Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

I don’t shoot portraits much at all, much less self-portraits. For some reason, I like shooting landscapes, buildings and food a lot more than taking pix of people. But this is for Photo Friday’s weekly challenge. This week, it’s Self-Portrait.

Here’s one from our recent trip to Florence, Italy, in September. Our room at the Plaza Hotel Lucchesi along the Arno River had a great view of the river and the Piazza de Michelangelo on a hill across the water. We took a bus up there one day and got some amazing photos of the city skyline. See more pix from our trip at my Flickr site.

Years ago, just before we went to Germany to see our first exchange student, Olaf, I saw a print for sale in an art gallery titled “Doors of Williamsburg.” It had 20 shots of, duh, doors in Williamsburg, Va. I loved this idea, so I shot “Doors of Germany.” Those are still on film prints, which I am too lazy to scan, but here are pix from our most recent trip to Europe in September.

In 2005, Dan and Barbara and I took a long-weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. While we were there, we stayed in Sedona, Arizona, and went hiking on a trail to Cathedral Rock. We didn’t know this would be there, too, but we came upon Buddha Beach, a place where people pile up river rocks so they resemble a Buddhist temple. We sat on a large rock on the opposite side of the river, ate a snack and took pictures.

I took this photo in May at James River State Park at sunset. I love the way it came out.

Wow, check it out – it’s already the 20th of the month. This has been a long, busy month at work, and it’s only getting more so. But it’s a good busy. But it means I haven’t had a lot of energy for blogging. I cook and take pictures, but they don’t always make it into the blogosphere. This one did, though!

This is definitely not one of my favorite dishes, but Dan loves a good split-pea soup when the weather gets cold, so baby, this one’s for you – all of it

One of our exchange students, Josi from Berlin, gave me Alton Brown’s “I’m Just Here for the Food” for my birthday a couple of years ago. This recipe is from that book, and it’s probably one of the easiest recipes I know of. Here goes:

Alton Brown’s Split-Pea Soup

18 oz. dried split peas
1 finger-sized piece of salt pork (Dan likes porky goodness, but this is optional)
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1/2 cup each chopped carrots, onions and celery
2 quarts chicken broth
1-1/2 tbsp. miso paste

Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker and set it to high. Cook for 6 to 8 hours until the peas have softened. Really, that’s it.

And here’s the delicious (according to Dan) but not real appetizing-looking (to me) result, garnished with a little sliced green onion:

This is my entry in No Croutons Required, hosted by Lisa’s Kitchen.

Back in May, Dan and I took a trip to Jim Thorpe, PA, a beautifully restored Victorian-era town in the mountains of southeastern Pennsylvania. Dan had been there a couple of times before with friends, to go kayaking on the river, but this was my first time there. Here are a few pix of the trip; one of these days, I’ll get a bunch of them put into an online photo album, but here are some for now:

Jim Thorpe, PA

This is an overview of the town from the top of a nearby mountain. The mansion in the upper center, with the red roof tiles, is the Asa Packer Mansion, now a museum; to the right of it is his son’s house, the Harry Packer Mansion, which is now a bed and breakfast inn that hosts murder mysteries, and to the right of that, with a cupola on top, is the carriage house, where we stayed.

You gotta read the story of Mary Hannah Packer Cummings (1839-1912), Asa’s daughter. She was a feminist before her time
Read the rest of this entry »