flatbread pizza

This blog is like my journal of creative endeavor.  Flipping back till 3 years and 1 month ago, my very first entry, is like reliving these past three years, a full spectrum of emotions flushing back.  Starting with simply passion and enthusiasm, I devoted a lot of spare time to learning and refining my photography and styling skills.  It was also then that I got into the habit of shopping photo props.  Eventually when I moved out of Watertown, NY, I'd had a considerable collection of them.  Unfortunately, while I was busy buying them, my aesthetic was evolving too.  I ended up having to throw away a lot of early purchases.  Then, the next chapter of life is called New York City.  I was fortunately enough to get in touch with a food photographer Colin who was willing to take me on board, so here it started my professional photography journey.  I was dreaming bold, full of ambition and aspiration.  I felt like living my dream! However, as days rolling by, and I learning and seeing the reality of the photo business, I became more grounded and started asking myself where my life was going.  With the professional photo industry floundering as DSLR cameras are more affordable and accessible to normal people, even experienced and well-established photographers are having a hard time making ends meet, where should all these young aspiring photographers go? I started to have doubt.  Colin advised me "Give it 5 years to build your network and brand, MAYBE you can make it." Yes, maybe or maybe not.  I couldn't wait that long just to find out it's a dead end.  The inability of seeing and controlling where my life was going frustrated me, but unfortunately this is the fundamental nature of any creative career.  I realized the discrepancy between a passion and a career. I was torn.  As much as it was hard to say good bye to all I'd invested in, my connection, equipment, website, job and newly acquired clients etc,  it was more important to realize that I was yearning for something more stable and foreseeable.  I had the urge to get back in control.  So I left.

Then it was a quiet year up here on the blog as I was working hard to transition my life.  I was eventually accepted to a master program to study something not as glamorous, but that would work out for my personality in the long term.  First week of school is just over.  I felt great!  Motivated, optimistic, and excited about my newest chapter of life!  Reflecting on my prior 3 years' emotional journey, I feel calm and peaceful.  As Steve Jobs once said, you have to look back, not forward, your life to make sense of all the random things that happened.  I think my past life as a photographer is already starting to make sense.

This blog may be quiet in the near future as I will be quite busy studying, but I will try to update it whenever I feel like using my creative right brain, just to give my overused left brain a break!

I've been itchy to try making flatbread pizza for a while.  The crust is lighter,crunchier and heartier. This weekend, I eventually made a point to go to an Indian grocery store and bought a bag of whole wheat flatbread.   Using whatever I had in the fridge, I made these two pizza.  The first one came with customized tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes diced into halves, mozzarella cheese, sautéed Chinese sausage (Yes, Chinese sausage, lightly sweet!), fresh basil and ricotta cheese.  I sprinkled some ground parmesan cheese after 12 mins baking at 400F.  It came out amazin'.  It's actually my first ever homemade pizza, much better than what I thought. I twisted the store bought canned tomato sauce by heating it on the stove to thicken the sauce and adding minced garlic, pinch of dried parsley, basil and oregano, as well as some honey.  The sauce turned out rich and sweet. It formed a thick foundation for my other ingredients.  For my second pizza, I threw in mozzarella cheese on top of the tomato sauce, sautéed mushroom and caramelized onion, and sprinkled dried thyme on top.  I didn't have a recipe in mind.  I was just being creative!   As I was juggling between cooking, styling and photography,  the sun was setting.  My kitchen window faces the west, so I was able to get very directional and rich-colored natural light, while my background was able to remain dark.   I am very happy with the photos, as you can see, coming from the left, the sun shined through the basil leaf,  giving the photo a rich tone and dramatic look.  All right, enough for the pedantic technicality, just enjoy the photos.

Weekend brunch idea-baked eggs

Since I started my new job, I haven't really had a chance to enjoy breakfast. The hectic weekday morning ritual confines me to either PBJ sandwich, or fried eggs and bacon. The weekday ritual momentum somehow tends to drive into the weekends, when I sleep in and eat two meals a day.  Of course the hunger kicks in around mid-afternoon. I finally wrapped up my sleeve and decided to cook weekend brunches to reward my bored stomach. Here is the very first attempt. Baked eggs!

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 tbsp. cooked chopped spinach, squeezed to extract excess liquid
4 eggs
½ tomato
2 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. grated parmesan
½ tsp. chopped fresh thyme
¼ tsp. grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to broil and place a rack 10" from the heating element. Grease two 8-oz. gratin dishes with butter. To each dish, add 2 tbsp. spinach. Using your fingers, make 2 wells in each pile of spinach and crack 2 eggs into each dish.

2. Cut tomato into wedges and nestle 4 wedges on opposite sides of each dish. Pour 1 tbsp. heavy cream into each dish.

3. Sprinkle each dish with 1 tbsp. parmesan, 1⁄4 tsp. thyme, 1⁄8 tsp. nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to oven rack and broil until the cheese is golden brown, and the eggs are set. (depending on how you wanna your eggs, you might wanna adjust the cooking time) 10mins. 

4. Use tongs and a kitchen towel to transfer dishes to 2 serving plates lined with paper napkins to prevent the dishes from slipping.

SERVES 2