I am proud to introduce Robyn, the newest addition to Jackie Connelly Photography! Coming from UBC she is keen, enthusiastic and I only hope I can inspire and teach her what she’s craving to learn. Beginning in January Robyn will be giving me a hand with some hefty sales & marketing tasks over the coming months, all of which I’m excited to be sharing here soon.

Quick intro before her foodie responses:

“I am working with JCP as a marketing intern this year, and I have a fascination with food & lifestyle photography - I cannot wait to learn more from Jackie in the coming months! I am currently taking my final courses for an English Literature Honours degree at UBC, where I am also teaching English writing, taking a course on food & travel writing and doing some freelance photography. I write about lifestyle & inspiration on a lifestyle & inspiration blog and will be a weekly guest writer for a yoga lifestyle blog. I am in the process of designing a website with my photography portfolio and hope to complete it soon. Last year, my husband and I lived and traveled in Europe for twelve months and are eager to return for more travel quite soon!”

Is there a certain food or dish that reminds you of home? My mom’s perfect chocolate chip cookies.

What is the ideal Robyn meal? I adore crab cakes.

Are you a ‘cook at home’ or ‘find the newest hotspot in town’ type person? Both. My husband and I love to cook together and it’s one of our favourite ways to spend time together. Our little kitchen is the most loved room in our apartment. We also love to experience the tastes of the city - whether casual Asian food in take-out boxes, the perfect latte from an eclectic little cafe or an elegant many-course meal at one of the finest restaurants - we love it.

What are you having for dinner tonight? A meal inspired by a documentary on casual Vietnamese food: rice noodles and white fish cooked in tumeric and coconut milk, then topped with fresh dill, spring onions, bean sprouts, red chili, peanuts, lime, fish sauce and tamari, eaten with chopsticks.

Is there one food that gives you the heebie jeebies? Lentils - the texture!

White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut, Cranberry Cookies

Guest post by Shannon of Bakergirl Creations
As I write this, I can see the snow swirling up.  Isn’t that fun?  Rain seldom goes anyway but down, thanks to gravity.  But snow, with its delicate ice crystal formation goes round and round and round.  The joy in this moment is sitting here with a perfect cup of tea and an incredibly tasty, fresh from the oven white chocolate macadamia nut and cranberry cookie.

In the last week I have baked more than 200 cookies.  That’s a lot.  In fact, that is three cookie exchanges worth of cookies, plus a few random batches that got made for the freezer,.  That’s right, three.  The first was hosted by Jackie, and had several foodies and food bloggers in attendance.  It was a lovely afternoon.  We only had to bring two dozen, and then took two or three from each person there, leaving with two dozen new cookies.  There I made espresso, chocolate dipped shortbread snowflake cookies.  Then there was my book club cookie exchange, this one required six dozen cookies.  The twist with this cookie exchange was really it was a “goodie” exchange so I made chocolate dipped almond clusters – a take on Almond Roca.  Finally, the cookies for this post came from a work cookie exchange – now that’s a lot of cookies.

The base of this cookie is from Dorie Greenspan’s, Baking from My Home to Yours.  I like the texture, but like to mix up the additions: chocolate, nut and other goodie options.  I’ve made it with Toblerone chunks, Smarties and now white chocolate, macadamia nuts and cranberries.  While white chocolate and macadamia nut is not new, I thought adding the cranberries would be a nice festive touch.
These are a breeze to make.  The key, as in for most cookies is to make sure the butter really is at room temperature.  If not, it’s really hard to really fluff or whip up the butter.

Ingredients

2 cups AP flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

2/3 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped white chocolate

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F
Sift together flour, salt and baking soda into bowl.
In a stand mixer, whisk butter for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add sugars and whisk for 2 minutes until fully incorporated.  Add vanilla and eggs, one at time, beating for one minute after each is added to thoroughly incorporate.  Be sure to scrape down the sides, so all that goodness gets mixed in as well.
Add dry ingredients in three stages.  Do not over mix.  Then fold in cranberries, nuts and chocolate.
Using a melon baller, mine is about 1 ½ Tbsp, scoop batter onto a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are turning golden and the center is no longer doughy.  Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes to cool and get a little more solid.  Place on cookie rack to fully cool.
Makes about 45 cookies.

Luxurious dining, the best black truffle pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life, and a spectacular view is truly what you get from MARKET by Jean-Georges at the Shangri-la Hotel in downtown Vancouver. I photographed one of Justin Tisdall’s cocktails, and five dishes prepared by Executive Chef David Foot and his team for their general restaurant promotion & advertising use, as well as for a trio of breakfast, lunch and dinner images that are hanging on a banner at the Alberni Street entrance to the restaurant (below).

view of the Alberni Street entrance to MARKET

The goal of these images was simply put: up close and personal. No props, white plates & linens, make it all about the food! Here are a few of the images to get your tastebuds going…and do stop by for the black truffle pizza, I’m not even exaggerating the tiniest bit, it’s heavenly.

*Update: as of January 2nd this workshop has reached capacity. Please do send me an email if you’d like to be put on the email list for the March workshop on Food Photography & Styling!

We’re doing another one! For those of you that couldn’t make it to the December 5th food photography workshop for food bloggers, you’ve got another chance!

Food & Beverage Photography 101: A Workshop for Food Bloggers! (and other creative types!)

11am-1pm, Saturday January 9th at Irashai Grill in Vancouver, BC

Why is this a perfect workshop for food bloggers?

I continually get asked how to shoot better in restaurants with low lighting, or at home in natural light, and without spending wads of cash on equipment. That is exactly what this workshop is all about:  simple and affordable solutions that will improve your photographs.

Not a food blogger? But love shooting your kitchen creations and want to learn a few techniques? That’s ok - you’re more than welcome too!

To Register

Email Jackie with ‘Register me for Food Photo 101 Workshop‘ in the subject line. I will send you some info immediately, as well as a PayPal link to confirm your spot.

The Details

• Saturday January 9th at Irashai Grill located at 1368 West Pender Street, Vancouver BC

• Workshop is 11am-1pm, followed by Q&A with Jackie over lunch from 1pm - 2pm *cost of lunch not included; lunch prices range from $9-$18

• Guaranteed 1-on-1 time for every student

• I will teach you step-by-step how to set-up your shots using some specific food & beverage examples, while using your camera’s manual settings

• We will shoot in a variety of set-ups including natural light, restaurant lighting, and a commonly used softbox lighting setup

• I will be sending out some refresher notes before-hand, and some workshop notes for you to take away from the session

• Cost for the workshop is $45 (gst included) and  there are only 10 spots available = the most personal attention from me

• All you are required to bring is your camera, it’s manual, a tripod and your appetite!

© 2009 Danno

Check out The Well Tempered Chocolatier, Bakergirl Creations, Chef Luisa, other ladies and myself on ‘The Express: Holiday Edition’!

Recipes below!

(*embedded video to come as soon as I can get my hands on it…)

Recipes (click to download PDF):

Alfajores and Chocolate Crackles (from Chef Luisa)

Espresso Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Snowflake Cookies (as shown in photo above; recipe from Bakergirl Creations)

Holiday Oat Bars (recipe from Robyn)

Almond Crescents and Cinnamon Pinwheel Cookies (from Sheri)

Brown Sugar Shotbread Fingers (from Louise)

Homemade Oreo Cookies (from Jackie)

It’s always amazing to me how fast 2 hours goes by when I’m in a room full of foodies. Add cameras to the mix, and the little ‘ah ha!’ moments start coming out. I love it.

What I don’t love is the end of the 2 hours coming on so fast I don’t have time to take any video with my Flip…though some might argue what I did have time to catch was the best part: dessert!

We were lucky enough to be hosted at Campagnolo for the workshop, my local watering hole, and it just happened to be their 1 year anniversary that day. Happy Anniversary Campagnolo! Thanks again for everything! Most of us stayed after the workshop for lunch which included crispy ceci (fried chickpeas with mint & a touch of chili spice), and some delicious traditional Italian-style sandwiches.

Thank you also to all the fabulous foodies and food bloggers who attended (and be sure to check out their blogs!):

Eagranie from The Well Tempered Chocolatier

Shannon from Bakergirl Creations

Cassandra from Good Life Vancouver

Ben & Suanne from ChowTimes

Nolwenn from ABC Cooking

Liz from Bits n Bites

Oana from Ian and Oana *also see Oana’s post on the workshop here!

and last but not least - Brenda! (aka @mightyvanilla)

The next workshop is set for Saturday January 9th, 2010..details coming later this week, and email me if you’d like to reserve a spot! As of today there at 6 spots remaining.

I have many guilty pleasures.  One of which is fluff TV.  I love a quiet Saturday afternoon at home with a big cup of tea, snuggled in blanket and watching a whole lotta Slice and Food TV.  Project Runway, The Real Housewives of …(insert American City), Top Chef or (and here is where I am really guilty of crap TV) any of the Tori and Dean shows.  I don’t know why it is I like these two.  Maybe it is because I grew up watching 90210, so I have a small affinity with Tori Spelling.  Truthfully though I never really loved Donna Martin on the show… but now, I enjoy watching her over the top party planning, ridiculously dramatic in love relationship with Dean and her love affair with her two kids.
A few weeks back a colleague asked me to do her a favour and bring Red Velvet cupcakes into work for a staff retreat.  I had never made them but was more than happy to take a stab at them!  In fact, I knew exactly what recipe I wanted to try: Tori’s recipe from one of their shows.  I know, really, what was I thinking?  I mean, I could have chosen one of any number of outstanding options from a real chefs/bakers or of course fantastic bloggers.  But no, I felt the need to try a totally random recipe, one that I couldn’t guarantee would taste very good, nor would I test them before feeding them to my colleagues.

So here they are…and they were great.  I only used half the amount of food colouring, otherwise it would have been 4 of those little mini bottles - how crazy is that?  They were a little brown on the outside,  as you can tell from the photo, but once you crack them open, they were bright red…just like they were meant to be.  The kicker, as always in my opinion… the cream cheese icing. Yum!  I thought they were wonderfully festive.  You could top with red and green sprinkles and voila, a great Christmas treat.

© 2009 Bakergirl Creations

Cupcake Ingredients
5 cup all purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter softened

3  cup sugar

2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

5 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 ounces red food coloring

2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon white vinegar

4 ounces water

Cream Cheese Frosting
1  (8oz) package cream cheese

1/2  cup unsalted butter

2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Pre heat oven to 350
Grease 12 cupcake cups or line with paper liners
Cream softened butter and sugar together till fluffy
Add eggs and blend well
In separate small bowl combine cocoa and food coloring and stir. Once you have thick paste then add to mixture.
Sift salt and flour together into mixture
Add vanilla, buttermilk, and water to mixture
In separate small bowl combine vinegar and baking soda. Fold into cake mixture
Pour mixture into cupcake cups.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a wood toothpick inserted into middle of cupcake comes out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto rack and let finish cooling.

Frosting
Blend together cream cheese softened and butter softened.
Add powder sugar and vanilla extract
Blend till smooth