The Hunger Struck - Confessions of a Food Fanatic.

OK guys, after more than 6 months with my new camera and several BlogHer Food panels about food photography I decided to get proactive and actually start to read my camera manual in the hope that one day I may actually understand at least 2 of its functions. I haven’t started yet but the decision has been made, which is more than I could say for myself a few weeks ago.

My dear friend in San Francisco was kind enough to spend an hour or so with me on the weekend going over some of it’s basic functions. I’m proud to announce that I now know what shutter speed is and took my first pictures on the manual setting. Where are some examples you ask? Well lets just say they were taken while watching a band I enjoy perform at the Folsom Street Fair on Sunday and though I tried I just couldn’t find a way to work all that leather and nakedness into this site. Also, I didn’t want the people who organize leather pride week to hold me accountable. This event is definitely not the ideal place for a newbie behind a camera on manual setting for the first time. Overexposure just got taken to the next level. Not funny, I’ll stop.

I pride myself on the fact that I never leave home without eating breakfast. While I’m not one of those people who sits down at the table with a newspaper, cup of coffee and a plate of fresh fruit after a reviving hour of yoga either, for me breakfast is simple and fast: a piece of toast with some almond butter and a cup of tea five minutes before I run out the door. Simple and healthy, two words that I would like to think describe my eating habits effectively.

You’ll often find me berating people close to me who say they have no time to eat in the mornings-especially my mother who rarely eats anything before noon-how easy it is and how much healthier they’ll be for doing it. At such times I always disclose my theory on how eating breakfast curbs your appetite throughout the day, making it easier to eat several small meals without overeating at any one. Funny how you can really start to believe the things you say! While all these things may be true for some, what I generally always leave out of these breakfast conversations, due to its obvious hypocrisy, is my other not so healthy habit: second breakfast.

It is officially feeling like fall in Vancouver and I’m wondering how it’s possible that the summer flew by so quickly. It’s the end of September, how is that possible? Is this what happens after you turn 30? If it is, I don’t think I’m comfortable with it.

It really seems like just yesterday when I was laying on top of my bed, limbs spread out as far as possible from one another, with a sunburn so bad that you could get third degree burns from just touching my skin. I’m pretty sure I shaved a good 5 years off my life with that one yet I keep telling myself that the tan I had in weeks that followed was worth the price. It really was spectacular. Not to mention that it lasted for at least a month! I don’t tan very easily thanks to my extremely fair skin and usually apply the highest amount of SPF I can find, so a tan is a rare thing…. which is what I used to also say about burns. Ha!

This is a very quick recipe that literally took 20 minutes to pull together and was the result of last weeks overzealous fruit purchase. While we were able to eat the majority of the figs we purchased fresh, there was one small basket that seemed to be ripening at lightening speed. I immediately knew I had to make jam, even if it would only result in a small amount.

The first time I consciously tasted fig jam was in Corsica over 12 years ago. I have spent many summer afternoons attempting to replicate that buttery texture laced with those small and delicate seeds that popped in my mouth after each bite and left nothing in their path to be desired.

You see, the fig jam in Corsica has a depth of flavor so complex and full of the best ripe fig taste you could ever imagine that it appears as though you’re in fact eating 8 figs concentrated into one small bite. Replicating this intense flavor is no small undertaking as I believe that there is no competition for the quality of fig available in France.

What I have found though is that the riper the figs are that you use, the more robust the flavor of the jam. I wait until the figs are so ripe that they would probably not be usable within 24 hours of making the jam. I have also in the past added a few dried figs to mix as their flavors are more concentrated.

About two weeks ago I was totally seduced by my supermarket. I found myself in line with all kinds of ingredients in great quantities that I knew would require extra attention to use and not waste. I would have to be creative.

It was obvious that we could not possibly eat 4 pounds of fresh plums, a crate of the most perfect mission figs as well as a dozen each of every available variety of peach under the sun. Call me crazy but there is something about the end of summer and all of the amazing produce that calls my name and instantly inspires dozens of recipes that would be next to impossible to produce in one week.

Peaches and plums aside, the ingredient that had the most impact on me that day were these amazing bags of mixed hot peppers. They were extraordinary! Their perfect, spotless shapes with red, yellow, gold and green called to me and the possibilities just seemed endless. I couldn’t possibly just grab one bag and without a second thought I had 2 bags in my basket and my hand on a third as my imagination ran wild with thoughts of hot pepper sauces and the perfect jar of pickled peppers.