Out in the shops today here are a selection of some images from the book.
Connect with Charlotte
Monday, 20 May 2013
'Made in Chelsea' star Jamie Laing's Candy Kittens book
Earlier this year I shot a fun and cute book for Candy Kittens, the boutique / sweet shop creation of Jamie Laing of 'Made in Chelsea' fame.
Out in the shops today here are a selection of some images from the book.
Out in the shops today here are a selection of some images from the book.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Alpro "Deskfest" Campaign
Alpro launched their 'Deskfest' campaign earlier this year. I shot a range of images based around the idea of a quick and easy breakfast on the go or at your desk. It gave me lots of new breakfast ideas and a new found passion for desk accessories.
Connect with Charlotte
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Cawston Press juices
Cawston Press' cocktail and mocktail shoot really got me in the mood for sipping summer cocktails in a sunny english garden. The flavours of their apple juices and sparkling juices are really zingy and such delicious easy mixers. The mixologist created a very punchy range of drinks that were hard to keep my hands off, the bourbon cocktail being a firm favourite.
Connect with Charlotte
Monday, 26 November 2012
Sweet and savoury preserving class
I am not entirely sure how I chanced upon the Culinary Anthropologist's website (a.k.a. Anna Colquhoun) , however it has been such a great discovery. I have now completed two of Anna's cooking classes. The first, which is documented here, was the Riverford Early Autumn Preserving workshop. I learnt such a great deal that day, met some lovely people and gorged myself on the perfect lunch complete with some of Anna's outstanding jellies, jams and chutneys. It is simply a wonderfully cosy and inspirational way to spend a day. The classes take place in her purpose built kitchen which is the ideal size and light filled space for her select classes of eight. Below my pictures from the day taken on my iphone which hopefully tell the story better than my words can.
My jars from the course sat proudly on my counter for a week before being put away. It interested me that out of the five gorgeous jars, every person who laid eyes upon them exclaimed great interest in acquiring the Piccalilli. So, if you are wondering what home made gifts to make for Christmas, I'd say Piccalilli would be a good bet. Below you will find the recipe kindly given for use here by Anna.
Piccalilli
Makes: 7+ 1lb jars
2 kgs prepared vegetables: choose a colourful mix of cucumbers, carrots, onions/shallots, courgettes/marrows, bell peppers, cauliflowers, green beans, green tomatoes, sweetcorn kernels etc.
approx 8 tbsps fine pure salt
1050ml cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or malt vinegar
400g white granulated sugar
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tbsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tbsp celery seeds
2 tbsps yellow mustard seeds
40g cornflour, or 60g plain flour
2 tbsps mustard powder
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp powdered ginger
1. Cut all the vegetables into matching 1cm dice, or bigger if you prefer. Layer them in a big bowl with the salt and leave for several hours or, preferably, overnight. Don't skip this step - salting is important for drawing out excess water which would otherwise dilute the pickle.
2. Place your clean jars in the oven and turn it on to 140C to sterilise them. Leave the jars in there until needed. Rinse the vegetables in several changes of cold water and drain very well.
3. Reserve a little cup of vinegar and place the rest in a large pan with the sugar, coriander, cumin, celery seeds and mustard seeds. Heat to dissolve the sugar and simmer for five minutes.
4. Stir the cornflour, mustard powder, turmeric and ginger into the reserved vinegar to make a paste. Add some hot vinegar to this to loosen it, then pour the paste into the pan, stirring briskly as you do to avoid getting lumps. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring.
5. Now add the drained vegetables and simmer everything together for five minutes, stirring often. I like the vegetables half-cooked, so they retain a little crunch.
6. Pack the hot pickle into the hot jars, making sure there are no large air pockets, and seal immediately. Wait one month before opening and use within a year. Once opened, store in the fridge.
 |
| My perfect kind of lunch: cheese, preserves and sourdough bread. |
 | |
| Passata - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
 |
| Piccalilli - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
 |
| Piccalilli - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
 |
| Hedgeroe Jelly - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
 |
| Hedgeroe Jelly - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
 |
| Hedgeroe Jelly - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
 |
| Plum Jam - image © Charlotte Tolhurst |
My jars from the course sat proudly on my counter for a week before being put away. It interested me that out of the five gorgeous jars, every person who laid eyes upon them exclaimed great interest in acquiring the Piccalilli. So, if you are wondering what home made gifts to make for Christmas, I'd say Piccalilli would be a good bet. Below you will find the recipe kindly given for use here by Anna.
Piccalilli
Makes: 7+ 1lb jars
2 kgs prepared vegetables: choose a colourful mix of cucumbers, carrots, onions/shallots, courgettes/marrows, bell peppers, cauliflowers, green beans, green tomatoes, sweetcorn kernels etc.
approx 8 tbsps fine pure salt
1050ml cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or malt vinegar
400g white granulated sugar
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tbsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tbsp celery seeds
2 tbsps yellow mustard seeds
40g cornflour, or 60g plain flour
2 tbsps mustard powder
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp powdered ginger
1. Cut all the vegetables into matching 1cm dice, or bigger if you prefer. Layer them in a big bowl with the salt and leave for several hours or, preferably, overnight. Don't skip this step - salting is important for drawing out excess water which would otherwise dilute the pickle.
2. Place your clean jars in the oven and turn it on to 140C to sterilise them. Leave the jars in there until needed. Rinse the vegetables in several changes of cold water and drain very well.
3. Reserve a little cup of vinegar and place the rest in a large pan with the sugar, coriander, cumin, celery seeds and mustard seeds. Heat to dissolve the sugar and simmer for five minutes.
4. Stir the cornflour, mustard powder, turmeric and ginger into the reserved vinegar to make a paste. Add some hot vinegar to this to loosen it, then pour the paste into the pan, stirring briskly as you do to avoid getting lumps. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring.
5. Now add the drained vegetables and simmer everything together for five minutes, stirring often. I like the vegetables half-cooked, so they retain a little crunch.
6. Pack the hot pickle into the hot jars, making sure there are no large air pockets, and seal immediately. Wait one month before opening and use within a year. Once opened, store in the fridge.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
School project continued....
Unfortunately my new year's resolution of updating my blog more regularly had to be put on hold due to a very tough personal start to the year. A friend, who also writes a blog, told me to never make such promises in the first place as they are rarely kept and you then enter into a downward spiral of continuous apologies that you are not updating your blog enough. So, no more promises, I'll just crack on with showing you some more of the school portrait and food shots I completed earlier this year.
The circumstances of each shoot were not ideal: a dish brought along in some tupperware, styled by me using a box of props which lived permanently in the back of my car and a busy school refectory that we regularly got chased out of at break times. My set up being mostly something along these lines for the food photography.
The portraits were taken directly after shooting the food. Shooting "real" poeple comes with its own complications/limitations. Not many people like having their picture taken and are terribly camera shy. I therefore tried to make it as quick and painless as possible by using only natural light and shooting within the school grounds. Other "tricks" are to ask subjects to look away and only turn back to the camera with a smile at the last minute and generally prancing about being silly helps put people at ease too (I have learnt to leave my pride at home for shoots with kids or animals!). Thankfully the weather cooperated with us and so did the kids ... well actually, there were some wonderfully cheeky attempts at sabotaging the shots, but I think I managed to pull off some lovely shots nevertheless. You can view more images from this project under the new heading "People" on my website.
The circumstances of each shoot were not ideal: a dish brought along in some tupperware, styled by me using a box of props which lived permanently in the back of my car and a busy school refectory that we regularly got chased out of at break times. My set up being mostly something along these lines for the food photography.
The portraits were taken directly after shooting the food. Shooting "real" poeple comes with its own complications/limitations. Not many people like having their picture taken and are terribly camera shy. I therefore tried to make it as quick and painless as possible by using only natural light and shooting within the school grounds. Other "tricks" are to ask subjects to look away and only turn back to the camera with a smile at the last minute and generally prancing about being silly helps put people at ease too (I have learnt to leave my pride at home for shoots with kids or animals!). Thankfully the weather cooperated with us and so did the kids ... well actually, there were some wonderfully cheeky attempts at sabotaging the shots, but I think I managed to pull off some lovely shots nevertheless. You can view more images from this project under the new heading "People" on my website.
 |
| All images © Charlotte Tolhurst |
Connect with Charlotte
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)