woes of a failed food stylist.

love food. can't style it for shit. my failed attempts at styling my breakfast this past weekend still sting.. a lot [see below]. blueberries proved to be especially finicky and munching on them now only serve as little blue reminders of my dream-crushing experience. the odd stares from other diners and my ridiculously awkward positioning were all for naught! i either looked like an anorexic pushing around her food and/or binge eater continuously going up for more plates... or someone whose never been taken out to a restaurant. at least my poorly styled food still tasted good and was enough to console me in the end.

self-styled.

fancy-pants continental breakfast at wall & water

see all those dishes in the top photo? that's the result of many failed plated attempts. at first, i just put whatever i wanted to eat on my plate, but that's not always picturesque as my cravings are pretty indiscriminate.. especially i'm put in front of tables full of breakfast goodies. my first plate was filled with smoked salmon, cocktail shrimp, blueberry muffin, croissant, and some orange slices. my second plate [center] was a little more cohesive but not too picturesque either. my impatient nature did not do me any favors in completing my vision. i was hungry! some five plates later, i gave up and began working on cleaning up my set (by that i mean eating all the food).

vs.

not self-styled.

farm egg at blue hill stone barns.

notice the difference in plating? i was beat by an egg!! an egg.. a very, very delicious egg. i also have photos of soup that look better than my blueberries.
but alas, even the pros are off sometimes. oh michael laiskonis, it looks like poop!

dessert course at le bernardin.

the best thing about food is that is doesn't have to look good to taste good. regardless, i suppose i shall leave it up to the professionals for now.

PS. can you tell i got lazy with this post? all my pictures don't match (hence, they're small.)

the cookie blog that wasn't.

banana peel hot chocolate [city bakery] / assorted boylan sodas

i initially wanted to start a cookie blog to document my one true love, cookies! then have the blog picked up by saveur/gourmet/food&wine magazine and roll in the $$$ because we all know that bloggers are moneymakers. i made some serious headway into trying the best cookies in the city, but who would remember to whip out their phone to snap a quick pic? the cookie is gone, and my hands are usually buttered and chocolatey at that point. ordinarily, i would've restarted my cookie odyssey, but abnormally snowy weather set in and a subway fare hike got it the way. whoever said love conquers all obviously didn't have to deal with nyc slush and expensive, unreliable nyc transit. so i guess my inaugural blog post shall be dedicated to my undying love of all things sweet. if there's one thing that anyone knows about me, it's that i eat an unconscionable amount of baked goods. cookies, muffins, cupcakes, croissants, brownies, etc. are always fair game for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner, all day, every day. this is especially helpful when i'm eating on a budget (like now). there is no better value for your money per calorie.. except maybe for bagels. it's truly unfortunate that my baking abilities are not on par with my consumption abilities. i can't even imagine the amount of money i could save baking cookies en masse..

it definitely felt like an awkward first date writing (and rewriting) my first entry, so i'm just gonna get this over this and keep it short and sweet.