the cat days of summer

Another week down, this time with many pinks and reds, two kitties, and two Elsa pictures. Let the round-up commence.

That Saturday's photo subject was our dessert: a strawberry and cream trifle recipe that I found online back in February or March when I was looking for things to serve in our little Weck jars. It took a few months for strawberry season to come around, but we were finally able to make these. Actually, Steve made all the components—sponge cake with meyer lemon zest, vanilla creme fraiche whipped cream, and strawberries macerated in a little meyer lemon juice—and I assembled them in the containers. Since we only have two of the Weck jars, I used juice glasses for the other two servings. Of course, those were the ones that turned out to be the most photogenic. These turned out to be really good, and we made them again the last Saturday. I took the lead on the sponge cake this time, and we did a full batch for eight people.

197/365 strawberry & cream trifles

Sunday was the day of Elsa's first real bath, and I went downstairs to take pictures of it. Elsa seemed to be busy trying to figure out what was going on at first, but she eventually decided that she didn't like it and screamed through the rest. A while later, I went back downstairs to get some pictures of Elsa in her co-sleeper, next to Dan and Carmen's bed. (She was much happier by then.) She has her own little corner with a mobile and everything, but she'll be outgrowing it soon and graduating to the crib for sleeping at night.

198/365 elsa's corner

On Monday as I was getting ready to shower before work, I heard a cat crying. I looked out the bathroom window and managed to locate the source across the street: a kitty was meowing outside a door and looking like it really wanted to go inside. Clearly, it had gotten out by mistake. Since it was still there after I dried my hair, I went outside to check things out. I petted her a little, took a couple pictures, and then tried ringing the doorbell. No was home, though, and the cat wasn't wearing a collar or a tag with a number of an owner to call. I couldn't do much else, so I just had go back home and hope that the cat's owner would return soon. The cat appeared to be smart enough to stay close, and Aroara, one of the friendlier neighborhood cats, seemed to be hanging around and keeping an eye on her.

199/365 poor sad kitty

Tuesday's picture was pretty low-effort, since I was busy trying to find places for us to stay in each of the cities we're visiting in Europe. (Cinque Terre and Rome were the most challenging.) It was a good day to just go outside after work and take a picture of the flowering plant that Carmen had gotten the previous Friday. Not a particularly exciting shot for day 200, but I do kind of like it.

200/365 pretty flowers

The second cat picture for the week was taken on Wednesday evening. We went to SouthEnd for burgers and walked back on the side of the street where we usually see kitties. Aroara magically appeared, looking for attention, and she stayed still long enough for me to get a shot of her that was in focus.

201/365 the cat with the rhinestone collar

I had an early dentist appointment on Thursday, which put me near Union Square with freshly cleaned teeth just before 10am. There was some sort of art show going on, similar to the people who set up shop near the Ferry Building. Most of the "art" made me cringe, but I did like the colors of the paintings in the picture below, especially outside and against the blue sky. After crossing through Union Square, I went to the Merrell store (behind that purple painting) and bought a pair of shoes I had been meaning to get for the Europe trip.

202/365 union square

The next morning, Carmen called me to see if I could keep an eye on Elsa while she ran a quick errand. Elsa was sleeping the whole time in her bouncy seat, so it was easy babysitting. I was risking waking her up, but I snapped a few pictures anyway. I took a few more that night, since it was pizza night with the in-laws; this had the best light, though.

203/365 sleeping baby

That's all for week 29! Only lots more to go...

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.
 

halfway through

Catching up to last week, Saturday was the halfway point in Project 365. When I got up that morning, I had no idea what I would shoot for the day. I like to make these milestone pictures have some sort of reference to the occasion, but I had no clever ideas to incorporate the number 183 (the day number) or the concept of one half. It was Elsa's one week birthday, so I thought about taking a picture of her... But 1) that has nothing to do with being halfway through, unless I could somehow make a closeup work of half of her face, and 2) the day before was a picture of Elsa.

By lunch time, an idea was formulating: I would walk to Noe Valley and buy a cupcake from Noe Valley Bakery to photograph. I had purchased a few cupcakes and fruit tarts from there for Carmen the previous Tuesday, and the Boston cream pie cupcakes had called to me then. (I resisted that day.) This time, I bought my cupcake and took it home to photograph with a birthday candle stuck in it. While the resulting picture doesn't reflect the numbers 183 or 1/2, it is festive. And it works for Elsa's one week birthday too. I did take some pictures of her that day as well, but I was glad that I didn't need to use any of them as the official picture.

183/365 celebratory cupcake

An Elsa picture was inevitable for Sunday, however. I did a photo shoot with her that afternoon to get some options for her birth announcements. Carmen brought her upstairs, and I set up their large bean bag in the box window of my bedroom. Covered with some fabric, it worked great as a background and baby holder. It was a nice warm day too—perfect for taking pictures of a nearly naked sleeping baby. (We weren't brave/crazy enough to do it without the diaper.) Carmen helped pose Elsa, and I snapped away. She flinched at the sound of the shutter occasionally, but she mostly stayed asleep. At 8 days old, she didn't curl up quite as tightly as she did the previous week. I still got some good sleepy newborn shots, though.

We had to take a break midway through so that Carmen could change and dress Elsa (and soothe her again). When they came back upstairs, Elsa decided to stay awake, so I was able to get some pictures of her with eyes open while she was wearing her summery outfit. The shot below was one of my favorites.

184/365 all about elsa

For July 4th, Steve cooked and we had Rob & Traci, Bruce & Bonnie, and Dan & Carmen (and Elsa & Enzo) over for dinner. It our first holiday with the baby, and she spent most of the time either in her bouncy seat on our large coffee table or in her co-sleeper on our bed. Enzo (the dog) even went to check on her once while she was sleeping. Very cute.

Dinner was a Mario Batali stuffed pork loin recipe, served with Thomas Keller's macaroni gratin from the Bouchon Cookbook. And for dessert, Steve made horchata ice cream, inspired by some we had at Topolobampo in Chicago. We had to do some creative thinking to determine what we should serve with it, but we ended up with pieces of mango, some store-bought ginger snaps, and some chocolate ganache that Steve made. Not too shabby, and Steve's plating made it worthy of being made picture of the day.

185/365 ad lib dessert

On Tuesday, it was back to work after the long weekend. I put my camera in my bag, just in case, and ended up taking the winning picture not far from the house. Steve and I had passed this color copy of a New Yorker cover tacked to a tree on Saturday, and it was still there. I'm not quite sure why someone put it up, other than the fact they found it amusing, but I did what I had not taken the time to do on Saturday and took a picture of it.

186/365 the new yorker

Wednesday's picture took care of itself pretty easily too. Steve and I went to see Billy Elliot at the Orpheum, so we went for dinner at Zero Zero before that. We were seated at the table upstairs by the window, where we sat the first time we ate there. And this time, it actually stayed light out long enough to make it a good spot for pictures. (It's one of the darkest seats in the winter, since it doesn't have its own light overhead.) We got the arancini that we always get, a pasta dish, a pizza, and some ricotta doughnuts with berry compote for dessert. All of those pictures are on Flickr, of course. But for the picture of the day, I chose a shot I took of Steve's cocktail, the Smokey Local, with the bokeh of the downstairs bar in the background. For me, the cocktails at Zero Zero are just as much of a draw as the food, and it's fun to have a fancy after-work drink with dinner.

187/365 the smokey local

Thursday was not so easy, and I resigned myself to using another baby photo. At least it had been three days since the previous one. Don't misunderstand—I like taking pictures of her; I just knew it would be tough to top the photo shoot pictures when I wasn't shooting in very interesting light. Anyway, I switched it up a little and used a picture with Elsa and her daddy this time. We joined everyone for dinner that night, and I got my baby fix.

188/365 daddy's girl

I was faced with the same dilemma on Friday, having taken no pictures before or during rehearsal that day. When I got home, the in-laws were working outside with Dan, preparing some trim to attach to the walls in Dan and Carmen's kitchen. The power saw was plugged in, trailing an extension cord out the door of their unit, and I had my camera out, looking for photo subjects. When Dan suggested that I take a picture of Enzo poking his nose out the door, I decided that was a good idea. And that became my picture for the day.

189/365 restricted area

Well, with the exception of that intimidatingly long Alinea post that I still need to write, I am now caught up with my blogging. Huzzah.