And the winner is…

This post of course refers to my contest from a couple of weeks ago: Blueberries on The Ceiling.  I asked you all to tell the stories of your most hilarious kitchen mishaps, and you delivered!  It was really hard to pick just one winner, so I didn’t!  I picked two.  

Hold your breath… the winners are ………………………………………………………………………………..

Jackie from Always a Northerner and Ronica from Tales of a Kansas Girl!!

Both of these stories were amazing.  Jackie wrote about a little bit of a misundersanding involving garlic that (I like to think) may have been the experience that sparked her relationship with the man who is now her fiance.  Ronica also wrote about a misunderstanding… in which she accidentaly used 3/4 of a CUP of baking soda in a cookie recipe!! (disclaimer: she was just a kid!)

So… I’ll be sending both of you a copy of one of my favorite food related books: Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (whew!)  by Bill Buford.

Congratulations!

 

And here’s the roundup:

From Adventures in Shaw: Lessons Learned While Making an Opera Cake

From Jackie at Always a Northerner: The Great Garlic Disaster

From Deeba at Passionate about Baking: Floating Macarons

From Britni at Playful Professional: Cringe-Worthy Crockpot Creation

From Ronica at Tales of a Kansas Girl: Want to Borrow My Cookie Recipe?

From Maninas at Food Matters: How to Grill a Food Processor

From Kelly at City Mouse-Country Mouse: Thanksgiving Gone Wrong

From Cathy at Aficionado: Canape Function Gone Wrong

From Smita at Smita Serves You Right: Cooking Light-er

 

Thanks to everyone who particpated!

Event: Make Martha Cringe! (Good food behaving badly)

(scroll down for event rules)

Let’s talk for a second about the current state of food photography. These days, it’s all about natural beauty. We want to see food glow, basking in just the right amount of gorgeous natural light. We want to see just how fresh and green that spinach is (maybe it was just picked- maybe there’s a second bunch of greens in the background of the shot with the dirt from the garden still gracing its roots)! We want to see how each grain of organic bhutanese red rice clings delicately to the next. I think we could all agree that the current trend in food photography is a good one.

Now… here’s the deal. Yes, we can make our food look gorgeous, fresh, and vibrant. It’s a challenge. It’s fun. We love it. But sometimes it’s just so… pristine. I don’t know about all of you, but every now and then I just get an itch to rebel and make my food look really, really tacky. Maybe it’s just me, but with so much “pretty” food around I think it might be pretty satisfying to see some food looking outlandishly kitschy and garish. Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time, anyone remember the 70’s? Lookin good!

I really love the “garni” on the plate in the back. Classy, no?

Sexy! (I believe these are called “Tomato Wheels”)

So let’s do it. Let’s put our skills to good (or bad) use and revive gratuitous food styling, at least for the purpose of this event. Now, let me make this clear… I’m not interested in bad food, or even bad photography. The food should be something that actually tastes good, and the photographic composition should be deliberate. As for the styling, go wild! Bring on the tacky lighting, fussy structuring, inappropriate props and garni, and arranging of food in compromising positions. Let’s have fun with it. Let’s break all the rules. Let’s Make Martha Cringe.

Yeah baby! (Shrimply delicious??)

Update: There is no restriction on ingredients this month.  Go crazy!

Here are the rules:

1. Prepare (or create) a recipe involving, style it to your heart’s content, and write a post including your cringe-worthy photo and the accompanying recipe. Please link back to this announcement in your post. Posts must be new, although I seriously doubt that you have any old posts that would be appropriate for this event
2. You MAY use photoshop or another editing program to alter the color/lighting of your photo.
3. E-mail me (caitlin DOT larussa AT gmail DOT com) Please make sure that Make Martha Cringe is written in the subject line.
4. In the e-mail please include:
   • the URL of your entry
   • your name, and your blog’s name
   • the name of the dish
   • your approximate location
5. The deadline for entries is Sunday, April 20, at midnight (eastern standard time). (I will post a roundup sometime the following week).

The winner (judged this time by me) will receive a mystery prize and will have the privilege of helping me judge the next round.
I can’t wait to see some really awful styling. Bring it on!

If for some reason you need some more inspiration, I’ll just leave you with this…

Good luck!