EXPERIMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY-OIL SOAP & WATER

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Black Rapid Camera Strap, colored backgrounds, colored glass, Experiments in Photagraphy, Extention Tubes, Geraniums, Macro Photography, oil, Oil Soap & Water, soap, violas, water

Over the past week or so I have been experimenting with the camera, as my neck will allow me to do. One item that I came across while on photography sites was the camera strap called a Black Rapid, which puts the weight on your shoulder rather than your neck, (of which I have never liked anything pulling on my neck) so I hand hold or use the tripod. Here is what the Black Rapid looks like and how it works, makes perfect sense to me.

BLACK RAPID CAMERA STRAP

This weeks experiments did not come out as well as I had hoped, however the only way to get good at anything is to practice, practice, practice. I have all sorts of card making card stock and papers that lend themselves very well to colored backgrounds for this type of photography.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them in the same window, and brings out the minute details not seen in the smaller version

 

 

The photographs of bubbles ad reflections in bubbles were obtained by using a clear glass pie plate set about 5 inches above the paper or some cases sheet moss. glass stones and geranium and viola blossoms.

 

 

 

I decided after trying vegetable oil on water, agitated with the hand of an artist pain brush, that I did not care for the result from vegetable oil and preferred the thicker viscosity of Olive Oil instead. The bottom 7 pictures above makes me think of “The Planets” by Holst

Some pictures were taken using Dawn agitated in warm water, I will try this many more times. it is so easy to experiment many times over with this method. Best part of all is there is no film to develop!!!

 

Above photos were done using Dawn in warm water.

 

These were taken of geranium blossoms through olive oil.

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OLD FASHIONED FLAKY PIE CRUST

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Food, lard, Old Fashioned Flakey Pie Crust, Pie Dough, Vinegar, water

LARD & VINEGAR RECIPE

No matter which way you cut it when making pie dough, it takes some form of fat to make a good pie dough. You can use Lard, Butter, Shortening, all fats. However over the years the best pie dough’s and crusts with the nicest brown flakey crusts seem to come from the use of lard, with that being said the on tired and true extra ingredient is cider vinegar.

You may think that the use of an acid like vinegar in a pie crust is just some old wives tale passed down over generations, NOT SO, when you add water to flour it causes the gluten in flour to start forming, while great if you are making bread, not good if you are looking for nice flakey pie crusts. What vinegar does in a pie crust is add acid to it, this acid helps to relax the dough in combination with the lard, butter or shortening you are using which in turn slows the formation of gluten.

DO NOT OVER WORK your pie dough!! When you add the fat to the flour it should be cold, using a pastry blender and chopping down into the flour/ fat mixture just blends it enough but does now knead or work the dough, then adding the liquid you want to just mix enough to form a nice soft workable ball, the heat of your hands will quickly start breaking down the fat. this is why it is very important to wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill (if in a hurry the freezer) but watch it. so that it does not freeze, not bad for the dough, you can make it up and store in the freezer until ready to  use, however you will need to thaw it.

Please don’t feel bad if your cannot roll a pie dough into a perfect circle, I never could, however it just does not make a difference in the end product, With the scraps you have left you can make into a ball again and roll out (the end result will be tougher crust) however what we do with this is make a Poor Man’s Pie. You can even line a pie pan with the scraps instead of Rolling out., that recipe will follow also.

OLD FASHIONED FLAKEY PIE CRUST

Makes 1 double crust pie or 2 single crust pies

3 cups Flour

1 cup Shortening (my preference is LARD) should be cold

3-5 Tablespoons ICE WATER

1 Tablespoon Vinegar (we always use cider vinegar)

1/2 teaspoon Salt (added to flour )

Place flour in mixing bowl, cut in shortening with a pastry blender or if using a kitchen Aid, just pulse the mixture until it resembles meal or small grainy texture, Adding your ICE WATER, and your vinegar, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulsing mixer or using pastry blender until the dough starts to form a manageable ball. (This does not take long and the amount of water will vary) you get a feel for this after doing it for a while as to what just feels right.

When you have a nice soft ball of dough, wrap it up in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to rest. and chill. (this makes it easier to roll out.)

I pat the ball down into a circle with the palm of my hand so that it is flat on the top, then just start rolling in all directions. A pastry cloth is an invaluable accessory for this in the kitchen as well as for biscuits.

**NOTE: On the amount of Crusts you get from this recipe, if you are like us, and use the old fashioned “Country Ceramic or Stoneware” pie plates (large) then you usually can get the bottom crust  and a top crust, just pinch off a larger amount of dough for the bottom, depending on the filling that you are covering, ie. mincemeat, softer fruits you top crust can be thinner, however if covering a large apple pie and your apples are piled up then when you make the pie dough just add a bit more flour say 1/2 cup bit more lard etc. as apples are harder and sharper and you thinner top crust may tear while working with it. (Yes the voice of experience here, been there done that)

Hot Fudge Sauce–Can Freeze

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butter, Can Freeze, Chocolate, Chocolate Sauce, cornstarch, Dark Chocolate, Desserts, Food, French Vanilla, homemade, Hot Fudge Sauce, Hot Fudge Sundae, Ice Cream, salt., Semi-Sweet Chocolate, sugar, Sundae, Unsweetened Chocolate, Vanilla, Vanilla Ice Cream, water

Do you ever get in the mood for things you should not have?, For instance a nice bowl of vanilla ice cream (my favorite is French Vanilla) with luscious Hot Fudge Sauce gracefully flowing down over the scoops of ice cream? What a treat on these hot days of summer!

Well I have to tell you I do, however over the years since all the fat free craze has simply ruined the ice cream topping that you can buy in the stores. I know my favorite of the past was Evans brand Butterscotch, that was back in the day when they actually used butter in their sauces, I do believe those days are gone forever now. I have not bought store bought in years.

Now this recipe my mother and grandmother made and it is their recipe, the wonderful thing about this is that it contains no milk, and you can make a large batch and freeze it if you wish. (we always made a large batch and froze it)

Also a note here, my mother loved it with semi-sweet  chocolate, I have made it that way, as well as 1/2 semi-sweet and 1/2 unsweetened, I have also made it with Dark chocolate, this is a recipe that you can experiment with the ingredients to find what you like.

HOT FUDGE SAUCE – CAN FREEZE

2 cups Sugar

6 Tablespoons Cornstarch

4  1 ounce  Squares Chocolate

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups Boiling Water

6 Tablespoons Butter

2 teaspoon Vanilla

In a medium size sauce pan,

Mix Sugar and Cornstarch together

Add Chocolate, Salt, and Boiling Water

Cook until it thickens.

Remove from heat and add Butter, and Vanilla

This can be frozen and when ready to use thaw and heat what you want in the microwave.

 

QUICK YEAST ROLLS

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Breads, butter, buttered, Crisco, flour, Food, lard, melted, Quick Yeast Rolls, rising, Rolls, shortening, unbleached, water, white, whole wheat

So often you are not in the mood or a biscuit or toast, you just want something bread like and homemade. Quick Yeast Rolls, well are not quick like biscuits, they are not quick like frozen rolls from the store either.

This recipe can be made with all white or unbleached if you prefer, however we all need fiber in our diets and the addition of the whole wheat gives you that and still makes a nice light roll.

QUICK YEAST ROLLS

1 cup white or unbleached flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup very warm water (to dissolve yeast in)

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon yeast

1/2 tsp salt

3 tablespoons shortening (butter, lard, Crisco actually whichever you prefer) melted

Place the flour (s) in the mixing bowl, and whisk or stir with flat paddle of the Kitchen Aid to blend.

Take flat paddle off and put dough hook on.

Take very warm water (my hot tap water seems to be the correct temp) and put the sugar, and yeast in , stir to dissolve yeast, allow a few minutes to make sure the yeast is working.

Add melted shortening and salt and stir.

Add to flour, and mix on stir speed (you may need to move the flour with a spatula into the yeast mixture to help the dough hook start mixing.

Now just allow the dough hook to mix everything into a nice soft ball, then stop,

If the dough is too sticky add a bit more flour, just toss some in and mix. I do not worry too much, take the dough out of the mixer, and put into a bowl with a bit of oil or melted shortening, flip over and let rise

NOTE:(In summer if warm it may double within 20 minutes, in winter I place my covered bowl on top of the water heater. also if using a Pyrex mixing bowl you can (if the oven is on) lightly warm the bowl in the oven and put the dough in) if baking something else while making the rolls you can place the covered bowl on the stove top to rise)

Now once doubled, punch down, and pinch of small pieces perhaps golf ball size or a bit larger and with your hands stretch, fold and shape in to balls and place in a greased square or round cake pan , cover and let rise until double (this often takes 15-20 minutes depending on how warm the kitchen is,

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, place rolls in the oven, set timer for 12-15 minutes, I find that usually about 15 minutes is right, (all ovens are different so you will have to watch to see how yours does)

Remove from oven and brush tops with butter (I save butter papers for this) rub over surface to grease tops.

This looks complicated, but it is not, when you get used to doing it.

Depending on the size you choose to make the rolls you will end up with 9-12 rolls, as you can see I ended up with 13.