Recently in Photos Category

Have been getting some great fish from Snapper Grabbers lately. Last night's black snapper was amazingly fresh and delicious. Simple preparation.

I learned a great trick from Cooks Illustrated--I should have thought of it myself, but oh well: sprinkle about 1/8th to 1/4 of a teaspoon on each filet of fish along with any spices to help it brown better in a skillet. The small amount of sugar caramelizes on the fish and adds a nice little crispness. This fish has a sprinkling of sugar and a bit of Cajun spice blend and was seared in a cast iron skillet with just a splash of olive oil and a bit of butter. Served over mashed sweet potatoes with simple steamed asparagus over that. Simple and tasty.

May not be a big deal everywhere, but snow in Birmingham brings everything to a halt.

It was beautiful though--most snow we've seen in years!

Christmas 2009 in Octagon. Got to see my very photogenic great niece along with my sister and her grandmother Julia.

Thanks to one of my sisters for sending this photo of Mama (front row second from left). Linden High School, Linden, Alabama.

Ann and I have been on the go the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, we went to San Destin for a work-related trip and then headed to Santa Rosa the following weekend with Ann's mom for a short vacation planned well before we knew we were heading to Paris or to San Destin just the week before (the last trip was actually one of the items we "won" at a silent auction for Alzheimer's of Central Alabama). Anyway, it was a great trip and very relaxing. Here's one of the photos I took. I'm trying to use the photo I uploaded onto Flickr earlier, so we'll see how that works:

Made a surprisingly quick and tasty dinner last night.

Had a green tomato that I soaked in buttermilk before coating with a combination of Italian breadcrumbs, cornmeal and flour. I then re-dipped in buttermilk lightly and added a crust of panko breadcrumbs.

I chopped and seeded a fresh tomato (really beautiful one, at that) and combined it with a handful of chopped fresh basil, a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. (I let this sit for about an hour to develop flavor)

I added a handful of fresh arugula to a plate and drizzled it with sherry vinegar and the extraordinary Italian olive oil that our Parisian friends shared with us on our recent trip. I sliced some fresh mozzarella and added one slice to the top of the arugula.

Heated about an inch of canola oil (olive oil would be great, but didn't have any) to high and added the green tomato slices. Cooked until nice and brown, about 8 minutes or so (turning a time or two).

Pulled out, drained briefly and immediately placed on top of the cheese. Another slice of cheese and then a final tomato slice. Topped with the chopped fresh tomatoes and basil. Very, very good!

What a great time! More on the trip in the coming week, but I've posted some photos to flickr. Just visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/joewatts/. I really need to add a link to flickr on my blog.

We saw lots, ate lots, walked LOTS and LOTS and took lots of photos. Between the two of us, we took 1200 photos (don't worry, I won't post them all!).

This spring, my trusty Canon 10D died on me while taking photos in Selma, Alabama for a tourism project I'm working on in the Black Belt. I had my other camera with me and the 10D was getting pretty old in terms of digital cameras, so nothing really shocking about it finally giving up the ghost. BUT, I really don't like having only one camera. If it had been my only camera, I'd have been stuck in Selma at 8 a.m. with basically nothing else to do. Worse, if that had happened on one of my trips to take pictures in a coal mine or at an event, I'd really have been up the creek.

I held out for a few months with only one camera while I researched (though I pretty much knew what I wanted) until last week when I ordered a new Canon 5D II. Wow! What a difference. Wide angle shots are really, REALLY wide. The resolution of a 21 megapixel camera is astounding. I've only taken a few photos with it so far, but I'm blown away with the difference in quality thus far! Here's one from the farmer's market this weekend.

I did a quick booklet about Eco-Tourism opportunities in Alabama's Black Belt last weekend. I got to use a good number of photos I've taken over the years, some photos taken by Billy Milstead, the hardest working brother-in-law to date on Black Belt GPS coordinates and photos, and a few from elsewhere. The booklet turned out pretty good. I think I'll be able to use it for some other venues as well.

Here's the cover:

What a wonderful thing. So much sadness in the world and in our family these last few years, it is a good thing to have a beautiful baby girl to come in and brighten the world.

My niece, Dawn, just had a baby girl!

Marcella Renee Dailey
Date of Birth: June 21, 2009
Time of Birth: 5:04 p.m.
Weight:  8 pounds 5 ounces
Length: 20 1/4"

Top picture: new Mom Dawn with Marcella (that, by the way, was my mother's first name, though she was always called Inez, or more frequently, Mama!).

Bottom picture: Morgan, my very first great niece (and yes, she is great) with Marcee.

We had a tasty dinner Saturday night as a bit of a reward for cleaning up the house much of the day. I seared a tuna steak and grilled Ann a piece of Copper River Salmon. A bit of arugula tossed with a rice wine vinegar based citrus dressing, and a few panko crusted fried green tomatoes and the first of season fried okra were, to my mind, perfect!

Had a great workshop at Camp McDowell earlier this week. Your Town Alabama's 10th year of workshops. Met some great folks and reconnected with lots more.

Not much to say, but did make several tasty dishes last weekend. Here are two (Shrimp and Grits with Fried Green Tomatoes and Copper River Salmon with Fried Corn Salsa)

Friend Ben Burford and I took another fun trip into the Black Belt: this time to Selma, Old Cahaba (Cahawba), Marion and Greensboro, Alabama. Check out my flickr page for more photos or read about our first adventure on Ben's blog.

Went to our local fish market (Snapper Grabbers) yesterday to discover a fish I've never had before: Steelhead trout. It looked to be a cross between salmon and rainbow trout, so I got enough for two (along with some shrimp to make shrimp and grits tonight).

Got some purple potatoes and asparagus at the grocery store, had a portabella mushroom leftover from earlier that seemed as though they would go nicely. Roasted the potatoes and grilled the asparagus and the mushroom along with the fish over a nice hickory smoke. It was excellent--and simple.