I’m an Irish girl, not 100%, but it’s the part of me that I most identify with. And it’s the country that tops my list of ‘Must travel to before I die’ destinations. Why do I identify with being Irish so much? I think it’s my personality.

• Love a party? With friends - check.
• Raucous sense of humour (with a glass of wine) - check.
• Self-deprecating jokes? Partial check.
• Never back down from a fight? Double check.

So, when I had the pleasure a great conversation with extremely talented local Italian artist Silvia Dotto, both lovers of all things food and travel, I felt like we had much in common despite our different backgrounds. She allowed me to borrow (with great care) some beautiful, hand made clayware of hers to shoot several Italian recipes for a stock shoot; here are some of my favourites from that shoot.

As we were getting to know one another I saw some of these traits in her; clearly she was a great host and had a loud and fabulous sense of humour. We never got so far as the self-deprecating jokes, and maybe that’s where the similarities end between the Irish and the Italian, but nevertheless I greatly appreciated her trusting me with her art for the weekend.  If you’re ever in the need for gorgeous, locally crafted clayware now you know where to go.

Enjoy!

Wow, did I really just allude the title of this post to a popular and ever-so-cheesy boy band of my youth? I guess I did. Oh well, moving right along to more relevant topics of the day…

While shooting my latest photo column for Urban Diner, Value Meals Part 2, I got to meet the guys and gals at Gastowns newest diner, Deacon’s Corner. Last week I returned to shoot a few more breakfast and lunch dishes from their menu, as well as interiors, all for their website (soon to be updated).

Here’s the scoop about Deacon’s: if white linen tablecloths, condiments served up in delicate ceramic ramekins and a dash of snootiness during your breakfast is what you’re used to, get ready for a severe dose of…well, basically everything except that.  And in a good way.

The definition of what a diner should be, Deacon’s Corner is casual, screams of that good ol’ neighbourhood feel, and Tyson and his crew serve up home cooked meals that won’t leave you feeling hungry. Seriously, look at the size of that french toast breakfast plate. I was full just shooting it.

For more info, and photos coming soon, visit their website here. And head to Deacon’s next time you’re craving eggs and sausage, french toast, a burger and crispy french fries…anytime between 7am and 3pm during the week and 10am-3pm saturday and sunday.

Jack Bernard and his bar team, along with everyone else that has been working hard to get LUX at Caprice known as one of Granville Street newest and most popular hot spots since it opened this past November, must have the inside scoop. The Georgia Straight’s Golden Plate Awards aren’t being announced until their March 12 issue, but somehow Jack knows they’ve done pretty good.

In this case, pretty good translates to 1st Place - Vancouver’s Best New Restaurant Downtown and 2nd Place - Most Imaginative Cocktails. A huge congratulations everyone at LUX, you deserve it.

To see more of the food, beverage and restaurant interior photography we have shot for Lux, visit here and here.

For this dose of creative vision, we begin the week with a favorite summer treat (or, a year round treat when you live 3 blocks from Mario’s Gelato like we do): strawberry ice cream. But don’t be fooled, this is not the edible kind. Well, technically it is edible, but I don’t think it would taste very good and I’m certain it would give you a week-long stomach ache. What you’re looking at here is fake ice cream, and it’s what is used most of the time when food photographers are shooting ice cream, unless it’s an ad for the product itself, then their job gets a whole lot harder as it has to be the real thing.

Vision here was simple, and fully inspired by the vintage green glass sundae dishes: old school ice cream parlour. Back-lit with natural light was a must to highlight the top of the scoop and shine through the glass dishes, and reflectors were needed to bounce that backlight onto the front of the set-up (one large white reflector camera left, another camera right, basically forming a 90 degree angle, with my camera poking in between).  As you’ll see below, I tried out different things with the strawberry garnish and cookie props on the table surface, but settled on 2 round jelly-centered cookies with a strawberry fan for garnish.

The beauty of the fake stuff is that (a) it doesn’t melt, (b) with the right scoop it ‘barks’ better than the real thing ~ I’ll get to that in a minute, and (c) it keeps in your cupboard forever.

Here is the recipe that I use for fake ice cream:

• 1/2 cup corn syrup (such as Karo or White Lily)

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)

• lots and lots of icing sugar, at least a 1lb bag

*for colour: fruit (here I used frozen strawberries to get the little seeds in my final shot), cocoa or food colouring (just remember, a little goes a long way).

To make:  First, in a mixer or with a hand blender (or even by hand) mix your corn syrup and vegetable shortening together. Then slowly add your icing sugar in small doses and continue stirring. You’ll know you’ve added enough icing sugar when the consistency is dry and fairly stiff, but too much will make it crumbly.  You’ll know it’s just right because those cracks the scoop of ice cream gets when you scoop it out is called ‘barking’, and is key to making fake ice cream look great.  Fill the contents of your bowl into sealed ziploc bags and stash in the freezer overnight. In the morning you should have a rather hard ziploc bag of fake ice cream. Stores well in fridge. * I will also suggest a stainless steel ice cream scoop with the release lever, I like mine made by Good Grips.

Have you got a different recipe? Used something else that worked well? Leave a comment and share it with everyone.

Happy scooping!

~ j

Our travels through the city’s food world for Urban Diner continued over the past 2 weeks capturing Vancouver’s bartenders and their cocktails. Some of the tasty drinks (yes, I had to sample a few) were brand new, only to be found on cocktail programs as of this week, while others are tried and true. My editor, Paul, titled the column “The Rebirth of Cocktail Cool” and these bartenders didn’t disappoint.

above (L to R): Nick Devine (Habit Lounge), Chris Brown (Beyond Restaurant), Lori Poppe (Voya in the Loden Hotel)

above (L to R): Steve da Cruz and Justin Tisdall (Gastropod), Jordan Moore (Yew in the Four Seasons Hotel), Jim Shelton (Sanafir)

Some of the shots are above; you can see more photos and Part 1 of the column on Urban Diner here, and Part 2 here. And if you feel so inclined after trying one of the yummy beverages featured, head down to the according bar (being sure to say hello to the cocktail’s creator) and leave a comment below the column to tell everyone about it!

Happy drinking!

~ j

The Adelphia Group’s Lux at Caprice (965 Granville, beside and attached to Caprice) is now open for business! Some friends and I attended the media opening on thursday night…our recommendation is that Lux is a great place to share some plates and enjoy a few cocktails with your hip, young (and young at heart) friends. We photographed the freshly renovated interior of Lux, their good looking menu created by Chef Brett Turner and several of Bar Manager Jack’s cocktails.

Some photos are included below to entice your tastebuds….enjoy!

Also, in keeping with our promise to include vision and insight into our photoshoots, we’ll start here. As the shoot for Lux spanned more than one day, we had initially shot some of the menu items in a very simple fashion: white plate with white linen. This gave the food center focus with no visual competition, but it also lacked context. Simplicity at it’s utmost can work if you’re shooting for something that will cross medias and need to be more versatile, but after giving the overall feel of the photos more thought and agreeing that incorporating the elegant and funky restaurant interior would make the photos more sucessfully reflect the brand at hand, we were happy to shoot more frames with this in mind. The client had seen other photos that incorporated the restaurant features in with the food and beverage photos as we’ve done for many other of our restaurant clients, and asked us to shoot their food & beverage keeping this in mind. There was no shortage of elegant features to include this way, and with a shallow depth of field that suits food and beverage photography, including background interest items such as menus, cutlery & linen in some, and out of focus interiors such as one of their bold couches or stylish bar stools this was easily accomplished. The Adelphia Group wanted their photographs to reflect a luxurious and modern, sophisticated and trendy feel ~ they told us we did just that.

What do you think?

p.s A shout-out to Vancouver’s newest photographic transplant from Edmonton, Morgan, who lent her skills as Assistant to this shoot…thanks again Morgan!

~ j

Last week I had the pleasure of enjoying Christmas dinner a bit early. After I photographed it, that is. “How to Make Christmas Dinner” was the topic of the shoot, and Ginny Love was the chef. As PR for her new cookbook, Simply Love, we photographed every meal that one could make for your holiday feast and the steps to making it. And let me tell you, it was delicious! Thanks Ginny!

Visit Ginny’s website to read a bit about her cookbook, and head over to one of the many bookstores (listed on her website) to grab your copy.

ingredients for Ginny's cranberry sauce

it's almost ready...

Ginny with the whole spread!

If you keep up with Vancouver’s restaurant scene at all you may have heard of Urban Diner. It is a site that has been bringing the general public updates, events, reviews and general news in the food and beverage scene in our city for a while now. What is new about the site is it’s recent turn to providing a more diverse group of voices from the community on everything that is going on, and we’re proud to be a part of that.

We are now working for Urban Diner to provide a regular and exclusive pictorial column, and the first one has been posted today! Check out “The New Italian” here, and then check out the great restaurants we’ve shot the next time you’re craving Italian.

Enjoy!

La Buca: Angnolotti con sugo d’angnello (Green pea & mint agnolotti with braised lamb sauce)

Campagnolo (soon to open): Chilled Albacore Tuna salad with treviso and salt roasted onion

If you keep up with Vancouver’s restaurant scene at all you may have heard of Urban Diner. It is a site that has been bringing the general public updates, events, reviews and general news in the food and beverage scene in our city for a while now. What is new about the site is it’s recent turn to providing a more diverse group of voices from the community on everything that is going on, and we’re proud to be a part of that.

We are now working for Urban Diner to provide a regular and exclusive pictorial column, and the first one has been posted today! Check out “The New Italian” here, and then check out the great restaurants we’ve shot the next time you’re craving Italian.

Enjoy!

La Buca: Angnolotti con sugo d’angnello (Green pea & mint agnolotti with braised lamb sauce)

Campagnolo (soon to open): Chilled Albacore Tuna salad with treviso and salt roasted onion