Jenmenke

Road Warrior

photography

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

This is Minnesota, folks.

…Despite those 70 degree October temperatures that somehow, unbelievably, made it in to early November.

We reveled in it. We wore flip-flops in November! The decadence. The sheer thrill!

It’s basically what every other state in the nation gets to do on a regular basis, except us. I bet they wear flip-flops (which I call thongs, but get harassed by the younger set for calling footwear by the now ubiquitous term for a g-string) in Kansas.

Well, no more. We got about 10″ of heavy wet snow on Saturday that is still sticking around on Monday. […and Tuesday, and now Wednesday]

So this post is an ode to Fall. I never got around to posting some of my favorite pictures of late fall. And now the snow went and wrecked it all. It smashed my beautiful Miscanthus grass and the pretty asparagus fronds. It covered up all my shovels in the garden that I was lulled into thinking I would use again. It dashed my hopes for a Christmas photo (no, I still don’t have one yet) in the golden light of a daylight savings savings sunset (at about 3 pm).

If I could embed music, I would choose something sad from The Mission.

None of these have been edited in Photoshop. They are straight out of the camera. Not a credit to me as a photographer, but to God’s majesty and the beautiful colors of fall!

I suppose that could be in focus better, but isn’t it pretty? The color?

I’m a spaz with the focus. It’s true. But this one is better.

This is the perfect picture to show the season: Peegee Hydrangeas caught between Fall and Winter.

Another lesson on how not to focus, but pretty none-the-less. This is the asparagus fronds in the dewy rain of late October.

And then I looked up from my tendency to go “macro” all the time and saw this one lone birch tree.

So pretty.

And now it’s all gone. Including — again! — my sweet meat squash that got froze-to-death and turned to mush. I’ll probably never get to taste one of them.

I do love snow. But I hate the mess. The mud before it really freezes. The cold. The heating bills. The grey skies.

Snow is the only bonus prize of winter.

Meatless Monday 40

Normally this stuff just flows from my fingers without pause. But it is confirmed. I officially dread writing about Meatless Mondays.

This post has been half-finished for over a week now. And I won’t let myself post anything new until I get it done. The agony… of bad pictures and uninspired writing.

But you have to give me kudos for trying. And trying I am still. The past two weeks we have had two — actually three — meatless dishes. But remember, oh yee of actual vegetarianism: I consider fish and shellfish to be meatless. So I know that negates at least one of the dishes for the truly hardcore.

And, as usual, I lack photos. The days are getting shorter here in Minnesota. A lot shorter. And we eat late. I mean really late. I’m not all that concerned about photography when I’m frantically trying to get dinner on the table before 9 pm.

I’m also not a writer dedicated to showcasing my photography to the point of making meals in the middle of the day in order to style the dish and photograph it on a sublime background in the pleasing light of the setting sun. Do you know how many people actually do that? It is truly mind boggling. You can go ooh and ahh over their posts. Here’s a funny irony: my friends shake their heads at me and say “Where do you find the time…” and I shake my head at all those beautiful photos on those beautiful blogs and say “Where do they find the time…”

No, I grab the closest camera and snap. Flash and all.

Did you know that flash photography is the horror of all horrors? Seriously. Another little known fact for all you non-food-blogging types. Which, I hope for my sake, are most of you reading this.

But I have  two Meatless Monday winners that I haven’t posted before, so I should at least share the basics. The first, Meatless Monday 40, is a dish I tried to replicate from the old Sidney’s Restaurants here in the Twin Cities. They made this spicy sausage with peppers in tomato cream sauce which I just loved. I came up with a recipe that I thought came fairly close. Of course it wasn’t quite as good, because I could never knowingly use as much cream as they did and still enjoy eating it.

That’s probably why we all like to eat out so much. Because ignorance is bliss. Well, I guess I can’t slap that generalization on The Pioneer Woman who starts every recipe with a pint of cream and a stick of butter, but she is a CATTLE RANCHER, for goodness sake. I sit on my butt all day doing graphic design for free. I have to live by different rules.

Anyway, I recently made this for Meatless Monday, sans the italian sausage. The sausage was sadly missed but the dish was still surprisingly good.

Spicy Penne with Tomato Cream and Sweet Red Peppers*

* The photo shown above does not show this incarnation of the recipe. It shows Meatless Monday 36, when I made it with sage and yellow peppers and lots of oregano. It wasn’t nearly as good, though I did love those big pasta tubes! I recommend the following version of the dish. While the recipe is not precise, the herbs are more subtle and the red peppers more plentiful.

  • 1 lb Penne or Rigatoni pasta, cooked al dente in salted water
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 clove fresh garlic minced or 3 cloves Garlic Confit mashed
  • 1-2 cups of diced or pureed tomato — canned or fresh or combo — amount depending on your love of tomatoes
  • ~ 1/2 cup  half and half or cream — amount and type depending on your love of a flat stomach
  • 1 t red pepper flakes
  • 1-2 t sugar
  • 1 sweet red pepper sliced into skinny strips– green works if it is winter and red peppers cost as much as truffles.
  • 1 t dried thyme (or 1T fresh)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup fresh pecorino shreds — or parmigiano  if you are rich

Obviously there is no rocket science here. Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil over low to medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and saute another minute, then add the tomatoes, thyme, salt, pepper and sugar and cook on low for a bit — maybe 10 minutes or so. About 5 minutes before serving add the peppers and cream. I like my peppers to stay firm and not be mushy. If you like them soft, add them earlier. Don’t let the cream boil.

Toss the half pasta with the sauce, adding pasta until you get the consistency you like. (I use about 3/4 of the pasta usually and save the rest for eating with butter. mmm). Sprinkle pecorino over and serve hot!

*******

Something I discovered that you probably already know: heat your pasta bowl in a very low oven (250 or so) for 10 minutes before tossing your pasta in it. I was always afraid to do this with my big, pretty bowls. But as I get older, I don’t care as much. Maybe it’s because I have more bowls. Anyway, IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE and keeps the pasts SO FRICKEN HOT for so much LONGER. It makes me feel like I’m eating it in a restaurant where I never fail to marvel, “How the heck do they get the pasta this hot?” Now I know.

Bit the Bullet and Bought Canon T1i

squirrel-tail-grassI researched and obsessed, it’s true. After pulling the trigger, I have small amounts of buyer’s remorse, which is common for me with a high ticket item. Did I really NEED it? Will I really USE it? Is it as GOOD AS the Panasonic Lumix GH1 that I was set on? Time will tell. What it HASN’T done is get me off my fat ass and update my blog with tidbits of useful information and stunning photos. For that, I need to purchase an ASSISTANT (another high ticket item that I am NOT currently researching).

I think I knew this already, but buying a camera is a slippery slope comparable to what? Gambling? Drugs? By that, I don’t mean it’s addictive — tho I’m sure it can be — but EXPENSIVE. No sooner do you spend a cool thousand on a camera, than you want a new lens. And not just any lens, but a good one. A spendy one. Besides that, what do we learn makes a good photo? A tripod. But not just any tripod, but a CARBON FIBER tripod. Etc., etc. So far I have resisted most of these temptations. Well, that’s not entirely true. I DID buy Kelby’s book “The Digital Photography Book, v1” (where I learned about all the stuff I needed to buy) and I did buy a 50mm f2.8 lens for the whole blurry background thing, which is the reason I wanted a DSLR in the FIRST place. That’s not so bad, is it? Oh, wait. One more: NIK Software’s Color Efex Pro that I had been looking at for over a year now, but that was bought with birthday money, so it doesn’t count.

Anyway, like I said, I did it. I bought the camera and I’m trying to use it as much as I can. I’m in a blogging rut, having decided that nothing I have to say is really all that earth shattering or important, and therefore not worth the time it takes to do it. Surely this will shift and I will feel my worth again, regaling you all with blurbs of stunning alacrity and usefulness. However, until that time comes, here are some of my pretty pics from the new camera.

And for all you Lumix GH1 buyers, I don’t want to hear from you. I saved LOTS of money with the Canon, and even IT was still $899. It was a responsible decision that I am happy with.

I think…

snowball-viburnumsingle-peony1buzz-fisherdog1chamomile1charlie-the-chef1

TwipPhoto.com Contest – Winning Essay

drobo

by Jennie Menke

INT. DARK HOUSE – NIGHT

We move from the dark entry toward a light at the back of the house. Another, dimmer, light glows above us, from somewhere upstairs. We enter a warmly lit office & see three screens, two are lit. A blueish light slowly pulses at the bottom of the darkened screen.

JENNIE sits at desk in front of two bright screens, slouched in office chair. No makeup; pajama pants; sweatshirt.

She repetitively drags rectangular icons to corner of screen. QUIET HUM is occassionally broken by occassional loud, sharp CRINKLING NOISE – like violently crumpled paper. She appears to study a small number on screen. Then dragging resumes. It is monotonous. We watch her do this over and over.

DAVE
(yells from upstairs)
Are you coming up?

JENNIE
(exasperated. Overly loud reply)
YES. I’ll be up as soon as I’m done.

DAVE
Laughs (sarcasticly)

JENNIE suddenly sits taller; more decisively upright. She now stares fixedly at a blue bar as it moves slowly across screen. There is a FAINT TICKING barely audible. Blue bar stops and then disappears. She Slouches deeper. She wearily resumes dragging rectangles to corner.

CAMERA PANS SCREEN

SuperDuper:|11:10:51 PM|SVUclone: Error: Couldn’t create.Disk full.

UPSTAIRS LIGHT IS EXTINGUISHED.

I will use Drobo to enhance my love life. No more late nights in the office trashing large video files that I will, no doubt, later need, to make room on my back up drive. I will devote all my extra time to DAVE.

Fade to black.