Dim Sum Restaurant 2
I have a relative called Tool. (Hey, he gave himself the nickname, not me. I just go with it like a supportive cousin-in-law would.) Tool is married to a cousin whom I like to call The Asian Martha Stewart (TAMS). TAMS can make Tarragon Chicken Sandwiches with herbs from her garden, turn a seed from a two-pound SlimCado into a six-foot plant, and knit delicate baby booties. She’s who I wanna be when I grow up, nevermind that TAMS is only two years older than me.
When Tool is not busy being a tool and TAMS is not doing her domestic-goddess thing, they’re professional wedding photographers. (Do you hate them just a little bit? I do. With a big dosage of love.)
I went to dim sum with Tool the day before my road trip, so he could show me how to take (indoor) food photos. (He’d gifted me with the DSLR camera he first used as a wedding photographer. I was all sorts of excited, of course, and hope that my food photos taken with the DSLR will make y’all cry like his photos have done with brides. Yeah…that doesn’t make sense to me, either.)
One of my first shots with the DSLR. Uh-oh, my focus on the Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gao) seems to be a bit off.
I think this photo of Pork Shui Mai turned out better.
I’d say I was getting the hang of the DSLR with this Garlic Spareribs one, but I know making such a statement will bite me in the behind later.
Chicken Feet. (Slammie, yoohoo~! This photo is especially for you.)
Oh, Pudding Cake! Except it wasn’t. Tool corrected me by saying it was…it was…um…
(It tasted like Turnip Cake, a typical dim-sum offering, but this version was even softer.)
Besides ordering, Tool also sauced up my plate with chili seeds in oil and soy sauce. I made him take a photo because I thought the colors looked cool.
Then I suggested he also snap some of his plate, because of the sauce’s shape.
“It looks like a moon!” I exclaimed.
“Oh really? I didn’t notice,” Tool replied.
“Such a boy,” I thought.
Egg Tarts! Gah, gah, gah!
Rice cakes with red-bean filling.
“Please, no pictures, I’m trying to eat here. Can it wait until after my meal?”
P.S. My arms aren’t really that short…I think.
I can definitely see the improvement in photos! Keep snapping, you’ll just get better and better at it. And Tool and TAMS do sound quite easy to hate… and love.
Wei Wei
i love eating out with my cousin in law… nice photos…especially the last one! haha.
YUM! Hubby and I were just talking about going out for dim sum this weekend. LOL! I need my chicken feet and tripe fix!
Mmm…Dim sum. I love har gow! One of my favs. And those egg tarts look so amazing. They’re all like, GLISTENING at you! Egg tart teases.
Also, I thought the way you took pictures before was really great already. It’s always a clean white table and perfect sunlight coming in from the window.
Wei Wei: Yeah, I like the DSLR’s ‘tricks’ and how I can spend less time taking and sorting photos if I use it. Still a lot to learn about using it, though…
Slammie: Did you get your chicken feet and tripe fixes? I’ve had dim sum like four times in the past 1.5 months, when I normally go only a few times a year. I need to go less frequently because I want it to remain a treat…I never want to get bored with dim sum.
Lian: These were some of the best egg tarts I’ve ever eaten, and I’ve eaten a lot. Thanks for the compliment about the photos taken with my digital camera. I’m still using it for my blog pics, as I continue to also learn the DSLR. And the “clean white table” is actually a white poster board. I gone through many of ‘em, because of food stains.
Wah?! Haha, well color me surprised.