Once Upon A Spoon: January 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Photographs were all I had most of my life to reconnect me with myself and the life I left behind. Italy, my family, my friends and places I had lived and visited ...a life in Italy, N.Y, California, and a short period in W.V.. All these places I had lived, visited a part of me. People I had met and I let into my heart that changed my life in some way. Photographs, on paper, in my mind. Images, visions of my past. The beauties of Italy I lived for many summers with my family and nonni. Photographs were all I had when I returned from those 3 month long summers with my friends and family in San Remo. I returned to N.Y. and it was like those friends and San Remo never existed...photographs realized the fact that I did not just dream it all up. I have so many images of people, places and beauties. Now living in this peacefully fascinating city of Montreal allows me the chance to capture more beauty and experiences. How do I manage to tell the stories my mind sees. Writing them....better yet...photographing them. I would like for once to use my eyes for more then what I have been using them for all these years. I want to merge the beauties my eyes sees with the reality of what the world is to share with everyone outside myself through a lens. My very first Camera 1 class.. It was four hours of blissful nervous excitement of thinking... can I do this? The three things that make a GOOD photograph...a subject matter...dramatic lighting and composition...sounds to me like the forces of nature.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Photographs only lately...

Nonna Silvia Brandi

I have spent hours creating recipes based on the little knowledge of cooking I have acquired through the years. My nonna who was an amazing cook, my mother and friends have filled me with little bits here and there. I am not a recipe book cuisiner...never have been and probebly never will be. What I love, love, love...is to create my own. That is the whole fun and love of cooking in my humble opinion. My family always participates graciously as my food testers and critics. My husband a kind and humble man, is not one to boost my ego by telling me a dish is good, when he doesn't care for it much. Along with my daughters who all know good and well how a three and four year old can be quite picky. We have a little family ritual, if a dish is good the girls give a thumbs up...bad...a thumbs down. Lately, I am on a winning streak with them!

This blog started because I love to cook and cared to share my recipe discoveries. Lately though I have a burning passion to take photographs of food, so I cook, create a dish and I photograph it. Though recipes on many of my photos lately are not included in the blog. For the reason being that I am beginning a program in Professional Photography where my main focus is to create "good" photograghs. Therefore, all my focus has been there for the past few months. To build a portfolio, to learn, to mess up, to improve and perfect with the strong hope that someday I will be the photographer for the cook book you buy, or the magazine in the newsstands, or even publish my own cookbook. I enjoy very much photographing food. It is oddly strange to me how it inspires me so much. Somedays I ask myself and wait to see if I will tire of it...but so far, not. The inspiration of food is endless and brings my back to my roots of summer days in Italy spent watching my nonna cook. When I cook I feel close to her. When I am behind the camera...I am true to myself. I know she is proud and looking down on me saying "brava Nicole".

In conclusion to my drawn out reason for writing this evening, I want to mention that if anyone views a photo of a dish and the recipe is not posted..PLEASE PLEASE...let me know and I will share with you.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Sugar Crispy Blueberry Cake

N.Y. Classic White Pie

I have not eaten this White Pie since I was a teenager. My days of living in Staten Island N.Y. and going to the best pizza parlor in town with my friends just to eat their mouth watering White Pie. Never have I found it again, or ate it again for that matter, until I managed to recreate it based on memory. Wow, so yummy and easy. If you want this recipe..let me know.