Elizabeth Encarnacion

My Partner in Crime

Elizabeth — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:29:50 +0000

I’m currently working on writing a follow-up to one of my recent non-fiction books. I had the original book on our bed so I could reference it, and Dorsey Dog decided to do a little light reading. (I swear I didn’t set this pose up—he was just sitting like this and I had to grab my camera.)

This Little Piggy…

Elizabeth — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:13:00 +0000

I made the unfortunate decision ages ago to purchase a Canon SLR camera just about a year or two before digital cameras exploded and made film cameras all but obsolete. So I’ve been a little behind in my photography technology, using everything in my bag of tricks to get by with a point and shoot. After years of yearning, I finally made an investment in my photography habit, getting the new Nikon D5100 DSLR camera, and I’m LOVING IT. I’m still getting used to having complete control over how I capture my images, and am mostly shooting in automatic mode for now. But I’ve also checked a ton of books out of the library to work on my photography technique, shooting in manual, and improving my shot composition. I just love doing research.

Conveniently, I have a new muse. Earlier this year, I became a real aunt (not just an honorary one), and I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend with them, taking photos of my nephew for hours. Of course, I also played with him, fed him, soothed him, and generally stared in awe at him. But usually with a camera nearby. (That’s me holding him while taking a photo, below.)

A few days later, I spent three days babysitting for the 6-month-old daughter of friends while their usual caregiver was on vacation. She wasn’t so sure about me at first, but actually seemed comforted/amused by the camera and soon settled down. This little girl had a personality a mile wide, and was shockingly agile with her feet. I’d almost swear she had opposable toes. She frequently clapped her feet, perfectly aligning the toes without any help from me. Of course, I couldn’t resist taking photos of those perfect little piggies.

Love the bumblebees!

Farm to Table: Collards & Yellow Potatoes

Elizabeth — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:34:51 +0000

Tonight I raced home from Spells to cook dinner before our touring Broadway show, Mary Poppins. I quickly cleaned and split the yellow potatoes of indeterminate variety before tossing them with some olive oil, sliced red onions, kosher salt, pepper, and rosemary. I roasted them in our convection toaster oven at 425° for 40 minutes, turning them once, and they turned out quite well, though the red onions were pretty much burned to a crisp. Next time, maybe I’ll try some garlic instead, as it might hold up better at that temp.

With the potatoes cooking, I cleaned and de-stemed the collard greens we received in last week’s farm share box while feeling closer to my true Southern heritage. As a child growing up in the South, I had overcooked, mushy collard greens as a side dish in my school lunch at least biweekly, which is not to say that I actually ate them. (To be honest, I didn’t eat much of my school lunches back then, which is probably why I was so scrawny.) With the bad memories of these over-boiled monstrosities, I was looking for a recipe that wasn’t stewed—I figured a crispier collard might help me overcome my childhood trauma. With that in mind, I departed from my usual Cooking Light crutch and chose a Real Simple recipe for Sauteed Collard Greens instead (though both magazine recipe archives are compiled on the MyRecipes website, so it’s not like I was going completely out of my wheelhouse).

I have to say, after the 5-second prep of the baby bok choy yesterday, these collard greens seemed like a real chore, though they really weren’t that bad to prepare in the grand scheme of things. After boiling the slices of collards for 10 minutes, I sauteed them with about 5 cloves of sliced garlic. The boiling tenderized these tough leaves a bit, but still left them with a slight crisp, while the sauteing gave them a taste profile reminiscent of Italian spinach (yes, that’s a good thing). Next time, I might add extra garlic and some of that southern staple, the pig, either in bacon or pancetta form. I’m not sure any self-respecting Southerner would serve collard greens without the pork.

Overall, a great meal that used up pretty much all of the remaining produce from this week’s box, just in time for tomorrow’s harvest. Wonder what I’ll get then?