Posts Tagged ‘food photography’
Good afternoon tea spots are hard to find. Los Angeles has a diverse collection of tea houses that range from traditional English to sleek and modern—you just have to know where to look. All the classics are present, from luxury hotels to Asian-inspired tea rooms. Here are our top 10 favorite spots:
10. Tudor House, Santa Monica
This Santa Monica tea room is classic English, casual, and perfect for tea followed by some beach time or shopping at Third Street Promenade. You won’t be fawned over by white glove waiters, nor hear harpists strum. Instead you can relax, enjoy classic English fare and pastries, then grab a pint at the English pub next door.
Tudor House Santa Monica
1403 2nd Street
Santa Monica, California
310.451.8470
The national dish of Scotland is haggis. This hearty dish consists of minced sheep’s liver, heart, and lungs, mixed with suet and oatmeal and seasoned with diced onions and spices. All this is then cooked in the sheep’s stomach. It’s also served with neeps and tatties, or puréed turnips and mashed potatoes, respectively.
Berlin is a city that is constantly changing. Ultra modern building projects glisten beside historically grand structures and the occasional art-covered chunk of the Berlin Wall. In this constantly evolving landscape, there is never a shortage of sleek and stylish hotels either, many which have become some of the city’s most daring expressions of new design. Among these trendsetters Nhow Hotel has to be one of the most beautifully designed of them all.
St. Gallen, tucked away in Switzerland’s northwestern corner, turned out to be a culinary slice of heaven. This city has it all—classic and modern architecture, a vast historical legacy, a focus on fashion, UNESCO world heritage sights and an emphasis on good food.
Monastery Haute Cuisine
Hands down, the most unique meal in town is the St. Gallus haute cuisine dining experience at Gaststuben zum Schlössli, a restored castle in the heart of St. Gallen’s old town with themed dining rooms.
Wanted to share some photos from my first fondue here in Switzerland. Switzerland is a land of great cheeses, and fondue is no exception. This communal classic is the perfect bonding ritual, and great for sharing with friends and family on a cold day. Although there are endless variations as far as fondue staples go, like veggies or chocolate fondue with fruit, the classic Swiss tradition is all about bread and potatoes.
Somehow the days just keep getting better. This morning I opened the windows to find a spectacular sunshine-filled view of Lake Lucerne, a welcome surprise after a few stormy days, and the perfect weather for an ascent up Mount Rigi, a must-see highlight to any trip through Switzerland. The peak of Mt. Rigi is visible from Lucerne’s city center on a clear day, easily recognizable by its pointed control tower antennae in the distance.
The train from Lausanne to Gruyères cut through vineyards, golden in the morning sunshine, with just the slightest hint of snow accenting all the mediterranean colors. The train wound its way up and up through the grape fields, rising high over Lake Geneva, until the vineyards became stacked layers balancing over the lake, seeming ready to spill right into the water. It was a landscape just like this that first enchanted me with Switzerland. As the train made a final turn inland toward Gruyères, the landscape changed entirely, and suddenly everything was coated in a layer of snow—even the cows and sheep.
Today I visited La Maison du Gruyère (The House of Gruyère), a cheese dairy near Gruyères, Switzerland in the Fribourg countryside, where you can learn the entire cheese making process and do a cheese tasting afterwards!
Milk from Cows who Vacation in the Swiss Alps
It all starts with milk, from cows who spend their summers feeding on grass up in the Swiss alps, a vital part of Swiss culture marked with colorful traditions (see more about this below under “Fast Facts”). Gruyère cheese is still made according to a traditional recipe dating back to 1115 AD. At the cheese dairy, the milk is delivered by farmers twice a day and the cheese is made 3-4 times a day. You can watch the entire process and see the cheese makers at work—a perfect way to immerse yourself in Swiss culture.
I was drawn to Lausanne by a distant memory. Back in my college days when I was studying abroad in Italy, I took an overnight train to either Barcelona or Paris. On the way I remember waking up early in the morning and looking out the train window. I was so stunned by the beautiful view that it’s still etched in my mind. The day was crystal clear and there was a big blue lake, reflecting the sky and snow capped mountains in its waters. The hills were exploding with green and tumbled straight onto the water’s shore. I looked for a sign of where we were: Lausanne. I vowed to come back here one day, stop, and linger, instead of just passing through.
Finally today I caught a train back to Lausanne.
2012 was a great year for us in regards to food photography. Several members of team Culture Vixen are obsessed with photographing our food, which makes for long paparazzi sessions in restaurants, sometimes to the point of our food getting cold. Luckily the result of all this food adoration has resulted in the following collection of photos. We hope you love them as much as we do!
Strawberry Soup, Fossheim Hotel in Lom, Norway. This dish was so beautifully presented, I hated to eat it!
On ice: frosty drinks at the Icebar in Stockholm, Sweden.
Fancy appetizer at Neh in Tallinn, Estonia.
