However, the frustrating thing about this lens (and about most “kit” lenses that come in a lot of the DSLR starter sets) is that they don’t focus very close. IF you want a really tight close up shot of something, you might be out of luck, as the lens will simply refuse to focus if you’re closer than 2 or 3 feet from your subject. So what’s a food blogger who wants to get those lovely close detail shots to do?

You could buy a separate macro lens. The Nikon 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro Lens is an excellent choice and pretty reasonably priced at around $470. Or my favorite, the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro Lens, but that one runs around $900 – well worth it for the VR (vibration-reduction) feature, IMO.

Ok, ok, so … most food bloggers and amateur photographers just aren’t able or willing to drop $500++ on a specialty lens. So the next best option?

These!

This is a set that I found online for $14 plus shipping: Digital Concepts +1 +2 +4 +10 Close-Up Macro Filter Set with Pouch (58mm)

The pouch contains filters that you screw on the front of your existing camera lens. You just want to make sure that you buy the right kit for your lens – check the outside edge of your lens for the diameter in mm. For example, the Nikon 50mm lens has a 58mm diameter.

There are 4 filters that magnify as follows: 1x, 2x, 4x, and 10x.

So here’s an example of exactly how well they work. Start with an image shot with the 50mm lens. This is as close as I can get to the subject before the lens won’t focus:

This is with the 1x filter:

This is with the 2x filter:

This is with the 4x filter:

And this is with the 10x filter:

Pretty cool, huh? The filters might cause a little flare when used outside and because they aren’t really high end glass, they’ll cause a teeny bit of softening to your images. But overall, if choosing between spending $500 on a specialty macro lens, and $15 on a set of filters, most people will do quite nicely with the $15 filters.

Oh, and I shoot Nikon, hence my Nikon recommendations above. The corresponding lenses in the Canon line would be:
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens – $99
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras – $370
Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Digital SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR Cameras – $422
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM 1-to-1 Macro Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras – $940

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It’s not food related, but I had to share an image of the roses outside my front door right now. The climbing rose that I planted when I first moved into the townhouse 5 years ago has gotten large enough to train up the wall and over the front door. This spring, after all the rain we had, it was covered in the most beautiful blooms and I couldn’t resist photographing them.

I’m thinking about harvesting the hips after they bloom and seeing if I can make rose hip jelly. (See, I can always bring it back around to food!)

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Lots of Japanese eggplant, a pound of fresh black eyed peas, and a pound of okra. I’m thinking grilled okra is going to happen this week soon!

And – we lucked into about 12 pounds of peaches. The guy at the stand thought H’s shirt was funny, so he threw in an extra couple of pounds of “scratch and dents” so that we could have some cobbler or jam or something.

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I have only one miscellaneous thought today. I’m down cameras – all I’m left with right now is H’s point-n-shoot. It’s really hard to food blog w/out a proper camera. At least for me. So posting may be light and/or with minimal photos until I get my cameras back (or get the new one I want). But I’m still here and will do as much as I can with what I can until then.

[ saturday farmer’s market and misc #7 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

I also picked up some goat cheese from a local dairy – Cole’s Lake Diary. (They don’t have a website, unfortunately, but there’s more information about the farm here: http://www.piedmontpark.org/programs/GM_farmers.html.)

I have to tell you that this cheese is amazing.  Last week I bought the 7 pepper version and today I bought both the 7 pepper and the roasted garlic.  In just a couple of weeks this cheese has become a staple of my “free” day snacking.  Crostini with goat cheese is simply amazing. I’m told that they’re working on getting pasteurization equipment set up and approved so they can sell goat’s milk as well which I’m looking forward to experimenting with and possibly making yogurt for a friend of mine who can’t consume cow’s milk.

Oh, and I have to show you the inside of those dragon plums that I got from Yang Farms. Who would have thought that something so bland looking on the outside could have such a gorgeous, vibrant inside.

I also have images of my sprouts – much excitement this morning as I noticed the green in my sprout jar. I’ll have a whole post on sprouting coming soon.

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Not food related, but I have become fascinated with the idea of small houses:  Tumbleweed Houses.  Small House Style.  Small House Movement Roundup at ApartmentTherapy.  I lived in a small cabin in Alaska for almost a year and there is a part of me that would love to go back to a much simpler lifestyle like that.  I don’t know that I’ll ever get that small again, but it does encourage me to unclutter and simplify my life.

My first batch of limoncello is complete and aging in the back of the pantry.  I put some of it in a smaller bottle in the fridge and it’s quite good.  I think a month of aging to mellow out the sugars and it’ll be close to perfect.  Now I’m in search of proper bottles and bar corks to set it up for gifts for the holidays.  I have to make a limoncello post soon, I think, as soon as I have more photos.

I have a 1/2 gallon of vanilla brewing in the back of the pantry as I write.  I used half bourbon beans and half Tahitian beans, in a 1/2 gallon of high quality vodka.  I’m going to give the vanilla a full 60 days before I open the jar, but I’m very optimistic.  This will also be a future post, but I need more final product pictures.

I remember reading the Julie & Julia blog as it was published, back in 2002/2003 and being fascinated by it. I love Julie Powell’s writing style and I was in awe of her commitment and dedication to cooking the whole book. But I gotta say I’m really tired of all the hype about the movie. I’ll probably go see it this weekend, but I refuse to blog about it. Just because I want to be a rebel.

[ saturday farmer’s market and misc #6 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Oh and just for a glimpse of what I’ve been dealing with, here’s a photo of my dining room ceiling from last week (the upstairs bathroom developed a plumbing leak and … well … here’s the result):

Luckily this is one of the “resolved” things and I don’t have to worry about my ceiling caving in anymore!

[ Absence makes … something is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Here’s an image from last weeks veggie haul, in lieu of the regular farmer’s market bounty:

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Not food related, but the cat is being an affection sponge today. No matter where I go, she follows me and flops at my feet. When I sit on the sofa, she presses as close as she can to me and curls up. This is highly unusual, so I’m enjoying it while I can. By this evening I’ll be the 3rd most important person in the house again (after herself, and then H, of course).

I haven’t restarted the limoncello yet, but I need to get on that soon, if I’m going to have time to test it before deciding if I want to make enough for Christmas gifts.

Along the same lines, I need to get some small bottles for the vanilla so I can share that out. The 1/2 gallon jar in the pantry is so dark now that you can’t see through it. I think it’ll make great gifts. I’m thinking I might try making some ground up vanilla bean paste as well.

The preserved lemons look great. I opened the jar today and poked at them – they liquid is getting syrupy and the skins of the lemons are soft. I think another week and they’ll be ready to use in something. I’m thinking orzo, asparagus, and … something. Another flying by the seat of my pants recipe in the making.

The homemade green Tabasco went well (post coming) – made from store bought green chiles. I can’t wait until my cayenne peppers come in so I can make the red variety.

Dorie’s Tartest Lemon Tart is a fantastic summer dessert. I really like it and will make it again for sure. Stay tuned for Tuesday’s post to see the finished product.

Finally a great tip if you have ant issues as we seem to do every year at this time. Powdered cinnamon will keep them out. I tried it today, lining the kitchen windowsill with a thin line of cinnamon, and … voila! … no more ants. Now that I know it works, I can use it in the living room as well and not worry about the cat getting into it.

[ saturday farmer’s market and misc #4 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Heart Attack Symptoms Differ According to Sex

Spreading this word is extremely important to me. You see, this coming Thursday will be the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death. She died of a heart attack that no one knew she was having. For about a week, she complained of “really bad heartburn” and fatigue and even though she was taking antacids and Pepcid, she just couldn’t kick this “heartburn” she was having. We spoke on the phone on that Thursday night and she told me that she was going to go to the doctor on Friday and see if she could get a prescription strength antacid.

That Friday morning the doctor rushed her to the hospital and scheduled an emergency cardiac catheterization. She died during the procedure; her heart was so damaged from a week of ongoing attacks that it couldn’t stand the strain. The doctor said had we caught it earlier, it could have been treated.

We were all stunned. It was so totally unexpected. She had just rebounded from pneumonia a few months earlier and was feeling better than she had in years (so she said). She ate healthily, worked out daily, was at a reasonable weight … there was no reason for us to expect that she was at risk for an attack.

And because the symptoms were so atypical, it never occurred to her (or us) that her ongoing heartburn and indigestion could be more. My mom was 62 when she died – way too young.

So please spread the word. Read up on the various symptoms of heart attacks in women. Share the information with your mom, your grandmom, your aunts, your sisters, and your girlfriends.

It’s really really really important.

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