Colours of Italy


While watching "The Tourist" the other day, I couldn't help but remember my European vacation last summer.  If any of you have watched the movie, The Tourist, (Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp movie) you'd remember that it started off in Paris and then moved on to Venice.  My trip last summer started off in Paris, then continued into Italy where our Italian adventure being in Venice. I How could I NOT be reminded of my recent trip?? 

Being my 3rd time in Paris (4th coming up in a few weeks!), it was still as incredible as it was the first time, but Venice was the city I loved the most this time around.  

Aside from the laundry that I found fascinating and had shared with you earlier on, the walls all around the city were just as beautiful.  I'm sure the walk around town took 10 times as long because I stopped every 5 feet to take photo's but I'm so glad I did!!  As the city continues to deteriorate, I still find the city walls incredibly beautiful, colourful, and lively.  I think you will too.  







I'm not sure why I love this so much, maybe because it encompasses everything else I love about Venice


Marble on St. Mark's Cathedral


More marble on St.Mark's Cathedral

What's an old city wall without a little graffiti and silly string?








I loved how even though the buildings were falling apart, most had beautiful overflowing flower boxes outside their windows! (If you look closely, you'll even see a dove (or pigeon) perched below a balcony!)







Last, but not least...

Mushroom Soup

Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011 Issue
Photography by Joanne Tsakos
Food Styling by Sugar Tart
I admit, there are a few perks of being a food photographer.  At the end of a long day's shoot, there are inevitably a handful of extra groceries that weren't used and up for grabs.   Whatever doesn't go to the food bank, the crew divvies up and takes home. For a food shoot, the Food Stylist has a few jobs.  Not only do they make the recipe provided by the client and make it look even better on the plate to be photographed, but they also have to do the grocery shopping for the day.  Sometimes that can be a difficult task as a few ingredients in the recipe may be seasonal (magazine stories are generally shot months before they are released), or some ingredients may be indigenous to a different part of the country, ex. many Clean Eating readers are in the U.S. and so, some recipes may require ingredients that are popular in the U.S. south west and not necessarily easy to find in Toronto.  Whatever issues come up, our food stylists are generally amazing at sourcing out what they'll need to make the recipes work.  They'll usually pick up a few extra things if the recipe is a little challenging or it calls for a "beautiful" something, i.e. a beautiful, flawless green apple is not always easy to find, so picking up a few to choose from is a good idea.  


On this day, the shoot was for Clean Eating Magazine's March 2011 issue and the Creamless Trumpet Royale Soup recipe was from Braeburn Restaurant in Manhattan, Chantal Payette of Sugar Tart was our food stylist.  She brought in a box of Trumpet Mushrooms and I admired them from the get-go.  They looked so beautiful in the cardboard box they came in and even more beautiful when the soup was made and in it's bowl to be photographed.  I'm not sure why, but I love photographing soup.  Maybe because the soups are usually so uncomplicated yet bold, even after they are photographed.  (I love photographing salads too, but that's another story!)  Although, I'm not always the biggest fan of eating mushrooms, (I think it's a "textural" thing), I love the look of them and I can certainly enjoy a bowl of (pureed) mushroom soup. 
After working on a food shoot, I always hope that I could find the time to make some of the recipes of that day, but when we are shooting 5 or more recipes in one day, I know it's an unlikely dream.  With a few random take home groceries at the end of the day, there's usually not enough to make a full recipe of what we had just shot, but there's enough to come up with something yummy to throw together for dinner to make use of my take home perks.  This night I was granted my wish and took home the leftover trumpet royale mushrooms in their cardboard box. 

I was so excited to take home my little treasures and I wasn't going to let them down!

I had most of the ingredients for the Clean Eating Mag. mushroom soup recipe from the shoot, just had to pick up a little white wine (for the recipe and some for my glass).  Of course, the recipe could not begin until I took a few photo's of the trumpet mushrooms in the cardboard box that caught my attention from the start.  Looking at the photo's, I became even more intrigued by these fungi (yes, apparently they are neither vegetable or fruit, but fungi).  With the flaps under the umbrella part and the funny shapes, I wanted to understand these fungi and the purpose of it all.  A little Googling and finally I understood some of the intricacies of a mushroom. 



For those of you who'd love to try out  the Royale Trumpet Mushroom soup for yourself and missed out on picking up the March issue of Clean Eating Magazine, here's the recipe! (or better yet, check out their website!)

Creamless Trumpet Royale Soup   
Recipe from Clean Eating Magazine (March 2011 issue)

Ingredients:
• 2 tbsp olive oil (or safflower oil, which is neutral in flavour and colour)
• 6 oz royal trumpet mushrooms, sliced (or shiitake mushrooms)
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, plus additional for garnish
• 2 oz white wine

Instructions:
• Heat a large pot on medium heat. Add oil and sauté mushrooms for 2 - 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove several mushrooms and set aside for garnish
• Add onion and garlic and reduce heat.  Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent
• Add thyme and deglaze with wine
• Add 3 cups water and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes
• Place mixture in a blender and purée until very smooth. Adjust seasoning as necessary, garnish with reserved mushrooms and additional thyme