Saturday 22 June 2013

Tidbits and big things


Our youngest son found a recipe of this airy and delicious strawberry cake: "See mum, this would make a cool dessert, wouldn't it?" - It surely did! Next Thursday it's my turn to bring cake to the afternoon coffee break at my work, and I'm thinking about baking a few of these - now that the season for strawberries has arrived.


Since you only need to use the egg whites to the cake, I used the leftover egg yolks to a bearnaise sauce. I am very helpless when it comes to custards and sauces, but this easy bearnaise sauce recipe from my physiotherapist is a success every time.

The whiplash injury in my neck was bad last spring - a nerve gets stuck every now and then ,causing both numbness and a horrible pain - but the treatments, together with medicine and rest, helped me and "I got my life back" after 2 weeks in bed. I kept on seeing the physiotherapist 8 months in all. She showed me simple exercises that strengthens the small muscles in the neck and shoulder- region ... and we swopped a few recipes as well :)


My pink flower plant is not doing so well. Even if it gets water and tender loving care daily, it is withering ... I took a closer look the other day:


The plant was invaded by these small green bugs! No wonder the plant was withering and getting yellow spots on the leaves. I started to worry that this colony of green bugs would invade my basil and mint pots - all on the windowshill in the kitchen - so I got rid of the pink plant. I'm so sorry ... If we had a garden, I'm sure an organic treatment with something might have helped, so those green bugs would have decided to go elsewhere ...



And last - a dream of mine has come true - I have gotten a DSLR camera! It has been on my wish list for a long time, and I've been looking at the different types, brands, qualities etc. I talked with my husband about Nikon and Canon - and we finally thought that Nikon D3200 would be a good option for a newbie like me.

We talked about getting the camera first this fall, but my husband surprised me one afternoon the other week - I came home from work, and these packages were standing on the table!!! Oh boy!! He has such a big heart!!! 

There is a mini-course on how to use the camera - I'm sincerely overwhelmed by all the buttons and options there is.
I have actually been hesitating in taking pictures with this new camera - I have this treasure in my hands, but I have not got a glue of all the adjustements available?!

Well, this Monday I was asked to take a few photos of a sweet colleque of mine, who is going to retire in 2 weeks. I took our new camera with me and thought that it's now or never - I cannot be postponing the use of it until I have time to take the mini-course.

It was a fun experience:

  • The flash kept popping up, the only way to keep it down was to use the minus flash-option, so I used it, instead of using the portrait-option.
  • I am so used to take pictures with the handy & little point and shoot camera, so forgot all about using the zoom. I kept stepping back and forth until my collegue asked, why I didn't use the zoom ...

We had great fun, she was amused seeing me discovering new things and functions as we went along - I got many pictures of her smiling and laughing at the Funny Fotograph! (she even took a picture of me while I was trying to find a way to close for the flash :)

We'll use those photos on a slideshow of her, together with speeches and other things, on her last day at work. I'll make a CD-rom for her as well :)

 
Happy weekend to you
from
an overwhelmed and happy
 
 Funny Photograph
Nina
 
 
Sharing with
 



26 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new camera Nina -- to be honest when I first got mine, I found reading the manual to be quite helpful. You'll do great!

    Have a wonderful weekend.

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    1. Thank you Nancy! I'll dive into the manual soon ... to find out the secrets of the ISO, shutter speed and much more :-)

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  2. Now that was a nice surprise to come home to! Nice guy . . .
    Darn pesky little aphids . . . , (great close up though!)

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    1. He is, Lynn :-)! I need to Google how to deal with the aphids, if they come around Again ...

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  3. The cake looks delish! Congrats on the new toy....I am sure you will get your use of it!

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    1. Thank you Debbie ... I'm really happy and am looking forward of learning to use it :-)

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  4. That cake does look great. I like the egg yolks in the bowl too!

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    1. I fell for the yellow yolks too ... both the form and the color :)

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  5. Oh wow, the strawberry cake looks amazing :) And congratulations on your new camera - how exciting! Enjoy :)

    Hugs!

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    1. Thank you Stephanie! I plan to post the recipe here soon ... It tastes like summer :)

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  6. that strawberry looks just temptingly delicious!
    I have my Nikon 3200 with me all the time, congratulations you got one too. :)

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    1. Thank you Sophie! I look forward of making the most of the new camera ... learning the basics first and then trying different Things ... I dream of taking Pictures in low light, and of running water with a long exposure...

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  7. What a lovely surprise from your hubby. You will love playing with your camera. I struggled with all the controls for a year and then took an Adult Ed course at our high school and am so glad I did. Your photos - especially the yolks - are great.

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    1. Hi Stephanie,
      That is a very good idea to take a course on how to use the dSL camera - I'll remember that and look for courses NeXT Winter.
      Btw your DIY collega is just lovely - looking forward of more creative inspiration from you :)

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  8. Lisa Genova's book was excellant thank you for the suggestion.I have a Canon so I'm not sure you can do this with yours but when my flash pops up and I've not time to make adjustments, it was recommended in my how to booklet, to simply put the flash back down without removing my finger from the take a photo button (?correct name) and voilà that works, no flash. Sweet hubby!

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    1. Hi Lynn, Thank you so much for the tip! I haven't gotten to the manual yet (too busy with Work - waiting for the vacation) ... but I'll try your tip of just putting the flash Down!

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  9. That dessert, looks wonderful.
    I bought a plant from a nursery who had a great reputation and it did the very same thing, one day it was just crawling with 'things'... I took it outside, sprayed it, left it outside for he sun to cook it warm and the bugs died. Still careful of it, but I think it is ok now.
    thank you for the kind comment on my blog, as we encourage others we remain encouraged.
    Looking forward to your beautiful pictures from your new 'camera'.

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    1. Hi Sharon,
      That's great that you got rid of the bugs, healing the plant!
      Your Picture and the quote on your blog is just lovely ... I'll write the quote down here as well:
      "When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile."
      Blessings to you week!

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  10. Yay, for you and your new camera! You'll have so much fun as you learn!

    I'm glad to hear that you have recovered from such a bad injury - necks are serious business! And that you also acquired some recipes during your healing. That looks fantastic! We have lots of strawberries on their way in our patch.. I will have to try this.

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    1. Thanks Amanda - I'm relieved that the nech business is going fine - I've learned to "mind" my doings a bit better now, so I won't do too much, and that I remember to do the exercises :) ANd the camera is just so exciting ... I'm looking ofrward to the Holidays, when there's more time to go out and take Pictures, and learn the different options with shutter speed ect... ;.) (I'm pinning at the moment all kinds of tutorials - I Wonder if I ever get out of the house, if I'm going to read both the manual and the Pins I have?! :)

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  11. Next week, you'll have to post recipes for the cake and the sauce! You have a "Big Girl" camera now! Yea for your generous husband! The bug photo is awesome!

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    1. That's so sweetly said, Barb : "Big Girl Camera" - Thank you! And yes - He is really something - a treasure with his big Heart :) And I'll do my best in posting the recipe of the strawberry cake NeXT week :)
      Enjoy the coming weekend, Barb!

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  12. Were these fabulous photos taken with your new camera? They are so clear and colorful. I too use a point and shoot which I really like but would like to up grade.

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    1. Thank you Gracie - these Pictures are taken with my good old Canon Ixus, which is a point and shoot ... It takes Sharp Pictures, also Macro, if I get really close to the subject matter.

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  13. Those green little bugs are aphids and they can really suck the life out of a plant. If you ever see them again, there are ways to quickly get rid of them. When I first saw the cake my immediate thought was that it looks like a crown! Congrats on your new baby! I have the d5000 which is probably about the same as your new 3200. I love it and normally shoot in Aperture Priority Mode. Try it out, I think you'll like that mode and you won't have to worry about the flash popping up! Just make sure to open up your aperture all the way (to get the most light into your photo, unless you're shooting into sunlight), which means it will be your smallest f-stop, probably somewhere around f3, depending on how wide your camera lens can open. This might sound Greek to you, but once you play with it you'll soon understand! Have fun!! You are going to LOVE it!!

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    1. Like I wrote to you before, right now the Apreture is Greek to me, but I'm soon going to learn more about it :) SO good to know that I can turn to you when needing advice (you talk "Nikon" :) - Can't wait the vacation to start...

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