Welcome to our new regular blog post, “Food Friday”!  Daniel and I both love to cook and we both love photography so we thought it would be fun to share that little piece of our life with you.  Today’s food post comes with a little story too.

Daniel devours books, several at a time, where I have had one book sitting on my bed-side table, half read, for about 2 years.  I would not consider myself a “reader” anymore.  I used to escape into books and waste away the hours in worlds between pages, but something happened.  I don’t know if it was the text books in college that lead to burn out or the fact that time has become a precious commodity and it doesn’t lend itself to book reading anymore. Every once in a while though I get a book in my hand that is easy to just pour through, a book that reminds me of the days when a sunny spot on my bed and the white crisp pages of a new book was all I needed to feel happy.

There have been two books like this in the last couple years, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and most recently Food Rules, both by Michael Pollan. They are not “diet” books or books about “food science” or books that are preachy in any way, shape or form.  He is just a journalist who writes in a captivating style about: where does food in the supermarket REALLY come from, the challenges the modern farmer faces, how government plays a role in the food that you get in the supermarket, the history of food and how it has changed, and how we should be eating to be healthier.  I tell you, fascinating stuff!

The long and the short of it is, I am inspired and motivated to cook new things, learn to cook with more vegetables leaving the word “bland” out of it, and really just cook MORE.  Hence, the recipe below!  It is spicy, sweet, packed full of veggies, and not short on flavor AT ALL!  Yum-EEE.

Today’s Feature: Quinoa with Moroccan Stew (with acorn squash, parsnip, sweet potato, and carrot)

A little modification of the recipe here

I love this time of day. I just love watching the sun stream in the windows and the warmth of the late day sun. I love it in a way that is not normal, for it makes me happy almost like nothing else can. I always said that if I was an animal in another life, it was a cat, not for any reason other then the fact that I just love to curl up in the afternoon sun. I want to curl up in it and let all the cares and the worries of the day melt away into that sunlight.

January has been a slow month for Sundin Photography, and although I LOVE what I do and CAN’T WAIT for the next photo shoot I have in store (I am excited beyond words for the photo shoot I have coming this weekend!), this slowness of this month has been a welcome change. It is nice to have a to-do list that is only 3 things long instead of 30. It is nice to not to use the words, “I HAVE to get this done today” about 20 times each day. It is nice to be able to stop, watch my daughter playing and really take it in, enjoy her, without constantly thinking in the back of my head of all the other things I could be doing. I love productivity. It is a little strange the way I love it. I definitely get a little spirit lift when I check something off a list. But this last week it has been different. It has been so nice to just sit back and put productivity on the shelf for a while. I know it will be there tomorrow, and that is okay with me. For today I can just sit on the couch, soak in the afternoon sun and let every other thought just melt away.

Here is a picture I took at The Wild Animal Park in San Diego on Saturday.  Something about yellow makes me smile too.

If you want to see some serious camera rigs you have to check out the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park. On any given day you will see a bunch of old dudes wearing khaki vests, Crocodile Dundee hats and hauling around enough camera gear to finance a minor-league baseball team. I can’t blame them though. The San Diego Zoo is an amazing place to take animal pictures and an excuse to have a big lens in your bag.

Ginette, Dayla, and I headed to the Wild Animal Park yesterday morning and had the place pretty much to ourselves. It was the first sunny day in a week and the animals were all out enjoying the dry weather. Here are a few pictures from our morning. Unlike people you can actually take decent pictures of animals in full sun.

For the camera nerds these were all shot with a Canon 5d and the 70-200 F4 (non-IS). I had to bump the ISO more than I prefer to in the shadier areas. Makes me want the IS lens…

Giraffes Aren't So Tall

Giraffe (I love the alternating diagnols with the palm trees)

Protecting the Nest

Lounging Cheetah

Lorikeets on a Log

Meerkats Peering at the Sun

Welcome to our new regular blog post, “Food Friday”!   Every Friday we will share a photo of a favorite food item we recently cooked.

Daniel and I both love to cook and we both love photography.  After marriage, and the onset of a SMALL kitchen, we no longer get  to cook together.  I cook sometimes, but Daniel has definitely become the main and more accomplished chef in the house.  I have taken to baking mostly.  But we both still love food.  And taking pictures.  AND taking pictures of food.

So we thought it would be fun to share that little piece of our life with you.  We often wonder if other people love to cook ridiculously fancy meals on a weeknight, or rush to the store on a “I have to make this recipe right now” whim, or just appreciate food as much as we do.  It also reveals a little of my obsession with food photography.  I love looking at good food photography and hope to get a little better at it through this fun project.  So hopefully you will enjoy this new little installment and journey with us!

Today’s Feature: Pumpkin Doughnuts We made these a little while ago, but the memory of their deliciousness lingers still!  These made our kitchen a wreck…but they were TASTE-a-RIFIC!

Try them for yourself with the recipe here

This is a Daniel post.

We went on a fun little weekend cruise to Mexico courtesy of my generous parents. I debated whether or not to bring the camera at all since it is one more thing to carry and one more thing to lose. I always regret when I don’t have it though.

Bringing the camera was almost a disaster since we actually lost it for a day. Thank God for lost and found and our honest waiter who found it.

In the interest of packing light I only brought 1 body (Canon 5d) and only 1 lens (50mm 1.8 aka the plastic fantastic aka the thrifty fifty).

It’s fun being limited to a single focal length and no flash. You are forced to be more creative with your shots and make liberal use of “foot zoom”. Here are a few of my favorite pics.

The iconic carnival exhaust pipes (I think that's what you call them)

My niece Violet staying calm amid the chaos of her maraca-wielding cousins

Dayla in the kid's pool

Glamorous cruise putt putt on the top of the ship. Here is my brother-in-law Simon (who lost to yours truly).

I think it's time Dayla gets a hair cut. She's never had one.

If you've ever cruised Carnival you know their signature is a "towel animal" created in your room each night.

I took this in full "light sucker" mode. Manual - 1/50th - ISO 1600 - 1.8 (wide open)

The lovely Ginette with downtown San Diego behind her