Pixel Love

Woo Hoo!

It's Tuesday...

and this week I'm so excited about my new blog look!!

What do you think?

I decided that with my upcoming 1 year blog birthday I wanted to spruce up...

get a new outfit!

After shopping around etsy a bit for some help

(since I'm not very tech savvy)

I decided on Emily from 

And what can I say but Wow!

She did a great job, was the most pleasant person to work with and

she was lightning fast!

I've added some pages up at the top too, including

a sponsor page and yippee to Emily because she was my first one!

Thank you!

I also added a brand new 

facebook page...

it's so new and awful lonely...please go give it some love!

Let me know what you think of my new "retro" outfit!

Linking up with Sarah over at 

Yes Teacher!

You can find Emily here on etsy,

here on her blog or on her website .

Happy Tuesday...

Photoswap 2011

This was my first year participating in Photoswap.  I saw a link on someones blog and thought what fun!  I rarely shoot film anymore, everythings gone digital, so it was a good excuse to dust off my old Minolta Maxxum 300si...which by the way...I forgot how much I totally love that camera!!

The swap was organized by Rhianne of For The Easily Distracted .  You get assigned a swap partner anywhere in the world, and you swap rolls of film.  You then develop each others rolls and see what you got!  It's kind of like getting a little surprise gift in the mail because you have no idea what your are going to see once you develop them.

My partner for the swap was Nova of Novarella blog.  She is from west coast Canada...near and dear to my heart since that's where I was born.  I was excited to get my film package in the mail, complete with a little vintage notebook from the 70's...groovy!  Now to see what that mystery roll of film held. 

Here is just a sampling of what was on the roll I received.  I love her washed out color tones, there is a certain "tinted" quality to them, almost like a hand painted black and white photo.  You can see her full set here on Flickr along with the rest of the photoswap participants...there are some really awesome shots!

And now for mine.
So there I was camera in hand...hmmm, what to shoot?  It was actually quite a dilemma.  There was no assigned theme, no guidelines...kind of like a teacher saying go write a paper and that's it, no more information given.  A good majority of what I shoot usually is food related, so for a change of scenery I stepped outside, and into the black and white world.
I hopped in the car and started driving, pulling over when I saw something that caught my eye.
So here is a sample of what I shot over the course of 2 mornings.
You can find my full set here.

It was a lot fun!
We are so used to instant gratification with our digital cameras, it was nice to actually have to wait and see how the pictures turned out.  No instantly seeing if things were in focus, or did someone blink.
I enjoyed stepping out of the technology for a moment.
And my Minolta?
I kept it out.
I had forgotten what a good friend it is.

Rice

It's Tuesday

and I'm just tickled...

about rice!

I love rice...all kinds, 

but this week 

I'm all about the kind that you can't eat!

Rice that you can't eat?

Not when it's artist

Amy Rice

I was reading through my latest copy of

Food & Wine magazine,

when this beautiful image jumped out at me.

I loved the bright citrus colors!

It turns out she is a mixed media artist and 

created this special piece for a

community supported art program.

The Letter

She uses hand cut stencils, Japanese screen printing,

and prints them on vintage envelopes and letters.

No two pieces are alike!

Outside

I love this one...I think it might be my favorite.

She combined spray paint, antique wallpaper & lace, all on wood....

Gorgeous!

You can find her on the web here

or in her great shop on etsy

Now to decide which Rice I want hanging on my wall!

Linking up with Sarah over at 

Yes Teacher

The Big Cheese

The Los Angeles food scene has gone mobile in a BIG way.

In a very delectable way.

Forget the drive thru...

it's all about the drive to!

Food trucks are the it thing right now...

As a friend put it...

mobile gastronomy!

As one last summer outing before back to school we decided on a food truck day.

So food truckin we went!

With all the choices out there it was hard to choose,

but we settled on 

The Grilled Cheese Truck

Good ol' comfort food on wheels!!

Give us two signature sandwiches...

That would be...macaroni and cheese!

Yep you read that right.

BBQ pulled pork and caramelized onions, all on crispy grilled bread!

What does that equal?

Add a side order of tater tots and a couple of sodas 

and you have the the worlds two most contented teenagers I've ever seen.

In their words...

Thanks Mom, that was the best grilled cheese ever!

And for that mom...

A brie melt on black peppercorn potato bread.

Double cream brie, homemade fig paste, 

turkey and smokehouse almonds.

Scrumptious!

Melting brie, sweet fig, a little bite from the black pepper,

 add a crunch from the almonds and you have the best grilled cheese I've ever had.

Talk about spot on flavor profiling!!

I'm not a huge fan of bread & butter pickles...never have been, 

but they had house made on the menu, so I had to give them a try.

These were fantastic!

The slightest hint of sweet and a great mix of spice, alongside the perfect crunch.

My only complaint...

I wanted more!

So if you see a big orange grilled cheese truck on wheels...

follow it!

Your stomach will thank you.

Keep On Truckin

With the last days of summer vacation coming to an end,

we decided it was time for one last adventure.

So...

Food Truckin that is!!

Yep...we're off on a food truck quest today.

But, this is Los Angeles so the only problem is which one???

Korean BBQ, gourmet burgers, cupcakes, ice cream...

the list is endless.

I'm going to see how far I can eat my way through it!!

Peek in next week to see what we ended up eating.

What are you up to this weekend?

I hope it's something fantastic.

Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week.

1099 Embarcadero

A more perfect location I dare you to find.
It sits on the wharf, gorgeous views out the windows.
The evening was that perfect tepid summery temperature
that you get by the Pacific.

The restaurant has an inviting personality.
Warm wood tones fill the space,
wines from all over the world fill the shelves.
A long wood bar faces the windows, tall tables scatter throughout.
A few sofas nestled in the back, provide an ideal spot to relax with friends.
There is plenty of elbow room, lending to the uncluttered and relaxed feel.

Their menu choices are outstanding!
We started with oysters on the half shell and a flight of wine.
I have to say, I'm in love with oysters and horseradish.
There is something about the silky texture of the oyster,
the fresh briny ocean taste and then the little punch from the horseradish.
It is an exquisite combination.

Stax


Then we moved on to the crostinis...there are almost no words for how good these are.
First we had the Crostini a la Caesar.
Grilled crostini, topped with white spanish anchovy, romaine chiffonade,
shaved parmigiano-reggiano and house made caesar aioli.
Delectable!
All I kept thinking about was how Scott Conant always says cheese and fish don't mix...
Eat your words!!!

We finished with the Ultimate Crostini.
There is a reason they chose that for the name.
Black truffle seasoned fillet mignon, grilled portobello mushroom, St Agur Bleu cheese,
arugula and homemade basil pistou.
This was truly perfection!!

We had the chance to briefly talk to the chef.
An unpretentious lanky guy in his twenties, arms covered in the telltale chef tattoos,
who at first glance might quicker pass for the dish washer than the chef.
But let me tell you, this guy knows what he is doing!
The restaurant is fairly new and the owners are letting him be creative,
come up with interesting things...really, really good things I might add.

Kudos to the chef...
and to the owners for letting him express food originality.
It stax up to a very impressive experience.


Linking up with Sarah today for

Happy  Tuesday!!

I'm Back...Kind Of

So we're back from an absolutely lovely coastal getaway!

We couldn't have asked for nicer weather...it was oceanic perfection!

I had a fantastic post planned with photos and the delicious food we ate,

and then I remembered...

Ack!

I have jury duty!!!

Nothing like coming back to reality.

So I figured I'd leave you with this...

If you missed this post about the latest nasty commercial from Axe,

check it out, and then here is their response to my letter.

From: "Comments.Axe@unilever.com" <Comments.Axe@unilever.com>
Subject: Axe Consumer Services Case #: 8590055

Hello Meeling,

Thank you for writing to us.

We do apologize for the experience you reported concerning the Axe commercial.

You may be interested to know that all of our commercials and advertisements are pre-tested and various techniques are used to evaluate consumer reactions. Based on the results of our pre-testing procedures, the presentations are chosen for their majority appeal.

We certainly do not wish to offend anyone. In developing product messages, Unilever and its agencies may not always anticipate all possible implications of an advertisement or television commercial.

We have a long history of presenting "tasteful" advertising to the public. Our ads must be informative and truthful. The agencies creating our advertising adhere strictly to these guidelines.

Please let us assure you that your comments are extremely important to us in evaluating the success of our commercials and advertisements.

Sincerely,

Your friends at Axe

Ok, so "tasteful"...hmmm, not in my books and certainly not in any of my blog readers.

They clearly didn't have any of us on their audience testing panel!!

I would certainly like to see more done, but I am glad they responded to my letter.

In the end it's their loss as it is now a product that I will no longer buy...period!

Well, I'm off to perform my civic duty and as soon as that's over 

I'll be back with more recipes, stories and pictures!

Happy Wednesday!