Foodscapes

Take a close look at this dusk scene...the pebbles and rocks are potatoes and soda bread, while the red sky at night and sea are entirely formed of strips of salmon.

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A winter landscape...Parma ham and breadsticks are fashioned into a sled which is pulled across a snow-covered road made from a selection of cold meats.

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This Italian inspired rural scene includes a lasagna cart, fields of pasta, a pine nut wall, mozzarella clouds, trees of peppers and chilies and a parmesan village.

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A forest of greens -- the road is paved with cumin, peas hang from broccoli trees and cauliflower clouds adorn the sky with bread for mountains. Broccoli Forest was one Warner's first creations while experimenting with still life shots.

Today I was shown the most amazing slideshow of images from a British based photographer name Carl Warner. His work captures all forms of food in a series of still life's. And, the coolest part about it is that everything he uses is edible!!! I was completely intrigued with what I saw and did some reading up on him and how he creates these shots. These series apparently require numerous shots. He starts by sketching out a traditional landscape scene. After the scene is completely sketched to his liking, he then introduces the food. He has to capture each scene is separate layers to prevent the food from wilting (since everything he uses is edible and fresh). After all of the scenes are captured, he uses computer technology to combine all of the scene layers into one final print. In order to capture a realistic feeling, each still life is composed on an 8x4 ft table with a foreground that is actually only about 2 ft across! Amazing!!

In his photos, Warner creates a broccoli forest, bread mountains, a cheese village, and smoked salmon seas. The success of the project has motivated Warner to plan for the images to be released in an educational book to encourage kids to eat healthier. His 'foodscapes' were partially inspired by a healthy eating campaign....I must admit...some of those pictures definitely make me hungry for veggies! :)

I have attached some of my favorite pictures above, along with descriptions that I found on the internet of the foods used in each picture. Visit his website for more information and additional photos at http://www.carlwarner.com/

The shadey blues

The Shade household (which consists of only Doug and I so far) has been feeling blue lately. I'm assuming it's the weather and the time of year that is playing a big role in our emotions. But, do you ever just feel like everything that can go wrong, will?! This past month has sent us a lot of big hurdles to jump over and has really tested our strength and love as husband and wife. We have had to deal with broken relationships, financial burdens, family issues, health concerns, work dilemmas...the list just goes on. It's sometimes hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you have so many things that just seem to pile on top of one another. Doug and I both rely very heavily on our faith and let me just tell you...that has been tested this past month too! Through it all, I have learned some very important things...
1. My faith is REALLY the only thing that I can count on that will never change or let me down, regardless of the situations that life throws our way.
2. No matter what crap we go through in life (and there will be more), Doug and I made a vow before God for better or for worse! We take that vow very seriously and I have learned that when two people are on the same page and vow to stick it out...overcoming negative circumstances can actually make you stronger rather than tear you apart!
3. I do not have it all together. I am not perfect. I will never be perfect, regardless of how badly I would like to be in life. I am not as smart as I would like to believe. I make mistakes. Often!

I keep reminding myself that I only get one shot at life. I only get one chance to live each hour! Instead of letting the crappy stuff get me down, I should be looking forward to and enjoying the good things! And...I do have a lot! I have the BEST husband anyone could ever ask for! He is strong and loving and I know that we have a bond that some people are not able to ever experience.
My 'wise beyond her years' Mother recently told me to stay positive; Spring is on it's way and it brings the hope of new life and fresh starts.
Spring can not come quickly enough!

Our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

You have to celebrate the small things in life, right? Well, Valentine's Day for us is just another excuse to have fun and celebrate our love. I know a lot of people hate this day, but, we love it! We celebrate everything else in life...why not celebrate our love?!

This Valentine's Day was very special for us. Last year we celebrated our first (and only) V-Day being Engaged and this year we are celebrating being married (way better!) :)

In the years past, we have always gone out to a fancy restaurant and splurged. This year, we decided not to go out. I think this was the first Valentine's Day in 7 years that we did not go out to dinner. We have really been trying to save money where we can and we both figured that we should enjoy the one thing that we have waited so long for...living together!

I decided I would cook up a big meal, just like it would be if we were eating out. I put together a spinach and artichoke dip appetizer (SUPER easy to make, by the way) and had a pork roast slow cooking all day. I made an apple glaze to go on top of it and it made the entire house smell amazing! I found a yummy recipe for ranch-garlic mashed potatoes and so I decided to try that as well. Since I had to work all day, I did not have enough time to get everything prepared by 7 AND make a dessert. So, we decided to have chocolate fondue for dessert. I bought a bunch of dippers (strawberries, bananas (for Doug), pound cake and marshmallows) and some chocolate. SUPER EASY and really romantic.

We have dinner every night at our kitchen table so I decided to do something different and MUCH more romantic. We have a big chest that sits in front of our couch in the living room. I took white linens and covered the table and then put a thin red linen down the center. I sprinkled flower petals in between votive candles down the red runner and dimmed the lights. And what's a romantic evening without the music playing softly in the background???

We sat on big pillows and enjoyed dinner together. It was really good (thank goodness...talk about a downer if the food didn't turn out good!) and exactly what I was hoping for. We opened a bottle of champagne that someone had given us for our wedding and we used heart shaped champagne flutes that we were given as a gift for registering at Crate&Barrel.

We agreed to only get each other cards and not to do anything for gifts. Our gift to each other was a quiet and romantic dinner together in our home. As I was getting the fondue together, Doug had put a gift at my place setting. When I saw what it was, I totally freaked out!!!! He had gotten me a Coach wallet!!!!!!!!!! I have been needing a wallet for the longest time now and have been putting everything into a little wristlet. He completely caught me off guard and got the most beautiful wallet I have ever seen!!!!!!! Yes, I really do have the best husband in all of the world!

We ended the night with chocolate fondue and went to bed early. And...I even went to bed without cleaning up the HUGE mess I made in the kitchen (which is really NOT an easy thing for me to do!). Guess there's nothing better to spoil the mood then cleaning a kitchen.

Doug and I both agreed that it was the most intimate and special Valentine's Day we have ever had!

~Have I mentioned lately how much I ADORE being married?!?!? ;)

Seattle Trip

My good friend, Justin, recently accepted a job with Microsoft and relocated to Seattle. Justin and I have been friends since 8th grade in High School and have shared a lot of memories! He was in our wedding and it has been very hard having him all the way across the Country! I went to visit him before the wedding in September, but Doug could not make it due to his work schedule. After my full report on how amazing Seattle is, Doug was itching to get out there! We were so excited when the trip was booked and I couldn't wait for Doug to see everything!!! AND, the trip could not have come at a better time! Doug and I were completely stressed out with family and work and really needed to get away. It was just a long weekend, but it was exactly what we needed to rejuvenate!

Our flight departed Philadelphia at 7:00 am on Thursday morning. We had a layover in Chicago and overall, the flight was not the greatest. We finally arrived in Seattle and met up with Justin. He was in downtown Bellvue so we got to see one of the Microsoft buildings. The views were amazing, even though it was foggy and rainy. I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be on a warm, clear day! We grabbed some starbucks (of course!) and did a little touring of bellvue. Thursday night was pretty quiet. It was amazing how tired we were. 3 hours doesn't seem like a lot to adjust to, but it really took a toll on us! We were exhausted and really had to push ourselves to stay up until 10:30, West Coast time.

The next morning, we woke up and headed up to Pikes Place Market in downtown Seattle. This is one of the biggest tourist attractions and was so cool! They had all sorts of fresh produce stands and fresh fish. It was amazing. The smells, however, were not so amazing. I guess with all of that fresh food (and fish!) you can't always keep it smelling nice. Doug was a sucker at every stand and wanted to try everything. It was really funny! The people LOVED him because he was so obliging. :) After we walked around the market, we went down this little cobblestone alley and found a wine tasting place. Since it was raining and we had some time to kill, we decided to go in. The place was so cozy and relaxing and we we tasted all sorts of wines. The lady that owned the shop was so nice and REALLY friendly! Actually, everyone was super friendly. We were saying that Seattle has the hospitality of the South but the trendiness of New York. And the food.....absolutely amazing!!! Everywhere we went, the food was to die for! I have never in my life experienced such good eats so many times in a row!

My best friend from college, Jasslynn, (who lives in Vancouver) drove down with her boyfriend to hang out for the weekend as well. We met up with them on Saturday morning and did more site-seeing. That night, we met up with some of Justin's friends from Microsoft and hung out in downtown Seattle. It was definitely a good time and great to see Justin making good friends!

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. We did take a drive up to Snoqualmie Falls to see the breathtaking waterfalls. They were gorgeous but it was so cold from the spray and the mist, we could only take it for about 10 minutes. We got a few glimpses of the mountains on our way back to Redmond. I have yet to see Seattle on a clear day where you can see all of the mountains. Maybe next time?

Monday was spent traveling. Doug and I caught our plane out of Seattle at 7:00 am (again) and had another layover in Chicago. This time the layover lasted for 4 hours. YUCK! Overall, the flight home was much more enjoyable than the flight out.

Doug and I had such a great time on our extended weekend in the West Coast. We had our 2 month anniversary while we were away and kept it pretty low key. It was so nice to be away and we both agreed that we need to take trips more often.