@ElendilTheTall I'm writing up the torta recipe first. I was out of coffee filters so I ran to the store and while I was there I saw a new Mezzetta product. Well shit. Jalapeno with mexican-style cheese. It must be brand new, it's not even on their website yet. They might like a contest winner to use their very newest product, so one more time with feeling!
So, i might as well do it right if I'm going to do it at all, I still have all the ingredients. I have an idea that might make getting the oil on the bread easier, so Ill try that. Consider those jars, the dark blue tableloth and eggshell plates with a blue border. What color water should I try first in the jars?
I have such a tendency to want to explain every little thing and to give way too many options. It's a damn sandwich recipe! They're gunna do it the way they want anyway!
I'm 86ing the vegetarian one. The flavor is good, but yesterday they broke apart. I figured leaving the batter overnight would help, but it has just made matters worse. I've got a better shot getting the Chinese one ready to go.
Yep...I can enter it next year after I figure out the problem The taste is great.
The problem with the Chinese one is lack of Mezzetta products (even though I used a whole jar of their Teriyaki. I need to come up with good ways to garnish the pork bun using at least 3 preferably 4 products. One thing I an doing right now is dicing up some giardiniera and sauteing it in some sesame oil.
:) Well, I might be able to offer interesting diversion :) It's getting light, so I'll make the damn torta one last time...even with the similar recipe I found, I think that's by far and away the most likely to win. I'll try to get the pita photographed too. Hopefully by then, I'll be less clueless for the pork bun.
@Jolenealaska oh, you are still working towards that competition? You seem very enthusiastic and fully surfing the wave, just from the last half page of transcript
I'll keep my fingers locked for you, is there something more substantial I can help with?
I hope you are allowed to show them to us before you enter them in the contest. If they have to stay "unpublished", I'd like to see them afterwards, at least
@Jolenealaska I don't think I can be online 11 hours from now, it will be 6 AM for me. But in the next 3.5 hours, the computer will stay on. Maybe one hour more.
Or are you so wired up that you absolutely need somebody around submission time? I guess I could get up very early and do some diss work before heading out to my job, and throw a look into the chat room now and then, if this is necessary for you.
But this slightly blue one you have here is also good. Not distracting, and has lots of contrast with the food.
In other news, operation Moth was successful, and much less yuckier than anticipated
I had expected that I will have to scrub insect secretions from the walls of the container, but everything just rolled into the trash once I upended it.
Besides, I reminded myself how much I like wearing silk just before doing it. It was a very calming thought.
@Jolenealaska I'm not so sure I follow your recipe
"Using a fork to hold back solids" - which solids? Are we making a paste, or a liquid, or what?
are you saying that the fork will be enough to hold back cumin pieces?
I hope it's understandable, I don't have my tablet here, so I couldn't write well with the mouse
the left lamp strikes parallel with the jar line and slightly from above
the one above the camera should try to catch the sandwiches but not the bottles. Don't make it too bright or too close to the sandwiches, behind your shoulder will be good. Or leave it out if you don't have a second movable lamp.
I sent you a link once, I don't know if you got it
@Jolenealaska if you can't get it all in one go, you can also try to catch the bottles perfectly without a sandwich in front of them, then do a good sandwich picture and then combine
the edges might be a bit noticeable wihtout lots of fiddling, though
but if you can light the jars like the one above, and light the sandwich separately from a second light source, you should be able to achieve it without photoshopping
@Jolenealaska the first bottle is getting really good. Maybe move the others untill they are aligned with it (which will probably require moving the plate), or follow Elendil's composition and leave only the first one in the picture.
Sorry, I keep saying "bottle", with these slender slim glass things in bottle green I have to force myself to think of them as "jars" and sometimes I forget it.
And also cropped to remove the bottom part, but this is very easy to do later.
@ElendilTheTall the green jars make it very easy to give the sandwich's white a warm, bright color in post without artificially looking tints anywhere else. A white wall will reduce contrast and may look funky if we change the color of the bread to the most appetizing shade.
You're getting there. A bit lower even will both get rid of the bottle sway and the blue "horizon" shining through just behind the Mezetta script. You can prop up the sandwich if you think there won't be enough surface area visible.
@jolene beside going close, you can just go low yourself. Squat a bit, or sit down if you have to. That way you don't get the sandwich at an angle, you get it tall and proud.
@Jolenealaska Once you hit it, it will be repeatable.
But hey, if you can't get a single great shot with the real sandwich, you can si
still make a second real sandwich.
Your recipe is for four pieces, you could cook the ingredients and assemble only one.