Month: August 2010

Victorian Purple

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I am painting all our outside house doors Benjamin Moore \”Victorian Purple.\”

Nadine relaxing on the back steps.

The new color is rather beautiful and I am reminded of the flowers Susan picked for an indoor bouquet.

Flowers on Living Room Table

And I am thinking of this photo from a few days ago snapped in our backyard vegetable and flower garden:

Cosmos

What is your favorite color today? Do you like Victorian Purple?

If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let\’s make the world a more beautiful place! 

Roasted Salmon, Beets, and Potatoes with Horseradish Cream

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Salmon is on the menu in Bruce\’s Kitchen two, sometimes three, times a week. And to my mind, this dish makes a great Saturday or Sunday Brunch, which is exactly what Susan and I did this past weekend; serving it to her childhood friend, Cheryl. This recipe is based upon one from Food & Wine Quick From Scratch One-Dish Meals, which was a gift from another childhood friend. I love this cookbook!

Ingredients

  1. 1 1/2 pounds beets, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
  2. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  3. 1 teaspoon salt
  4. 1 1/2  tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  5. Fresh-ground black pepper
  6. 1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes cut into 1/2-inch dice
  7. 1 1/2 pounds salmon (King, Coho, or Sockeye), 
  8. 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
  9. 2 tablespoons drained bottled horseradish

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 450\’. In a large roasting pan, toss the beets with 1 tablespoon of the oil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 tablespoon of the dill, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Cook in the upper third of the oven, stirring once, for about 20 minutes.
  2. Remove the pan from the oven and push the beets to one side. Add the potatoes to the pan, next to the beets, and toss them with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Return the pan to the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Stir the potatoes and beets, keeping them separate; return the pan to the oven.
  3. Meanwhile, put the salmon (Slice three to four 1/2 slits crosswise in top of salmon) on another baking sheet (covered with aluminum foil) and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 tablespoon of the dill, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Put the pan in the oven with the vegetables (after you stir them at the end of Step 2). Cook until just done, about 10 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine yogurt, horseradish, and 1/2 tablespoon of the dill.
  5. Stir the beets and the potatoes together. Serve the vegetables topped with the salmon and the horseradish sauce. 

Do you have a favorite way of cooking salmon? Share your recipe with me, please.

If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let\’s make the world a more beautiful place! 

Victorian Purple

Uncategorized

I am painting all our outside house doors Benjamin Moore “Victorian Purple.”

Nadine relaxing on the back steps.

The new color is rather beautiful and I am reminded of the flowers Susan picked for an indoor bouquet.

Flowers on Living Room Table

And I am thinking of this photo from a few days ago snapped in our backyard vegetable and flower garden:

Cosmos

What is your favorite color today? Do you like Victorian Purple?

If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let’s make the world a more beautiful place! 

Roasted Salmon, Beets, and Potatoes with Horseradish Cream

Uncategorized

Salmon is on the menu in Bruce’s Kitchen two, sometimes three, times a week. And to my mind, this dish makes a great Saturday or Sunday Brunch, which is exactly what Susan and I did this past weekend; serving it to her childhood friend, Cheryl. This recipe is based upon one from Food & Wine Quick From Scratch One-Dish Meals, which was a gift from another childhood friend. I love this cookbook!

Ingredients

  1. 1 1/2 pounds beets, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
  2. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  3. 1 teaspoon salt
  4. 1 1/2  tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  5. Fresh-ground black pepper
  6. 1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes cut into 1/2-inch dice
  7. 1 1/2 pounds salmon (King, Coho, or Sockeye), 
  8. 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
  9. 2 tablespoons drained bottled horseradish

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 450′. In a large roasting pan, toss the beets with 1 tablespoon of the oil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 tablespoon of the dill, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Cook in the upper third of the oven, stirring once, for about 20 minutes.
  2. Remove the pan from the oven and push the beets to one side. Add the potatoes to the pan, next to the beets, and toss them with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Return the pan to the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Stir the potatoes and beets, keeping them separate; return the pan to the oven.
  3. Meanwhile, put the salmon (Slice three to four 1/2 slits crosswise in top of salmon) on another baking sheet (covered with aluminum foil) and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 1/2 tablespoon of the dill, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Put the pan in the oven with the vegetables (after you stir them at the end of Step 2). Cook until just done, about 10 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine yogurt, horseradish, and 1/2 tablespoon of the dill.
  5. Stir the beets and the potatoes together. Serve the vegetables topped with the salmon and the horseradish sauce. 

Do you have a favorite way of cooking salmon? Share your recipe with me, please.

If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let’s make the world a more beautiful place! 

Monday Meditation

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\”The great and golden rule of art, as well as of life, is this: That the more distinct, sharp, and wirey the bounding line, the more perfect the work of art; and the less keen and sharp, the greater is the evidence of weak imitation, plagiarism, and bungling. Great inventors, in all ages, knew this…….How do we distinguish the oak from the beech, the horse from the ox, but by the bounding outline? How do we distinguish one face or countenance from another, but by the bounding line and its infinite inflexions and movements? What is it that builds a house and plants a garden, but the definite and determinate? What is it that distinguishes honesty from knavery, but the hard and wirey line of rectitude and certainty in the actions and intentions? Leave out this line and you leave out life itself; all is chaos again, and the line of the almighty must be drawn out upon it before man or beast can exist (PYMCJ vol. 3, 155-156) (William Blake’s (1757-1827) Descriptive Catalogue (Erdman 1988, 550)

What is your Monday Meditation?


If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let\’s make the world a more beautiful place! 

Monday Meditation

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“The great and golden rule of art, as well as of life, is this: That the more distinct, sharp, and wirey the bounding line, the more perfect the work of art; and the less keen and sharp, the greater is the evidence of weak imitation, plagiarism, and bungling. Great inventors, in all ages, knew this…….How do we distinguish the oak from the beech, the horse from the ox, but by the bounding outline? How do we distinguish one face or countenance from another, but by the bounding line and its infinite inflexions and movements? What is it that builds a house and plants a garden, but the definite and determinate? What is it that distinguishes honesty from knavery, but the hard and wirey line of rectitude and certainty in the actions and intentions? Leave out this line and you leave out life itself; all is chaos again, and the line of the almighty must be drawn out upon it before man or beast can exist (PYMCJ vol. 3, 155-156) (William Blake’s (1757-1827) Descriptive Catalogue (Erdman 1988, 550)

What is your Monday Meditation?


If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let’s make the world a more beautiful place! 

Serene Sunday

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What lies behind us and what lies before us
are small matters compared to what lies within us.\”
Do not go where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.\”
Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done with it what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely
and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.\”

~ Emerson
A Path in Western Massachusetts. Photo by Bruce Barone


\”If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it\’s as though I\’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.\”

~Richard Avedon


Double Rainbow over Mt. Tom, Easthampton, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone

\’Tis the gift to be simple,
\’Tis the gift to be free,
\’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
\’Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

 
~Written by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr., 1848
 Chapel, Worcester, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone
\”Creation is dominated by three absolutely different factors: First, nature, which works upon us by its laws; second, the artist, who creates a spiritual contact with nature and his materials; third, the medium of expression through which the artist translates his inner world.\”

~Hans Hoffman

Hallway, Once the home of Hans Hoffman, Provincetown, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone

Serene Sunday

Uncategorized
What lies behind us and what lies before us
are small matters compared to what lies within us.“
Do not go where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.“
Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done with it what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely
and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.“

~ Emerson
A Path in Western Massachusetts. Photo by Bruce Barone


“If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.”

~Richard Avedon


Double Rainbow over Mt. Tom, Easthampton, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone

‘Tis the gift to be simple,
‘Tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
‘Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

 
~Written by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr., 1848
 Chapel, Worcester, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone
“Creation is dominated by three absolutely different factors: First, nature, which works upon us by its laws; second, the artist, who creates a spiritual contact with nature and his materials; third, the medium of expression through which the artist translates his inner world.”

~Hans Hoffman

Hallway, Once the home of Hans Hoffman, Provincetown, MA. Photo by Bruce Barone

Not Your Mom\’s Eggplant

Uncategorized

Many people, it seems to me, either love or dislike eggplant, so perhaps this recipe isn\’t the best choice for a dinner party or backyard picnic, where you don\’t know your guests\’ taste too well–but, maybe it is.

If you are an eggplant person, like me, and my friends and family, you will love this simple and sublime meal. It cries out for a summer lunch or dinner out in the back yard at the picnic table with lots of friends and bottles of wine.

Elegant. Fragrant. Gorgeous. Delicious. This simple recipe combines the sweetness of vine ripened tomatoes, the intensity of eggplant, and the delicate flavor of plain yogurt.

People who you think might not like eggplant; people who say they don\’t like eggplant, will have a serving–or two–and then quickly will come into the kitchen and shout in disbelief, \”What happened to all the eggplant!\”

I based this meal (Turkish Eggplant) from a recipe in a great cookbook, Recipes from a Kitchen Garden. If you don\’t own a copy of this cookbook, I urge you to buy a copy ASAP!

Ingredients

1 good sized eggplant, peeled or unpeeled (I like it peeled)
1 large clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3 ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons plain yogurt

Directions

1. Cut (peel before hand if you desire) the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices. Salt each side and place in colander for 1-2 hours. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Brush both sides of eggplant with olive oil and broil them in oven on both sides until soft and browned. Watch closely!
3. Heat a saucepan and then add oil. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Turn heat off. Add tomatoes and basil. Once eggplant is browned and you are ready to serve, gently heat tomato sauce.
4. On each plate, lay a few slices of eggplant. Top with tomato sauce. Finish by adding a tablespoon (+) of yogurt in the center of each slice.

I served this with Quinoa cooked with Saffron and Golden Raisins. And a salad of lettuce, cucumber, radish, fresh basil and parsley.

Do you have a great eggplant recipe? I would love to hear about it.

If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let\’s make the world a more beautiful place!

Not Your Mom’s Eggplant

Uncategorized

Many people, it seems to me, either love or dislike eggplant, so perhaps this recipe isn’t the best choice for a dinner party or backyard picnic, where you don’t know your guests’ taste too well–but, maybe it is.

If you are an eggplant person, like me, and my friends and family, you will love this simple and sublime meal. It cries out for a summer lunch or dinner out in the back yard at the picnic table with lots of friends and bottles of wine.

Elegant. Fragrant. Gorgeous. Delicious. This simple recipe combines the sweetness of vine ripened tomatoes, the intensity of eggplant, and the delicate flavor of plain yogurt.

People who you think might not like eggplant; people who say they don’t like eggplant, will have a serving–or two–and then quickly will come into the kitchen and shout in disbelief, “What happened to all the eggplant!”

I based this meal (Turkish Eggplant) from a recipe in a great cookbook, Recipes from a Kitchen Garden. If you don’t own a copy of this cookbook, I urge you to buy a copy ASAP!

Ingredients

1 good sized eggplant, peeled or unpeeled (I like it peeled)
1 large clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3 ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons plain yogurt

Directions

1. Cut (peel before hand if you desire) the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices. Salt each side and place in colander for 1-2 hours. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Brush both sides of eggplant with olive oil and broil them in oven on both sides until soft and browned. Watch closely!
3. Heat a saucepan and then add oil. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Turn heat off. Add tomatoes and basil. Once eggplant is browned and you are ready to serve, gently heat tomato sauce.
4. On each plate, lay a few slices of eggplant. Top with tomato sauce. Finish by adding a tablespoon (+) of yogurt in the center of each slice.

I served this with Quinoa cooked with Saffron and Golden Raisins. And a salad of lettuce, cucumber, radish, fresh basil and parsley.

Do you have a great eggplant recipe? I would love to hear about it.

If you would like to fill your home with beautiful photographs, or need a portrait, a wedding photographed or if you are an interior designer and need photographs of your projects, contact me for a consultation.

Drawing on that degree in Art History, a passion for telling stories, and years working as a portrait and documentary photographer (And owning an Art Gallery) helps me bring a heightened sensitivity to my photography. Let’s make the world a more beautiful place!