August 30/31, 2014
After our excursion to Vancouver where we encountered the Kumoricon convention I came home to work on my pictures while Carla made dinner. She pulled out an oldie but a goodie: Refrigerator Pie from Good Eats years ago. You may also know this dish as quiche. Back in the day there was a saying “real men don’t eat quiche.” But as Juliet said, “that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” With bacon, leeks, eggs, and cream it tastes great regardless of its name.
We are struggling with the idea of the end of summer; heirloom tomatoes from the garden and some watermelon helped us pretend Fall isn’t just around the corner. The tomato seeds came from Chelea at work. Each spring she provides the public service of brining in dozens of seedlings of various tomato types. We scored these fantastic heirlooms and they are great. I drizzle a trace of olive oil and dash some salt and pepper on them and I’m transported.
Rating: ★★★ 3 of 5 stars. Fine for home cooking
A note on the pictures: I spent the morning experimenting with two flashes for my food pictures. I’ve struggled to capture decent food pictures. Part of the problem has been lighting so I’m trying a dual flash arrangement for that. The other issue is composition; I don’t think there is a technology solution for that – I just need to work on it.
On Sunday we had a baby shower for our niece Jessica and her daughter, Carso. Carson was early (short of 30 weeks) but is a fighter and is doing well. After helping Carla move some furniture around, I vacated the premises so she and her sisters Linda and Starr could decorate.
I haven’t been out taking enough pictures lately so decided to try to grab some train pictures. There has been a lot of discussion lately about the oil trains coming through Oregon from the upper midwest. I’ve seen pictures of them in St Helens, a small town north and west of Portland along the Columbia River. Looking at the map I figured the sun would be in the exact wrong spot for pictures but decided that I might as well take a look. My route took me over the west hills so I could skip downtown Portland. On the way, I noticed a railroad tunnel going under Cornelius Pass Road. From the look of the tracks there isn’t a lot of traffic here.
When I got to St. Helens things were quiet but I did see a pair of Portland & Western locomotives resting on a siding.
A note on the pictures. I just purchased a small Wacom Intuos Pro tablet for editing pictures and have enjoyed and been challenged by working with it. I hope you can teach an old dog new tricks.
