Category: Food

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 21, 20219:20 pm

I Don’t Long for Them Beyond Nostalgia

Go ahead and scold me for this being one of the most pointless of posts. But before changing my diet in July 2013—foresaking all confections and largely reducing processed carbohydrates—MoonPie was among my top choices for cheap treats (I couldn’t find Devil Dogs outside the Northeast United States).

My wife and I passed by a massive display of the Double-Decker variety, in boxes of 24, for $9.49—that’s 39.5 cents each—at Costco Business Center today. Best price for the same thing from Amazon sellers: $23.79. That’s a helluva markup, if Costco’s considered more wholesale.

Leica by Joe WilcoxNov 13, 20218:26 pm

Juicy Fruit

I frequently see Loki, who was profiled in my “Cats of University Heights” series, jump onto a fence and into a yard where he doesn’t live. Two catio captives, nicknamed Jester and King, call home the place right next door. Today, while walking by, my wife and I saw something else on the fence—the owner’s generosity. Don’t you want one? C`mon, confess! The persimmons sure look delicious.

What I initially missed, and Annie pointed out, is the tree bearing the fruit. It towers in the blurred background of the Featured Image. The companion provides context, by focusing on the leaves and hanging persimmons, but would be meaningless without the first photo.

Photo by Joe WilcoxNov 6, 20219:33 pm

Birthday Beans

Saturday supper is a burpy (or, ah, gassy) memory for some folks back home in Maine tonight. Baked beans are a traditional meal for the day—classically cooked buried in the ground under hot coals. Growing up in Aroostook County, I remember grocery stores selling Saturday fresh baked beans and bread—by the pint or quart and loaf. Yum.

Like some United Kingdom residents, we would eat beans on toast (usually cold on hot crust), typically for breakfast. As a youngster, I saw it as poor-man’s-food when short on other options, not realizing that we consumed something quite tasty and traditional.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 28, 202112:03 am

Where are the Oscar Mayer Cold Cuts and Nathan’s Franks?

Someone might blame the so-called supply chain crisis for this unnamed (I won’t say) supermarket’s empty packaged, prepared, processed meat section. I’d like to think that to celebrate the World Series and return to big gatherings before the big screen following more than 18 months of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns that a whopper shopper cleared out the Bologna, hotdogs, and other deli delights for the big game.

The temperature gauge is in the red, which could indicate cooling malfunction—that despite stocked goods on either side of the empty section. As I walked by, a store employee wheeled a cart stacked with boxes of deli-fresh replacements. You’re welcome to blame the supply chain, and who doesn’t these days? I won’t.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 16, 202110:47 am

Pumpkin Mountain

The iPhone 13 Pro camera system surprisingly satisfies—more than any other smartphone to bless my grubby fingers. I am loving the ultra-wide (13mm) and telephoto (77mm) lenses, along with RAW capture capabilities. Shots are sharper than I would ever expect from a device with relatively small sensor and which primary function is not photography.

All combined, the 13 Pro is creative fun—and that’s from my only surface skimming the sea of benefits. The Featured Image is example, with distortion from the ultra-wide lens adding character to an otherwise mundane scene. Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 50, 1/122 sec, 13mm; 1:01 p.m. PDT, yesterday.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 7, 202110:21 pm

An Orijen Story

Let’s talk kitty kibble. Our longhairs, Cali and Neko, eat a variety of McDonald’s-caliber wet food and the exceptionally healthy Orijen Cat & Kitten hard stuff. We typically buy the 5.4-kilo (12-pound) bag, which will last for months. On Sept. 25, 2021, with the last bits eaten, I walked from our apartment in University Heights to Pet Me Please in neighboring Normal Heights. But, uh-oh, so much time had passed since our last purchase that Orijen changed recipes. Ugh.

Cat & Kitten is gone. Where was one, there are now three: Original Cat; Kitten Formula; and Guardian 8 Formula. The store clerk claimed, and surely packaging means to suggest the same, that Original is closest to what we previously purchased. But he warned that the new recipe is different enough. Lovely. We ended up feeding our putty-tats the equivalent of wet fast food following formula changes made to two different manufacturers’ better quality canned brands; our beasties refused to eat the revised recipes. What they get now costs less and isn’t as healthy (grumble) but they like it.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 7, 20218:39 pm

Ripe and Ready

Call my obsession with grapes overkill photography, but I must present one last look at the vine located between Campus and Cleveland along Meade in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. They’re gone now; someone picked them, or so seems the case.

I worried they would ripen and rot, being located between sidewalk and street rather than on someone’s property. Thankfully, they appear not to have been wasted—like so much other fruit languishing from lush trees outside residences. I don’t understand why. Food is precious, and the berries and citrus that I see requires so little human effort to grow.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 30, 20219:03 pm

Mexican Coke

While walking along Adams Ave., just past Park Blvd, moving towards the overlook, in University Heights, I passed by an empty glass bottle of Coca-Cola. Oh, hell, why not take a photo? So I turned […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 18, 20218:58 pm

They’re Ready for Picking

Perhaps you remember the green grapes from early July that had started ripening red and violet two weeks ago. On Aug. 16, 2021, they had turned deep purple, suggesting to my uniformed eye that they are of the Concord variety and ready to pick. I assume a neighbor planted the vine and that the many clusters won’t be wasted.

Three-quarters of the way through a 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) round-trip walk on an errand to nearby Hillcrest, and carrying Leica Q2 Monochrom, I decided to shoot with street settings rather than go Macro mode. Vitals for the Featured Image: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 3:52 p.m. PDT. I would have preferred color but black and white works, with the berries’ dark hue that also emphasizes dusty particles on the skin.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 10, 20218:16 pm

A Splendid Spectacle

Along Georgia, my wife and I walked on the opposite side of the street from where we would normally go when looking for Reddy or Zero—both of which are profiled in my “Cats of University Heights” series. A canopy of green greeted us; one of our neighbors is growing grapes and extended the vines over the sidewalk. What a treat.

The Featured Image shows the vantage as we first saw the splendid spectacle of San Diego gardening. Vitals, aperture manually set for this one and its companion: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 4:02 p.m. PDT, today.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 6, 20219:32 pm

Lettuce Grow for You

Perhaps you remember “Carport Lettuce” from July 2020. The grower, located in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, is preparing to take his hydroponic garden to one of the area’s farmers markets—and possibly to several. My wife chatted with him yesterday, and we returned to his mobile grower today.

The Featured Image and companions come from Leica Q2, and I scold myself for not rushing to get the shots. When Annie and I ventured out on a late-morning walk, the sky was overcast. By the time I remembered the lettuce cart, the sun had come out, casting hard shadows. Diffuse light would have made for better photos. First of the set is cropped to remove, from down the street, two cars with visible license plates. Vitals, aperture preset for all: f/8, ISO 100, 1/200 sec, 28mm; 12:34 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 4, 20218:42 pm

How `Bout a Bunch?

The grapes I shared with you one month ago are not the green variety that they appeared to be—as can be seen by their rapid ripening. To reiterate: the cluster is positioned between sidewalk and street, not on someone’s property, along Meade between Cleveland and Maryland in the San Diego neighborhood of University Heights.

Leica Q2 is equipped with a dedicated Macro mode that is enabled by turning a ring around the lens. I used the mechanism to capture the Featured Image and companion. Vitals for the first, aperture manually set for both: f/4, ISO 200, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 9:26 a.m. PDT.