In light of summer

In light of summer by Anjuli

Posted on 09-20-09

Lately I’ve been interested about the impact quality of light has on quality of life. I’ve been dreaming about kitchens. A beautiful, soft and naturally lit kitchen is… well, a dream for me until I no longer live in a major city. Light not only gives life, it restores the living quality of food when we present it chopped, boiled, seasoned, and cooked down. When photographing food in a real kitchen the right quality of light is an ongoing mystery. Our lighting options appear simple enough: natural, artificial, or a combination. We aim to capture the kitchen’s “best side,” when the indirect sunlight is in its full glory. But few of us are probably even home then. Of course there’s artificial lighting to hopefully soften, warm, and make something that tastes delicious look delicious. Artistically, I am capturing light as I wish it to be.

Recent Comments

Tina Wu: This was a great idea except for the part where I made the ornaments, set my tree near the heater, and woke...
Kelli: Hi Anjuli- Thank-you so much for this detailed Ghee recipe- It turned out perfect the very first time- those...
Julia: Hi Anjuli - I’ve used various brands of ghee before (and one I just recently found out was probably made...
Pippa: Perfect, exactly the information I was looking for…gotta go buy sweets now…
Julian: Hello Anjuli, thanks for this wonderful recipe! It was my first try and it worked out perfectly! The taste is...

Traveling Monkeys

Digital polaroids documenting the daily life of two traveling monkeys.

This means “I had a good birthday” in sleep speak.

We’re going to Jackson (Hole) and we’re taking Harvey with us. As a PI he’s accustomed to traveling in stealth.

And the jury says? It’s toasty and pillowy soft. It’s so smooth you almost don’t realize what your eating is cold. Matt ate his toasted marshmallow custard ice cream with his eyes half closed.

Just made toasted marshmallow ice cream w/ homemade marshmallows and an egg custard base. Wow. It reminds me of my first real egg custard in Maine.

Mom says if you’re going to make your own ice cream, you just *have* to do it up right with custard. Next up, sugar punkin’. Holiday cooking rules. And since I seem to have started off with one of the most complicated recipes possible, it’s all easy breezy from here on out. Two hours and I’ll be tucking into ~~a big bowl~~ a spoonful from Matt’s bowl, says he (after we licked the whole machine clean). Who doesn’t love ice cream in winter?

The snow storm on October 24th devastated Simsbury. My mom had around 100 trees down on the path around the property, including a couple of treacherous Old Maids (cracked but still attached branches that hang vertically). So we’ve been walking around the property as much as we can, pruning and clearing and macheting and chainsawing.

We can’t really fathom how a bunch of heavy snow can take down all these trees and limbs, but we’ve seen the results firsthand. It feels good to be out in the woods, breathing in the leave dust and feeling the chilly November air of New England. We can’t complain. It is good to be home.