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How To: Ginger Beer
Wednesday, 14 March 2012 /// Written by Jessica Trippe

If the last few months of 2011 were as action packed for you as they were for us, then you're probably itching for a vacation as badly as we are.... Now that 2012 has taken shape and the New Years bubbly is but a distant, albeit flat memory, we're looking ahead to warmer days and colder beverages and the anticipation of sand between our toes. Yeah, I know, it's only March and it's fixing to rain but desire is a substantive force. Seasonal obstacles withstanding, I find I can always fall back on those transportive, time-and-place flavors as a suitable stand-in until opportunity presents for the real thing.

So, in the spirit of vacations yet to be, enjoy the taste of someplace more a little warmer, a little bubblier and with a satisfying bite end the end... it may sound like hyperbole, but I assure you it's not.

download recipe in PDF form

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER:

1-2 large fresh ginger roots: grated, chopped or sliced fine
2 cups of fine granulated sugar
1 gallon of bottled spring water
1 1/2 teaspoons of bread yeast
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
juice from one fresh lemon and/or lime

Equipment: 1 gallon plastic water jug, food processor (optional).

1. Wash and dry the ginger root. If you have a food processor, use it to puree the root to fine pulp. If you don't have a processor, use a cheese grater to grate the root or chop with a knife as finely as you can.

The goal is to get the ginger bits small enough that the juice will release when boiled.

How To: No Work Bread
Tuesday, 27 September 2011 /// Written by Jessica Trippe

As a native San Franciscan, it’s safe to say that here, certain cultural ideals express themselves as shared variations on a common culinary theme. In this microcosom, you don’t have to be Alice Waters’s kid to have grown up eating homemade this and organic that. The kitchen of my childhood was dictated by a simple but steadfast credence: know what you’re eating, know how to prepare it and enjoy the preparation as much as the end result. It’s of this tradition that I bring you the first in a series of culinary how-to’s.

I’m of the school of thought that just about any recipe provides occasion for experimentation - in the kitchen you can be as controlled or as creative as you choose. That said, it’s good to know the ropes of some basics and what better to start with than bread. I stumbled on the below “no work” bread recipe a few months back and it’s winning combination of golden crust, light yeasty flavor and zero required skill level has quickly positioned it as a staple in our home. Make it and see for yourself (and listen to the crust crackle as it comes out of the oven).

No Work Bread ( Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery, NYC):

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus flour for dusting
1/2 tsp scant dry active yeast
2 tsp salt
2 cups water at 70-80 F
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
cornmeal/semolin, as needed

Continue...
download recipe as PDF

How to be a European Fisherman Photographer
Thursday, 02 December 2010 /// Written by Corey Arnold

We're very excited to post another great blog from our pal and great photographer Corey Arnold who started his fishing life on the Bering Sea fishing for crab. One of the ships he worked on, The Rollo, was featured on the TV show Deadliest Catch. It was then that Corey began his life's work of documenting the lives and work of the world's fishermen.

His feature How to be an Alaskan Fisherman is on of Fecal Face's most popular, and he opens the solo show FISH-WORK Europe on Dec 2nd (through Jan 15) at Portland's Charles A. Hartman Fine Art gallery. His forthcoming book FISH-WORK: The Bering Sea can be pre ordered on his website. He'll be signing copies and showing photos @Fecal Face Dot Gallery on Feb 11, 2011. This blog documents his time recently photographing the lives of Europe's fishermen and women... and it rules.

Fish Processors in Vigo, Spain

Earlier this year, I received and email from a freelance producer in the UK asking if I was interested in a long term photo project documenting the state of the commercial fishing industry in the European Union. The job was for a coalition of sustainable fishing advocates, commercial fishing groups, and environmental organizations called Ocean2012 that are working together to reform the currently messy Common Fisheries Policy in the European Union. It was a pretty mind blowing request. I'd decided long ago that photographing the commercial fishing lifestyle around the world would be my life's work. Not my only work, but definitely a subject matter that I'd like to revisit annually in some form throughout life. Needless to say, it was the perfect match. I still can't believe my luck.

Dutch Owned Beam Trawler in the North Sea

The original plan was for me to take photographs that focus on one large and one small port in each of four countries around Europe, covering the major fishing ports and regions. I would photograph everything related to fishing including the fishermen, their families, communities, processors, shipyards, netmakers, and everyone that would be affected by changes in common fisheries policy management in Europe. My intentions were simple: Create a broad image library of the current state of the commercial fishing industry in Europe (and have a lot of fun doing it).

How to Print B&W Photos
Wednesday, 05 December 2007 /// Written by Ray Potes

Our friend from the epic photo magazine Hamburger Eyes, Ray Potes, gives you a detailed step by step.