spring pasta – when they have fresh scallops at whole foods I typically can’t resist and last night was no exception. this pasta took on a lovely reddish hue from the combined juices of the grape tomatoes, meyer lemon (juice and zest), and the copious quantities of fresh basil.

pickled zucchini – fresh-pickled zucchini with thai chile sauce
mixed greens with shaved radish and orange segments

monkfish (1 of 1) – monkfish topped with garlic, chive, and meyer lemon aioli served with asparagus fried rice.

avacado (1 of 1) – These avocados from Capay Farms were delicious in a blood orange and jicama salad.

candied mandarin peel (2 of 3) – I got pounds upon pounds of mandarins at the farmer’s market this weekend, which gave me an excuse to make these candied peels. They’ll be even tastier when I toss them with crystallized sugar tomorrow.

udon noodles – udon noodles fried in wok fried with sesame oil, teriyaki sauce, and hot pepper sauce with fresh crab, broccoli florets, sweet red peppers, minced garlic and ginger, and julienned green onions.

pink-macaroons – After a less than stellar first attempt at these french macaroons last weekend, this batch turned out a bit better. The filling is dark chocolate ganache with a hint of lemon extract (the original gourmet magazine recipe called for raspberry).

IMG_0422 – Along with crab, blood oranges are in season. There was enough juice left after preparing three that it contributed to a lovely vinegar dressing.

IMG_0507 – Mmm, it’s crab season.

IMG_0515 – This smoked oyster caesar was delicious with the juice from the blood oranges tossed in with the dressing.

pomegranate punch – In the midst of preparing Thanksgiving dinner, we took a moment to imbibe these tasty pomegranate cocktails made with pomegranate, lime, and orange juices; sweet sparkling wine; and served over ice with pomegranate arils and a slice of lime.

guavas and tulips – These two ended up together unexpectedly.

thanksgiving citrus (1 of 3) – I love how tiny these limes are and how well they contrast with the smooth yellow of the myer lemons.

thanksgiving brine (3 of 4) – But a few of the ingredients in the brine for this year’s Thanksgiving turkey.

scramble to be – Add a few eggs, some olive oil and a hot pan and this made a delicious scramble.

sliced veggies – These tasty ingredients later contributed to a delicious blue crab frittata. Mmm.

blt – Dinner tonight was supposed to be leftovers, but this sandwich called me to make a trip over to Whole Foods. Mmm was it worth it.

risotto and olives – These leftovers from my friend Matias’ going away party were delicious and even more beautiful in the light of day. I copied the edamame risotto from the delicious appetizer at Bridges in Danville, but I had to elide the truffle oil due a mushroom allergy.

quesadilla and salsa – Lunch this Friday was quesadillas made from local tortillas, mozzarella di buffalo, and homemade salsa of tomatoes (the ones that weren’t ripe enough for my cucumber salad), sweet yellow onion, and avacado.

spicy flatbread – This flatbread was delicious with generous smears of capricho goat cheese, but Google doesn’t know that name), a dollop of Tapatio, and a sliver of chive.

cucmbers and lamb – It’s almost embarrassing, but what was supposed to be greek salad turned into the mexican dish of cucumbers, lime, chile, and salt because the tomatoes I bought were not quite ripe. It was tasty none-the-less.

wild plum – We found a tree full of these beautiful wild plums while hiking through the Presidio. I have no idea if they’re edible or tasty, but don’t they look like they’d make a delicious dessert?

blueberries in bowls – I got my canon 100mm macro today and celebrated by going on a photo talk with friends from work at the newly opened castro farmers market, which occurs wednesday evenings at noe and market. I ended up with two pounds of cherries, but these blueberries did look delicious. I love the festive styrofoam bowls!

rasberry cupcakes – Several of us from work went to support a colleague competing in the first annual Rock Paper Scissors cupcake contest. For $4 we were transformed into official cupcake judges. I didn’t get a good shot of our friend’s Flowers and Honey (with lavender) cupcakes, but these chocolate raspberry delights were delicious.

strawberry wine – I think I was subconciously willing summer to commence this evening when I made this modified sangria, which combined a dry red shiraz with lime wedges and lime, lemon, hibiscus, and cranberry juices all topped off with a strawberry and lemon twist garnish.

something missing – For lunch today, I augmented the fried rice with the addition of a couple of eggs. Now, if only that glass had been full.

babies – These baby carrots were too adorable. I cut them into finger-width segments and sauteed them, peel-on, for the fried rice.

peppers – I prepared fried short-grain brown rice with these peppers and a bunch of other veggies to go with the chickens I roasted last night.

lamb and tinfoil – In memory of our trip to israel, I made broiled lamb kebabs served with hummus and greek salad from whole foods (it was a schoolnight).

chopsticks – Really, it was so loud at dinner no one noticed how many photos I took.

steaming onion – Also at Benihana, but honestly, I wasn’t the annoying photographer at the table.

ready – We celebrated a friend’s birthday at Benihana in San Francisco’s Japan Town last weekend. Despite the focus on meat, the fried rice was actually their best dish.

deviled eggs and tomato – I ordered a lowel ego kit with two lights today. I celebrated by taking this poorly-lit shot of lunch–deviled eggs with tomato cilantro.

The temperature got close to 80 here in the bay area yesterday and what better way to celebrate a heat wave than with watermelon?

For years I’ve loved the simple asian noodles they make at Whole Foods. For almost as long, I’ve said “I could make these.” Tonight, I gave it a shot for the first time. I’ll give it a few more iterations before I claim victory, but these are tasty none-the-less.

After 16 hours of traveling on our crappy connecting flight back from Paris, we arrived home. With nothing fresh, the first (and only) thing I did before going to bed was to make this tasty bowl of mac and cheese. Ah, it’s good to be home.

I had tripe, in the form of Andouillette, for the first time tonight at Paul situated on Place Dauphine and almost next door to our apartment in Paris. I’m proud of the fact that I’ll try nearly anything once, but this will likely be the last time for this delicacy. The overwhelming smell (not to mention taste) of rotten intestines was a bit much. I found myself wishing for the fabulous market that we visited with friends last week in Israel where I shot this pleasantly fragrant bunch of garlic.

Overall, the market reminded me a great deal of the mission back home in San Francisco, although with an even wider variety. The stand from which this hung sold nothing but garlic and was veritably covered in fantastically fresh bunches of the stuff. Don’t mistake me though, Paul was tasty and we’ll likely return on another visit with my camera.

After having delicious ham with breakfast and dinner yesterday, this morning I was craving something a bit lighter. I through together this fruit salad with clementines, pears, and kiwis left from the farmers market Sunday. The clementines were the cutest I’ve ever see, with each slice being only about the size of a canned mandarin orange slice. The pears had ripened nicely and the tartness of the kiwi just set it all off.

I didn’t take any food shots today because we were out and about, so instead, I’ll share this one from Israel last week. We stopped at a famous Arab market, although I don’t recall the name, in Jaffa (just below Tel Aviv) on our first full day in the country. The bread we had was day-old, but I did catch this tasty assortment of soft cheeses and, of all things, bottle after bottle of Tabasco. I just finished eating a huge dinner and this still makes my mouth water.

We made it to the Bastille farmers market today and boy was it impressive. If I lived in Paris I’d be at this market every Sunday, although from the limited research I’ve done there may be any number of others that are equally worthy. Having not used my french much in the last 5 years it was pretty intimidating wading through the crowded, noisy stalls tracking down what we want to buy, but in the end it was well worth it.

These delicious “royal” oysters from off the coast of France were sold to us as the best of the best. Although we’ve eaten our fair share, neither Jonathan nor I had shucked an oyster before. Luckily, with a couple of videos Jonathan found on YouTube and the shucking knife in our rental apartment I was able to make a decent show of preparing them. Combined with cucumber sandwiches made with a delicious soft cheese rolled in fresh herbs and a vin blanc de bordeux they made a delectable lunch.

It took a 2+ week vacation for me to find time to finally get the blog up and rolling. This blog is the first New Year’s resolution I’ve ever really made and acted on. I hope that it will provide the motivation necessary for me to begin pursuing food photography more seriously. Since I first interviewed my now friend Deb Jones (www.deborahjonesstudio.com) for a college photography course when I was 13, food photography has excited me. Although I’ve put a lot of personal energy into food and photography, I’ve never made a concerted effort to combine the two until today. Let’s see how it goes.

Since the vacation played such a significant roll, I think it’s only appropriate that the first post be the lunch my boyfriend Jonathan and I ate today. We walked from our rented flat on quai des Orfevres on l’Isle de la Cite to the Bastille in hopes of visiting a well-reviewed farmers market, but discovered upon our arrival that it takes place on Sundays instead of Saturdays as we had thought. But, as luck would have it, we found all the ingredients we needed for this tasty lunch at shops scattered around the Marais.