The day of the shoot, a massive snowstorm hit DC and shut down the city and the government. Regardless, everyone made their way to the studio for an all-day shoot—photographer Scott Suchman, food stylist Lisa Cherkasky, photo director Diane Rice, staff photographer Jeff Elkins, and me. Thanks to everyone’s dedication, the photos turned out great despite less-than-ideal circumstances. Also, hats off to illustrator Jill de Haan, whose beautiful hand-lettering provided the perfect finishing touch to make the cover really shine.
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Reach for the Stars and You May Touch the Sky
We love this universally attainable holiday. All you need is...nothing. A bit to eat, someone to love nearby or far away, yourself awake and aware. Thanks Happygiving all creatures everywhere!
Read MoreThanks Be to Be Working
A story ran in The Washington Post Express featuring restaurants open on Thanksgiving and catering to the "non-traditional" diner, Founding Farmers among them. The photo above was created for the Founding Farmers Cookbook by Renee Comet, me, Audrey Weppler, Jennifer Motruk Loy and Carolyn Robb Schimley.
Read MoreCreating Desire
A little shop talk tracking the Venn diagram of the business of food and the art of food and the business of both sparked the man's remark that what we do is "create desire." Ding ding ding ding! Gongs bonged in my head.
Read MoreCrown Me
Occasionally, on the checkerboard that is my career, I get crowned and am briefly a king, before being jumped again by the unpredictability of being a food stylist.
Read MoreA Winning Hand
So many sandwiches in all our pasts. What do we remember and can we choose? I think yes. The cards you were dealt are played, for heaven sakes. Do you remember them as winners? Color me Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Geez, yeah, every Reuben was the best Reuben ever!
Read MoreMom Made
Moms are funny. Sometimes funny good, sometimes funny peculiar and sometimes funny haha. Ask my son. He will say that a mom is about 87% funny peculiar and the remaining 13% split between haha and funny
Read MoreEye Spy Pie
Up ahead. Say right around October 1, 2013. Warren Brown's bold new book - with pie-styling by me - will be in stores this fall and you can pre-order it here. It's gonna be gorgeous.
Read MoreIt Certainly Does, Ollie.
"Respected chef-restaurateur Bob Kinkead once told me that dinner should be “a circus on the plate.” Well, that’s not quite my style — and professional food styling has been my meal ticket for 27 years. Restaurant service has lots more helping hands than when you entertain at home, I reckon. But I like to bring composed plates to the table, even for casual meals. It’s a luxury when a host says, “Let me fix you a plate.” I don’t have to worry about how much — or little — to take. A buffet’s not for me."
Read MoreShameless Self Promotion Number 1500
Around this joint we eat lots of bread and lots of noodles. My son is still a no-condiment man so his panini will be pressed plain. (How he can choke down such a dry sandwich I will never know.)
Read MoreShameless Self Promotion Number "I'll Take the 2.2 Pounder"
Nutella is the Audrey Hepburn of clients - classy in any context, smooth but not unctuous, European and effortlessly chic, sweet with depth. Color me swirly-happy to be a Nutella stylist-of-choice for now.
Read MoreBaltimore Is All That
Working with Baltimore Magazine is something I always enjoy. A lot. Amanda White-Iseli, the art director, gets me out and about in Baltimore. Into restaurants unknown to me, into the kitchens of those restaurants, and into the minds and food of the wonderful chefs who inhabit these haunts.
Read MoreThe Clean Rainbow Club
Eat the rainbow, that's what they say. Around here, so many of us have the good fortune to have a rainbow of foods available to us year round. Modern convenience and plenty of affluence keep our cold month's diet bold and bright. So different from my childhood, when cold cellar and pantry foods ruled the winter plate.
Read MoreA Pinch'll Do It
The freshly minted You Won't Believe It's Salt-Free is out and about and all yours for a shake. The styling for this book was angst-free, as it should be, and the freshness shows.
Read MoreMy Brilliant Idea
The client asked for a meringue top. Scooping the meringue, rather than spooning or piping or spreading, came to me. A small bolt of lightning for a job that is built on detail. The result gave me a huge kick.
Read MoreMe! You! Us!
Perfecting your talk, refining your essay and polishing your service until all elements of you disappear might be obvious tactics, but they remove the thing we were looking for: you.
Read MoreHallah-lujah
It's out! On the shelves. Available for your purchase.
Read MoreButter Side Up
Wendy Kantor did the writing, Erick Gibson took the picture, Illusions did my hair, I smiled and was happy to be there. Thank you, Arlington Magazine!
Read MoreFive Minutes of Fame
A PechaKucha is a twenty slide presentation done in five minutes. 20 slides = 20 seconds/slide. Practicing I tried, with little success. Generally, by the time I reached my point, the slide was long gone. Those who know me, know HOW MUCH I talk. So, as geeky as I knew it would look, I held notes and made a stab at reading as the slides whizzed by. What a laugh. Look at the slide, look at my notes, look at the audience, spout nonsense and repeat. Twenty times. What a joy. It was FUN.
Read MoreTricks AND Treats
Hurricane Sandy was oh-so-much-more than a trick. On beyond mischief, she did exquisite and irreparable damage up and down this massive coast. My best friend's business is under four feet of water and my son's good friend has half a house. Today is Halloween and Sandy has subsided. The wreckage here? One smashed gourd and a pingpong ball-sized hole in the ceiling. I feel as though we walk on water sometimes. Sandy brought into bold, living color how well life treats me more often than not. The least of my worries was trick-or-treating, but lo and behold, out goes my son tonight in perfect weather. Crystal clear and gorgeous, cold enough for his layers of...what is that costume anyway? Who knows, but he loves it, as it includes a sword.
I am very, very sad for all the loss and destruction wrought by this wet, wild storm and extremely grateful for my good fortunes. Thanksgiving is up next and my heart is ready.
Photo by Renee Comet, Recipe by Ellie Krieger, Styling by Me