Is she gorgeous, or what?

I’ve been lucky enough to photograph this beauty before at the Retro/Pinup shoot in Woodland.  This particular shot was taken about 1 year ago.

I can’t wait for her wedding this weeken.  It is guaranteed to be unique and wonderful!

My youngest son, who is a Junior in High School, had a Spanish project which involved making a food from a Spanish speaking country and bringing it to class for the rest of the class to try.  He decided to make a Panamanian food called Carimanolas.  They are made with Yucca…I’m not sure what Yucca is, but I took a picture of it.  It’s very shiny and has lots of wonderful texture.  I placed a couple of jalapenos next to the to demonstrate the size of these things.

My son’s mis en plas (everything in place), which he learned from his daddy and a cooking class he took at school.

The recipe and spices.

Here he is peeling the Yucca.  The skin is very waxy and the firmness of the “fruit” (?) or “veg” (?) is similar to a butternut squash.  His hand was hurting after peeling and chopping 4 yuccas.

Once he set the yucca to boiling on the stove (similar to boiling potatoes), he began cooking the filling of hamburger, jalapenos, onions, garlic and lots of different spices.  The filling was kind of sweet/spicy/meaty.

After the filling is made, a dough is made out of the boiled and mashed Yucca, adding flour and some spiced.  A small dough ball is made of the yucca and it is stuffed with the spicy meats.  Then it is dipped in egg and bread crumbs so that it can be deep fried.

He looks like a deer in the headlights, but this is the product right before it gets fried up.

My husband handled the dough ball making, stuffing and frying.  He’s such a trooper.  He walked in the door from work and immediately began helping my son.  Being the meaner parent, I took pictures and helped very little…I chopped up the onions and garlic.

Here’s the final product.  I think they are a kind of “street food” because they are served at room temp without any sauce.

Neither chef tasted the creation.  I thought a cardinal rule of every chef was to make sure you taste before you serve…

I didn’t taste it either.

Loooks good, though.

]]> http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2010/03/09/its-a-carimanolas-kind-of-day/feed/ 0 http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2010/03/02/antique-cars-and-models/ http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2010/03/02/antique-cars-and-models/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:41:17 +0000 Karen Schmautz http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2010/03/02/antique-cars-and-models/ They kinda go together.

Heidrick Ag Museum-7831, originally uploaded by Sierra Springs Photography.

I like to do landscape photography, but it’s not really my strong point.  However, I submitted this photo to Snapixel Magazine and it was published last month in their online mag.  Here’s the link:

Sawmill Fishing Hole

This is an HDR photo that I took last fall in South Lake Tahoe.  I saw this weird cloud developing and began to look for a place to capture it.  I knew a million photographers would be over at Emerald Bay or someplace else on the lake and I wanted something a little different.  After trying several places, I settled on this one.  This is a children’s fishing pond that is stocked with trout.  The fishing pole you see belonged to a little boy about 5 years old.  He was there with his father patiently waiting for a fish to grab the line…which happened shortly after this shot.

At any rate, I was also contacted by the Sierra Nevada Geotourism MapGuide (which is a National Geographic publication) to use this very same photo on their map.  The more the merrier, I always say.

Here’s the link:

Sierra Nevada Geotourism MapGuide

Heh…I’m pretty humbled by these honors.

My friend Eric Courtney, who writes for the examiner, wrote an article about me.  Heh…I’m a little gobsmacked.

“Karen Schmautz.  Telling Stories with Photographs”

“This week we focus on talented photographer who specializes in a lot of different areas of photography. You could say she fits in the All of the Above category. It is a category a lot of photographers would like to say they execute well, and many do, but a lot of photographers tend to find comfort in a specific niche, and vary not outside that range of familiarity.  Karen Schmautz is not one of those photographers. She is a self-proclaimed photographic storyteller who seeks beauty in all subjects…”

Click on the above link to read the rest.

I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven…maybe I should raise my rates.  Just kidding. (To be safe, book your weddings and senior portraits now and avoid the rush.)

Here’s a couple more pics from the Retro workshop I attended last Saturday.

PS…Contrary to the rumors, I did not pay Eric money to write the article.

I had a great time Saturday at the Heinrick Agricultural and Hays Antique Truck Museum in Woodland, CA.  Lookpw.com put on a great workshop with fabulous models at a fabulous location.  A great group of gals called the Vicious Betty’s dressed up in their pin-up finest and other models who came with their retro (1940’s) style.  There were also many fantastic photographers along with some newbies.

I attended this same workshop last year and although I got a great many good shots, this year’s workshop was a lot more fun for me.  It could be that I had more experience under my belt…probably.  The models were just wonderful.

The retro style really suited the above model’s personality.  She just came alive and she was a lot of fun.

I’ve always thought this particular model should be photographed in a 1940’s backdrop because she has that classic 1940’s beauty.  She worked the part and her photos are beautiful.

Valentine’s Day this year was a little out of the ordinary.  The hubster spent most of the weekend at a lovely local winery cooking for a two-day winery release event.  The winery is called Paravi and it is located in Camino, CA.  It was a sit down dinner for about 350 people at 4 sittings.  They offered 5 courses…a pear, blue cheese and sugared walnut salad, butternut squash soup with creme fraiche, chicken stuffed with lemon scented goat cheese and asparagus, beef wellington with a wine reduction sauce and baby carrots and a wonderful chocolate lava cupcake with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  Amazing meal.  I helped with the prep and plating.  I also got to take some photos.

Here are some of the salads that I plated.  I enjoyed working with the winery owners and the staff that were there to help (both volunteers and hired.)  It was a lot of fun and a LOT of work.

The above picture is my hubby and one of the winery owners checking the temperature of the beef wellington.  There are several other staff members washing a trillion dishes.  As I mentioned above, it was a lot of work, but it was very satisfying.

This is Brittany and she is pregnant and beautiful. I’ve photographed her before about a year ago and she just gets more beautiful.  And she is as gracious as she is beautiful.  Congratulations, Brittany…you will be a great mom.

I had a great time with Alisha, who is a senior in high school.  She was fun and comfortable in front of the camera.  We took this series of photos in Old Town Sacramento.

The forecast of rain made for some beautiful skies for this shoot.

I loved working with Alisha and her adventurous spirit made for some wonderful results.

I participated in a photo shoot on Saturday in Old Town Sacramento.  What a fabulous place for pictures. We were able to get some fabulous shots, even though it had been raining on and off all day.

Towards the end of the day, the sky began to break up and we were able to get some great shots with fabulous sky.  Take a gander at the one above one with the Delta King in the background.

This was my last shot of the day.  What could be better?

More photos later.

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