Sea of Orange~
Munz Ranch in Lancaster California. The poppies were incredible! Perfect weather, no wind and 85 degrees.
Know your Local; Cafe Fiore
What a blast of beautiful Italian warmth; from the entrance to the open style kitchen, the cute patio and smiling face of the hostess. Cafe Fiore was a wonderful treat for lunch and I can’t wait to visit for dinner in the near future. The highly recommended dish, let alone the most delicious Italian dish I have had in a while was the Tortellaci Di Zucca. The sweetness from the Butternut squash filled tortellaci and the savory, earthyness of the tortellaci sautéed in a sage cream sauce with Parmigiano cheese, was incredible. Lets just say there was no leftovers for my poor hubby to enjoy. Visit Cafe Fiore at 66 California St. Ventura 805.653.1266 or their website at: www.fiorerestaurant.net 
Dining Out Magazine
As I left a rainy gray day in Ventura and chugged along the 405, I was greeted by sunny skies in Orange County. I am amazed at the climate change within 80 miles of the California Coast.
Today was a Dining Out Orange County Magazine Recipe Shot Day. The first restaurant was Sandy’s Beach Grill location next to the pier and inside Duke’s Restaurant in Huntington Beach. 
The dish was a Sea Bass with couscous and Shrimp.
The second restaurant was Sapori; An Italian restaurant the Newport Beach. Bowtie Pasta with Smoked Salmon.
Cover Shot; California Country Magazine
In the California Country magazine March/April Issue, I had the pleasure of photographing a dairy farm in Ontario California for the story “On Guard.” The link to view the cover shot: http://californiacountry.org/in-print/latest-issue.aspx
Every photo I capture, always has a fun memory behind it; while photographing the dairy farm a few days before Christmas last year and one day after the torrential week-long rain storm, I found myself in the middle of 300+ Dairy cows standing over five feet tall in fields of mud. These courageous dogs ran out to herd up the cattle for one of their 3-4 times a day milking, chest deep in mud along with cow pies. They were some of the smartest dogs I have ever been around!
Cupcakes, Yum!
As a professional food photographer, during the slow weeks one has to tackle the daunting task of purging old files on the coveted hard drive. However, it is fun to look back on all the amazing locations and people I have met over the years of sharing my love for capturing light..
While looking in the blast from the past of 2008, one of the photo shoots included capturing Michelle Michel creating her delicious cupcakes. Back then she was just thinking about having a baby and now looking at her blog she has a beautiful baby boy, that has already turned one years old! Wow, does the time fly?!http://couturecupcakerybymm.blogspot.com/
Holiday Fun!
This past month has been filled with a ton of family visiting time… the most eventful would have to be making Julia Child’s croissants Rolls with my little brother. It was a sight to see; myself reading the 4 page long recipe from The French Chef cookbook and my little brother performing the tasks. We started this simple project of making the croissants at 4pm and my brother stayed up until 12:30am baking them… I fell asleep!
The end result were tiny flaky little croissants with ton’s of love in each and every 82 layers of dough and 81 layers of butter! Let’s just say that we will never be making those again and my little brother I’m pretty sure will never cook with me again.
Tell me about your fun family time…
Know your local; U Yogurt
Tips to photographing Frozen Yogurt-
When photographing a frozen mountain of Pumpkin flavored yogurt, topped with cheesecake bites and chopped almonds; one has to first remain calm and not devour the whole thing, second take the photo as quick as possible to avoid a dippy mess and third always have a reflector to add specular highlights. 
New owner Steve Kerby of U Yogurt, a self-service frozen yogurt company on the corner of Victoria and Telephone road in Ventura, runs a clean and fun environment to enjoy many flavors of frozen yogurt. The atmosphere and lively music makes his yogurt shop one of my favorites. 
Some of my favorite flavors include; Pumpkin, Red Velvet and Pomegranate! Check out his shop and let me know what your favorite flavor is.
Ventura Restaurant Week
Ventura restaurant Week at 71 Palm was delicious. The menu included French Onion Soup or Louisiana Blue Crab Cake with garlic aioli and Coq AuVin with homemade mashed potatoes or Filet of sole almondine over rice pilaf. Check out there website at www.71palm.com 
-
Archives
Blogroll
-
Meta
