Eating and Clicking

Eating and taking pictures of what you’re eating: is there anything happier?  Maybe there is, but this belongs right up there in the hierarchy of feel-good moments.

So it’s a joy to be in the merry company of photo and food enthusiasts at Click, Eat and Gimick to the Max’s! A basic food photography and styling workshop.  For P1000, it’s where you learn to style and shoot your own food under a studio setting AND eat a buffet meal as well.

Rembrandt Vocalan, professional photographer, musician and owner of the Balaw-Balaw Restaurant and Art Gallery in Rizal whetted the appetite of his avid audience in more than just one level.

At first, he set up his lighting equipment to simulate the basic atmosphere in a studio.  Then he placed the now beatific Max’s fried chicken in its mouthwatering, hunger-inducing spotlight.

It was like waving a red flag.  The participants were only too happy to whip up their cameras and “eat” the chicken with their eyes.  Rhem taught them hands-on about shooting and angling techniques.  It was such fun that I couldn’t help but join in the fray.

My turn came next, which involved delving into the basics of food styling.  Food styling allows anyone armed with a camera to highlight the best angles of their food subject.  It’s the same as framing shots for people and finding the best angles for faces.  :)

Usually, people see the result of a good food photograph and not what happens behind the scenes.  So it was also fun regaling them with tales of what really happened while showing the yummy shots I’ve been privileged to have been part of.

At that point Max’s signature dishes were warmly welcomed into our function room.  Aside from even more helpings of fried chicken, there were Sinigang na Hipon (Shrimp and Vegetables cooked in Tamarind Soup Base), Kare-Kare at Bagoong (Oxtail and Vegetables stewed in Peanut Sauce and sided with salty Shrimp Paste), Daing na Bangus (Smoked Milk Fish sided with Cane Vinegar) as well as Buko Pandan (Coconut strips, Pandan-flavored gelatin and white tapioca mixed in sweet cream) for dessert.

But before we could eat all That, the challenge was to first arrange the food nicely on plates and shoot.  I really loved how everyone put their energies into it, despite the rumbling stomachs and twitching noses.  Ahem.

Then, and only then, did we have a FEAST.

To see the participants’ pictures on Facebook, click here.

 

M’s Dinner: What’s on the Menu

In my opinion, good food and great company can only be rivaled by a deluge of good food with great company.

Which is why M’s Christmas feast last night is something I really enjoyed, and would like to tell you about.

M is one of those blessed people who likes, and even more importantly, can combine entertainment, graciousness, cooking and interesting guests under one roof.   And I’m not necessarily talking about elegant affairs–this can happen over grassy university grounds, while eating street food or what-have-you.  Since she’s based in another part of the world, these gatherings are more of an annual or a bi-annual affair.

Dress code was, as usual, liberal.  That meant that one could come in PJs and still be confident of a warm welcome.  I haven’t actually seen anybody do that but the unpredictability is part of the excitement.  It also makes sense since the guests were all alumni from the same university, and it is a known adage at our campus that people dress to self-express.

I came bearing the requisite bottle to the hostess, of course.  And after getting acquainted with the rest of the pack and finding my place on the table, I wholeheartedly threw formality out of the window and dug in to the hors d’oeuvres.

Good thing conversation flowed as smoothly as the champagne we were drinking, because I was too engrossed with taking pictures and sampling the food to contribute intelligently to the discussion.

I was not too much of a plebeian though, to not notice that food was in Abundance and we were given carte blanche over the wine bottles.  I stopped counting after we consumed the fourth bottle–and we were just midway through dinner!

To be honest, my tongue that night treated the event like one big degustation.  So it was the wine that left a lasting impression on me.  But I only realized this on hindsight and did not track the sequence of the bottles that were poured on our glasses.

In general though, the dishes on the menu blended well together.  I could eat any of the canapes with the any of the main dishes or desserts (like-minded individuals that we guests are, we treated the three-course dinner as a one-course meal. LOL.)  So I knew and very much appreciated that M spent a lot of effort on this.

Oh, and let’s not forget the unbelievably FUN game we had over the gifts!  I’ll write more about that on the next post.

In the meantime, below is the menu of what we ate.  Cheers!

M’s Dinner Menu

Cocktails and Appetizer

Champagne Brut served with Canape Quattro: Tomato and Basil Bruschetta, Smoked Salmon with Capers, Cheddar with Alfalfa Sprouts and Devilled Eggs

Main Course

White Wine served with Chicken roasted in Cream Cheese and Thyme, Spinach Lasagna and Lemon Sole in Noisette Sauce

Dessert and After-Dinner Game

Dessert Wine and Merlot served with Lemon Squares, Dulce de Leche Cake, Camembert and Seedless Grapes