When Callum was very young he went to a really hippie dippie school, and every time things got funky people would whisper stuff like, "Mercury's in retrograde."

Well. You can't stop hearing that phrase once you've heard it once, and as I gather, Mercury's now out of retrograde. Trouble is, I'm not sure I am. So many of us have been writing about having tricky Novembers or being in weird funks of alternating manic productivity and dolorous lethargy. I feel like I'm caught in an uncomfortable middle.

I am involved in some really fun creative projects right now, but should there be more? (My friend Candy would say, "Leap!") And if so, what? I guess I'm better at thinking of things than I am at making them happen. So lately I've been feeling frustrated with myself.

Also, November? What the hell. I am so messed up this month. You saw last week, right? And I never know what day or date it is, which never happens to me. Everything just feels in a midden.

The upshot of all of this is that I'm just going to get through this week and then it's Thanksgiving week, and all's good right? And then December, and everybody knows you shouldn't try to get your shit together in December. Maybe I should just accept that I'll tread water until the New Year. In the meantime, I think some thoughts on authenticity (I do have more to say about that), and keep taking pictures.

This past Sunday the fog horns were blowing and instead of lolling about lazily (coffee finally in hand!) the way we usually do, Neel came with me to the water to get some photos. We took a long walk after that and watched the gray burn off the river from all our different vantage points. So many moods the water has. I love that.

Let's keep the food photography going, shall we? I learned a lot about myself and how I shoot through the process of entering that juried exhibition, and I made a promise to myself that each week I'd be on the look out for something beautiful at the market and bring it home to photograph. A little weekly push to get my eye trained to be on the look out.

Well, how could I pass up this beautiful purple asparagus? Purple! Asparagus! Well. I had fun.

We love roasted asparagus (Face it, we love asparagus any way you slice it.), but for this gorgeous stuff, I wanted something special. Enter the poached egg.

The only problem? I've never poached an egg. I know, I know. Sounds silly, but everything I've heard about it is how tricky the process is, and I was intimidated.

So I read a few recipes and looked at a couple of videos (there a quite the varying opinions regarding technique, it seems), and finally, with Cal standing by for moral support, I got brave and just did a trial run. The recipe/technique I used was this one.

And you know what? It turned out okay! We were astonished. Since he's allergic to raw or undercooked eggs, poor Cal couldn't even reap the reward, but he was still thrilled! We did it again for dinner that night, and things turned out just as tasty.

You've roasted asparagus, right? That part's super easy. Just break or chop off the tough ends, toss them on a cookie sheet with some olive oil and some salt and pop them in the oven (maybe 400º-425º ?) for 30 minutes or so. I just keep an eye on them, really. When they soften and brown a bit, they're ready. Put an egg on them and they're something else entirely. Something pretty special.

After I took that last shot, I added some balsamic glaze, and that was pretty special too.

foggy morning {life}

put an egg on it {life}