On and off, for years, I have been styling for USA Weekend Magazine. Pam Anderson has been their go-to girl for recipe-driven Sunday features for as long as I can remember. This year, they are changing things up a bit, and have enlisted Ellie Krieger to provide the features, twenty or so of them for 2012. All the recipes are being pulled from Ms. Krieger's book The Food You Crave. Happily for me, not all the recipes had existing images, and those that do...well, USA Weekend did not contract to publish those. Meaning, twenty opportunities for me to become familiar with a new recipe while fixing it for the camera. Twenty opportunities to create beautiful, real food for da pictures.
Coincidentally, Ms. Krieger had come into my close radar about two years ago, when I wrote a profile of her for The Food Magazine. I found her to be engaging, charming, smart and unpretentious. While her first focus derives from her outlook as a registered dietician, an ascetic she ain't. Ms. Krieger obviously gives in happily - and healthfully - to sensuality and enjoyment.
