by dwicker | Sep 4, 2014 | Cooking, Creativity, Gallery, Lifestyle, Tropical Fruit Salsa Darostyle
Had a creative food moment today-
Mango
Peach
Strawberries
Kiwi
Avocado
Pineapple
Onion
Cilantro
Basil
Orange/Tangerine Juice
Juice of 2 Limes
Kosher Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning.
First I started chopping the fruit to small salsa sized bits and the idea came to me because the avocado wasn’t ripe yet. It was too hard to mash. So I chopped 1/4 of the onion pretty small and mixed it with the cilantro, a few large basil leaves, the spices to taste, and lime juice to bloom the favors. Next I mixed in all of the fruit. You could add bananas if you are going to serve it right away. If not, skip it because they will turn brown (not enough acidic juice to prevent it).
I tasted it and was amazed at the complexity that the small amount of basil brought to the table. It wasn’t quite juicy enough so I added a big splash of the orange tangerine juice to make it a saucy salsa. The taste is super fresh and bright because of the fresh lime juice. Remember, the fresher the ingredients the better the taste. I simply dipped corn chips and ate til the salt ruined the corners of my mouth!
Try this yourself and let me know what you think. You can post your thoughts below.
-enjoy
Daryl
by dwicker | Aug 27, 2014 | Coffee, Creativity, Food, Lifestyle, Photography
Flavored Coffee On Ice
I have been rockin’ the iced coffee lately. My grandmother used to drink iced coffee when I was a kid and I used to cringe at the thought of it. As I have gotten older and way more into coffee, the cold versions of my coffee creations are making me smile and are soooooo refreshing.
What you are seeing in the background is my coffee station. One of the criteria I had in my mind when we were looking for a house was that I needed to have a space for my coffee. I have a burr grinder, whole beans in a glass jar, an espresso machine with high pressure steam and a host of flavored sugar syrups. Every New Year’s Day my wife and I with another couple make a trip to Cincinnati to Jungle Jacks mega store where I can buy the syrups for $3 less per bottle!
Everybody knows that saving money is like making money.
So back to the iced coffee…
THE RECIPE
French Press coarsely ground rich coffee of your choice (my favorite right now is Trader Joe’s French Roast whole bean. A large 1.3 lb can is like $13)
16 oz water
1 oz Half & Half
1/2 to 1 oz flavor syrup (to taste)
Cup full of ice
Combine coffee grounds with boiling water and let steep in the French Press for 5 min.
Mix Syrup and Half & Half in the cup. Stir it
Fill the cup with ice then pour the coffee slowly over the ice (try to melt the ice)
Stir and enjoy very slowly
-Cheers
by dwicker | Aug 20, 2014 | 3D Art, Creativity, Photography
Blender
Blender is the latest 3D modeling and animation studio that I use. The learning curve was steeeeep. I tried to use the manual and that was useless. I think I’m too impatient to learn the program this way. I absolutely love creating virtual imagery. Thanks to YouTube the learning curve has been eased. Make no mistake, I don’t know that much but I have been able to create a 3d glass from the store ikea.
This was my very first attempt at making it look real and getting the lighting natural.
My next attempt was with back lighting and adding the physical modeling of water being poured into the glass and spilling on the ground. The idea is for a product I am creating to help people dealing with depression to keep their thoughts positive. Life is good, the glass is half full. My next attempt was to use spot lights and back light and a dark canvas as seen here. The next thing I want to create is a very cool ikea like room.
by dwicker | Jul 11, 2014 | 3D Art, Creativity, Gallery, Lifestyle, Photography, Production
Expand your browser window to full page
Go ahead. Do it now.
No… really…. I’m waiting… 🙂
If you have a very large desktop setting you will see a great 3d image space that I created just for this web site. If you can’t see it.
Out on the edges are the words “Music”, “Art”, “Food” and “Life”. These are the major topics I will cover on this web site. Part of the art portion will cover my great love for creating 3D art. Ever since computers became a huge part of the art world (mid 80’s for me), I have always had some sort of 3d modeling program and have created many dream house ideas. I will get over the fact that some are just not good and post them here for people to see. Keep your eyes open.
The program I’m using now is called Blender. This is a screen shot of what it looks like. The top right picture window is the camera view. The top left window is a close up of that same view. The bottom large window is the current rendering of the whole scene. Pretty tech huh?
Feel free to post any questions or comments about this art. I would love it.
If this is something you didn’t know about me, post your comments as well. Thanks
