Truck Stop

Every Friday through the end of August the Chef's Center in Pasadena is hosting a Food Fair with different food trucks and local food artisans selling their wares. Giving foodies a chance to sample a few different cuisines at one cozy venue. Last week was my second time and the Border Grill truck was defiantly plenty popular. No surprise since it is owned by two master chefs, Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger. They feature an inovative take on Mexican street food, like these two cones pictured above, one featuring a green corn tamale mixture (so good) and the other a Peruvian ceviche. 

While the Flying Pig offered up some yummy asian fusion. I tried the pork belly bun above, a soft steamed bao bun with pickled onions, a crisp slice of cucumber and pork belly with a spicy "special" sauce. Delicious.  

At my first event, it was pretty hot and a little overwhelming. I think I changed lines about 4 times before I actually ordered. I went with straight American fare, opting for these loaded fries from the Meet n' Potatoes truck. Really tasty, hand cut fries topped with pastrami, lettuce, tomatoes and a special sauce. 

There is a nice camaraderie among foodies at these events and complete strangers are nice enough to let me photograph their meals. Which is a good thing since the loaded fries left no room for anything else. I heard good things from those that sampled the India Jones Truck, pictured above a chicken curry and garlic naan bread. 

My friend Karen Knauer gave a thumbs up to this smoked chicken taco from the Flying Pig. Topped with a mango salsa, green curry aioli and honey roasted peanuts. 

We also tried some mini samosas filed with spinach and paneer from the No Tomatoes truck. Surprisingly light, with a nice flaky crust and a good amount of heat.  In this one trip I sampled, Indian, Asian and Mexican with a total cost of about $17. 

Every Friday, through the end of August, new trucks will roll up to this great little spot serving food from 6-9. They also usually invite a dessert truck and  there are tables set up selling tasty looking, locally made baked goods. There are picnic tables for diners and street parking was plentiful. To make it extra easy you can follow the Chef's Center on Facebook or on Twitter.  

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

New Favorite

I met my good friend, make up artist Wendy Osmundson for lunch recently at Gingergrass, in Silver Lake. It is just a few blocks from her house... lucky lucky Wendy.

What I liked; light and airy atmosphere, a unique menu, great service and pretty much some of the best Vietnamese food I have ever had. We started with the crab & shrimp spring rolls which come with fresh herbs, veggies and lettuce. Wendy showed me how you wrap the rolls in the lettuce, adding the herbs and veggies you like before you dip and bite. A-may-zing!

I ordered the pork chops with broken jasmine rice and slaw. The slaw had a nice sweet & tangy taste that really surprised me and the rice was also very unique in texture. It was all so good, it will be hard to order something different next time I go.

Wendy had Pho with chicken, the perfect choice for a cold day. For desert we shared the tasty lavender creme brulee shown in the first picture. Ah ...what I do for you readers.

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Road Trip

The drive west took 4 days and 3 nights, taking us on the "low" route through; Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas (a lot of Texas), New Mexico, Arizona and then finally into California.

I drove my truck with Atticus at my side in his booster seat, which worked wonderfully, he was calm and comfortable and slept most of the trip. While my friend, photographer Garon Kiesel followed in a Penske truck with my entire life packed inside. 

Here is a little Pie mini magazine documenting the trip, to see it full size just give the window a click, if you are on an ipad then click here to view.

A few things I learned from this trip...

There are pet friendly hotels, we stayed at both Motel Six and La Quintas and neither charges extra.

By taking the "low" route, I never had trouble finding a good country music station.

Take plenty of breaks and don't underestimate the importance of snacks and proper hydration.

Be aware that each state has its own laws regarding cell phone use, so research before you head out.

That this is a beautiful country, from sea to shiny sea and despite all the problems right now, we have a lot to be grateful for and much to inspire us.

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Bag Check

I get lots of emails wanting to know what kind of equipment I use. "Keep it simple" is my motto when it comes to my photo gear. If I ever need something I don't own, I can rent it. Most major cities have rental houses geared to professional shooters. Most important, you must prep your camera bag before every shoot. Especially if you're traveling to a location, be it is across town or across the country. It is never fun to forget something crucial. I once had to hire an assistant just to bring something another assistant forgot to pack.

I am heading back to Cali later this week for a shoot and above is everything I will pack for this gig. 1. Lens Cleaning Tissues 2. Promo Cards 3. 24-70 L series Lens 4. extra Camera Body (a 10D) 5. Sandisk Card Reader 6. Lacie Portable Hardrive 7. 50 L series Lens (my favorite) 8. Canon G10 point & shoot 9. Facial Blotters (for shiny/sweaty skin) 10. Holder for my cards (see 17) 11. chargers and extra battery 12. Canon 5D 13. Extra pair of glasses 14. Lensbaby Composer lens 15. Sharpie & ballpoint 15. clamps 17. Sandisk Memory Cards

I pack all of that into this Tamrac camera bag, a good investment I bought a few years back. Plenty of storage, durable and best of all, it has wheels! The downside... high priced (I actually saved by finding mine on eBay) but not high on style. I would love to work with a company to design a bag that meets ALL my needs and is also great looking. Believe me, I have looked! Still, I like it a lot, except for the fact that I have moved on to a larger laptop which doesn't fit in this case's laptop slot. So I use this smart Trixie bag as my second carry-on. Along with a 15 inch laptop it will hold my wallet, cell, kindle and other purse-ish essentials.

The only "lighting" equipment I will bring with me is a large reflector that folds down into a smaller disk. This helps pop light in, you can see my assistant Steph above, holding it to bounce light into her face, as she stands in for the subject. I almost always use natural light when working on location.

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Dress: Lesley Evers Styling: Christa Leveto H&M: Faith Brooks Model: Grace Boven from Factor Women

God Bless America & Lattes

The place to go in L.A. is Intelligentsia with four locations to choose from. Rue editor, Anne Sage introduced me to the one in Silver Lake, which I managed to hit a few more times while in town.

Happy 4th Y'all!

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Gearing Up ✈

When I travel I go into hyper Virgo mode (even though I'm a Sagittarius) and get extra organized. I worry about forgetting something important and have accumulated various accessories to keep all my technology contained. No reason they can't also be stylish! With the exception of #4, I will carry all these in either my carry on bag or purse.

 1. Borsa Bella laptop sleeve (I learned on my last trip, you don't have to take it out of the sleeve before putting it through the security scanner!) 2. Abas iPad case 3. Sanrio case (also fits GPS charger & car mount)  4. Paperchase case (this will go in my checked bag) 5. Kindle in an M-edge cover 6. & 7. Sanrio cases and *More chargers: Laptop and extra iphone/ipad charger which I will carry on with me. If my checked bag were to go MIA, these are the two I must have to get through my trip.

I will also be toting a bento meal like this one I made for another flight, I just don't like to leave anything to chance and most airlines no longer serve free inflight meals. Another tip: be sure to check your seat pocket before you depart the plane! I have read numerous horror stories of people leaving kindles , iPads  and other various gadgets on the plane and you're not likely to see it again. 

Some of you might wonder why I need both a kindle and an iPad. Yes, I can access my kindle library via the iPad but I don't really like reading on it. Too heavy and the backlighting gives me a headache. For me, they are apples an oranges.

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Will There Be Carrots?

I was one of many horse obsessed young girls back in the day. My Mother making the long trek up the 101 freeway on Saturdays to Calabasas for my weekly lesson. Checking out every book by Walter Farley and one of my favorite all time films is still The Black Stallion.

I am not sure what it is that draws girls to horses but it seems to be a rite of passage for many of them. Last month I went up to Clemson to watch my friend's daughter compete in her spring horse show at Shaw's Big Oak Farm.

Armed with just my Canon G10 and my iPhone with the hipstamtic app I documented the event.

cowgirl in a hurry 

serious contender

Sadly, this beautiful sky became treacherous as lightning clouds moved in and the show got rained out. I only got to see Izzy compete in one barrel race. She did great though and was so fast, I didn't get one good shot!

Hard to believe that almost a year has sped by since I did this shoot. She will be 12 next week! Happy Birthday Izzy!

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Sweet Southern Heat Wave

What to do on an extra hot almost-summer day? Create your own shade perhaps. 

Now lets take this show on the road and find something tasty!

Waiting in long lines for lunch from a truck? What one must suffer for art...

Wait! A truck filled with cupcakes! This road trip has just taken a sweet turn.

A big thumbs up for Yum Yum's  Ruby red velvet from JuJu. While Ai & I found the Kennedy Key Lime crazy good.

 

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Deep South

I recently traveled with my friend Dana to Manchester, Tennessee. One of many road trips in the pursuit of pool winnings and adventure. You did not have to look very hard to find cool vintage signage & architecture. 

  

 I used a Canon G10 and processed them with a combination of Lightroom, Photoshop with the Picture Show iPhone app. 

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Kawaii Lili

Meet Lili, the daughter of one of my dearest friends and just as kawaii as they come. You can see she is trying to figure out who this strange woman is and why is she telling her what to do? 

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

About Vera

This is what I can tell you aboutVera Farmiga, she is a trooper. I did this shoot for a short lived movie magazine back in 2000. They had no budget at all for a studio or location van. I wanted to shoot inChinatown and my good friend graciously allowed me to use her tiny apartment, located right in the center of this historicNew York district. It was anything but glamourous. Not only small, her apartment was dark and we had to be very quiet because it was somewhat of an illegal sublet. It was also the middle of winter and it was so cold outside I feared my camera might just freeze up on me.

Vera was still an emerging star, she had not yet worked withScorsese orClooney but she was on the verge and the buzz was big. She had seen my book before we shot and told me how much she liked my work. She did not care at all that there was no fancy make up room or catering. She showed up by herself and was completely willing to brave the cold streets and hang out in door ways while I rubbed thepolaroids with my gloved hands to get them to process.

I shot these usingFujifilm and aNikon F3, since my scanner is fogged (this always happens when it is raining) I laid them out on my old light-box and shot them on the macro setting with myG10. Vera's new film,Up in the Air will be released around Christmas. While the fun looking creepfest,Orphan is out on DVD and at the top of my Queue!

all photos & content © Lara Rossignol

Tampa Road Trip

 Even thoughFlorida is right next door, it's still a trek to get there. I just spent fourteen hours traveling toTampa and back for a tournament. I made my return in the wee hours Sunday morning, leaving just after 5 am. So ready to see my own front porch again. I really enjoy driving at this time with few obstacles as the world slowly awakes. I made good time and was home just after noon.

I did have fun and finished in the top twelve. I may have had a little more fun had I won but my good friendBetty did win and deserved it. I did get a chance to hit a localflea market and will post about that in much detail soon. Oh and you have to love apool hall that has homemadeenpanadas on then menu!

photos & content © Lara Rossignol