Food

I was really craving some beef stew, but was out of red cooking wine. I searched the internet and found a recipe for beef stew that instead of the normal red wine, called for using blackberry wine, which I have plenty of, since I made some myself. I took my old tried and true beef stew recipe and used parts of the blackberry wine recipe and commingled them together to get one new recipe. I have to say, it turned out dee-licious! I'll be using this recipe from now on, that's for sure!

Marshmallows are best when you let them get burned slightly.

This recipe uses a burgundy wine and turns out great.

This is the same pepper I posted before, but this is the original version taken on film. The other one was just the digital version I took to find out what settings to use. Also, I altered the color of the other one so it would look different than the film version when I finished the roll and posted it. The above is the pepper's true color. Shot on black velvet. Camera: Minolta XD11 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm F/1.2 Film: Kodak Gold 100 speed 35mm film Shooting program: Manual Aperture: F/16 Exposure length: "B" approx. 5 secs. Date: October 19th, 2012, 11.40 p.m. Location: Dining Room Table, Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Fall 2012 13j

I bought this pepper because it looked so photogenic. Setup: The pepper was positioned on black velvet and one off-camera flash triggered manually from the left. On the right side of the pepper, I had a white reflector to bounce a little light to the dark side of the pepper. (Sounds like a Pink Floyd record....) The camera was securely mounted on a tripod and the exposure lasted for 15 seconds. Camera: Sony Alpha a230 dslr Focal length: 50mm ISO: 100 Exposure program: Manual Aperture: f/36 Shutter speed: 15 secs. Date: October 19th, 2012, 11.54.38 p.m. Location: Dining Room Table, Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A.

A variation of my Pepper No. 3. Instead of being lit from above, this time it was placed in a darkened room and the light was filtered in from the distant left and right. Shot on black velvet. Camera: Minolta X-370 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 (shot @ 100 ISO) Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/16 Shutter Speed: "B" (bulb) 3 minutes Date: October 31st, 2018, 11.19 a.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes at approx. 100 degrees Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Minolta X-370 Vista+400 Fall Tree 2018 22pf

This pepper looked photogenic lying there in the produce section, so I bought it and brought it home to memorialize in a picture. I also shot it on film. This was lit from above and shot at f/36 for 25 seconds, @100 ISO. I also used two white reflecting cards to cast light on the front and sides of the pepper.

Another pepper in my series. Camera: Minolta XG-SE Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @ 70mm 1:5 macro Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 (expired 06/2015) Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/22 Shutter Speed: "B" (bulb) 5 seconds Date: October 8th, 2020, 10.22 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 5 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Minolta XG-SE Fuji Acros 100 Fountains 2020 36ff

Another shot of a bell pepper. This was a variation of the fourth pepper I used as a model. Camera: Minolta SRT-201 Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Kodak Gold 100 (expired 08/2003, shot @ 25 ISO) Aperture: f/22 Shutter Speed: "B" (bulb) 60 seconds Date: October 13th, 2020, 3.30 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Minolta SRT201 Gold 100 Fall Tree 2020 04if

I went out and checked my strawberry plants this evening and, lo and behold, there were some ready to pick. I think I'll get some of those little round cakes tomorrow and have them tomorrow night for dessert. Fresh is always better! Taken with my little Samsung L100 point and shoot digital camera.

One final shot on the roll so I could develop it. A little snack I had consisting of a bologna sandwich and a pickle. Camera: Sears TLS (Mk II, made in 1967) Lens: Auto Sears 50mm F/1.7, M42 screw mount Film: FujiFilm Neopan Acros 100 black and white 35mm Shooting program: Manual (no battery) Shutter speed: "B" 2 secs. Aperture: F/16 Date: June 20th, 2015, 10.26 p.m. Place: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals at 68 degrees: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 30 secs. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 8 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Sears Acros 37df

Ice cream with chocolate syrup and a cherry on top makes it a sundae, right? Well, whatever it's nomenclature, it tasted good. Camera: Pentax K1000 Lens: SMC Pentax-A 28mm, f2.8 wide angle lens Tele-converter: Sears 2x Tele-Converter Film: Kodak Tri-X, B&W 400 ISO Aperture: F/22 Shutter speed: "B" 10 secs. Date: May 8th, 2014, 11.48 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing process, chemicals were at 68 degrees: Ilford ID11 developer: 7 mins. Ilford Ilfostop stop bath: 1 min. Ilford Hypam fixer: 7 mins. Water wash: 4 mins. Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 min. Pentax Tri-X TSC 24gf

A chocolate lover's delight! This is chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, double chocolate chip cookie crumbles and chocolate M&M's with a couple cherries on top.

To quote Perry Como.... Photographed on August 5th, 2015 with my Sony SLT-a77v DSLR. The hot dogs were good.

Doesn't this make you thirsty? Taken on August 3rd, 2015 with my Sony SLT-a77v DSLR.

These are just some of the sugar cookies I've made this year for Christmas. By the time of this picture, my table was getting covered up, so I had to put the rest of the cookies on cookie sheets to dry after icing them. I guess it's that time of year when you get busy, but I've been running and baking and haven't had time for much else. Why, I've already made some Chex Mix, almond bark pretzels, 5 batches of Rice Krispy Candy, 294 peanut butter balls, 4 batches of chocolate fudge and 3 batches of peanut butter fudge. I also coated some of the Rice Krispy candy with chocolate almond bark. Man, I've been busy baking, but it's worth it. I give out goodie baskets to my family and friends, so I have to make lots of treats.

I came across this older picture taken on July 17th, 2008 and thought, "Man, those look good!" So I thought I ought to post it.