This may seem a sacrilege in the food blog world, but sometimes it’s not about the beauty of a food shot. I took most of these pictures with my iPhone and as we all know, although there are apps galore to help enhance your photos, available light is not a friend of iPhoneography.
But I’m not unhappy. There is beauty in these shots without the pixels being exactly as we’d like them to be.
Great photography is said to be about movement and feeling and while these photos may be dark and grainy, the movement is clear and I hope the feeling is as well.
What I took away from another fun night at la Casa de Fran is fun and friendship and the ability to blow off steam from a long workweek without talking about it all night.
We cooked. We ate. We listened to Fran make a valiant attempt to speak Spanish. We laughed. We cleaned up. And this makes for a great night.
Thankfully the table is large and sharing chairs with the other condo means most of us get to sit at the table while others (Mario!) stand and do a little salsa dancing while picking the bones of a rack of baby back ribs clean.
Everyone was into the meal. It was hard not to be. Everything was so good — I’m craving more ribs!
Emy was up to her chimol-making self and she added to the party with a perfectly made Michelada. I wonder if my friend Maggie from Loaded Kitchen makes these? I am going to whip up a batch at dinner when I get home from work tomorrow night and I’ll put the recipe together and let you in on this “Beer Cocktail” once I get it right.
The ribs were a big hit. We’re doing this again on Saturday to welcome our new Operations Manager and I think ribs will make a reappearance.
Vera was so kind to model her husband’s invention — the JaCo. A Jalapeño Popper Taco with Beans. No one here had ever tried the American bar food classic — a Jalapeño Popper and they were a huge hit. I was addicted to them a couple of summers ago and could not pass up the opportunity to grill a tray for the team.
We’re talking heat right here. The ribs and seeds are vehicles of fire.
Thankfully Gearling and Emy made their way to the jalapeño station and lent a hand. I am going to return from my upcoming trip to Virginia with my trusted jalapeño corer to make quick work of this chore.
You can almost feel the heat coming from the grill full of ribs and poppers. The only thing missing is that beautiful aroma of grilled food. There’s nothing still or boring about it.
And whomever owns this plate is about to dig in.
And check this out. You couldn’t stop these four women from making quick work of the dishes and the floor.
Just look at all that garbage. For just 12 people.
Somehow, I’m reminded of the iconic American painting by Grant Wood when I look at this shot. Not sure what it is about it, but I’m seeing a pitchfork in Carlos’ hand instead of a hot bottle of tobasco.
