A little sneak peak at this weekend. More to come soon!

Weekend in Maine

Sunday Sauce

March 23, 2012

One of my favorite days of the week are Sundays. Nothing beats a morning browsing the farmers market and and an afternoon cooking with friends or family before yet another work-filled week begins. After hearing such great things about D.C.’s Eastern Market, it was on my list of places to check out. Comparable to New York’s Brooklyn Flea, but with a great indoor food market as well, we explored the cute streets of Capitol Hill, shopped and stocked up on fresh food to make homemade sauce for dinner. I couldn’t have asked for better hosts, as they prepared a delicious salad, sauce and pasta all the while I had fun shooting and using their fantastic Anthropologie-inspired kitchenware. Happy Friday and don’t forget to explore your own local farmers market this weekend! x

Foccacia and fresh basil

Salad with dried cranberries, blue cheese and nuts and garlic

Eastern Market

Fresh basil and a Capitol Hill garden

Eastern Market mushrooms

Cooking up the sauce

Taste test on toasted foccacia and garlic chive cheese

Eastern Market asparagus

Short ribs and pasta

Grapes for dessert

A Day in D.C.

March 20, 2012

This past weekend I had a wonderful time visiting friends in Washington D.C. Saturday was spent partially at Clyde’s, a pub in Georgetown to cheer on my alma mater, Syracuse, in the NCAA basketball tournament and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and the other half was spent enjoying the beautiful sunshine around the neighborhood’s quaint streets. We started off the morning with delicious chive and goat cheese biscuits from Baked and Wired, followed by their best-selling cupcakes, a vanilla cake with fresh strawberries folded in the batter and finished with a swirl of pink buttercream. It’s never too early in the day for one of these! We filled our appetites in the afternoon at Clyde’s with their top recommendations– wings, Bloody Mary’s and a crab tower. Lucky for me, with the early spring temperatures, I was even able to catch a glimpse of the beautiful cherry blossoms around the city’s sites.

Chive and Goat Cheese Biscuit

Georgetown

Chive and Goat Cheese Biscuit

Baked & Wired

Best-selling strawberry cupcake

Baked & Wired

Cupcakes & the Capitol

Cherry blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial

Strawberries

An afternoon snack

Wings from Clyde's

 

Another feature story from Donna D. Read about her week of travels as she ate her way through Prague…

After 15 years of vegetarianism I decided to relinquish my duties as a plant eater and jump face first into the land of Beer and Meat – Prague. I started my journey at Lokál for some traditional Czech cuisine and made on-site beer. The interior was reminiscent of the 80’s, long wooden cafeteria benches and child-like doodles sketched onto the walls. The food and unpasteurized beer was tasty, filling, and cheap. It was the perfect spot to kick-off my 5 day meat eating and beer drinking gluttonousness adventure in Prague.

Prazdroj Beer

Homemade Bread & Wall Art

Goulash from Beef Cheeks

Prague Ham

Lokál

All You Can Eat Potato Dumplings

Saint Vitus Cathedral

Special "Talián" Sausage by the Dolejší Family, Horseradish, and Mustard

A Year in Review

November 18, 2011

A Camera in the Kitchen turns 1 tomorrow! I cannot thank you all enough for your support and enthusiasm you’ve expressed to me. It’s been such an amazing year capturing and sharing the art of dining. I’ve dug through my archives to compile some of my favorites that I think best reflects this. From tasting California’s fresh fruit while dancing at the Coachella Music Festival, to chowing down on a burger in Montana after a day of snowshoeing in the Beartooth Mountains, or grilling Wahoo from Aruba’s local fish market in celebration of a friend’s birthday. It has been such a learning experience for me, and I only hope to bring more exciting things to the site in the year to come.

Above all, I’ve learned a meal is more than just satisfying your hunger, it’s about the experience, the culture, and most importantly the people you are surrounded by. Whether grabbing take out for an evening home with the roommates, or sitting at a cafe in Reykjavik with new friends, I always make the most of the moment, and the meal, and that’s what I aim to capture here. I hope my photos inspire you to take time in your own life to appreciate the moments shared over that dish. You may get too full for that last bite of pasta, but you can never be too full of great memories.

 

 

Some of the dinner parties we've hosted-- big and small

Travels to Iceland, Montana, California, Miami, Beacon and Newport

Travels continued through New Jersey, Montana, Iceland and Brooklyn

I’ve decided to do a guest feature post once a month from my photo partner-in-crime, Donna. While she accompanied me in Iceland, and several other adventures around New York, here’s a flashback to summer time and what she has to say about City Island:

“Ever since I saw the movie, City Island, I was dying to make a trip over to this quaint little destination which is often described as a place where Cape Cod meets the Bronx. Being a Masshole expat living in NYC, I was surprised I hadn’t discovered this place sooner. So you can imagine how stoaked I was when my friend, Andrew offered to take me out on the Limerick (R.I.P his trusty Irish sailboat) for a day trip around the Long Island Sound. We enjoyed lobster brioche rolls, fries, salad and mac ‘n cheese from Aggie’s Roll, a trailer serving the best food on the Island, and finished up with chocolate ice cream for dessert from Lickety Split.”

Although the winter months are upon us, we can at least keep it on our list of things to do come Spring 2012!

Lobster brioche rolls and a side of fries from Aggie's Roll

Spinach & mushroom salad with a shallot vinaigrette

Fresh squeezed lemonade with a hint of mint

Lickety Split's chocolate icecream

Lunch in Miami

October 26, 2011

I escaped the cool weather this weekend and spent my time soaking up the rays at Miami’s beaches and rooftop pools. My friend, Victor, and wonderful host, was kind enough to prepare lunch on Saturday. My new favorite snack, fried plantains, are delicious topped with anything from goat cheese and mint, to pico de gallo and queso blanco. We also had tasty hard boiled eggs with paprika, cayenne pepper and curry powder, and he whipped up some seasoned ground turkey wraps. Certainly enough to keep us filled until dinner and give us a taste of that local Miami flair.

Fried plantains with goat cheese and mint

Plantains

Fried plantains with Pico de Gallo and Queso Blanco

Hard boiled eggs with paprika, cayenne pepper and curry powder

Onions

Cilantro

Seasoned ground turkey, goat cheese and pico de gallo wrap

Seasoned ground turkey and Queso Blanco


Bakkabrim

September 26, 2011

Last but not least from my tour of Iceland, this organic cafe in the town of Eyrarbakki might possibly be my favorite place to start your morning– or spend your afternoon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open the day we were there, but I was able to explore. The entire surroundings were so amazing, just untouched natural beauty with a small, welcoming organic cafe dropped in the midst of it all. I could have sat out on the deck all afternoon. Like taking a step out of reality, it’s as if you’re entering a children’s fort in the backyard, a place to forget about your worries, breath in some of the freshest air possible and take it all in, realizing how exhilarating and beautiful life really is. I wish so badly I could have tried one of their drinks, but as my father has always told me, “You’ve got to save something for the next time.”

Because I was so intrigued by this place, I did some research, and here’s a great article about Bakkarbrim from a very cool Icelandic website. Check it out!

Organic Cafe

The deck

The view

Hotel Ranga, one of the world’s top destinations for viewing the Aurora Borealis and Southern Iceland’s only 4 star resort, has everything you could possibly want for a relaxing stay in the countryside, not to mention an outstanding dining room and extremely friendly service from everyone. The hotel’s rustic luxury accomodations sit on wide open land overlooking the East Ranga River. Their chef prepared his modern Nordic cuisine with local ingredients of only the freshest quality, and brought out a beautiful array of dishes.  Although the weather conditions weren’t conducive to check out the Northern Lights, on the positive side, it’s just one more reason for me to start planning my return trip.

East Ranga River at the hotel

Dining room at Hotel Ranga

Smoked Puffin served with beerbread crumble and "cumberland" sauce

Hotel Ranga's Wine bar

Icelandic Cod served on a bed of nuts and local barley with whitewine sauce

Local wild salmon with sweet potato and white chocolate puree, lobster foam and local strawberries

Local wild salmon with sweet potato and white chocolate puree, lobster foam and local strawberries

The hotel's porch

The best chocolate cake dessert

Icelandic Mountain lamb and lobster combo with potato terrine and blueberry demiglaze

Icelandic mountain lamb and lobster combo with potato terrine and blueberry demiglaze

International Suites

Picnic at the Falls

September 16, 2011

You don’t feel much more freedom than driving along the wide open roads of South Iceland’s countryside. Passing through one of the few small towns, consisting of a mere two or three buildings, we stumbled upon a farmers market that had fresh pastries, veggies and homemade breads. Perfect for an afternoon picnic at at the foot of the waterfalls. With limited supplies it was more of a random food sampling than lunch menu, but you don’t need much to satisfy your tastebuds with that kind of scenery. Fueled up we were ready to explore the glaciers.

Happy Friday!

Kleinur, Iceland's answer to doughnuts and Kryddbraud, their answer to a cinnamon spice bread

Traditional Icelandic flatbread with fresh tomatoes from the market

Skogafoss

Pizza-style pastry

Cinnamon glazed pastry