market day dish: vegetarian cold plate

I don't know about you, but I get lazy when the weather gets hot. What to do? Make a salad or two ahead of time and have it waiting for you after a hard day at work. I put together two salads (the weekend is a good time), then cut up fresh carrots and red bell peppers and bought a small container of fresh baby mozzarella balls. I store the cut veggies in fresh water in the fridge. Dinner is on...or lunch!

Cannellini Bean and Herb Salad, center. Lemon Cumin Potato Salad, upper right.

 Lemon Cumin Potato Salad doesn't show the fresh cilantro leaves because I didn't have any! I added a bit more cumin and crushed red chili pepper than what the recipe called for.

 Warm Cannellini Bean and Herb Salad tastes great cold too. I did not add the shrimp or olives listed in the recipe. Yew!

single snapshot: times five

I got carried away. Here's five versions of a single snapshot - after editing in Pixlr. Something about this photo caught my imagination. I'm standing in the early morning glow of a sunrise. I had just woken up.

Snapshot: Popularly defined as a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent. Common snapshot subjects include events of everyday life.

original shot - my wall paint is soft white in normal daylight.

Overlay:  darn, I forgot which one.  Border: none

Overlay: Flame - gap. Border - none

Overlay: grunge - blocked. Borders: old and perga. This one is my favorite.

Overlays: paper - butterflies, dotted, skirt. vignette - uneven. Border - cracked

focus on life: looking up - week 20

This week let’s change our perspective and look up!

There is a whole world above us that we sometimes miss seeing because we simply forget to look up.

Sally's prompt is "Looking Up" for week 20 of the year long photography series "Focus on Life" at The Studio Sublime. I've been looking up all week in the hopes of seeing a fab photo op, but no such luck!

It was on the last day this week when I stood outside the main entrance to the International Teaching Centre building (where I serve) and found what I was looking for. Clouds. I am enjoying the most expressive skies, during my stay in Israel, that I have ever seen. The cloud formations are amazing. I wonder if it has to do with being located on the coast? Maybe that huge body of water called the Mediterranean Sea influences the nature of the clouds.

Every time I look out at Haifa Bay, where the water meets the sky, my eyes, my heart and my body sigh with pleasure. This is my daily view, morning and evening, while walking to work and back to the flat, but only in portions, as the view is far more sweeping than what my camera can capture in one picture.

Just in case the bay photos aren't considered "looking up", lol, I looked above me and got a shot of another favorite thing, columns with clouds!

Speaking of looking up, you can see the sun setting over the Mediterranean in my birthday post Chocolate Mousse and Sunsets from earlier in the week. :-)

 I joined this blog group at week 8, (monochromatic experiment) in February, and I've had a blast ever since. I missed last week's prompt, "Hope", due to very long work days including the weekend! I'm back and can't wait to see all the fab eye candy photography over at Sally's blog The Studio Sublime!