ROC - Garbage Plates

For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a garbage plate. Of course the food that Rochester is home to has the word garbage in the name.... typical. Generally a garbage plate for me is mac salad, home style fries, and two hamburger patties covered in a meat sauce. Of course there are some variations, i.e. hotdogs, cole slaw etc. and tons of combinations. I'm not personally a fan of condiments so hold the mustard and ketchup. The goal if a garbage plate is to mix it up and get a little bit of everything in one bite. As you can tell, it's a lot of food. A lot. It's also pretty unhealthy for you. This thing has enough calories for the rest of your life on one plate but man.. is it good. 

I'm slightly ashamed to to say this was my first whole garbage plate. It only took me 19 years until I finally mustered up the courage to eat one of these things but it was a good day. Since then I've had quite a few more from various locations all over Rochester. Not gonna lie, it's kind of hard to mess one of these up, so I haven't had a bad one yet.

Now for the impressive part. We know that I'm not a particularly healthy eater, as I've mentioned before. I had been planning on eating this garbage plate as a 19th birthday lunch date with one of my best friends. My birthday is in September. This was taken about 2 or 3 months after. Nailed it (not really). Since I knew this was the mission of the day I hadn't eaten all day. It took us both 13 minutes to clear our plates, I timed it. 

To anyone who's ever had a garbage plate before, you know how impressive this is. We were pretty proud of ourselves. And slightly grossed out, but that's besides the point.

Now a days, I try to space out my garbage plates and only eat a few per year. It's pretty incredible how much I can eat though, and these things are so great and fun to make visitors try. It's like a Rochester right of passage for all of my cousins who come to visit and for all of my friends from college who are new to the area. I've taken quite a few people to get their first garbage plate. Spreading the over indulgence all around. Yum.

ROC - Owl House

Let's just start this off by saying I'm not a particularly healthy eater and have never really gotten into any diet fads. Growing up I always ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. My parents were from Vietnam and I am a first generation American but my mom is quite odd and let us eat tons of American (junk) food growing up. Luckily for me I was a small kid with a fast metabolism and always stayed under the normal weight for my age/height leading my pediatrician believe I wasn't getting enough food. (Believe me.. I was..I really really was)

Flash to freshman year of college when one of my high school friends is back home for a visit. She suggests we eat at this place called Owl House. What she then adds is that this place has a lot of healthy vegan and vegetarian choices. I'm skeptical. I like my junk food. Carbs and starch are my friends. Pasta and some form of potatoes are a nice choice when I'm not inhaling my mountains of white rice.

We get to Owl House and she suggests we start off with the flatbread special of the day as the appetizer to split. The waitress comes out with this piece of perfection on a board, glistening with vegetables and melted cheese and I'm sold. Of course before eating, all of my friends from high school know to wait and let me take pictures before we start eating. A habit that I still have to this day. The flatbread is delicious and the rest of the meal is too. After that day Owl House became one of my favorite places to eat and I'm never let down when I go there. The health benefits are just a perk.     

PA - Lititz, Pennsylvania

I have just returned from my first trip to Pennsylvania! Seeing as it's literally the next state over it's pretty sad that it's taken me 21 years to make it there but it's finally happened! I made it! 

5 hours from Rochester to little Lititz to visit one of my dear friends, it was a solid drive I managed to make without stops either way on my own. I love driving by myself. It gives me good time to think and I feel that driving helps me appreciate landscape photography a little more. 

This amazing weekend included a lot of shopping and eating but I only managed to be inspired by my sushi the first night there from a restaurant called Mojo's.  

I feel this happens quite often. Sushi as in art from is incredible and I still have yet to stop appreciating the skill behind making sushi. My roll this time was called a Tokyo and included tempura shrimp, eel, and of course avocado (something I've been obsessed with this year). 

I actually did not enjoy sushi before college and always stuck to my classic shrimp ebi at family dinners where my cousins ordered huge sushi boats that filled the table. Now I can't resist! While I still stray from raw fish (not a fan, though I have tried giving it a chance) the fun rolls with shrimp, crab, and eel always get me. It was a wonderful start to my first trip to Pennsylvania and one that I hope to make a few more times this semester.  

Ice Box Cake

So it turns out when I was going through my archives that I failed to save digital copies of anything before fall of 2011 (before I started college at RIT). Because of this, my high school antics aren't available without extreme effort to be posted (darn?). Fun fact, I didn't get my first camera until I turned 16 (a little sony point and shoot) very exotic, I know. Photography wasn't really on my radar before then so all of my starting images were me learning about art and photography and myself as a photographer. Very amateur stuff (imagine giving a 5 year old a camera now - that's the kind of stuff I was shooting back then). 

So these images images above are I guess that start of who I am as a photographer now. My food with my DSLR just for me. 

Now for the actual images. Ice Box Cakes! Ice Box Cakes were actually the start of me baking and cooking for myself. Ironic since they require no actual cooking or baking. Tip: these are a great present to give to people or to bring to potlucks and parties. Super easy to make and delicious, though they do require some time in advance to set. All they are, are cookie wafers (like oreos minus the filling) and whipped cream. Layer them one after the other, then put the cake in the fridge for a few hours or overnight and voila! deliciousness minus all the dishes and the prep work and ingredients. Once they set, they cut just like a cake; hasn't failed on me yet. 

Freshman year of college I made at least 6 of these as presents for Christmas. They were such great hits and perfect to make in my kitchen-less dorm room! Ive tried making vanilla versions.. not as good but still not bad either. 

The Start

I'm not really the blogging type. I love writing to get my thoughts out, but blogs are commitments and I don't always have the time. 

But it's the new year. Everything is fresh and I have this space for it so it's worth a shot right? 

I already have a tumblr blog but it's been primarily for my outtakes. Assignments I've done in the past that I like but didn't quite make the cut for my website. This blog will be something different (because I just need another form of social media to occupy the non-existant free time I have)

So this is what this blog will be - a space for my photography (the snapshots and the behind the scenes) and my food (my baking, cooking, and just out in the world eating). 

I'm considering going through my archives, let's see what I've done so far....