Saturday, July 16, 2011

the slump

Last week felt extra challenging and long—maybe because I was busy at work and had very little ambition go looking for pictures on the side. The weekend wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't very prolific either.

Saturday's selection was from a walk to Fiore Caffe with Steve, Dan, and Bruce to get coffee after our takeout lunch downstairs. (Carmen was napping, and Bonnie stayed to watch the baby.) I didn't need any more caffeine that afternoon, but I went along to see if anything would inspire a picture of the day. I ended up taking a total of four frames, all of the same thing: the sign and flowers at the entrance of the coffee shop. I suppose the "buon appetito" on the sign is pertinent anyway, since Steve started trying to learn Italian with Rosetta Stone this week. He's been muttering to his iPad/computer in the other room every night.

190/365 buon appetito


On Sunday, we made a return to cooking something new for lunch, after a few weeks of more erratically timed efforts. This dish was another from the pasta post on What Katie Ate: a combination panzanella and caprese salad. The flavors of the bread, roasted tomatoes, roasted red peppers, capers, buffalo mozzarella, and basil were enjoyable, but we quickly realized that the mixing method was probably not the best. Clearly, Katie Quinn Davies had not tossed her salad with both the dressing and the mozzarella in it before taking her picture, because our cheese turned an unattractive pink color. Luckily, we had some extra that I was able to place on top when I adjusted the plating for the picture. The bread also got pretty soggy, soaking up too much of the dressing. I think I'd leave the vinaigrette off altogether if I could do the picture over again. Then, I'd just toss the salad with the dressing right before serving.

191/365 panzanella/caprese salad


Monday's picture was sort of a misfit in the week's shots. After the nice warm pictures with reds and oranges the two days before, my picture of the Barbie-colored passiflora in the park was a bit jarring. That said, I still preferred it to the picture of the red flowers and green leaf in front of the fence, which was my other option. I'm sure these things don't matter to anyone but me, but it does make for prettier monthly mosaics. It also makes Blurb book layouts easier when my pictures from consecutive days of the project work well together.

192/365 barbie flower


Coming from the hot pink of the passiflora, I had hopes of smoothing the weird juxtaposition using Tuesday's picture. The only problem was that I had no ideas for pictures on Tuesday. The obvious solution was to go somewhere for dinner and hope that something presented itself. Steve and I decided that we were overdue for some sushi anyway, so we went to Hamano in Noe Valley. I took the requisite pictures of our meal, but after posting 22 pictures from very similar sushi dinners over the last 4 years, I didn't find the results particularly exciting. So it was a good thing that Ambiance—a store we passed on the way to and from dinner—had an interesting window display. There were several vintage mannequin busts modeling hats, which reminded me a little of Thoroughly Modern Millie, the show I've been music directing. Another bonus: the reds and pinks tied in slightly with the previous day's flower picture.

193/365 thoroughly modern


After coming home from work on Wednesday with only a few mediocre pictures of a random plant outside, I remembered that Steve had recently bought a thyme plant. I'm not crazy about the line from the window in the background of the picture, but I was too lazy to do much about it. (Kind of like I was too lazy do anything more exciting to find a photo subject than walk into our utility/sun room.)

194/365 thymely


Thursday was yet another day of coming home and trying to think of something interesting to photograph to get me out of my perceived slump. Steve was heading to the grocery store in the San Francisco Centre on the way home, so I suggested that he get a couple of Beard Papa cream puffs for our dessert. (Read: for me to photograph.) I went rather simple for the picture, but I got a great idea while editing it. You know what would go well with cream puffs? Strawberries! Like a fancy strawberry shortcake-type pairing. Steve obliged and got us some to eat with the puffs. I didn't bother reshooting to include the cut-up strawberries, but trust me, it was good.

195/365 behold, the beard papa


Friday (yesterday) was pizza day with Dan, Carmen, Bruce, and Bonnie. And you know what? I hadn't taken one baby or baby-related picture in a whole week. I was due for one, darn it. So I went downstairs after work and found Bonnie watching Elsa, while Carmen and Bruce were off getting a planter from Flora Grubb. I was going to just take some Elsa pictures, but then I saw her new Little Marc Jacobs mouse shoes sitting on a shelf. Carmen had lusted after them for quite sometime, even before Elsa was born, and her friend Marion had generously bought them for her. They're in no way practical for the amount of money they cost, but they're ridiculously adorable. They'll no doubt make a good keepsake too; they remind me a little of bronzed baby shoes.

196/365 mouse shoes


So ends week 28 of Project 365 and week 2 (out of 5) of camp for Thoroughly Modern Millie. I'm hoping the next three weeks of busyness with work will feel less slump-ish in terms of photos than this one did, but I probably shouldn't hold my breath.
 

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