My Effort of Making Lobster Rolls

In addition to the usual weekly photo emails, I feel obligated to provide a summary report on my grade for making lobster rolls for Dr. Michelle over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Before Michelle came home for Thanksgiving, I slightly over-stated my cooking skills by telling her that, in addition to making delicious Chinese foods, I’ve also learned to make lobster rolls, which is a special New England dish she has grown to love after staying in Boston for the past 4+ years.  She was very excited about me making lobster rolls for her, so we scheduled the lobster rolls for dinner on Saturday. 

Rudi and I had to go to my friend’s house for dinner, so my job was to prepare the lobster rolls for Michelle and her friend before we left.  I could not tell you how stressed out I was for the entire day trying to think through all the little steps on how I would actually “make” lobster rolls…  Well, after hours of struggling, the lobster rolls were made, beautifully!!  Sadly, we had to leave for the party before Michelle ate dinner. 

On our way to my friend’s house, I texted: “Chelle, let me know how the lobster rolls taste, and give me a score on a scale of 1-10 with 10 = the best.”  About an hour later, I received a message: “It was good!”  I could not help to scream at the dinner table with bunch of my friends, quite proudly… and then realized that I didn’t get a score.  “How about the score?”  Within a split of a second, the score came back: “7.”

I was a bit surprised by the “low” score, but Rudi said “This is pretty good, a solid C-”  Haha, I probably only deserve an “F” when it comes to cooking!

On my way driving Dr. Michelle back to the airport this morning, we went through all the details about how to make the lobster rolls better next time – a bit more salt and pepper, a little less celery, a little less mayo, let the lobster meat turn totally cold before serving it…  The list goes on, but I am determined to make a better lobster roll next time!          

Shooting Outside the Box

Finally had time to digest all the pictures I took last weekend and think about "Shooting Outside the Box". 

By now, most of you have seen these 2 photos I took last weekend.  What I learned from this experience was -- to get a good image, you really need to shoot outside the box!

For the first day (image 1), I stood with many photographers for 2+ hours on that ever-so-famous bridge to shoot the last glow of the Watchman.  The bridge was so crowded that it really couldn't fit any more tripod at the time when we were shooting...  I did not like the composition from that angle, but thought there's got to be something special about the bridge.  Otherwise, why would all the "experienced" photographers stand here???

For the second day, I was determined to find a different angle underneath the bridge and close by the river.  So, during the day, I went to the bridge twice and finally found a way to go down from the bridge to the river bank.  All of a sudden, I saw a whole new world, and that's where I took my shoot of "Last Glow at Watchman".  Enjoy!      

Shooting for Stars

It's been a long day -- 4:15 AM to 7 PM at Zion National Park.  Still, no photos...  have to process them when I get home tomorrow night.

Got up at 4:15 AM.  To challenge myself and overcome my fear of darkness in mountains and canyons, I left my hotel room around 5:15 AM, drove through the narrow roads surrounded by the DARK, DARK canyons...  I did not have a specific goal for the early morning, just wanted to stay in the dark and look at the mountains and stars to see if I would still be afraid.  The sad truth is -- my fear was still totally in control, so I sat in my car for about 20-30 minutes with the doors securely locked!!

Several photographers came to the same location, parked next to me and went out in the dark to set up their gears for "star shooting".  I finally got the courage to come out of the car to set up my gears...  But it was a little too late, the sky started to light up, and I lost the mystery look of all the stars quickly.

So, I will have to get up early again tomorrow morning to catch my stars!!  Wish me luck.

Yeah, so much in life is about challenging ourselves -- making sure that we can eventually overcome our own fear... not just about darkness, but about all the "unknown" in life.


Sunday, 11/4/12

I kept my promise and got my starry shot!!!