by gansie
On the fifth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Five cacao beans
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Holiday
by gansie
This summer my little brother and his girlfriend moved in together. She keeps the apartment beautifully in shape. This includes their classy Christmas tree this holiday season. I’m not sure if my brother ever lived with a Christmas tree before. My first experience with a tree occurred during college; my roommates even presented me with my first stocking.
(Actually, funny story. That same year we also arranged a house Secret Santa and my roommate bought me a slow cooker cookbook, as I knew nothing about cooking. She bought it as a joke. She took “slow cooker” to mean not smart. Of course, the joke was on her.)
For his first Christmas tree occasion, my brother’s girlfriend bought him a few ornaments: a soccer ball, a menorah and a pickle. It’s nice to know food shows up at all the most important moments. Even if it’s porcelain.
by Borracho
Around this time of year, we start seeing food everywhere. Who are we kidding? We see food everywhere all the time. But during the holidays we hear it everywhere, too! Have you ever noticed how much of holiday songs are about food? We have. And here’s a list of our Top 10 favorite holiday song food shout-outs, with a recipe to match for each.
Click the pics for recipes and assorted goodness.
10. The Christmas Song: Roast Chestnuts
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos”
9. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree: Pumpkin Pie
“Rocking around the Christmas Tree
Let the Christmas Spirit ring
Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie
and we’ll do some caroling”
8. Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah: Latkes
“Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah, come light the menorah
Let’s have a party, we’ll all dance the hora
Gather round the table, we’ll give you a treat
Dreidels to play with and latkes to eat”
7. Let it Snow: Popcorn
“It doesn’t show signs of stopping
And I’ve bought some corn for popping
The lights are turned way down low
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
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by BS
Because everyone and their mother is a food blogger nowadays, we know more than a few of you have to wait to eat your Christmas dinners until the host has snapped some quality pics. So let’s give everyone a head start.
We asked former New York Times food photographer Lou Manna to share some tips on how to take drool-worthy holiday food photos—and still let your guests eat before midnight.
1. Get a Fork’s-Eye View
Bindi chocolate truffle tarts, finished with a hand decorated orange infused chocolate ganache
Place your camera on the table and photograph your plate from the point of view of your utensils. Photographing your meal from a low angle can bring volume and scale to your food, while allowing you access to a picture you would not be able to capture with your own eyes.
2. Clean your Plate
Quails with wild rice stuffing
Misplaced specks show up more in a photo than you would think. Manipulate food with tweezers to artfully position and style a dish before you photograph it. Clean up crumbs and food particles on plates with Q-tips and paper towels.
3. Crack the ISO Code
Pumpkin maple syrup mini tarts
ISO denotes how sensitive your camera’s image sensor is to the amount of light available for the picture. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and better equipped your camera is to take pictures in low-light situations. Even if the lights aren’t dimmed, shooting indoors without a flash is still darker than you may realize. When shooting cookie trays, pumpkin pies and table settings indoors without a flash, the ISO setting should be set to 800 or 1600 so that the camera sensor is more sensitive to the ambient, inside light and captures details, texture and shine.
4. Balance Your Whites
Don’t spoil your holiday food photographs by not knowing how to set your white balance. If you’re shooting indoors with household lamps (under incandescent or tungsten lighting), use your camera’s preset for tungsten white balance. If the lighting is fluorescent (hello, office holiday party!) then the fluorescent white balance setting will work better.
5. Macro and Say Cheese
Star anise
To shoot food close up, use the macro setting on a point and shoot camera, which is typically indicated with a flower icon. On a camera with interchangeable lenses, use a macro or a close focusing lens to get closer to your subject.
