Hotpot 1

Hotpot. Vietnamese Fire Pot. Steamboat. Asian Fondue. These are just a few of the names by which this delightful culinary experience is known. There are countless variations of the basic formula found all over Asia. The recipe we use was given to us by a Hungarian who got it from a Chinese Cambodian, so it must be right.

Basically, it's a type of stew, cooked in a pot (we use an electric skillet) in the centre of the table. Each diner takes morsels from this pot and dips them in a sauce in his/her bowl. Everyone makes their own sauce according to their individual tastes.

I intend, over a series of Blog posts, to show you how we do it, including photos of the main ingredients, so that you can go to your local Asian supermarket and make your own. For today, however, I'll just post a couple of taster pictures - enjoy!

The table set for a hotpot meal. In the foreground are the sauce ingredients, a plate with three kinds of tofu, and eggs.

In the background is a bowl of bundled yam noodles, while in the foreground are beef (cut very thin, it cooks in less than a minute), green onions, and shrimps.

I should add that of all things that I have photographed, hotpot is one of the most difficult and challenging, firstly because of the "normal" difficulties of food photography, composition, lighting, etc.,

and also because I always have an irresistible urge to throw (well, put) down my camera and eat. And eat...

[Part Two]

First Prints from the Hasselblad

Well, I couldn't wait any longer - I developed the roll of Ilford Delta 400 that I ran through the SWC yesterday. There is some fogging of the film along the left side of the prints, that is present but varies considerably from frame to frame. I'd like to try to find out what's causing this - if it were firing on all cylinders, this camera would be an absolute joy.

Here's a few pics:

Our house.

Adel's beautiful courthouse.

Adel shop fronts.

The Stars and Stripes flying in a local authority machine shed.

Our prayer flags bask in the February sunshine. And look, no snow!
Yep, this is a great camera, with an amazing lens. I'd love one of these :)

No Hassle!

I got a loan of this beauty to play with - it's a Hasselblad Super Wide C, with a 38 mm f/4.5 Zeiss Biogon lens. It seems to be working OK, and it's now loaded with film, so I'm going shooting. Bye!

More Art Yarn

Maggie is making more beautiful art yarn for her Etsy shop. This one has vintage fabrics, rick-rack, thread, handspun wool, and buttons!

For more details, go to her store!

A Bowl of Yarn

Maggie and Becky are joining forces in a fabulous online giveaway next week. At stake is this collection of goodies that includes a yarn bowl, a skein of handspun yarn, a pair of wooden knitting needles, and six handcrafted ceramic buttons. They asked me to photograph the prize - here are my images:

Look out for Facebook posts from Girl With A Sword Productions and Willow Avenue Pottery for details of how to enter the draw for this cool prize!

Maggie's New Hair

Maggie's new do - powerful purple! She has done purple a few times before, but I think this is the best yet.

Thanks to Laura Hess of Roxy Seven Salon for her amazing work!

New Etsy Photos

We - that is, Maggie - decided that her products might sell better on her Etsy site if we - that is, me - took more pictures. I'm now doing five photographs for each of her handspun yarn listings, most of which will have some object (coin, wine bottle, etc.) in the image as a size reference.

Here is one of the first sets: