kitchenmage

Categories may be wonky...

Pardon the disorganization, I am in the middle of reorganizing categories - because there must be a better way than 67 choices in an alphabetical list. Sadly, Typepad got confused and now there are things with bad labels, no labels, and a headache (me, not the tags). With a bit of luck and a lot of perseverance, I should have this wrapped up by Monday morning. Cross your fingers. In the meantime, there's a search box just to the right of this post that will let you search the site. Thanks for your patience!

Food Photo Props: Cleaning Clam Shells

Every food photographer I know is on an eternal quest for good props for their photos. Over the last couple of years, I have collected a lot of dishes; some days it seems the plates multiply when I leave the room...and still I want more. You, too?

Soothing Sunset for a Stressful Week

The interwebs are burning up with chatter about Haiti and each image is more painful to look at than the last. The world, which seems so small in these days of the Internet, is suddenly both huge and tiny: the people in pain are our family, yet they are so distant that all we can do is ache...and write checks. (I recommend Doctors Without Borders via the web , or a $5 donation by texting "DOB" to 90999.)

This is not that. 

This is a momentary break. A brief moment of beauty in a high-stress week.

Breathe.

Seattle Cooks Rock Master Chef Auditions!

Master Chef is coming to the US and Seattle is ready!

Yes, Fox is bringing Gordon Ramsay's UK show, Master Chef, to the states and that means one thing: casting call! Auditions were held yesterday at Sur La Table in Kirkland and lots of people showed up. I am happy to say several Seattle cooks I follow on twitter got callbacks. Here's the list I compiled with a bit of quick sleuthing. Names link to twitter pages:

• Leslie Kelly made the transition "from critic to cook" just under a year ago when the Seattle P-I folded. She writes now at  Whining & Dining where she has tackled geoducks and gone on a moveable feast in New Orleans.
• Scott Heimendinger who celebrates the convergence of geekery and food at Seattle Food Geek  Check out this Gingerbread Eiffel Tower or a video showing how to make homemade olive oil mayonnaise.
• Linda Nicholson, whose blog Salty Seattle was a happy discovery while writing this. Look at this tempting Minted Dungeness Crab Cakes with Lemongrass Kaffir Sake Beurre Blanc or the scarily true-to-era Mad Men Birthday Draper-Style she threw just a few days before Christmas.Evvn more impressive, she does this while wrangling a baby, which is one of those "backwards and in high heels" sort of complicating factors.
• MarcSeattle who pulled off getting a callback even though his dog ate his homework.If you know Marc, you know he would be a colorful addition to the show. He doesn't blog, but if you can take seriously adult language you might check out his twitterstream . (Seriously, you have been warned.)

Round two of auditions for these folks (and others, perhaps) is today and I wish them all the best of luck. (Well, I wish Marc a smidge extra because we once had cubicles close to each other and I have a soft spot in my head heart for him.)

With another dozen or so auditions coming up, you still have time to enter the fray.Here us the complete list of Master Chef audition dates and a casting director discussing what they are looking for. If you just want to keep up with all the Master Chef news, one way to do so is by following the #masterchef tag on twitter.

Good luck to everyone who has yet to try out.

How about it: Have you or someone you know tried out for Master Chef or another reality cooking show? Would you ever? (Not me!)

Wordless Wednesday: Good timing at the grocery store

Local eggs from Two Islands Farms.