).

Seniors of all kinds

Hola and Happy Thursday. Well to start things off, Rick's birthday is coming up this Sunday, so I tried to make him a cake yesterday. I'm not sure if I left out a half cup of flour, didn't bake it long enough, used butter when I should have used margarine -- but, Houston, we have a problem! I told Rick that I didn't think his cake was supposed to be gooey at the bottom and he agreed with me. Soooooooo, I carved off the top 1/3 of the cake and put it on a plate and threw the bottom 2/3 in the disposal (oh sure, don't post a picture of the pathetic cake - right?). Rick was so kind and said "hey, it's kindof like having just the muffin-top -- but it's a cake-top". Way to make lemonade out of lemons! Now you know why I love him so much!. Anyhooooo -- back on track. I redid the cake today, set out all the ingredients, used margarine instead of butter, and voila! A perfect cake. What kindof cake you ask? It's a Milky Way cake.

Now you are asking me -- what's with today's title "Seniors of all kinds"? The answer is: I obviously had several senior moments yesterday when I baked the cake. Since I don't know what threw yesterday's cake off; did I bake it long enough?, did I use enough flour?, should I have used margarine?, uuugggghhhh the insanity of baking. Oh, I'm typing out loud. Ok - so I'm one example of a "senior" moment.

Now for a much better example of a "senior". Meet Jose. He's a graduating senior who has a great future ahead of him! He came down earlier this month with his family and we spent some time downtown shooting (I took them to all the creepy sections of town). Where I fail in cooking, his mom excels (she could beat me in a cooking contest with a blindfold and both hands tied behind her back)! And ladies, I'm sorry to say, Jose has a girlfriend. Thank you so much to Jose, his mom and sisters, for their patience, for the wonderful food, and for your friendship.

Super Bowl Sunday

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to everyone! My team -- the Cardinals are behind now in the 4th quarter. I don't think they are going to pull off a miracle-but, you never know! Oh well, the commercials are keeping me in the game!

Lucky me -- Rick made dinner -- hamburgers on the grill! Woo hoo! Now I can have burgers for breakfast and lunch over the next couple of day!

Well, I haven't been out shooting pictures -- so poor Rick -- had to put up with me and my camera while he was cooking. Hey -- what are boyfriends for??????

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend!

Frances