Bokeh, Baklava And Super Raw Life Magazine

This "Apple Baklava" was made for three reasons. #1. I wanted some. #2. I wanted my new buddy, the fabulous photographer, Shawn Carrasco to taste it. (He'd never had a raw dessert before.) #3. I wanted to learn how to photograph using the 'bokeh' technique (out-of-focus areas).


                                        

Shawn gave me a photography lesson and this was my first attempt.

Heeere we go...

 Bokeh, baby!!




                                        
                                      Gimme some!




                                        
 Oh, yeaaah!!

    

 

    

   

    

 Wheeeee.

    

    Please bear with me here...

      

 I couldn't decide which photos to choose.

     

So I pretty much chose them all.

      

      

      

     

Shawn showed me how to use a different setting to make the photos lighter. SO much to learn!!

      

By the way, this thing was SOOO dang good!!!!

 This is my favorite magazine of its kind, "Super Raw Life Magazine".  I'm in this issue! (Yay me!!)

                                                     
Here's the silk scarf I painted for, Founder/Editor in Chief of "Super Raw Life Magazine", my friend, Michele Marie Jeppson. I looove that magazine! (And her!!)
Here she's wearing the scarf at the "Sundance Film Festival". How cool is that?!! :)




                                            
I'm in this issue too!! :)

Here's a link to the magazine.

You can download the current and past issue of Super Raw Life magazine for
free at www.superrawlife.com

This issue features friend, Chef BeLive, the awesome raw food chef!!!!

 Don't know this dude, but if I wasn't happily married and older than dirt, I'd probably like to.

This is the issue that has the "Apple Baklava" recipe in it. That delicious recipe is by, Cherie Soria.

I love that I know all of these wonderful people and that I'm learning so much from their talents! Raw food recipes, photography techniques, how to be great friends long-distance... and so much more!

Thank you for allowing me to feature you in my blog!!

~~~~

                                     



                                             
Hey!! Hands off the Baklava, Shawn!!!! ~





There are SO many things to love!
I love "Followers" and comments too!
Thank you.




Signing off for now,
gabriele

An Evening With Oscar And The Girls

My friend, Shelby, who I've known since we were twelve! was throwing an Oscar Party and I was actually able to make it this year! Yayyy!

I dressed up kinda nice, wore my favorite silk scarf that I ever painted, and a pair of new heels.

New. Heels.

Stopped off at Harry Winston's for some bling. But wasn't able to get a bodyguard.

It seems they were all busy guarding the jewels the celebrities borrowed from them,

for Oscar night. Dangit. ;)

"Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up."

- Gloria Swanson, "Sunset Boulevard"

After that, I headed out. It was a gorgeous, sunny, Southern California day.

I got lost. Of course. Drove around in circles for twenty minutes. Not a great idea when gas is $4.37 a gallon, and you're driving a van.

Hoooney, I'm hooome!

And here she is! My pal since our first day of Jr. High School! Through all of our moving around and living in different parts of the country, we've always kept in touch. Hey! Good friends are hard to come by! And besides, she knows all my secrets, so I can't piss her off!

Here's the rest of our gang from Jr. High.

Shari, Shelby, yours truly and Val. Still as crazy as ever! Love these gals!!

Here's where we watched the show. Such a great room and beautiful house.

Think I'll move in.

If you've been reading my blog, you know that this was my favorite spot in the entire house - the dessert table!! I made the raw, Strawberry, Chocolate Cheesecake. But I scarfed down the cookies! I was sorry later.

Took time to smell the roses. Sniff, sniff. Mmmmm.

These are the score-thingies. We were supposed to put a check by all we thought would win.

I can truly say, I suck at this game!!

Some of the gals had already claimed their seats and were ready to get started on their ballots. But first I made them pose for a picture. There's Dee on the left, then Shari, Helen, Carol and Beverly.

How about a couple more? Oops. Never mind. We lost Carol.

She's ready to kick some butt and win this thing!

Now they're all engrossed in picking the winners, before the show starts.

Think I'll go eat some more cookies. Which I did.

Look who stopped by!! Shelby's daughter, Erin and her adorable son, Logan, with the cool 'do'!

There he is, giving Grandma a hug. What a cutie-pie!!

And there's Val, helping to set up the food. Great looking table - and eats.

Love her sparkly vest.

It was a fun show this year!

Even though I love, Meryl Streep, I wanted the gal from, "The Help" to win. And I was hoping the funny gal from, "Bridesmaids" would win too. But it was not to be. This is why I never win the game!

And who picked the most winners? Eighteen!! (Compared to my four!)

SHARI!! I think she wins every year!! Here she is showing off her prize.

Good job, girl!!

Yayyy! It's time to eat! But lemme get a picture first.

And there's Shelby, the hostess with the mostest. That was some goood food everyone brought!

And here they are, doing the Angelina Jolie leg-pose. She's got nothin' these gals don't have!

Well... okay... there's that Brad guy.

From left to right; Beverly, Dee, Shari, Shelby, Carol, Colleen, Val and Helen.

It was my turn to get in the picture. Hey! Who turned off the light?!

"Cigars? Cigarettes?" Val. Such a jokester. :)

This is what I looked like when I left for home. In good spirits and able to think straight.

You'll see why I mention that, in a second.

Headin' home, paying attention to the speed-limit. So much so, that I missed my exit to I-5.

Of course I did.

This is what I looked like when I woke up on Monday morning.

I told you I'd be sorry that I ate all that good stuff!! I felt like a zombie. Couldn't finish a sentence.

Walked as if I was drunk. Had a stomach ache and a headache, heading for a migraine.

Some of you know that I have a ton of food sensitivities and can't eat anything processed.

Or sugary. That's why I became a raw foodist. But, I still cave when I'm around so much good stuff!!

And I always pay the price. I spent most of Monday in bed. Someday I'll learn!

Temptation. It is what it is.

And this was my breakfast. :( Definitely not "Breakfast Of Champions".

Note to self; If you wear these all afternoon and night...

You will need these the next day.

I've done this before too. Different shoes. Same feet.

I felt better on Tuesday and was able to have a healthy breakfast. A piece of my left-over, raw Cheesecake! Yeah, baby!! And hot water.

Leaving the glitz and glamour of the Oscars behind... it's back to reality.

Whatever the heck that is. :-)

Raw Food vs The Standard American Diet - S.A.D.

Celebrating Hot Water And Cool Cups - Part One

Celebrating Hot Water And Cool Cups - Part Two

There are SO many things to love!

I love "Followers" and comments too!

Thank you.

Signing off for now,

gabriele