LOCKED & LOADED (now with less buffalo poop)

Guess what Boogerbutts? I'm baaaaaaaaaaack. Yeppers. And today, I'm reporting live from the outside cafe of a coffee house. It's a perfect day under the umbrella, writing a blog.

Delightful.

Today's drink is strawberry lemon with coconut milk, over ice. 

Also delightful. 

In other news, I'm happy to report that I'm in my third week of cleaning the kitchen as I go. Which I've never maintained for this long. 

Ever.

And, and, AND, we're also smack dab in the middle of week three of budget ingredient shopping. Years ago we had a food budget and then it fell off. I like having a budget again. 

A lot.

We spend 60 per week with a flexible 15 extra if needed. It's about having fun, creating new meals/snacks/bakes AND making ingredients stretch. It's not about squeezing a nickel so tight that the buffalo poops. 

In other news, I'm locked and loaded with DIY photography craft-like goodies, from today's Dollar Tree run. Sticky-back marble, foam boards, a sturdy box that I thought was groovy and then I decided to take a punt on the purple sparkly paper. Will this DIY work for photography boards and backdrops? 

Dunno. 

That's the fun part.

And in other, other, OTHER news, the adventures in non-dairy yoghurt making at home, continues. I freakin' love it. As I write, there's a batch fermenting at home, in jars, in the pressure cooker. The budget didn't allow for cashews this week so today's batch is oat-based, only. 

Excited to taste it. It'll sit for eleven hours or so. Oh my gosh, I had to look up how to spell eleven. Nothing I wrote looked right. Still doesn't look right. 

Eleven.

Looks funny.

And that my Boogerbutts is all that's fit to print. This is Ivy, reporting live from the coffee house, outdoor cafe. Headed home to take pictures of what I bought and post this blog.

Write again soon.

Huggs & Bugs, Me.

Bug Died (I'm sad)

Last week Bug died. She's the little one to the right. Nose covered in dirt. Then the next image was taken on a wee early morning as I passed the screen doors in the kitchen. 

Little Bug. 

Just looking out at the world. With those teeny tiny shoulders and little head. Too cute. 

We miss her.  

BEFORE & AFTER - MINI STUDIO (hot dog, it's done!)

Yesterday I finished the mini studio space. Now there's plenty of room for light stands, a C-Stand, saw horses, a folding table and soon, one BIG HONKIN' Godox AND a whole lotta play. 

That makes me, a Happy Whisk. 

Thanks for the kind words about the photos. They are fun to shoot. Rained most of the day today. Only ran out for second between rain drops to play with the new ultra macro lens. Very different than my other macro. Gonna enjoy learning this new bit of kit.

And that my Boogerbutts wraps up four posts in one week. Whhhaaatttt? I never do that anymore. This is why I enjoy unscheduled posts. Just write 'em and shoot 'em out. 

Huggs and Bugs, Me. 

GUESS WHAT ...?

And... it's also new banner day because after I drew the cartoon, I figured I'd work on a banner. Once I get the new lens, I imagine the banners changing often. 

So fun!

PS: Next week I get back to writing bakes.

Also so fun! 

 

BELLY DOWN (plus 2 more sleeps)

Two more sleeps and the 2x macro will be in my hot little hands. 

In other news, this is me playing with a 22mm pancake lens, belly down on the soggy ground all because I liked the slight curve in the stem. 

That was it. I saw the curve when I let Bug out and had to get the shot. And whilst this isn't food photography for my book, it is practice and I love that. Plus, I love crawling around outside for shots.

In other, other news, by the end of the week the new photography space will be done and it'll be time to start shooting food again. 

Pretty cool.

And that's about all from here. Second post of the week. Hot dog! 

PS: I posted this for Wordless Wednesday because so many of you do that and I think it's a neat idea, only I couldn't be wordless today. I'm too excited about the lens.

Two more sleeps.

I DID A THING

I did a thing. When I was online today a new lens JUMPED into my cart. Just like that. This cute little 2x magnification macro lens jumped in the cart, paid for itself and arrives in three more sleeps. 

Three more sleeps. 

Insert happy face here. 

NEW BOOK DAY! (and something funky on a branch)

Look at this little thing. How does something so teeny tiny cost 160 smackers? How? I dunno. I will say though, totally worth the cabbage. So much so that I'll likely get one for my other camera. 

Not today though. 

This is enough money for today.

Plus, I'm saving for a new macro lens. All manual features. Old school style. Cannot wait to play. 

In other news, due to classes, writing the book and exploring the world of flash photography, I'm behind on reading blogs. Sometimes I feel funny about posting a new blog when I've not given time to reading others. That said, I must press on with the learning and also, the once a week post here. 

I have a horrible habit of missing a week of posting and then before I know it, six months have gone by. I don't want to do that this year. I want to keep with at the least one post a week here and one post a week on my class feed.

The goal: Consistency. 

Now onto New Book Day! 

When my teacher said the word composition I didn't know that word. Composition. As a macro photographer, I shoot to explore. As a food photographer, I just shoot what looks pretty to me. When she mentioned composition, I didn't understand. Sometimes I don't know words. That's okay. Because now, I with this book, I get to learn things like weight and other photography wonderfulness.

Speaking of photography wonderfulness, SmoochieFace bought me a used copy of Mastering Composition by Richard Garvey-Williams from Abebooks, based on my teacher's recommendations. 

We love Abebooks. It's a fun little world of bookworm deals. Or, it has been for us. It's our go-to online hunting ground for out-of-print, used and sometimes new, goodies.

And that my lovely Boogerbutts is almost all that's fit to print. Last night was date night but after writing about food, shooting food, taking classes and exploring the outside macro world, I didn't want to actually make any food. So we ordered in and now there's leftovers with my name on them. 

Get in my belly. 

PS: Something funky on a branch. Sooooo fun! 

LIGHTBULB (I love that line)

Burr, lemme just say, burr. At least no snow this morning. Lots of frost on the morning macro photography walk. I did not want to get dressed and head out. As always, just because I don't want to do it, doesn't mean I won't and it almost always means I'm glad that I did. 

Say that ten times fast. 

Speaking of photography and all things wonderful. Last night I ordered a Godox V350 flash with a small diffuser. The flash connects to the top of the camera and the flash can point up (for bounce), or shoot directly at the subject. That's where the diffuser comes in. If I shoot the directly at a tiny bug or flower, the light is hard. Once I slap that diffuser on there, the light becomes softer. 

Think bright sunny day, no clouds = hard light.

Think cloudy (with a chance of meatballs), with sun = soft light. 

I can't hear cloudy without also hearing with a chance of meatballs. I dunno why? Just like I can't say the word lightbulb, without also saying it in Gru's accent.

"Lightbulb."

Love that line.

"I hate that guy" and "It's so fluffy" also excellent lines.

What kind of blog am I writing today? I dunno. I got zero focus. Can't keep a thought in my head other than, is it Thursday yet? And how do I attach this flash?

Speaking of Thursday, over at Shug's blog she does a TRY IT THURSDAY. I love the fun! Trying new things, rocks. 

Click Shug's Blog to play along. 

In other news, I cannot say this enough. I'm soooooo happy that the video camera gear is OUT of the kitchen and almost everything kitchen related is back in place. My world makes sense again. 

Heaven I say, heaven.

In other, other news, I just made a single serving, non-dairy mac and cheese in the 3qt Mini Instant Pot. Everything in one pot, five minutes on high, no leftovers and easy to clean. This is a spin on my mom's mac and cheese, only with non-dairy cheese and instead of tomatoes I used water and salsa.  

Get in my belly. 

And that my Boogerbutts is all that's fit to print. 

Huggs and Bugs, Me.

STEEL PAN (now with more aliens)

Dig my new steel pan. I have a few of these in different sizes and I LOOOOOVE them. This one though, I bought special for dessert bakes because I never baked desserts in any of the others and I wanted to see if it would work without oil, grease and/or bake paper. 

It did. 

Sorta. 

My fault really, I was writing a new bake with new times, temps and using a new pan. Not something I normally do. I try to keep it at one change per draft, that helps me pinpoint and problem solve. 

Anyway, the baked bits popped out just great. Loved it. The underbaked part in the middle, well, that didn't flip and instead left a hole in the middle of the double chocolate yoghurt bake. 

Think Alien, bursting from the chest. 

Lots more experiments coming up and what I really love, is that there's nooooooooo non-stick coating and this isn't aluminum. It's textured steel, and from what I understand that texture helps release foods. And boy does it ever do a dandy job roasting veggies, warming maple popcorn, spicy pop corn and even baking homemade granola. 

The prices at HomeGoods/HomeSense make it so I can afford to keep this new one for all things dessert bakes and keep using my old one for everything else. And, if that wasn't enough to knock my socks off, those little helper handles make it easy to hang these on my kitchen pegboards. 

Hot dog. Life is good.  

And that my Boogerbutts wraps up this post. It's our anniversary weekend and today is last day of it. Gonna make some good eats and enjoy what's left of the weekend. 

Weekends sure go fast. Whoosh. 

CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY

Hello lovely dovelies and welcome to another post. I'm Ivy reporting live from the kitchen table. Where outside the sliding glass doors, it's snowing and cold as balls. 

I really don't know how cold balls are. I guess that just depends.

In other news, I hit HomeGoods/HomeSense for photography napkins. I LOVE these green napkins. Can't wait to play. Think, light and airy photoshoot.

Also snagged this bigger-than-my-head, made in Italy stoneware plate. Love it, love it, love it. My instant reaction to holding this plate is, I can't wait to put food on it. 

Thanks to Beginner Bootcamp (at The Bite Shot), and School of Chocolate (on Netflix), I now own black plates. Made in Portugal, eleven bucks for both. Think, dark and moody food photography. 

Cannot wait to play. 

And that's me, reporting live from the kitchen which by the by, I woke to a cleaned-off and mess-free kitchen table two days in a row now. That's right. I'm hot stuff and I know it. 

Catch you Boogerbutts on the flip side. 

Huggs and bugs, Me. 

It's about time to put some homemade blueberry oat and spelt waffles on these plates. Yum!

Swiss Cheese Brain (+ new banner day)

Burrrrr and Hello Spring or Autumn. It's spring here, well, sorta kinda, maybe. Heat on high and very cold and that's okay too. Today's tasks include a lot of cleaning and if time, paint a wall and readjust kitchen pegboards. Though likely not do the wall today but hey, never say never. Who knows, after I get warm I might Wonder Woman right through this place. 

It could happen. 

Maybe. 

In other news, the mini electric pressure cooker just went off. In a few minutes I'll have elbow noodles, salsa and non-dairy cheese in a bowl, with a spoon, swinging my feet at the table. 

I LOVE my pressure cookers. All three of them. Also, I love that the noodles cook in the salsa and the non-dairy cheese gets melty. 

Get in my belly.

In other, other news, I've got a bit of a Swiss cheese brain when it comes to some of the manual camera settings so last Christmas I joined a Beginner Bootcamp (online), to help backfill my education. There are words that I don't understand. Today I'm ready to fill in the cheese holes. And since I have soooo much cleaning to do today, I'll grab the Bluetooth headphones, listen to classes and plow through the mess. Then another day, listen through with notepad and camera in hand. 

Get those cheese holes filled but good. 

Lastly, I LOVE working on my book. Really fun. I love, love, love that I'm pointed at something. It's the best. I mean I write all the time anyway, but being pointed directly at a book, that I'll then share, well, that's just better than a baked potato. 

And I love potatoes. 

Well Boogerbutts, that's all that's fit to print. Happy new season, wherever you are.