Food Blog Forum Orlando 2013 – Recap Part 1

May 24, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

I spent last weekend at the Food Blog Forum in Walt Disney World, surrounded by 125 other talented, fun, energetic folks. I arrived at the Grand Floridian a little too late to meet up with Kasey from Kasey’s Kitchen (a fellow broadcast journalism alum from Emerson!) at Epcot, but had plenty of time to wander the resort and eventually settle down with a book on the balcony of the hotel room. I honestly don’t remember the last time I sat outside with nothing to do and just read a book… It’s one of those simple pleasures – nowhere to rush off to, no loud noise, no negativity, no distractions, and plenty of sunshine and warmth… An hour of that was exactly what I needed after weeks of non-stop work. The introvert in me really, really needed it…

Over the past few years, I’ve really been pushing myself to attend events on my own and meet new people. I find the more I put myself in these kinds of situations, the easier it becomes. While I can’t say the welcome reception on Friday night was a breeze, the mojitos and delicious food helped quite a bit. I was also really excited to see Diane Cu and Todd Porter, as well as Julie from The Little Kitchen. I met them last May during one of Todd and Diane’s photography workshops.

Following the reception, I headed over to Splitsville in Downtown Disney. The kind folks at Disney invited myself and a few other bloggers to go bowling and try out their menu. I really liked the set up – the lanes are set up in groups of four rather than one huge, long row you typically see at bowling alleys.

We had so much fun – it was a great opportunity to meet and get to know other bloggers attending the conference, and enjoy some nachos, fries, salads, and sushi. Yes, sushi. At a bowling alley. And it was good!

Having met each other, and wanting to take full advantage of our 3-day pass to the parks, Katie, her husband Jon, Amy, and I headed over to the Magic Kingdom. While they enjoyed Splash Mountain, I discovered what all the fuss was about Dole Whip. Pineapple flavored frozen yogurt on a hot, humid day? Yes, please! We also caught the Electrical Parade.

The next day started early with helping to finish packing swag bags for conference attendees. Holy swag bag! Julie was *NOT* kidding when she said we’d need an extra bag to take stuff home in! The sponsors of this event were so generous, providing us with snacks, stainless steel water bottles and brushes to clean them, ice cream scoops, spatulas, “Got Milk?” aprons, a beautiful cheese board, and a lot more. Thank you so much to KitchenAid, OXO, Florida Dairy Farmers, Cabot Cheese, America’s Test Kitchen, and everyone else!

After breakfast and a little more networking, we all settled in to learn from a variety of speakers. Scott and Jayden Hair of Steamy Kitchen struck a chord with me right away. They spoke about redefining success and setting goals.

When it comes to blogging, put yourself out there – it’s about storytelling. Get specific – what changed your life? Met a new friend? Shared a meal? It’s about showing community and emotion.

Okay, this one scares me a bit. Publishing something on any form of social media is like standing on a cafeteria table and shouting it out to an enormous crowd. I have no problem doing that for brands, events, or organizations, but I hold back with my personal life. Not that I would want to share every single nitty gritty detail, but I do need to be more open in this space. It’s not just “hey, here’s the most recent client project I completed”. It’s about the who, what, where, when, and most importantly why.

On defining goals and success: Always start with the emotion you are trying to achieve. What will ____ give me? Power? Freedom? Opportunity? Emotion needs to be the cornerstone. Make memories. Life changes when you change focus.

I’ve been living in the same city for 15 years. I’ve been working for the same company for the past 11 years. (I’m very lucky and fortunate for that, but…11 years?! Already?!?!??) I’ve been trying to figure out what’s next this entire time. Goals have changed many times, but I’ve remained in the same place.

Law of Attraction: People who are always happy seem to have great things that come to them. Choose the emotional state you want to be in. We are products of our environment.

My full time job is in the news business. It’s really, really difficult to be happy all the time when 8 hours of the day is saturated by stories like the Oklahoma tornado tragedy, the Jodi Arias sentencing watch, more Boston Marathon bombing related news, and a crazy, crazy attack on a military personnel member in London. (And that’s just a fraction of what’s going on in the world today.) But that’s the nature of the industry I sought a career in. And while I try hard to block the negativity out when I’m not working, the exhaustion from so much negativity sometimes it spills over… (Any advice on this??)

Up next was a session with Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple. Since I took a workshop with them last year, this session was an excellent reinforcement of everything I learned.

Look beyond the obvious – why are you sharing? What is the story?
Meaning of food- feeding, nourishing, sharing – what does it mean to you?
Be inspired by someone else’s story.
Take a moment to think.
“Your eyes are your lens, your heart is the shutter.”

Being a photographer, I can’t think of another appropriate moment to wrap this post up! Recap, part 2 – more Disney, new blogger friends, and more food – will be coming soon!

Food Blog Forum at Walt Disney World 2013

Big Group Shot!!! Photo Credit: Jennifer Holt of Walt Disney World

Bee’s Knees Supply – Photography Sneak Peek!

May 16, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

I wish I lived in South Boston, just so I could be closer to this awesome neighborhood market. Seriously.

Chef Jason Owens (Local 149, American Provisions, and M3) opened Bee’s Knees Supply about five weeks ago in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood. Tucked away on a side street near the Boston Children’s Museum, it’s a gourmet grocery gem. Wine, cheese, chocolate, craft beer, sandwiches, fresh produce, Batch Ice Cream by the scoop…

I’m so excited to be working with them! Here’s a (very) little preview of what I worked on so far. More to come soon!

Bee’s Knees Supply is located at 12 Farnsworth Street in South Boston.

My home… #BostonStrong – The Week That Was The Boston Marathon Bombing

April 25, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | 3 Comments

This post is incredibly insignificant compared to the stories and ordeals of others…

I just need to write… Need to put words and images somewhere…

Monday, April 15th was the last day of a two week vacation. It was going to be a fun day – brunch and drinks downtown with friends at The Pour House, a little marathon spectating and cheering, and then returning home to work on a food photography project. But I felt a need to get my client’s project started early that morning. I texted my friends, telling them to enjoy a few beers for me. I was sad to miss cheering the runners down the final stretch of Boylston Street… After all, it’s tradition.

After wrapping up in the early afternoon, I logged onto Twitter and learned about what happened. My heart leapt into my throat and felt sick to my stomach. My friends – women who I consider my sisters – had moved to a hotel bar closer to the finish line. Luckily, they were in the back of the bar and ran out the emergency exit when they heard the explosions. Some other friends were volunteering somewhere after the finish line, and one by one they checked in on Facebook – they were okay. Then I learned an acquaintance was mere feet away from the bomb in front of Marathon Sports. How he escaped without a physical scratch, we’ll never know.

I sat in my apartment, glued to my television. I was scared for my co-workers… My full time job is with a local news station, WHDH-TV. I bounce back and forth between the director and assistant director chairs. That day, a photographer was on the media bridge over the finish line and caught the first explosion on camera. Several reporters were at the scene… I was scared for them. But that feeling was nothing compared to what the rest of the week had in store.

Non-stop news coverage. Images flying in from the scene. Press conferences, video of the explosion playing over and over and over again, victims being wheeled away… Images of those who lost their lives… Tears… Chaos and yelling in the control room. Friends of friends knew the people who died… Too close… “Hi Uncle Al! I’m on the air right now, can’t talk, I’m fine, I’ll call you later, okay?”… A lot of chaos and yelling in the control room. Oh, hey there friendly neighborhood snipers, dressed in black and holding automatic rifles of some sort! Thanks for keeping us safe! Live coverage of President Obama’s visit. Interfaith service broadcast. Boston Strong. More press conferences. The world’s eyes on our beloved city…

Thursday evening came. I met a friend for a drink. A drink turned into several drinks, making some new friends at the bar, and celebrating one of their birthdays. A beautiful occasion worth celebrating and being happy about! I got home and fell asleep at midnight.

2:30 AM, a text from my friend Sophia in Los Angeles woke me up: “Thinking of you… Hope you’re doing okay. Let’s talk soon”. She had checked in earlier in the week…maybe this was a drunk text? Nah, she’s not that type. Still weird though. I turned over and closed my eyes. My phone beeped again. Another text from my friend Jack in Los Angeles: “WHAT IS GOING ON IN BOSTON?! ARE YOU OKAY?!?!”. I leapt out of bed and turned on the news, only to see my co-worker caught in the middle of gunfire with the bombing suspects. One suspect died. I was shaking.

Watertown, MA. One friend had FBI agents on his lawn and saw a huge spotlight shining into the house across the street. More friends live a few blocks away from the gunfight. My boyfriend heard the gun shots, and he lives a town over. It was a sleepless night. I got to work at 6:30 AM.

Our reporter who had bullets whiz by his head was still on the air. More reporters were out there. Every law enforcement agency was out there. Putting reporters on the air, one by one, summarizing the scenes. Swat teams surround a garage right next to a reporter while they are on the air. Me: “Oh God…um…can we keep the suspects photos in…in preview…just in case…” I swallowed hard. That was the most terrifying moment in my television career. There was no knowing if the suspect was actually in there…and if he was, what he would do…

Rotate in and out of the director chair with co-workers for hours. Please, please, please, don’t let anything bad happen out there… Things started quieting down around 7PM… The lock down was lifted… I started thinking about going home, but then the suspect was found hiding in a boat. In Watertown. Gun fire. Reporters and photographers in danger again.

And then it was over. Relief. As I left work, the streets were still very quiet. I walked past a police station, as the guys were starting to pull in from Watertown. “Thank you so much for everything you did this week…” One officer could only give a tired, weary smile, and a nod. The other rejoiced that he could finally go home and made a bee line for his car. Another mentioned where they were all going drinking. They, along with all the EMT’s and folks at local hospitals, deserve all the beers in the world.

Jeff had a bottle of wine waiting for me when I got home. And I broke down the second I closed the door. The city I lived in for 15 years…the innocent people who are recovering and learning to manage the difficult memories…there are so many amazing stories emerging about them…my co-workers out there in the middle of it all…my friends who live in and around Watertown…the images all flying in at the same time, and choosing which ones you the viewers see at home…

Bad dreams. Dreams woke me every hour or so for a few nights. If I’m experiencing that, I can’t begin to imagine what others are experiencing… *BIG HUGS TO YOU*

I visited the memorial on Monday… Took it all in… The media presence, the barricades, the empty street, the notes, sneakers, marathon medals, trinkets… I walked down Newbury Street, which runs parallel to Boylston. It was nearly empty of pedestrians. Smaller memorials at the cross streets… Niketown, completely covered in messages written with chalk… The messages from all around the world… Heartwarming and comforting.

We were shaken, but not broken. We are Boston. We are one. And no one messes with our f-ing city.

1 Year Blogiversary and Ricotta Egg Biscuits for Easter

March 27, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

My little space on the internet turns 1 this week! I started a blog to get a fresh start with photography and get into the practice of writing more often. Food photography was just starting to catch my eye, and I had no idea it would become the center of this website. Last year at this time, I didn’t know I would work for a few small businesses, second shoot a few weddings, and photograph several events. So thank you to everyone I worked with last year, and to my friends and family for their support! I’m hoping year 2 will be just as surprising!

Looking back through the blog, I see a lot of room for growth! I’d love to be more consistent with posts, take my time styling each food photograph before taking the picture, and incorporate a little something else I’ve specialized in since I was 16 years old – video.

FUN. No, really, it was really fun to create the video. While I’m looking at this short video and seeing things I want to fix and improve, I’m so excited to start offering short promo videos like this to clients! I’ve worked in video production for the past 17 years – I was a junior in high school when I first picked up a video camera and been working in TV professionally for 11 years, so this is a natural addition. I’m thrilled to offer a service that combines my video production, photography, and marketing skills to clients who want a visual boost on their websites and social media pages.

So with Easter coming up this weekend, I whipped up some ricotta egg biscuits to share. Mom and I made these together all the time, and they’re a dessert staple on Easter. Can’t have Easter dinner without egg biscuits for dessert – they’re one of my favorite holiday cookies!

Enjoy the rest of your week, and hope you have a great weekend! xoxo

Frosting for Ricotta Egg Biscuits

Recipe type: Cookie

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Cookie batter:
½ pound butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 TSP lemon flavoring
4 cups flour (gluten-free all purposed flour can be used)
1 TSP baking soda
1 TSP baking powder
1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
Frosting:
1 box confectionary sugar
1 stick of butter
1 TSP of vanilla or lemon flavoring
Milk

Instructions

Mix butter and sugar together, and add eggs one at a time.
Mix in lemon flavoring, and flour, one cup at a time.
Mix in baking soda, baking powder, and ricotta cheese. Combine until completely blended.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Do not brown tops. Frost when cool.
Frosting:
Soften butter and mix with sugar.
Add vanilla or lemon flavoring to taste and enough milk to make the mixture spread easily. Frost cooled egg biscuits.

EH Chocolatier’s Easter Chocolate Collection

March 20, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

Just a quick post to say hi and share some new work, just in time for Easter! EH Chocolatier is an artisan chocolate company based in Somerville, MA. Elaine and Catherine create beautiful, delicious bonbons and confections! Right before Valentine’s Day, their salted caramels were selected by the New York Times as one of the “Best in the Box”. For Easter, they’re offering these cute chocolate bunnies, and bonbons filled with flavors like marshmallow, honey caramel, and maple pecan butter, just to name a few.

Birthday Baking FAIL – Stories in Baking Disasters

March 2, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

Happy Saturday! I’m soooo glad it’s the weekend. Was it one of those weeks that just wouldn’t end for you too? After hanging out with “lil’ sis” after work, I promised myself a quiet night in to recharge. February is always a drab month and I wanted to charge into March with motivation and energy. I have a three-day weekend! I was going to get up early! I was going to make pre-birthday cupcakes for myself and my friend Stephanie, whose birthday is the day after mine! YAY! We both love a good cupcake!

Or so I thought. My alarm went off at 7:45. It was another horrible night of sleep for no good reason. Coffee. Music. That would wake me up. Flipping through recipes, I decided I would make a gluten-free version so Jeff could enjoy a cupcake too. These would be great! I’m seeing a lot of friends tonight, so I could share the deliciousness! And I’d have fun photographing the cupcakes! (You can see where this is going…)

The recipe I liked called for chocolate, and I don’t have chocolate in my apartment right now… (The horror!) Oh, well, I’ll just adapt a similar recipe for a cake and use the measurements and baking times for this cupcake recipe…

Bad idea. Really, really, really bad idea. I’m so glad I decided to hold off on making frosting! The edges burned to the pan. The inside of the cupcake is basically raw. I’m not going to pretend I know anything about developing a recipe for baked goods because at this point, I don’t. I’m going to add that to the growing “things I need to learn” list. But after how this week unfolded, how could I be surprised? All I can do is laugh and photograph my failure.

Sorry, Stephanie!!! I will buy us cupcakes from a baker who knows what they’re doing. It’s always better to have cupcakes on your actual birthday anyway, right???

For those of you who bake often, do you have any advice for adapting baking recipes or swapping ingredients? I’d love to hear it!

Snowpocolypse 2013

February 11, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | 1 Comment

So after a weekend of this – 50-70 mile an hour winds and two feet of snow:

Boston Blizzard 2013 - Alicia Carlson Photography

Photo taken with my iPhone in Downtown Boston

Snow on Beacon Hill, Boston – taken with my iPhone

And working this:

Behind-the-scenes of local news blizzard coverage. Photo taken with my iPhone.

I needed a little bit of this:

After being cooped up inside at the TV station for two days, getting back outside was pretty exciting. Fresh air! Snow! Blue sky! Cute farm animals! (Except for the pig. The pig is not cute, and smells really bad.) Then there was this little face:

And this little guy, who was running all around the place:

Yes, it’s only February 11th. But as the rain falls outside, and the beautiful snow fall turns into disgusting slush and ice, baby farm animals are a sure sign that spring is right around the corner…right?!?!?!

Harpoon Beer Hall Preview

February 1, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

Believe the hype – the Harpoon Beer Hall is as awesome as you’re anticipating it to be. Jeff and I attended a Friends of Harpoon preview of the hall on Wednesday night and cannot wait to go back!

The hall is part of a larger renovation at the brewery. Set in a prime spot along the waterfront, the hall offers a beautiful view of the city. Long tables line the room, and there are no televisions to distract people from the company surrounding them. The tables, benches, and bar are gorgeous – they’re made from Vermont butternut, and recycled wood. And interesting phenomenon occurred – strangers talked to each other! Friends were made! Shock! Awe! (For those of you not from Boston, this is not common occurrence.) Jeff and I chatted with a really nice couple sitting next to us, some guys sitting on our other side gave us one of their pretzels, and a random other person gave Jeff an extra beer token.

Being a television director, I had to try the 100 Barrel Series Directors’ Cut.

I love Harpoon beers, so it’s fun to try new batches and see what they’re experimenting with.

Plenty to choose from or sample…

According to Harpoon’s Twitter account, they’re waiting for final permit approvals and should be open very soon. (Update: According to Eater.com, it’s opening tonight at 5pm!) Cheers!

Harpoon Brewery and Beer Hall is located at 306 Northern Ave., Boston. Take the T – there’s a silver line stop right across the street!

Say it ain’t true, Sel de la Terre!

January 29, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

Photo taken with my iPhone

Nooooooo… Excuse me while I pout for a minute… One of my favorite restaurants closed their last Boston location. Sel de la Terre had the best burger and chocolate molten cake… (Healthy. ) I enjoyed a wonderful brunch there with college friends who came back to town one weekend, and took Jeff there for a 4-course food and beer pairing on his birthday…

Sadness.

Breakfast Reinvented

January 26, 2013 by Alicia Carlson | Leave a comment

So what are you up to this weekend? I’m totally procrastinating right now – I *should* be cleaning out my closets like I’ve been promising myself. (The clutter is driving me nuts!) I should be cutting up and freezing the organic strawberries I got at Haymarket yesterday for $1. ($1! Seriously!) But instead, I got sucked into Pinterest, and ended up coming across a delicious recipe for blueberry baked oatmeal. I’m bored with having cereal or eggs every morning, so this is a welcome change in routine! You can find the recipe over on the blog, So, How’s It Taste. It’s really simple, and nice to have leftovers for the week!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!