"maki" news and stories

Maki at i was just really very hungry posted a great guide on how to take food photos in restaurants and other public places. A prolific blogger and writer, she has extensive experience and, judging from her photos, is good at what she does. Now, with some practice (and a good camera), getting quality photos at home isn't too difficult because you have the control over the lighting and there is not time pressure because there isn't anyone at the next table peeking over to see what you're doing.

Restaurants can be challenging places to shoot if they're dark, quiet or crowded, and because they are places of business, it is important to be unobtrusive. Maki uses three different cameras, ranging from a professional model to a camera phone for taking her photos. While she prefers to use the pro camera, there are situations were the other two are simply more appropriate, such as trying to be discrete with a camera in a restaurant. Beyond camera selection, here are a few of her tips for taking good food photos away from home:

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Frank Bruni, a New York Times restaurant critic, just spent a week working as a waiter in a restaurant to see how the other half lives. Though he still experienced the difficulties and irritations of the job after only a few days, he was at an excellent restaurant and he got to leave after only a week. Maki Itoh, whose food blog is the oft-mentioned i was just really very hungry, has written her own account of what it is like to work in a restaurant. She worked as a host in one of New York's most popular sushi restaurants back in 1998 and covers more than a week's worth of celebrities, regulars and why the job isn't as easy as it looks.

And for a truly entertaining, ongoing account of waiting tables, be sure to check out Waiter Rant, the blog of an anonymous waiter, who tells tales of everything from tipping, both good and bad, to the people who sniff rubber wine corks. He is also nominated as the Best American Blog in the 2006 Bloggies.

There are few things that are better than an easy-to-make cake, and if it has any type of streusel or crumble topping, it's nearly impossible. These easy cakes are great for breakfast and for snacking because they don't require any sort of frosting, as dessert cakes do. Of course, you could still serve one as a casual dessert, if you'd like. Maki's Apple Crumble Cake on her blog, i was just really very hungry, is one of these excellent, all purpose cakes. Not only does it look divinely moist and delicious, it is simple to make. Wet ingredients plus dry ingredients, topped with apples and a cinnamon crumble topping. A mere 40 minutes later, and you'll be trying not to burn your fingers on the pan as you cut your first slice.

Now that I think about it, sliced apples and crumble topping will improve just about any cake. I'm short-listing the idea for my next Sunday brunch.

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At $99 a piece, this shumai may be far more expensive than your average dumpling, but it might save your data. It's just one of many of Dynamism's bizarre and realistic food-shaped USB data storage devices. Each piece of shumai stores 128MB; a bottle of sake stores 256 MG; tuna and cucumber maki only hold 32MB apiece. And what did the company select as the cream of the crop, the device that holds a whole GB? Otoro. Even in USB drives, I suppose, tuna is king.

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