Dogwood 52 2019 Week 4

Besides making all the silly excuses about not having the time or such to post Week 4 of the Dogwood Challenge, finding “Warmth” proved to be rather difficult for me. I wanted to use a shot of our children and capture the right moment and to be honest, that didn’t happen until last night. I’ll post both pictures down below and you tell me which is “warm” but my official “entry” is the solo coffee cup. This is a from a little shop in Bankers Hill called James Coffee. Make sure to hit it up before Extraorindary Desserts opens up next door as it’ll still be easy to find parking and grab a seat. I wished that I took a better photo of the cup itself (apparently you can buy them for $64.95 a pop!) but alas, it was the latte art that proved to be more eye catching during that specific moment. I chose to edit it in the stock iPhoto App on my iPad Pro 9.7” (still no new iPad Pro or MacBook Pro) and used a Vivid Warm Filter along with some other tweaks in color and brightness.

📷: Week 4 Story Telling: Warmth // Tell a story that makes us feel warm inside. 

Because my wife and I mistakenly thought it was BBQ Day at our daughter’s school, we found ourselves with an open time slot for lunch and decided to stay in the area. We called up our awesome friend on our way an amazing sushi restaurant in Bankers Hill called Hane Sushi (restaurant / yelp). After a few delectable dishes and specials, I’m sorry but I don’t have the names but here are some photos below, we strolled around and found James Coffee (restaurant / yelp). There aren’t too many days that I bring the camera along, but I’m getting use to carrying it and love it so much. Check out the awesome sushi we had and oh yea, that other warm photo. 

So maybe the piano shot isn’t as “warm” but it’s still an easy favorite. Girls are indeed precious.

Dogwood 52 2019 Week 2

Here is my 2nd entry for the Dogwood 52 2019 Week 2. I have to admit that while I’m off at home, I’m consummed with taking care of the children along with house chores that the few times I am able to go out and shoot, it’s not with that much thought. Granted, this was a great morning that consisted of having breakfast with my dad at the new breakfast spot in Del Mar called Ranch 45 (website/Yelp). 

📷: Week 2: Composition: Rule of Thirds Motion // You already know what the rule of thirds is, now is the time to use it. Use Rule of Thirds to show motion in your picture.

While sitting outside enjoying the chorizo breakfast bowl with my father, I knew that the road nearby would instantly give me the chance to accomplish the motion in thirds. I imported this photo onto my iPad Pro and then edited in Snapseed. I’m not too happy with it, but being Sunday at 23:50, it’ll have to do. I hope to revisit this sometime but onto Week 3! 

Here’s a picture of my father enjoying the journey in finding the best Steak and Eggs in San Diego along with my Joby Gorillapod that I’ve been bringing along with me on this 52 week challenge. After thinking about it a little bit more as well as watching many youtube videos and querying some amazing talented photographers on twitter, I think that I’m going with the Sony - FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Wide-angle Zoom Lens (SEL1635GM).

Perfect Pasta

Love watching Gordon Ramsay make Perfect Pasta! I watch it every time I make pasta. :)

Day Sleep and Lunch with Matt →

Arriving early AM, I uploaded the last two videos from the weekend then slept hard. Matty P came over and picked me up and we headed out to Tum Thai in Rockville Center ~ 15 minutes away. Since the city is just too difficult and time consuming to get to, this was a great find. Flew to Albuquerque and back in the hotel. Short day with a full day of rest tomorrow.

Short and Sweet, Good Eats →

Meeting in the morning, checked out the new Sababa Kitchen in Del Sur which was VERY fresh! Play date at the park then naps, piano lesson and dinner brought to you by Green Chef! Good meal and all vegetarian and organic today!

49,700 Milligrams of Sodium in 10 minutes →

A Nathan's Famous Hot Dog, with the bun, has 710 milligrams of sodium. According to Goldberg, someone with heart problems should shoot for fewer than 1,500 milligrams daily, or 2,000 milligrams if you're healthier. When Chestnut trounced Kobayashi, he ate roughly 46,860 milligrams of sodium in his winning meal.

That was from his 66 hotdog championship over Kobayashi in 2007. Yesterday's new world record, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut hit 70 hotdogs in 10 minutes. Salt lick anyone?

Ballast Point Acquired for $1B by Corona / Modello →

Constellation Brands is officially entering the craft beer category, and in a big way. The Corona and Modelo maker today announced it would acquire San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing for a whopping $1 Billion.

San Diego's Craft Beer Companys are being targeted left and right to no surprise. Congratulations on the newly minted billionaire club owners. Alesmith is next I take it.

Better Than 'French Laundry' →

Watch Sean Brock introduce Anthony Bourdain to The Waffle House on Parts Unknown tonight. Here's a sneak peak.

David Chang on His Favorite Beer →

Beer snobs are the worst of the bunch. You know the old joke about cheap beer being like having sex in a canoe? I will take a beer that’s "fucking near water" every night of the week over combing out my neck beard while arguing about hop varieties.

For all the debatability of my rant here, let me make one ironclad argument for shitty beer: It pairs really well with food. All food. Think about how well champagne pairs with almost anything. Champagne is not a flavor bomb! It’s bubbly and has a little hint of acid and tannin and is cool and crisp and refreshing. Cheap beer is, no joke, the champagne of beers. And cheap beer and spicy food go together like nothing else. Think about Natty Boh and Old Bay-smothered crabs. Or Asian lagers like Orion and Singha and Tiger, which are all perfect ways to wash down your mapo tofu.

This sums up my feelings perfectly. Just a few months ago during my son's christening reception, Pacifico was flowing and it was fabulous. But to each his own as I snob just a tad on coffee and brew techniques.

Sausage and Bacon Classified as Carcinogenic →

The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams of processed meat each day -- the equivalent of two slices of ham -- can increase the risk of such cancer by 18%. However, the authors say the risks are relatively small to begin with.

The organization defines processed meat as any type of meat that is salted, cured or smoked to enhance its flavor or preserve it. Processed meat generally contains pork or beef, but may also contain poultry.

The WHO now classifies processed meat in the same category as smoking and asbestos, based on its certainty of a link with cancer, but stressed that did not mean they were equally dangerous.

Did this study include the many islanders who eat Spam or even the Europeans who eat arrays of aged meats? Once again, everything in moderation.

Drink Wine for Intellectual Taste Not Alcohol Levels →

At its core, though, the debate is about the philosophical purpose of fine wine. Should oenologists try to make beverages that are merely delicious? Or should the ideal be something more profound and intellectually stimulating? Are the best wines the equivalent of Hollywood blockbusters or art-house films? And who gets to decide?

In the early 2000s, he recalls, he drank a syrah from the Rhone Valley in France with another sommelier. Like other Rhone wines, it impressed him less with its fruit flavor than with its hints at things that couldn’t possibly be in the wine: roasted meat, freshly turned soil. He liked how the wine felt in his mouth, crisp rather than weighty, and how the wine evolved as he drank it, one sip after the next. These, he knew, were hallmarks of bottlings from the finest regions of Europe. When he wondered aloud why similar wines weren’t made in California, the other sommelier said it simply wasn’t possible.

One of the best articles that I have read on the NYTimes pertaining to the Parker influenced American palate of wines. What's your flavor? I'm all for the unique flavors of each grape harvest from a specific field but once again, at what cost?

The Bullseye on a Good Wine isn't it's Cost →

I went to a friend's dinner party and as always, personal taste and manners have always prevented me from showing up empty handed. So, off to the local wine store I went. Upon entering, lost in a sea of labels, I asked for a pair of great $25 bottles of wine thinking that sum would quanitfy my being but also provide an adequate pairing. Yea I know what you're thinking. As if I could have told you the difference between them and a $5 bottle I was just going to get taken by the owner. But, just because I couldn't taste the difference, there could have been that one wino that would have been judging / eye glaring at the labels I showed up with.

Essentitally, I didn't want to feel cheap, nor look cheap. I entered the party holding my head mid-level knowing that I went half the distance towards a good bottle and contributed to the drinks' table. Then I stumble onto this Slate article back from 2011.

There are plenty of reasons to go back to our 1990s habits, and to start using 15 bucks to buy four or five bottles instead of just one. Ernest Gallo, who, along with his brother Julio, popularized wine among the American masses, understood the psychology of wine better than anyone. He used to pour two glasses of wine for potential buyers, telling them that one sold for 5 cents, and the other for 10. According to Gallo, his guinea pigs invariably chose the more expensive option. What they didn’t know was that the two wines were exactly the same. Researchers have recently reproduced Gallo’s results, proving that our appreciation of a wine depends on how much we think it costs. If you can break yourself of this psychological quirk—or have your spouse lie to you about the cost of your wine—you’ll save a small fortune.

If hints of cassis, subtle earthiness, and jammy notes don’t interest you, you are not a lesser person. Wine is not art. There’s no reason to believe that aligning your tastes with those of a self-appointed elite will enrich your life, or make you more insightful or sensitive. If wine critics want to spend lavishly on the wine they like, that’s great. Leave them to their fun. Be grateful that you can gain just as much pleasure, if not more, without bankrupting yourself.

Hello $3 bottles!!! Now I know why my crashpad consistently stocks Charles Shaw! ^_^

Did you know your Ziploc Bag was this Complicated!

Concepts are tested with CAD models, which are used to make zipper molds on steel plates. The zipper features microscopic J-shaped grooves (“hooks”) and arrowhead-like stems that interlock. Look closely at a double zipper bag and you’ll see this line of tiny teeth on the upper row, toward the lips of the bag. Running your thumb and forefinger along the track clasps the hooks around the stems. The zipper clicks at about 50 decibels to let you know you’re doing it right. But misalignment due to your clumsiness can create gaps.

Research and Development at it's best! Who would have thunk it. (Bold is my emphasis)

via Wired