My website has been pretty food-centric lately, hasn’t it? It goes hand-in-hand with travel and culture, so it should come as no surprise that I’d like to plug a food and travel adventure series that just wrapped up its first season last night. It’s on Travel & Escape in Canada, and it’s in the process of being distributed to other countries, which means the shows on the web can only stream to a Canadian audience for now.

What’s it about? Three young chefs from Winnipeg make a journey through Southeast Asia and bring along a videocamera and microphone, learning how to cook regional dishes from the locals while teaching themselves the ins-and-outs of shooting and editing footage. (It’s not a reality show, it only became a show once the chefs completed their journey and pitched their ideas and edited footage to producers.) They toured from Indonesia to China, and the final show in the videoclip above wraps up their Chinese experience and thoughts about the whole trip.

This show is not for the squeamish: they’re eating everything the locals are eating, including duck necks, beating cobra hearts, and watching fish getting filleted while still alive. But it’s authentic and the guys learn to communicate in a variety of ways to get past the language barriers and cultural differences.

In the final minute of the video (9:00) when they’re interviewed at Pho Hung here in Toronto, they mentioned a couple of things I consider very important while travelling: keep an open mind and maintain the attitude that they are there to learn. Those two qualities beat any advice you’ll find in a guidebook, and I’m sure will serve them well in Season 2.

Check them out online, on Facebook, and Twitter:

http://www.withoutborderschefs.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chefs-Run-Wild/181185462032
http://twitter.com/chefsrunwild/

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This weekend I shoot my first unconference, which surprisingly should’ve happened a long time ago considering how much I love nerding out the commingling of art and science. But I’d only heard of this conference from a Couchsurfing friend who introduced me to the event, and the organizers of Subtle Technologies who needed a photographer.

I love shooting events, especially the ones that raise my nerd cred. Fashion shows? Meh. Give me theatre, opera, a kids’ concert, anything else before a fashion show, unless it’s centred around recycled materials or maybe space. Someone asked me once many moons ago what I’d love to do or be if I’d excelled in another area of study. My answer was I’d be a scientist. Biology, chemistry, physics — I’m fascinated by the esoteric nature of science. I just chose a different path, away from academia. It was no coincidence that at the time (January 2002) we were standing at the top of the Griffiths Observatory in Los Angeles.

But what is ArtScienceCamp?

ArtScienceCamp (#artscicamp) is an intense but informal gathering of artists, scientists, students, engineers, architects, designers, and many others. A Friday-night party is the venue for collaboratively creating a program of events to take place the next day. Everyone is encouraged to bring a crazy idea, a work in progress, or a vital topic for discussion, and to organize a session around it.

ArtScienceCamp is based on an unconference model that has taken off around the world, with events like DemoCamp, SciBarCamp, and many more. Successful Camp events bring together people who would not normally have conversations with each other, and create a space for surprising, serendipitous connections.

Friday 7:00pm – 10:00pm: planning session & party
Saturday 10:00am – 5:00pm: unconference events

ArtSciencCamp1 presentations included:

• Mass Collaboration in Science
• Scientific Imagery in Life & Art
• Design Charrette: Models for Community Art
• Rebranding Science
• Science Tarot
• Proteins Are Beautiful

This event is brought to you by Subtle Technologies and Hart House. Join the Subtle Tech mailing list to hear about our other activities.

So stay tuned for some interesting event photos — I’ve been told there will be structures created with marshmallows!

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I actually made the cookie dough on Saturday, but I’ve only been baking it in batches because I like cookies fresh out of the oven. Also, this was the first time I tried this recipe and it didn’t turn out well…

I made a double batch, and WHOA! THE GARLIC! Can you see the amount down below? A tablespoon of fresh garlic in a single batch? I followed that part a bit dubiously, doubling it for the double batch, and the garlic ended up being overpowering. I love garlic, but man, the fresh garlic was beyond pungent.

The other problem was that I skimmed the lines too quickly and read a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon of rosemary. WHOA ROSEMARY! I chopped up two tablespoons — again, rather dubiously — but didn’t check it over and the cookies had a second overwhelming flavour.

It’s not a complete loss, however. I didn’t throw the dough away because the goat cheese was expensive and I wondered if letting the dough sit for a couple of days would make a difference. It sort of did — tonight’s third and final batch wasn’t nearly the garlic-and-rosemary-fest that batch one and two were, but still, I would probably either tweak this recipe or try another before I take these cookies anywhere.

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2013380803_xmascheesecookies10.html

Makes about 40 cookies

1/2 cup (about 4 ounces) fresh goat cheese (chèvre)
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 tablespoon minced lemon zest
1 teaspoon very finely minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
1/4 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) chopped walnuts
Garnish: 2 tablespoons additional goat cheese

1. With an electric mixer, cream 1/2 cup cheese, garlic, lemon zest, rosemary, salt and pepper together in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix in well. Add the flour and mix the dough for about 30 seconds. Add the nuts and mix until ingredients are just evenly combined.
2. Divide the dough in half and shape into logs, about 6 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, twisting the ends, to help firm the dough. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or in the freezer for about 30 minutes to further firm the dough. (The dough can be kept frozen for up to one month; remove from the freezer to temper overnight in the refrigerator before slicing.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees at least 20 minutes before baking.
4. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly spray pans with cooking spray.
5. Cut the dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds and place about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Divide additional goat cheese, crumbled among cookie tops. Bake until lightly golden at the edges, about 14 to 16 minutes. Cool on the pan.

Copyright 2010 by Kathy Casey Food Studios® Liquid Kitchen™ (www.kathycasey.com)

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fortune cookie: now is the time to try something new

We ushered in the Year of the Dragon with homemade bao and other Chinese food, mini-dragons, and setting money on fire. A typical Saturday night at Marin’s

More on Chinese New Year:
http://www.herongyang.com/chinese/festivals/chinese_new_year_spring_festival.html

Food gets the limelight as per usual at Gail At Large:

tea eggs

go bao or go home

another yummy veggie dish

rice and noodles featured prominently

yeah yeah, we know okonomiyaki isn't Chinese (it's Japanese) -- we'll still eat it!

Burning money:

the burn

one way to warm up in the winter

And the aforementioned mini-dragons:

enter the mini-dragon

fierce mini-dragon

this dragon even plays the tambourine!

The photo album is best viewed as a full-screen Flickr slideshow, or you can view all in the smaller slideshow below:

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English Bay, Vancouver (Pentax K-1000 film scan)

Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.
– Michael Michalko

maintenance building - Central Park, NYC (Pentax K-1000 film scan)

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Movember – Special Announcement from Jan Keck | Red Gecko Productions on Vimeo.

Watch the second part of my video here: http://vimeo.com/34105552

Read more about why I am doing this:

http://red-gecko-productions.com/redgecko/2011/11/15/its-movember-the-month-of-the-moustache/

More videos:
http://www.red-gecko-productions.com

Music:
Nothing in the Dark (instrumental version) by Josh Woodward (http://www.joshwoodward.com)

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I watch more movies on airplanes than I do all year on the ground, and on this last trip to England I watched at least six, when I probably should’ve been sleeping.

The main reason why I prefer to fly Air Canada* is their on-board entertainment system — specifically, their movie selection. I’m pretty selective when it comes to movies, but there are always plenty for me to see, especially from the World, Canadian, Avant-Garde, Contemporary, and Franco Cinema sections. They also have Canadian short films, which I watch in-between or when I don’t have enough time to watch a feature film.

One movie that deserves a mention before I get back to editing is this Argentinian film called “Un Cuento Chino” (“A Chinese Tale” or “Chinese Takeaway” — I’ve seen both), which I enjoyed more than the film “The Help”, which I saw enroute to England.

A synopsis from the web: http://katti.me/2011/04/06/un-cuento-chino/

Check out this homemade trailer (turn on the captioning for the English subtitles, bearing in mind this is not the official, politically-correct translation!) and then see the whole film. Stick around for the credits, where you’ll see the Russian news clip of the real-life event which inspired this film. It was so funny I watched it three times just to see the reporter say, “This is the weirdest news I’ve ever reported.”

* The general public love to drub Air Canada, but since I started flying with them in 2002, when all my British Airways mileage was transferred to Air Canada after they took over Canadian Airlines (remember them?), I’ve actually had more good customer service stories than bad… like the time I was half asleep at the check-in kiosk and launched my bag down the chute WITHOUT the tags. 10,000 bags down there and they found my plain black generic-looking one and got it to the right destination.

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Movember – Special Announcement from Jan Keck | Red Gecko Productions on Vimeo.

Please support me here: http://mobro.co/redgeckoto

More videos: http://www.red-gecko-productions.com

Music: Nothing in the Dark (instrumental version)
by Josh Woodward (http://www.joshwoodward.com)

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I wish!!

The Reality

--plus other things, like training assistants.

Originally published by International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers. Full article here.

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Fight For Independence 8

I am participating in two more charity events this week, one as a photographer on Wednesday at my second round of Fight For Independence, in its eighth year of fundraising for Sick Kids Foundation (benefiting Sick Kids Hospital) and Nazareth House, a non-profit home for at risk women and infants in Toronto.

My photos from Fight For Independence 6 (2009): full-screen slideshow or at gailatlarge.net.

I’m also doing the CIBC Run For The Cure (5kms) on Sunday morning, October 2. I’m meeting the other volunteers from The Brides’ Project at 9:45, which doesn’t sound early at all except I’m shooting a wedding the day before. Ouch.

Our team page is here if you’d like to sponsor any of us: Run For The Cure 2011 – The Brides’ Project Team Page

And right after the Run For Cure, I’m driving to a farm an hour away to do an apple-picking engagement shoot! Fun! But I know I’ll pass out on Sunday night as soon as I arrive home at the end of this weekend marathon of activity.

In other fundraising news, I am ECSTATIC to report that my Terry Fox Run fundraising total was given a SUPER-GENEROUS BOOST on Friday and Saturday by two more people at The Firm to bring my latest (and final?) number to $5,000! This is incredible!

On a final note, while I am very pleased to have reached the magical number of $5,000, it is nothing compared to the story of a woman around my age in Vancouver who has a 10-year goal of raising $1,000,000 (that’s right, a million dollars) for “charities focused on education, youth and empowerment, through the power behind sport.” Sarah M. Jamieson has already reached $771,000 and has three years left to reach her goal. I find this absolutely amazing and I wish her all the best in reaching the million dollar mark in 2014! Check out her website here.

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