Still life with–oops, I ate the props

Lara Ferroni, Seattle-based publisher of [Cookbook 411](http://www.cookbook411.com/) (and Roots and Grubs reader), has started a new blog called [Still Life With](http://www.stilllifewith.com/), all about food photography. If you’ve been wondering how to improve your food photography, ride along with Lara and she will no doubt explain it all.

On the other hand, if you’ve wondered why Roots and Grubs has few photos, I can explain that. A few years ago I was writing a column for eGullet called Desperate Measures. Their policy was that every article they published required a photo or other illustration.

One of the editors was Ellen Shapiro, a very talented professional photographer. She patiently explained the basics of closeup photography to me, told me what kind of lighting to buy, and gave many hints about presentation and props. I ended up taking some pretty good pictures, such as:

Apparently I did especially well with starch.

Anyway, these days there’s just no way I’m going to haul out the lights and shoot several dozen exposures of, say, the delicious cheesy grits I made for breakfast yesterday. Sure, I could forget the lights and post photos that aren’t as good, but when it comes to pictures, I’m too much of a perfectionist to do that. And my camera has terrible low-light performance.

But maybe I’ll pick up some tips from Still Life With.

Crunch it

Iris got four new teeth this week, which is giving me hope that the end of the soft food regime is near. According to Wikipedia:

> In oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or (in the case of those of the upper jaw) eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth, evolved (and used, in most species where they remain prominent) primarily for firmly holding food in order to tear it apart, and occasionally as weapons.

Let the fun begin!

As you know, I’m a firm believer that babies and young children can and should eat the same food as adults. I call it [the first rule of baby food](https://www.rootsandgrubs.com/2006/01/12/the-first-rule-of-baby-food/). But, like any rule, there are times when it chafes. There are foods I love that a baby can’t eat, like pork chops (too chewy) or lightly stir-fried vegetables (too crunchy).

But Iris is no baby, and I’ve seen her gnaw her way through a whole apple and a huge pile of cucumbers and eat a mass of Chong Gin Hot Chicken from Seven Stars Pepper, which is equal parts crunchy, chewy, and spicy. (She ate her first apple in the store when I gave her an apple to hold, and when we got up to the cashier I realized that this was different from eating a candy bar in the store, in that you don’t have to weigh a candy bar. We got the apple free. Score!)

Last night I made corned beef and cabbage, and I didn’t let the corned beef braise long enough, so it was a little tough. Iris did not care. She ate it like she’d just survived the potato famine. So I’ve probably been too reticent about introducing crunchier, chewier, and otherwise more challenging foods. She’s outgrown the phase where, upon encountering something too crunchy for her young jaws, she would hand it to me and say, “Dada, crunch it.”

Maybe next week I’ll make Thai beef salad.

Getting loaded

My least favorite chore growing up was emptying the dishwasher. It’s still no fun.

Loading the dishwasher, however, is a treat. It’s like a puzzle. Plus, I get to sing along to my iPod while doing it. I suspect this is very entertaining, because I will sing along with equal gusto to male and female vocals, and it’s possible that my impression of Kelly Clarkson is less than entirely convincing. (I can still love “Since U Been Gone” without having my hipster doofus card revoked, right?)

Before I talk about my dishwasher loading principles, here are a few thoughts on the subject of washing up, from the late Alan Davidson in The Oxford Companion to Food:

> A better way of regarding [washing up] is as the climax of the whole cycle (gathering, preparation, cooking ,eating) and as a piece of ritual which should have engaged the attention of anthropologists and the like to a much greater extent than the questions which have tended to preoccupy them, such as whether food is boiled or roasted. The purification of the utensils has to be the final, culminating stage of any meal, the stage which in effect sets the scene for the next meal and permits life’s processes to continue.

Yep, that’s pretty much what I was thinking while loading the dishwasher last night and singing along to the debut album by Seattle pop-punkers The Lashes. Anthropologists and the like, prepare to be schooled, bearing in mind that I have a basic model of dishwasher and have been using it for less than two years. Hmm, maybe I should be schooled. Anyway, this is what I’ve learned.

##### Matthew’s Dishwasher-Newbie Hacks

1. “Top rack only” seems to have no meaning. If an item is light and likely to be blown off the bottom rack, place it partially under something heavier.

2. The drying cycle exists only to waste energy and your money. It may get your dishes dry ten minutes faster. It may also melt your plastic, if it ends up on the bottom of the dishwasher. Before you tell me to rethink the first rule, the time this happened, the piece of Gladware blew off the *top* rack.

3. Plenty of items are dishwasher-safe but dishwasher-stupid. Most pots and pans fall into this category. If something is going to steal the space of, say, five plates, and it’s not totally encrusted, wash it by hand.

4. Don’t put small bowls that could fit on the top rack on the bottom rack until the bottom rack is full. The bottom rack is the big-and-tall section. Svelte Pyrex custard dishes just make the big plates feel bad.

5. Most foodstuffs don’t need to be rinsed off particularly well before going into the dishwasher. Eggs and flour are exceptions.

6. It would be so cool to have one of those institutional dishwashers with a 90-second cycle.

7. If you’ve put in many years of hand-washing, the dishwasher will make you soft and complacent. I love being soft and complacent.

Like a little chihuahua

##### Normal Roots and Grubs office procedure

1. Go to coffeeshop.
2. Fire up weblog editor.
3. Type new post. Hit “post.”

##### Roots and Grubs office procedure, 15 March 2006

1. Go to El Diablo Coffee Company.
2. Order decaf Cafe Cubano.
3. Informed that they are out of decaf beans, order regular Cafe Cubano, which consists of a double shot of espresso over sugar. (My usual caffeine intake: one English breakfast tea per day.)
4. Fire up weblog editor.
5. Start typing new post.
6. Save as draft.
7. Start typing another new post.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until lunchtime.

Bring back the Concorde

While we were riding the bus today, Iris said, “Iris and Mama saw the Eiffel Tower.” She was referring to a model outside an antique shop near our house. I ran with this and said, “Iris, would you like to go to Paris someday and see the real Eiffel tower? We could eat beef bourguignon and oysters and crepes.” Iris enthusiastically affirmed this idea.

About fifteen minutes later, we were walking up the hill toward home and I remembered that tonight we have plans for dinner at Red Line. I said…

> **Me:** Hey, Iris, do you remember where we’re going to have dinner tonight?

> **Iris:** At Paris!