Hope your holiday was well, Hive. I myself don’t celebrate Christmas anymore but my son does, so this morning he opened a new Jackson Kelly guitar and then we went for the first showing of Nosferatu at Alamo Drafthouse. Years ago I took him to see a screening of the original F.W. Murnau film from 1922 so he already had the context he needed. Interesting reimagining and way sexier than the original — but Orlok’s mustache?! Are you kidding me? The entire film I couldn’t stop thinking that he looked like Lemmy Kilmister, whose birthday also happened to be today so maybe it was appropriate. All the Muslim owned businesses were opened today so I spent the evening at Qamaria then took another pass on my beech mushroom Japanese stick wings recipe. It’s almost perfected!
Food has been big part of my life in a post dark pinup career. I have an Islamic fashion event coming up in the spring with two sisters here in the Twin Cities. A million years ago I used to do an event here called NOIR. This’ll be similar, but by and large what’s paying the bills right now is local businesses hiring me to photography or shoot video of their most popular items and then get them social media ready. Qamaria, The Golden Nuts, Holy Land and JJ Fish and Chicken have been regular clients for the last couple of months and the experience I’ve gotten from these jobs has brought me around to something I’ve always wanted to do for myself — a vegan cook book! I have several that I’ve been coming back to and it’s inspiring me to do my own. Maybe a 2025 ambition.
I recently did a cream of asparagus soup that turned out exceptionally well. My friend Saba had a cold so I made enough to drop off at her place and while I was there, I asked if I could use her sunroom in the back of the house to photograph the dish as a test for more produced food photo shoots for the cook book. It actually went way better than I expected! The presentation looked great and even though the rest of the room was messy, the space we were working in and the afternoon sun brought a richness to the bowl and accentuated the plating. I only shot about 30 images and knew I got it, then we sat and crushed the remaining soup and toasted some fresh sourdough bread.
This week, I’m planning on shooting several more dishes — all vegan. A Massaman curry that I’ve made several times in the past, an acorn squash soup that I’ve made twice so far but haven’t photographed professionally, and the beech mushroom Japanese sticky wings. This’ll be a long project. I’m not trying to put pressure on myself. I’m passionate about vegan food and I love to cook so I’m just going to start planning with enough time to shoot once it’s ready. I’ll be sharing the recipes and photos here on Hive as they’re completed and in a year or two, maybe I’ll have enough for a book. Thanks for reading and staying with me as the subject matter of my posts has shifted so dramatically.
