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We were in Florida and came across this secluded fountain that was surrounded by beautiful tropical vegetation and flowers. This picture doesn’t do it justice but I still think it’s a nice image. I wish this was my backyard. Actually I wish my backyard was the ocean (if I could have any wish). Let’s put this view in the front yard.

I thought this photo was very surreal and it was not manipulated at all. This is the way it turned out and I thought it was a really strange. What can I say about this except that it’s a fairly disturbing image. Little innocent mousekateers with guns is always a scary thought – probably a Disney executive’s worst nightmare!

I was playing around with my camera the other night and experimenting with some low light food photography. The food turned out so good (visually and taste) that I thought it would be good post it here. This might be a start of something! I’ll copy the recipe here and my comments because this chicken was amazing. First, the salad…

Lemon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

1/4 Cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (One lemon did the job)
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk everything together. It turned out to be fairly overpowering but good so if you don’t like lemon A LOT I would cut the amount of lemon juice down a bit. At first it didn’t seem like a lot of lemon flavor and then it just hits ya.

Below is a picture of the actual dressing:

Parmesan Chicken

Prep time: 30 minutes (definitely take longer if you have time time. Chicken is always better if it’s cooked slow)

6 skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 extra-large eggs
1/4 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup OR MORE freshly grated Parmesan cheese – plus extra for serving!
Unsalted butter, good olive oil

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter OR MORE and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Note: I cooked them really slow since we had some time and they were really tender. As you can see from the picture we cooked them until the coating was nice and crusty brown.

Abby helping me cook. I learned that she likes carrots but cucumbers are “no good daddy”.

If you’re not from Cleveland, I’m sure you have not clue who Slider is. People from Cleveland love and loath this creature. He is the Cleveland Indian’s mascot and he is one of the strangest characters that you could ever think up. Once, I actually got on the internet and looked up what the hell he’s supposed to be because it’s not very clear. The Cleveland Indians aren’t really that interested in telling us what he is either. If you look on the Indian’s site you can find out that his birthdate is July 29, 1990 and that his favorite movie is Muppets Take Manhattan, but nobody wants to tell you what he is! He’s just a big, neon pink, fuzzy yellow nosed creature – a big fluffy walking carpet. What I found out is that he’s a baseball bug. It’s actually a double play on words. “Bug” was then a common nickname for someone who was considered to be crazy, erratic, or fanatical. In addition the noun form was sometimes applied to sports fans. Anyway, this photo catches a couple mini sliders in their natural habitat.

I setup a little photo studio in our basement and had a little session with my oldest son Brendan. I think he was around 4 years old at this time. It was pretty difficult to get him to perform on command which is typical for kids of his age. But after a while he got into it and I captured some really good shots that are still some of my favorites. This one shows him with his trademark sly smile that’s going to be attracting the girls in the future.