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Here are a few of the leaves I’ve photographed this Fall. There are still a few leaves left on the trees so I may capture a couple more, but it’s nearly the end of the season. The rest are on the ground now, waiting for me to gather them up with the rake and leaf blower.
We usually just buy packaged parmesan crisps, but that feels lazy because they’re so easy to make. I don’t think the homemade crisps come out any cheaper than the packaged ones though, so I only recommend making your own if you can’t find the packaged ones. The packaged ones also seem to work better for actual dip delivery, but if that’s your goal pork rinds work way better.
Set your oven to 350 F. A higher temperature will work fine, but will be less forgiving of inattention – a good way to test your smoke detector. You will need a non-stick baking surface, such as a silicone baking mat. Grate a bunch of parmesan-type cheese or use pre-grated. Make little piles of about a tablespoon each of grated cheese, leaving room between them for meltage. Bake at least 10 minutes then start paying attention. They should be completely melted and bubbly. For maximum crispiness bake until they turn golden brown…but don’t let them burn! It’s easiest to move them to a cooling rack if you let them cool in the pan a little bit first. Try not to burn your mouth or eat them all at once.
I love the crazy colors this Japanese maple produces – right now its leaves run the gamut from ordinary green through arterial red.
We went to LA and San Diego to meet up with Mandi’s parents and nephew, go to a wedding, do some work, and whatever else we could fit in. In LA we stayed in Santa Monica so I wandered around there a bit. There’s a nice path along the beach that I walked south to Venice Beach and back. We had beer and other things I don’t remember for dinner at a place on the Third Street Promenade and then more beer and sausage at the Fifth Amendment Alehouse.
We expected traffic on the way down to San Diego, but it wasn’t bad. Somewhere along the way we got thirsty and stopped at a place called Cafe del Sol that’s right off of I-5. I just got iced tea, but the bubbling vats of mystery meat caught my eye.
The iPhone camera isn’t all that great by itself. Fortunately, there are a bunch of great photo apps that can make your photos look better. My new favorite is TiltShift Generator, from the same person who made QuadCamera, another fun photo app. TiltShift Generator doesn’t really turn the iPhone into a tilt-shift camera – what it does is closer to digital “miniature faking” – making regular photos look like staged miniature models. Here are a couple of examples:
…and a couple more from San Diego:
The app makes it very easy to position and configure the sharp spot. There are also color and vignette controls that I like to use to give photos a sort of “toy camera” appearance.