Sunday, July 26, 2009

rustic apple tarte


rustic apple tarte, originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.

I guess I've kinda been in a baking mood lately...


By popular demand, I am including the recipe I used to make this. Most of the time when I cook, I am really bad at following recipes or recording exactly what I do. My process is very whimsical. But, I will try to give a basic summary of what I did here.

I started with the dough. It’s pretty basic: flour, cold cubed butter, cold water, a tiny bit of sugar and a splash of agave nectar. Mix, press, fold, refold, repress into a rectangle. (You could also save yourself from time by using a pre-made baking dough from the store.) Then, I took one large egg, 1-2 teaspoons cold water and whisked them together to make an egg wash that I brushed across the entire top of the dough. Finally, I took a sharp knife and scored about a one-inch border along the edge.

Next, I added the apples. I used Fujis here because it’s what I had in my fridge, but granny smith or pink lady apples would probably do well too. I sliced the apple thin lengthwise and then cut the slices in half. Then, I took about 1 Tablespoon butter and ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar (I like using the Sugar in the Raw kind) and microwaved them for about 30 seconds in a small-ish bowl. I added the apple slices to the bowl just to coat them slightly and then layered them on the dough. I poured a left-over butter/sugar mix across the top of the apples, and sprinkled some granulated white sugar along the edges of the dough.

Bake 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes.

Finally, right after I took the tart out of the oven, I added a glaze. To make the glaze, I mixed about ¼ cup apple sauce and 1 Tablespoon butter in the microwave. Just spread It over the top of the apples and serve warm or room temp. Voilà ! :-)



my yummy apple tarte

Saturday, July 18, 2009

I've entered some of my recent photographs into The Southern California Face and Places Photo Contest, a competition sponsored by the San Diego Union Tribune (and a bunch of other places) that is a showcase of the very best of photography in and around Southern California. In addition to being a juried photo contest that offers great exposure to both professional and amateur photographers, there is "Peoples' Choice" competition where anyone from the general public can vote for entries by category. If you or anyone you know would like to vote for any of my entries, you can do this via any one of the links below.

Amateur--Single Entry--Nature/Environment
Nautilus: San Diego Convention Center
Nautilus
CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Amateur--Single Entry--People
Sister Love in Black and White
Sister Love in Black and White
CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Amateur - Series Entry - People
Slippin'-n-Slidin'
Slippin n Slidin 1 CLICK HERE TO VOTE Slippin n Slidin 2 CLICK HERE TO VOTE
Slippin n Slidin 3 CLICK HERE TO VOTE Slippin n Slidin 4 CLICK HERE TO VOTE
Slippin n Slidin 5 CLICK HERE TO VOTE Slippin n Slidin 6 CLICK HERE TO VOTE

If you are interested in learning more about this contest, here is their main site: http://socalphotocontest.com

Thanks!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Father's Day


, originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.

The kids splashing around on the slip-n-side at the family Father's Day BBQ










Saturday, June 6, 2009

pink and green

I recently got a new phone--the Samsung Memoir--which is known for its 8 MP camera. So naturally, I have been having a lot of fun trying out the camera's capabilities. I haven't done much video yet, but here are a few of the first photos...



pink and green, originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.


topsy turvy



up close and personnal



Felicita falling water



Jeff and Kim

Saturday, May 9, 2009

setting up the urban garden

Tired of the cold cement jungle here in so cal, I decided to bring a little bit of nature to my own environment. Since I don't have any yard like the downstairs apartments in my complex, our garden is going to live on the front porch.

We bought a couple of those as-seen-on-tv Topsy Turvy things for growing produce upside-down, and i finally potted some herbs I received as a gift months ago. So, we are going to try rosemary, basil, chives, marjoram, parsley and cilantro for the herbs and tomatoes and jalapeños in the upside-down thingies...

Luckily, Jeremy has a much better green thumb than me, so he knew what we needed to do to set this all up. I kinda helped, but when I was more useless, I decided to take some photos.



upside-down tomato plant



seedling some herbs



setting up the topsy-turvy


Check out more of the pictures here

The Z Show and why I think I don't take cool photos of cars


a line-up of Z's, originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.

I went to the West Coast Z National Auto Show with the bf at the end of April and finally got around to processing and uploading some of the pics. I got a lot of cool shots, but basically the whole thing was a lot of guys standing around looking at their cars. There were a few jewels, a few wows, and a lot of 'oh that's nice, just like its twin next to it'. I'm not trying to give the assortment of Z owners a hard time at all because there were a lot of really rad cars, but I don't think I have the appreciation of vehicles necessary to properly photograph them. Or maybe I just don't appreciate my own photos of them. I don't know... but I tend to be of the mindset that if you take pictures of what you naturally gravitate to, your passion and artistry will come out much better than if you just try to take pictures cause someone else explains to you how cool it is. I'm trying to broaden my appreciation of things about which I know nothing, but I don't think I'm quite there yet with automobiles.



all reds


240z

Monday, April 27, 2009

Making old photos new


originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.

A couple of weeks ago I snagged a deal at Fry's for a new TB external hard drive to make room for my rapidly growing image archives. I've also been setting up some online space for my photography portfolio and (hopefully) business...

Consequently, I ended up going through a lot folders that had been shuffled from one hard drive to another, accumulating dust and digital cobwebs. I had a quite a few delightful ah-ha! moments where I discovered shots that had been sitting there waiting for people to love them. Kinda like finally cleaning out your closet and realizing if you actually organized all those clothes you wouldn't have run out of stuff to wear and ended up spending money on new ones...

In any case, this picture of Kenny and Lisa (taken & Jeff & Kim's wedding) is one that I've always loved since it was taken almost a year ago, in the summer of 2008. Ironically though, it has been living in the deep recesses of my Western Digital HD all this time.

The colors in the original shot were actually just about perfect. I tweaked the Curves a little bit to get it to the temperature I wanted for the mood I was feeling... but it was honestly such a beautiful moment it would have been a shame to do anything more.

Digging up old pictures and giving them new life--or any life, for that matter--was like photographic christmas... especially when it's with one of those photos that just can't help but inspire a smile! :-)










Monday, April 6, 2009

Capturing Kids


, originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.

An afternoon with the family, chasing around the kids. This was a rare calm moment in between the somersaults, cartwheels, and games of chase...

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Bored in So Cal?


encinitas, originally uploaded by KristaFromVista.

The other day was beautiful and sunny, so after hours of sitting around complaining about being bored at home I finally dragged myself and my boyfriend out for a drive to the coast to enjoy some sunshine (duh!).

By the time I had gotten over my über lameness and driven then through the snaking path of Del Dios Hwy, it was almost sunset in Encinitas. My original intent had been to utilize the natural sunshine for inspirational people-watching-type photos. Since it was a bit too dark for that, I opted for some impromptu nature shots from a lookout over Coast Hwy 101.

See more of my photos of Southern California.

Breaking the Ice

Just attempting to overcome some writer's block here, hoping to break the ice with at least that first, ominous post.  So, please forgive the lack of novel insightfulness, wit, charm, top-notch creativity or any other provocatively intriguing elements you may have hoped to find here.

The main purpose for starting this Photo Blog (or should I say, Phlog?...) is for my wistful photographic ambitions, and general commentary on images or their contents.  

Constructive criticism, feedback, and critique of the artistic or technical kind are most favored, but general commentary, praise and adulation are welcome, too.  :-)

You may also notice the slideshow on the bottom; it's from my flickr page.  Some of the photos I'll post might in fact come from there, for the sake of free hosting, etc.