Life Begins at 30

It's a good day for rainbows

rainbow today, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

The wild weather here in San Francisco today is making for great sky watching. It's hard to get work done when there are sights like this out my window. Happy Monday, all.

Annie Leibovitz @ Work

chinatown lanterns, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

I saw Annie Leibovitz speak at City Arts & Lectures on Monday. I have always followed her work closely, but have never seen her speak. And I have a feeling that hearing her speak will be causing a shift in my photography.

Leibovitz was speaking on the occasion of the release of her book: Annie Leibovitz At Work. I haven't bought the book yet, but my understanding is that it's more of a textbook which addresses technique and composition and equipment.

Leibovitz received her professional training at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she began as a painter. She quickly learned that photography was her forte -- it was more immediate and more social.

During the Monday lecture, she read from her book and a portion was about what she learned as a young photography student.

"We were taught that the most important thing a young photographer can do is learn how to see. It wasn’t about the equipment we were using. I don’t remember being taught any technique. A camera was only a box that recorded an image. We learned to compose, to frame, to fill the negative, to fit everything we saw into the camera’s rectangle. We were never to crop our pictures. We went out every morning and took pictures and developed them in the darkroom the same day. Since the prints were washed in communal trays and everybody’s pictures were lying there with everybody else’s, you tried hard to come back with something good. In the evening we would sit around and discuss our work. We were a community of artists."

I had a family member in town this week and had my camera out most of the time -- I shot a couple hundred photos. And I could hear Annie ringing in my ears during my photos. Reminding me to see. Reminding me to shoot an entire image instead of lazily knowing I'd crop later. Reminding me to compose. I am so lucky to have heard her.

If you're interested in hearing this interview, it will be played on KQED on January 4, 2009.

Chantenay Carrots, Marin Roots Farm

I realize that in my list I said I would do a post a day for 30 days.  But friends, I am so dang tired.  It's been a very long week, but pretty satisfying in general.

I "had" to go to the San Rafael Farmers Market this morning.  I post about Bay Area farmers markets on Serious Eats about once a month, and I realized that I hadn't been to a market in a couple weeks.  I needed some fodder for my post this upcoming Monday.

So off I went.  I spied these lovely carrots at Marin Roots Farm.  I am pretty sure that the carrots on the left are chantenay, but I like to call them Mr. McGregor's carrots.

I hope you can get to a market sometime soon, it's a fantastic time of year to be there.

Wandering Southern California

As much time as I spend in Southern California, I don't often get the chance to play tourist in my own hometown -- I grew up in LA, went to college there, and lived there until I was 26.  When a good friend from here wanted to experience the true Southern California, I was happy to play tour guide last week.  It was fun to show her some of my favorite places, and take a lot of photographs at the same time.

The above sign can be found at Zuma Beach in Malibu.  To tell you the truth, I have never seen the stand open, but love seeing the food stand as you turn the big curve on Pacific Coast Highway heading north.  The first couple days we were there were unseasonably warm, and the beach was lovely -- complete with a pod of dolphins playing in the nearby water.

The Southern California growing season is always a bit ahead of our Northern California season.  The Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market was full of visions of spring, and it was really wonderful to see the abundance that we have to look forward to in Northern California soon.  My find of the day was La Nogalera walnut oil -- a nicely balanced, light walnut oil that is grown and processed in Central California. 

While firmly in the "Californian Mexican" camp, I have always loved Border Grill for their appetizers and cocktails.  We stopped in one afternoon and shared a shrimp & hearts of palm salad, and a mushroom quesadilla along with about 20 pounds of chips and their wonderful salsas.

Nearly every Southern California trip in the past couple years has included a stop at Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita.  A Japanese bakery with French-style pastries, everything I have ever eaten here has been impeccably executed.  The epitome of perfection at Chantilly is the cream puff.  As soon as I walk into the patisserie, I usually have a huge smile on my face that remains during the whole trip.

We stopped by the old farmers market on Fairfax and Third -- just a quick run-through to check it out.  This particular farmers market (much more of a tourist destination with permanent store booths than the modern farmers market) makes me feel very old and curmudgeonly as it's hard for me to believe that a modern mall has sprung up around the market in what used to be the parking lot.  This photo is of the famous diner called Du-Pars which is famous for its pies and breakfasts.

The trip was great.  Additional food highlights included Mozza Pizzeria and Sunday Supper at Lucques, a vegetarian dinner we cooked for my family,  along with other bites and nibbles throughout the Southland.  Even five days felt short, and I feel like I didn't do my hometown justice. But there's always next time ...

Shutter Sisters

{147} in my kitchen window, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

Some of my favorite people on the Internet have come together to create Shutter Sisters -- a "collaborative photo blog that welcomes all women with a passion for photography from experts to amateurs alike." 

I am very excited about this website!

Food Photography by Smitten Kitchen

Really great post about successful food photography over at Smitten Kitchen (via Serious Eats).

SPQR, Photos, and New Site Design!

Durian vendor, Ho Chi Minh City

I wrote a post on Tuesday at KQED's Bay Area Bites detailing my first impressions of SPQR.  I don't often do formal restaurant reviews, so this one is called "SPQR: A preliminary report."  In the words that I used on my flickr page, "Go.  Go Now."   I have a long history with A16, so the fact that I had to try SPQR within days of its opening probably isn't a surprise.

Speaking of Flickr, I've been slowly going through the Vietnam trip photos and posting a couple a day.   The photo above is one that I posted this week.  Nine months after the trip, I am finally feeling like I can start to digest parts of it and talk about it.  It took that long to not be completely overwhelmed by that amazing trip.   So I've been writing a small amount about my impressions with the photos.  You can see it all in the Vietnam Collection of my Flickr.  You can subscribe to a feed of my Flickr photos using this link.

Also, if you read this site through an RSS reader, you may not notice the site's new look.  I am happy to have new digs.  Thanks for everyone who weighed in months ago about the new look.  I chose a design that will allow me to swap photos in and out of the banner fairly easily.

End. August.

The end of August finds me in San Francisco, with a belly full of Little Star Pizza and looking forward to September's Eat Local Month.

Are you still wondering what the mystery machine was?  The first guess, Anita's, was correct.  It was a cherry pitter -- a machine that John Lagier showed us on our tour of Lagier Ranches through CUESA's farm tour program.  It was a fascinating tour, and I want to be able to tell you more about it.  But until I get to that, check out Marc's post about visiting the almond orchards and a discussion of the new law that will affect raw almonds. 

On the same day, we visited Hidden Star Orchards, an organic almond, stone fruit and grape orchard who sells at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. Johann Smit and his family have an amazing story, starting with his parents who immigrated from the Netherlands and started a dairy farm on the land where Johann now grows apples.

If you are a Flickr lover, please keep an eye on my photos, as I have been spending quite a bit of time on my flickr site.  I am doing an exciting new project called "365 days" in which I take a photo a day for a year.  I'm on day 22, and it's been a really interesting experience so far.  I am really grateful to the project as it's causing me to have my camera with me most of the time which can only be a good thing. 

I'm leaving tomorrow for a couple weeks in Los Angeles.  The timing of this is interesting, as it's the beginning of Eat Local month.  I am really looking forward to spending time there exploring the local options available to those in Southern California.  I will be going to farmers' markets and working local foods into my family's menus as much as possible.  While I won't be attempting the 100% local foods diet that I have done in the past, I think that being in Southern California while concentrating on eating local will be an interesting spin on a routine that is part of my daily life in San Francisco.  The energy of the Eat Local Challenge is always such an exciting thing, and it continues to be a very invigorating part of my life.  Thanks to all of you who support it, or at least tolerate my talking about it fairly regularly.

Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!

Photo taken in San Francisco at August Street and Union Street, August 29, 2007.   

Mystery Machine

Mystery Machine, originally uploaded by jen_maiser.

Anyone know what this is? 

No fair answering if you happened to also see this machine today!

Edit: Still wondering?  The answer is in this post.

An unabashed attempt to lure you back

A few friends of mine have left the Bay Area this year, or are in the process of leaving for greener different pastures.  You know exactly who you are.  I only have one thing to say:  Joe's dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes are back for the season.  Come home!