• Appetizers,  Featured,  Food Photography,  Gluten free,  Recipes,  Salads,  Side Dishes

    Salad art

    I’m thrilled by the inherent beauty in freshly picked herbs, shimmering with dew; cracked pomegranates with glowing crimson seeds; rustic french bread, steam billowing from an airy interior; and the list goes on—I could wax poetic about edible inspirations (did I borrow that from a fruit bouquet company tagline?) for hours. And capturing this beauty in a photo is almost as satisfying as devouring the finished product. So imagine my delight when I had the opportunity to pair up with May van Millingen—an artist who takes as much pride in documenting a plate of food, in all its fleeting glory, as I do—to work on a photo/illustration collaboration. I loved the…

  • Cooking Tips,  Food Photography

    Milk and cookies

    I’m happy to report that after nine months of a pregnancy-induced cooking strike, everyone in Casa DiCosola is once again well fed. Our newest addition is perhaps the most nourished of us all—and he has an appetite that trumps even his mama’s. In his three short months on this earth, this little meatball has managed to more than double in weight! Knowing that every ounce, every roll, every dimple comes from my milk makes me prouder than anything in this world. Even in the sleep-deprived stupor of a 2 a.m. feeding, I’m bursting with love and joy. With every gulp, his little hand rhythmically opens and closes on my chest—and…

  • Blogging tips,  Food Photography

    Photo Files: Confessions of a prop-aholic

    My name is Jada and I have a problem. I can’t stop bringing home props for my food photography. Gilded glass bowls from estate sales; fabric scraps from JoAnn’s; paper straws from the dollar bins at Target. If $1 vintage pastel parfait bowls are wrong, I don’t want to be right … So, it’s only appropriate that the first post in my Photo Files series is: PROPS. Tips on using props to improve your food photos 1) Color. Not all food styling should be perfectly matchy-matchy. I get a lot of ideas for great color combinations from design and wedding blogs. Pinterest is another endless source of inspiration. Slight variations on complementary colors…

  • moody lighting tutorial
    Appetizers,  Food Photography,  Gluten free,  Salads,  Side Dishes

    Getting in the mood

    One of my biggest blog goals for 2013 was to step up my photography. It’s one of my absolute favorite parts of food blogging—sometimes even more than the actual cooking—so it’s been a fun, exciting and inspiring journey. I’ve also been insatiable when it comes to finding new resources that can help me take my blog to the next level, and I love that there are so many great bloggers out there who share their secrets on photography, blog monetization, post layout inspiration, etc. I’ve been saving these tips on Pinterest, and plotting my own series of posts to pay it forward (stay tuned!). One of the many tutorial posts…

  • Food Photography

    Foodie crush: Sonya Yu

    Are you on Instagram? Silly question, of course you are. If not, you must join and immediately follow Sonya Yu. For me, it’s her double F appeal: Food + Frenchies. I mean, COME ON. The Frenchie photos drew me, so imagine my surprise when, during my early-morning Instagram browsing, I discovered her glorious foodiegrams. **Squeeeeeeeee!!!** These delicious slices of life will, well, make you want her life. It’s a wonderland of adorable flat-faced pups that graciously pose for pictures (no bribes required?); perpetual brunching; breathtaking travel vistas; and achingly perfect floral arrangements. And, behold: her non-iPhone photography. Also, don’t mess with her, because she’s got the bear spray and samurai swords…

  • Appetizers,  Food Photography,  Recipes,  Salads

    Beet “Lasagna” (and a new camera lens)

    Beets are one of my recent obsessions. The taste, the color, the nutritional benefits—what’s not to love? Even the most thrown-together beet and goat cheese salads look fantastic, but I wanted to really up the ante to break in my new Sigma 70mm f2.8 EX DG Macro Lens. The result of some kitchen experimentation and a little consultation with the The Flavor Bible was my very own Beet “Lasagna”: delicious slices of roasted red and golden beets sandwiching creamy goat cheese, crushed walnuts, razor-thinly sliced shallots, topped with crisp micro greens and drizzled with blood orange balsamic vinaigrette. It looks beautiful, tastes better, and is easy as can be. And the new…

  • Food Photography,  Travel

    Chow, Bella part 1: What to eat in Portofino

    What better way to get back to blogging than to reminisce about the food on our Italian honeymoon. Part 1: Portofino. I could describe every meal in glorious, pesto-drenched detail. Ok, let’s be real, no I can’t. That ship sailed after one too many glasses of vino. Regardless, that would do you no good—you’d just be terribly hungry and painfully jealous. Instead, being the fantastic food-obsessed tourist that I am, I sleuthed out and sampled nearly every local delicacy and regional specialty for your culinary education. So, should you ever find yourself in the Ligurian region—or Tuscany, Rome or Amalfi Coast  for that matter—you’ll know exactly how to order for…

  • Food Photography

    Increasing traffic to your food blog in five simple steps

    As with this beautiful congregation of eggplants, more is always merrier. For a fairly new blogger, there’s nothing more exciting than logging into Google Analytics to see a big spike in traffic. After only seven days of having this little ol’ blog up and running, I actually brought in 916 unique visitors in a single day. I swear I’m not bragging. There is a point to all of this. How does such a new blog attract so many people? Pull up a chair and listen closely. 1. FoodGawker, TasteSpotting, PhotoGrazing and other “food porn” sites. I discovered these sites early on and immediately realized their power. Here are a few…

  • Food Photography

    My top 10 tips for food photography

    I was chatting with Melissa from CupcakesOMG! last week about food photography—cameras, techniques, etc. I’ve also been submitting several recipes and pictures to TasteSpotting, foodgawker and Photograzing. It got me thinking a lot about food photography. I’m not the best authority on food photography, and my pictures are far from perfect, but I have taken several photography courses over the years. Throw me in a darkroom, even ask me to develop my own film, but don’t ask me to get much accomplished on Photoshop. Suffice to say that I have basic SLR photography skills but I’m still learning about the digital editing side of it all. That said, here are my top 10…