A Lobster in a Light Tent
My brother Kurt bought me a light tent for Christmas.
Not last Christmas obviously - that would be ridiculously precipitous. No, the Christmas before. Or possibly the one before that.
Personally I like to savour my Christmas presents. Hoard them. Build up the anticipation. Drag out the pleasure.
Of course, beyond a certain point you can't stop the savouring and start the enjoying, because by then you might have saved yourself up for just a massive disappointment.
So there you are - trapped. Fearing the letdown. The bitter disillusionment.
Can't open the box. Can't put it away. Too late to send it back.
God I love Christmas me!
Anyhoo, whenever-it-was ago I decided my food photos were rubbish, so I asked Kurt to get me something to help out; he has some experience of these matters.
Since I generally take photos of my dinner, which I usually eat at dinner time, when it's generally dark, I'm always having to use the flash on my camera. And flash photos of food don't look very flattering. I figured Kurt would get me an external flashgun or something, but he went and bought me this whole light tent setup. Like a complete miniature studio.
Now I've been writing up an article on sandwiches for the yacht club magazine, and I wanted some quality photos of this fantastic new concept in lobster sandwiches I invented so this weekend I finally cracked open the box and set the thing up.
There's a bit of fiddling popping out the white nylon tent and getting the lights set up, so I don't know that I'll be doing this every time I make a dinner, but then I got going with a few tasteful shots of a small lobster prior to sacrificing it for my sandwich filling. You need to do a bit of careful arrangement of the subject so it's raised above all the seams of the tent, as I clearly demonstrate below, but I was pretty pleased with the results - the photos are coming out great.
Now I just need to figure out what all those other buttons on my camera are for.
My neighbour Nancy has an allotment and gave me a bag of broad beans yesterday. Apparently she doesn't like them. Good for me I suppose, though personally if I had an allotment I'd grow things I liked.
So today I had beans on toast for tea. But I didn't bother getting out the whole light tent thing, and my photos are back to their usual incompetence.
Thanks Nancy!
Broad Beans on Toast
snack veg cheese
Crushed broad beans and peas on toast
Like regular beans on toast. But broader!
Served me.
Ingredients
- mint leaves or other herbs
- fresh pod peas
- fresh broad beans
- garlic
- salt and pepper
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- Parmesan optional, unless you're vegetarian!
- cottage cheese or Mozzarella
- a side salad
Mash up the mint, peas, garlic and beans to a thick lumpy paste. Add some sea salt and a grind of fresh pepper
I threw in a bunch of picked thyme leaves too.
I used a pestle and mortar rather than a food processor so they didn't get too puréed.
Add a little lemon juice and olive oil.
Add some grated cheese if you like.
Slice some nice bread, ciabatta or a baguette and toast it. Drizzle it with olive oil, then smear on the beans, add a dollop of cottage cheese and serve with a nice side salad.
I used a pestle and mortar rather than a food processor so they didn't get too puréed.
Add a little lemon juice and olive oil.
Add some grated cheese if you like.
Slice some nice bread, ciabatta or a baguette and toast it. Drizzle it with olive oil, then smear on the beans, add a dollop of cottage cheese and serve with a nice side salad.
Heinz eat your heart out!