Seven Snaps! 4/14/12 - 4/20/12

Strawberries dipped in chocolate: never a bad thing. (From my friend Cheryl's lovely new cookbook Ripe. Check it out.)

Three pretty Teslas, all in a row.

This is what happens when you forget you put the loaves in the oven to rise.

Baseball in the park! The blurry focus tells you this is a nostalgic moment.

It's been a bit busy around here, therefore I got to Saturday and realized the sad lack of photos from the week. Therefore: baseball!

Scott and I took a little walk after work one night and stumbled upon this baseball game in the works. The weather was perfect — still warm from the day, but crisp with the coming night — and the players were so focused on the game. We watched a few innings and I snapped these photos as the sun went down. It felt like a moment out of time. Which, when you think about it, is really the whole point of baseball in the end.

True Brews! Behind the Scenes at the Photoshoot

Paige - Photographer Extraordinaire (with her Assistant Extraodinaire, Morgan)

The photoshoot was awesome. Cold and chilly up there in Petaluma, CA, as evidenced by all our scarves and parkas, but awesome none the less. All the photos for True Brews were shot in three days, which at first seemed like an exceedingly generous amount of time to dedicate to my wee little book. But once I saw how much styling, prepping, staging, switching, and general futzing go into each shot, I understood how three days is actually barely enough time to squeeze it all in.

Prop Table 

Esther - Props Stylist to the Stars (and obviously a joker after my own heart)

Karen - Food Styling Magician

Paige, Lisa (my editor at Ten Speed), Betsy in the background (Art Director from Ten Speed), and Esther checking out the shot.

Where the food styling happens

Setting up for a shot

Serious discussions about the cover image

Paige getting her photo mojo on.

I can't even totally explain how incredible it was to see this all come together. I've been working away at these recipes all by my lonesome for the past year, and suddenly, here were all these people who took my humble homebrews and made them look like rock stars. When we got the styling for the cover image just right and Betsy, the art director from Ten Speed, cropped it to cover-size on the computer, I actually got a little teary-eyed. You would have too. The cover is going to be beautiful.

A shout-out to all the folks who made this happen:

• Paige Green, Photographer - Your photos are stunning. Thank you for somehow telepathically receiving my vision for the book and transforming it into something even better.
• Karen Shinto, Food Stylist - Thank you for taking on the challenge of these crazy, wacky homebrews and making them shine. I'm also glad that no lambs, or yourself, were injured in the Great Watermelon Soda Geyser of 2012.
• Esther Feinman, Prop Stylist - You're a hoot! Thank you for making me laugh all day long and for so tirelessly swapping glasses for bottles for bowls — magically finding the perfect one every time. I bow down before your tableware collection.
• Lisa Westmoreland, Ten Speed Editor - Our work together has really only begun and I am already grateful for your keen eye and ability to spot (and subsequently thwart) potential problems from a mile away.
• Betsy Stromberg, Ten Speed Art Director - I know True Brews will be in good hands with you and the rest of the design crew at Ten Speed. I can't wait to see what you do with the book.

You were such a fantastic team of creative minds that I'm sad we don't get to do this all the time. But apparently some of us have manuscripts that are due in a month and can't just go frolicking about wearing pretty aprons and cracking jokes about homebrewing all day. Back to the computer cave for me.

Seven Snaps! 4/7/12 - 4/13/12

Bike parking! Oh, Portland, I love thee.

Tweeting, with pug.

A study in browns.

Properly measured cuffs are serious business.

Suburban Sunnyvale

Enter here for sushi

Behind the scenes at the True Brews photoshoot! More to come... 

Seven Snaps(x2)! 3/31/12 - 4/6/12

SO HUNGRY! Feed me. (Meow)

One more month until the book is due, folks. I can't quite believe it's been a full year since I first started getting geeky about making things like beers and wines and kombucha and put together a book proposal to give myself an excuse to make all of them. I'm feeling fairly calm about the deadline, actually. The recipes are in good shape (...ok, more or less), a good chunk of the manuscript is done, and I'm feeling eager to jump into the rest of it. Still...it will be a relief to hit "save" one last time and send it off to the publisher. Until then, nose = to the grindstone.

We took a mini-vacation to Seattle and Portland last week, hence my lack of posting last week and the bounty of Seattle and Portland pics in this week's round-up. It was a good trip and a much-needed break before diving back into work craziness. It's been almost 10 years since Scott and I moved from Portland. Crazy how little and how much it's changed since then. Love that town. Lots more pictures from this trip to share, but here are the first handful.

The requisite Space Needle picture

Near Pike's Place Market

Laughing Planet Cafe in Portland - an old favorite

Settled in at Stumptown Coffee

My friend Rick does the best pirate impression

RAWR!

More Stumptown.

Voodoo Doughnuts! Scott wanted to get a dozen. I talked him down to six (one maple bacon doughnut was harmed in the making of this picture). Counterclockwise: maple bacon, Captain Crunch (aka Oh Captain My Captain), Oreo (aka Dirt Doughnut), Mango-Filled (aka Mango Tango), and Butterfinger in the middle (aka Butterfingering)

This guy totally knew I was trying to take a picture of him. He was a good sport. His beard was magnificent.

They haven't moved the furniture at Pied Cow for at least 13 years.

Cheese-tastic gougeres in progress!

I made this! And then I drank it. (P.S. An IPA, one of my favorite recipes from the book)

This shot was an accident, but then I kinda liked it.