Pancakes! Pasta!

I think the last time I took a decent food photo (and not with my crappy iPhone cam) was way back in July. Been caught up with work and health related issues. Now that I'm part of the non-working class elite (LOL), I have all the time in the world. Sadly, being part of this non-working class elite means I was also forced to pack up all my stuff and crash in my best friend's apartment, leaving me with not much to work with. And although I want to say that these photos are a result of "that should not stop me from working with what I have" inspiration, I'm afraid it was pure boredom that drove me to finally take up the camera once again and work with what I have. Here are some food photos I took in Marvin's tiny (and by tiny, I mean no bigger than 1 sqm) kitchen, using room lights or just natural light.

(1) Cherry Pancakes

Camera: Canon IXY 920IS (IXUS 870IS)
Lighting: One fluorescent light at 8 o'clock, natural light at 3 o'clock

Instead of throwing away a package of hotcake mix I found when I was packing up, I thought it would be sweet to make some hotcakes for Marvin one Sunday morning. The shape and consistency was OK, but I still can't get that even brown you'd get at a pancake place. Just one regret for this photo. I used dried cherries which turned out looking like, uhm, shit. Literally. Haha.


(2) Queso (cheese) Ice Cream

Camera: Canon EOS Kiss Digital X
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Lighting: One fluorescent light at 8 o'clock, another at 11 o'clock


Marvin and I have been craving for Queso ice cream for days before we found one last week at a Filipino store in Kinshicho. Didn't even last 5 days, haha.


(3) Farfalle (bow-tie pasta) in Tomato Basil Sauce

Camera: Canon EOS Kiss Digital X
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Lighting: One fluorescent light at 8 o'clock, natural light at 3 o'clock


In an effort to clear Marvin's kitchen of all my kitchen junk (canned goods, packages of pasta, spices, among others), I cooked some farfalle, more commonly referred to as bow-tie pasta, and tossed in some ready made bottled tomato basil sauce. The sauce, while it didn't taste all that bad for bottled food, was severely lacking in flavor, so I added the basic salt and pepper, and some dried parsley and basil.


(4) Sunny Scramble

Camera: Canon EOS Kiss Digital X
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Lighting: One fluorescent light at 8 o'clock, natural light at 3 o'clock


Last Friday was rest day for me, so instead of going out for lunch, I just made simple scrambled and sunny side up eggs - the only things I found in Marvin's fridge. (Tsk tsk, I have to remember that I'm living with a 20-something bachelor, and 20-something bachelors NEVER have anything in their kitchen.) If you notice in the photo though that there's actually ham under the sunny side up egg. After cooking 3 eggs, I didn't have the stomach to eat just eggs, so I grabbed some ham and bread from the 7-11 just around the corner.

I was thinking at first of taking the photo directly looking down on the plate, but no matter what angle I tried, it just looked so boring, so I tried this worm's eye view angle. Doesn't look like something you'd find in any magazine, but it's interesting and fresh enough for me.


(5) Feels Like Winter

Camera: Canon EOS Kiss Digital X
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Lighting: One fluorescent light at 8 o'clock, another at 11 o'clock, natural light at 3 o'clock


Google says strawberries are in season during Spring and Summer, but here in Japan, you'd find strawberries sold almost at every corner at a cheaper price during winter. So for me, strawberries = winter. Since today feels very much like winter at 11 degrees C, I thought it would be nice to have strawberry jam on warm toast for breakfast.