Walking around downtown Phoenix this afternoon and took this photo of a parking garage sign. I had to stand in the exit of the garage and get down incredibly low to get this angle and keep the whole thing in the composition with my Minolta 50mm prime lens. Edited on the iPad in Snapfish.
Happy Birthday Arizona. I do love our skies.
Today’s random photo is the Mill Avenue Bridge spanning Tempe Town Lake. Taken using the camera’s sweep panorama which automatically stitches a panorama together for you in camera.
I like to eat. I like to try new things. I’m not so adventurous that I’ll go to Asia and start eating ant larvae, but I’m usually down to try some new menu item at Taco Bell or McDonald’s. I’m always willing to try a new restaurant as long as I can look at the menu and see if there’s something that I might like on there. That’s one of the things I wanted to do on this blog, was write about new places and foods I try. I haven’t done it much though. This past weekend when we were in California, I think every meal was someplace new. So I’m planning on posting about some of those places in the upcoming days.
– the interior
Instead of starting in order, I’ll start with Umami Burger of Los Feliz. Looking at their website, each location seems to have a slightly different menu. We were in the Pasadena area, so the Los Feliz location on Hollywood Blvd. was the closest one to us, which is why we chose that one. I guess they also have a location in Anaheim inside of the Anaheim Brewery, but it’s not mentioned on their site. We first saw this restaurant on TV a couple years ago and have had it in our places to visit file since then, but never got there until now.
For those wondering, Umami is supposedly the fifth element of taste. The savory part to go along with sweet, salty, sour, & bitter. The Umami Information Center does a better job of explaining the concept than I could.
– sodas come in glass bottles
We ordered the Pastrami burger, which was on special so I couldn’t look it up to see exactly what was on it, and the Hatch burger and split them. We also ordered fries which came with their Umami ketchup. The Umami ketchup is unique, it starts off like regular ketchup, but then hits you with a secondary flavor that’s hard to pin down. Different definitely, but not bad. Our two burgers were both cooked medium well. The Pastrami burger was extraordinary. The pastrami itself dominated the flavor and it did overpower the burger, but I was concerned with the sauerkraut and couldn’t taste it at all. The sandwich was juicy and incredibly flavorful. The Hatch burger wasn’t spicy at all despite having some green chilies on it. It was good, but after the juiciness and flavor of the Pastrami burger, it was a let down. The Pastrami burger was definitely my choice here and I hope it’s on special next time I go back.
– pastrami burger (pastrami, swiss cheese, and sauerkraut [I’m not sure of the sauce])
– hatch burger (4 types of green chilies, house cheese spice up your life)
Umami Burger was a big hit with both of us. I didn’t get our waitresses name, but she was great also. She looked like the old poster with the “We Can Do It” girl on it, complete with the bandanna. I definitely recommend this place, it’s a bit pricey, but completely worth it.
– black & white shot of the interior
This weekend we took a trip to Cali, just to get out of town and put the new camera through it’s paces. I’ve got to say, I like the 5N more than my older NEX-5. The touch screen is nice to choose a focus point, the auto ISO going to 3200, the camera setting a shutter speed of 1/60 before upping the ISO, and the extra options for button customization make it easier to get shots and more user friendly.
We stayed in the Anaheim region just down the street from Disneyland. This was taken Saturday morning after breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel. It’s the inside of the Sorcerer’s Hat.
Last week I was finally able to order a new camera after the TT (Thanksgiving Tragedy) and it arrived yesterday. Spent the night waiting for the batteries to charge up before I could begin using the camera. I found out that the battery that was in the stolen camera was actually the third-party battery which isn’t compatible with the NEX-5N (which is the model I bought) and I still had my Sony battery which will work with it; so that’s worth $60 right there. I ordered the NEX-5N in white and it is sexy. I took this photo this morning before going to work. I haven’t been able to go outside in some good light so everything’s been ISO 1600+, which this camera handles nicely (this shot is ISO 3200 for those wondering, though I did apply some noise reduction in post). Last year, I hadn’t planned on doing another intensive project this year, but I have some ideas and might do some other stuff.
Utini! 