The Gingerbread House is typically associated with Christmas but I don’t see why you couldn’t use a gingerbread design to celebrate many of the Holidays we share this time of year.  It doesn’t even have to be a house, the beauty of gingerbread is you can carve it and make it into just about any design you desire.

Now it all starts with a good, simple recipe that is easy to cut into shapes and holds those shapes well when it bakes.  I found this one on Epicurious.  This makes plenty of gingerbread to build a good sized design.  If you plan to eat the gingerbread, I would add more of each of the spices.  It’s good as is, but for my tastes, it would be better with a bit more spice.  Oh and you don’t need to let the dough sit for 6 hours.  1 hour is really all the dough needs.  So start out by making your dough and get it into the fridge to chill.

Now create a design.  That same recipe offers a great starting point with a simple house.  I recommend actually drawing out their house on paper or cardboard and assembling it to give you a sense of scale and how much the gingerbread will build.  I felt like I had enough gingerbread to make about 2 of those houses from the amount of gingerbread the recipe made.  Now that you know the scale of the original house, design something yourself.

I was inspired by a classic 1970’s TV home.  No particular reason other than it seemed like a silly, fun thing to build.  So I started by drawing and cutting out the various pieces.

You really need to draw it all out AND assemble the house to make sure it all comes together.   I highly recommend an Xacto or Sheetrock knife to cut the paper using a straight edge.   Just tape the pieces together and make sure it comes together like you want it to.  Oh and label all the pieces so you remember what they are when you break the template apart to cut the gingerbread.

The roof was the trickiest part because it’s a two piece roof with a long slope on one end of the front of the house with a side roof coming in at a steep angle.   I was able to make it work, not perfectly but good enough to cover the mistakes with icing later.

Now it was time to cut the shapes into gingerbread.   I put parchment paper on either side of the dough as I rolled it out to keep it from sticking to the board and the roller.  Then laid the template shapes onto the dough and cut through both layers of parchment.  Remove the top layer of gingerbread, but LEAVE the bottom layer attached to keep it from sticking to the baking pan.

Something to keep in mind is that any pieces that will be inside the house and not seen, such as supports for the roof, can actually be cut out of stiff cardboard.  There’s no need to bake interior supports.  This was my very first gingerbread house so I didn’t think of that, but I will next year!

Now you bake the pieces, let cool completely and start assembling.  Well actually I recommend you do a bit of the decorating while the pieces are flat as it’s easier.  The royal icing was always a bit too thick, it really does need to be a bit thinner to be more sticky to hold the pieces.  Just cut the corner of a ziplock bag to use for piping the icing.  As you assemble, anything that you have pre-attached to the walls may fall off, but you can just stick them back on.

Be sure to have a nice solid platform to build your house on such as a thick cardboard base.  I cut a piece of thick cardboard and covered it with parchment paper.  This makes it easy to move the house around once it’s built.

I’ll admit the initial assembly of the house was a bit ugly.  Could not get the first three walls to stand up square.  I ended up putting a piece of cardboard in as support to help these first pieces stay up and used a few coffee mugs to keep the very heavy “gumdrop wall” from falling forward.  Then it was actually fairly easy to get all the walls up.  Some of the baked walls didn’t quite line up, but that’s what icing and decorations are for!

For trimming the baked pieces, you need a REALLY sharp knife, such a straight razor knife and a light touch.  Just let the sharp blade do all the work with just a little pressure.  It took me about 10 cuts across the gingerbread to get it to cut all the way through, but I didn’t break anything and got clean cuts.

So this project took one day.  A lazy Sunday afternoon and it was fun.   It was a reminder that the Holidays should be fun.  So get your hands a little dirty, make something silly and have a little fun!  Save the stress for when you’re back in the office.

Oh and in case you’re wondering, it was “The Brady Bunch” house that was the inspiration for my design.  I drew my design from this photo.  Why be normal, right?

The post Take Time for Fun over the Holidays! appeared first on WalterBiscardi.com.

One of the biggest problems for me is keeping track of all my recipes.  Not only family recipes passed down, but even those I find online.  Bookmarking online recipes and storing printed recipes in files and such, well it became frustrating to find anything when I literally have 1000’s of recipes around.

2 years ago I found the Paprika Recipe Manager and holy cow, did that bring a complete change to how we store recipes,  cook and shop.   It works on pretty much every device and every OS which is great when you have Mac, Windows, Android and iOS devices in the house like we do.    I have the app on my MacBook Air, Samsung Galaxy Tablet and my iPhone.    Here’s what it looks like on the Mac.

Not only are all of my recipes stored in the app, but you can see everything is easily categorized, even with subcategories like you see in Dessert and Indian.  My wife is a Vegetarian so for each cuisine I separate the Vegetarian dishes to make it super easy to find those.

The BEST part about this app is the Browser feature.  It’s a built in web browser so I can search for and save online recipes directly within the app.   Here I’m on the Food Network website and I searched for grouper and selected this great sounding recipe from Bobby Flay.

  You see down on the bottom right of the page the “Save Recipe” button.  Simply click that and….

Paprika grabs all the pertinent information to create a new recipe card in the app.  I’m selecting Seafood from the drop down category list.    Click “Save” and…..

I have the full recipe card ready to go including a funny picture of Bobby Flay and his cat.   That was the only photo on the page so Paprika grabbed it thinking it was the photo of the plate.  I can easily change that photo when I make the dish or go look for a photo of it.   If the app can’t grab the recipe automatically you can go see in the earlier images the buttons for “Name,” “Ingredients,” “Directions” and so on at the bottom of the screen.  This allows you to manually highlight the individual elements of the recipe on the page and automatically bring them into a new recipe.  It’s quite easy for sites that for whatever reason won’t automatically import.

My wife found this AWESOME gooseneck tablet stand for the Samsung Galaxy tablet that we keep near the stove and use it like a cookbook stand.  It keeps the tablet raised up off the counter so it’s out of the way of ingredients and the base weighs about 3 pounds so it’s solid and won’t get knocked over easily.   It’s a universal stand so it works with multiple types of tablets.

Most recently I’ve been loading up a lot of mixology recipes as I have been exploring the wonderful world of cocktails.  So if you like to cook or only cook on occasion, I highly recommend this app to get you organized and allow you to be more creative in your cooking.

The post Managing your Recipes. Another “Get A Life” tip appeared first on WalterBiscardi.com.

[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
It was another fun NAB Show for #WallyCam though this year was decidedly more low key.  Fewer videos and most all of them from the Media Motion Ball.  It was a much more casual and relaxed time for me this year spending more time actually chatting with folks and less time getting the camera out at every opportunity.  So this year you’re getting more of the family reunion, social networking vibe of what it’s like at NAB Show.   If you’ve never been, do try to get out at least once in a while to actually be able to put faces and voices with those you interact with on social media.

#WallyCam is decidedly low tech and casual.  This year with a fedora.
[/av_textblock]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
First off it’s Sean and Stefani Mullen from Rampant Design Tools.   This husband / wife duo are the team behind what I feel are THE best style effects on the planet. For NAB 2016 they released 14 new products. Here we are in front of the Diablo on The Strip chatting about their products and NAB Show.
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CuJWVN_h_g’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
What I love most about NAB Show. Meeting folks who I know through social media. This is Khoren Mirzakhanian’s first NAB Show so of course we talk about that and what he’s looking at on the show floor.  Find him on Twitter @KolorLux
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GDfRgT92ic’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
When Dan asks “What is WallyCam” that’s my cue to turn on the camera and go. It’s Dan’s first show and of course Michele is an NAB veteran so we got to talking about Toolfarm and what they have introduced at NAB Show 2016. Dan’s kinda fun too.  Follow Michele on Twitter @MicheleYamazaki or @Toolfarm
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLgXsKmAqX0′ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
I meet up with LONG time NAB Show Veteran Brian Scott and relative newcomer Amy Wilson as we discuss NAB Show, Media Motion Ball and what Amy was doing 26 years ago….. in Ontario.
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4zOJY4h6tw’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
I ran into the man behind the Premiere Bro fansite, Sean Schools at the Media Motion Ball. An NAB Show rookie, we talk about his work to promote Adobe Premiere Pro and his experience as a first timer at the show.  Find him on Twitter @PremiereBro
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5LfxgJYmBI’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
At the Media Motion Ball I ran into Adam Bedford of the Going POSTal podcasts and Atlanta Cutters alum Chris Johnston who now calls Las Vegas home. We chat what we’re liking at NAB show and dessert.    Find Adam on Twitter @GoingPOSTalAdam and Chris @goCMJ
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhLjILMEDAA’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
I run into longtime friend Ron Sussman and Bill Garmen at the Media Motion Ball where we chat NAB Show gear and the Motion Ball.   Follow Ron on Twitter @ronsussman and Bill @bgarmen
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChSG012E9Xo’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Sitting a table of Canucks at the Media Motion Ball, the discussion turned to the lack of Canadian teams in the NHL Playoffs for the first time in a very long time. We also go for Extreme WallyCam. This is a #WallyCam Extra….
[/av_textblock]

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiBGrzAoYDo’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]
[/av_one_full]

The post #WallyCam NAB Show 2016 | The Casual and Relaxed Tour appeared first on WalterBiscardi.com.

Food Network judge and author, Simon Majumdar is traveling and eating his way across America for his new book, “Fed, White and Blue.” Just like the book, he’s invited Americans to suggest locations to visit and if you’re lucky, he’ll even come prepare a meal for you. I was fortunate enough to host Simon and his lovely wife Sybil during his stop here in the Atlanta area (Buford, GA) and what transpired was a truly fun evening of great food and conversation. It was obvious that not only does Simon share my love of cooking, but he shares in the joy of preparing good food for others and that community experience that is created by enjoying food together.

Simon prepared grilled lamb chops, life saving daal, a chicken korma and a vegetarian cauliflower korma and topped it all off with a berry crumble. I chipped in by including something from my old show, and Simon’s friend, Alton Brown’s shrimp cocktail which I prepared as a hot grilled shrimp dish. Beyond the cooking you’ll find out the history of Gin and Tonic, Simon’s favorite Doctor Who actors and a few really bad jokes along the way.

So enjoy Simon’s cooking, his humor and his love of life. You’ll find many recipes on simonmajumdar.com and you can also see if the #FedWhiteAndBlue tour is headed to your area. If you don’t see a stop, reach out to Simon and Sybil. You never know, they just may show up your town. This video is decidedly low-key and more “WallyCam” style than my broadcast work. But this evening was all about enjoying the evening with Simon and Sybil and less about “being professional. Enjoy!

WalterBiscardi.com is advice, inspiration & training from working creative professionals on all aspects of the creative industry from pre-production to post to growing your career and business. Learn from working editors, photographers, sound designers, colorists, producers, directors and more to not only learn the basic skills, but real-world, insider knowledge on getting the right job and then building your career in the Film, Television and Creative Media Industry.

Sometimes we reach outside the industry and remind you to enjoy and “Get A Life!”

The post Get A Life! | Cooking with Simon Majumdar #FedWhiteAndBlue appeared first on WalterBiscardi.com.

A few months ago I started a new series on this blog titled, “Get A Life.”  It’s intended as a not so subtle reminder that there is much more to our lives than software, hardware and deadlines.   We get so consumed with our professional lives that we sometimes forget there’s a life to be lived.

I was given a sudden reminder of the frailty of life this past Thursday with a single phone call. I needed to get back to my hometown as quickly as possible.

The phone call could not have come at a worse time.  In addition to our standard weekly work, we had about three other projects that needed completion.  Another project went from being a very simple, 1 day job shot locally to a much more complex weeklong edit involving a lot of footage being shipped in from Europe and due back in Europe the following week.  On top of that, a stalled commercial project client suddenly decided he was ready to produce his commercial and needed it ASAP.

Leaving now would put my team into a tough position to pick up a lot of slack and cost me financially by bringing in freelancers to cover the work that I would normally do.   This was a pretty important decision.  Head home with all the costs involved with travel AND lose money I wasn’t anticipating in the company or stay in Atlanta to put company first?

You have to remember what is truly important as you move through your careers.  Family, friends and life itself.  Three things that have absolutely nothing to do with software or hardware.  The more you enjoy those three things, the more fulfilling your career will be.   Sounds hokey but absolutely true.

Here’s another hokey but true statement.  Money doesn’t mean everything.  It’s nice but when you make decisions based on money first, your life second, generally speaking your quality of life isn’t as good as it could have been.

Honestly the decision was a no-brainer for me.  Family comes first.  Period.  Even when I was a freelancer working on my own, I always put family first and if the client didn’t understand that, well that was more their problem.   On Friday my incredibly talented team came up with a plan and Saturday I was in the air on my way home.   Additional freelancers will be brought in as necessary, all the work will be completed and our clients will be happy.  The commercial client decided to cancel his project and take it elsewhere but I can’t worry about that.  One project lost is not worth the time I am spending with my family during this time.

I always remember what’s important with every decision I make whether it’s for myself or one of my employees.  A second thought is never given when family needs take precedent over work commitments.  Work can wait or be covered by others. Family should always come first.

So for this “Get A Life” reminder, we all get one shot at this thing called life.  Remember what’s truly important. And please remember to say “I Love You” every chance you get to those who matter most in your lives.  I’m so glad I have with each phone call home.

Walter

The post “Get A Life:” Remembering What’s Important appeared first on WalterBiscardi.com.

We all get one shot at this thing called life and while it’s important to stay on top of what makes us all successful in the industry, you also have take time to step back, unplug and enjoy “other things.”  I’ve found that my love of “other things” has helped me be more successful in my “day job.”  For instance, my love of cooking gave me an immediate connection with Alton Brown when I met him the first time on the set of “Good Eats.”  I was blown away by all the “toys” in his kitchen and we spent as much time talking about cooking and the toys as we did the animations I was originally asked to come in to discuss.  When you enjoy life and have other pursuits, you can have some common interests beyond technology to chat about with both colleagues and clients.   So I’m starting a new series on this blog, “Get A Life!” where I’m just going to share some of the things I love to do outside work and I’ll get some of my friends to join in as well.

I’ve found a love of cooking to be common among many of my colleagues and in the past I’ve blogged extensively about my family’s “Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes” which I’ll repeat here on this very blog soon.  But today, I’m here to share with you an incredible “Italian” Thanksgiving meal that I prepared along with my colleague, Kylee Wall (@kyl33t) who also loves to cook and bake.  The menu and recipes were all prepared by Chef Marco Canora and featured in La Cucina Italiana Magazine.  This is one of my favorite cooking magazines and Marco brought an Italian accent to the traditional American Thanksgiving meal.   The meal is quite simple to make with little stress and these recipes would make a welcome addition to any holiday meal or gathering in your home.

The Menu

Roasted fennel soup with cranberries and hazelnuts

Butternut squash risotto with mostarda di cremona, amaretti cookies and fried sage leaves

Roast turkey with garlic, sage and orange

Caramelized leek and sage stuffing

Cauliflower sformato

Mushrooms in parchment paper

Broccoli rabe with chili and garlic

Homemade meat broth

Pine nut pie

The recipes and a cooking schedule can be found here in the article “Thanksgiving With An Italian Accent.”

Some Notes on the Menu.

My wife is a vegetarian so we substituted vegetable broth for all the recipes except the Gravy so I did not bother to make the meat broth.  This is an entirely vegetarian meal if you go that route with the exception of the turkey and gravy.   If you believe you are not a fan of Fennel, and I count myself among you because I hate black licorice, do not let that sway you from making the Fennel soup.  It is simply amazing and I believe the roasting removes all that licorice type flavor.  For the Risotto we omitted the Mostarda di Cremona because it did not sound very appetizing and in lieu of ameretti cookies, we used roasted walnuts.  And definitely do the fried Sage leaves, we’ve never done that before and they were awesome.  For the Sformato, we could not find a ring pan so we used an angel food non-stick pan and it worked out extremely well.  Did not brown up exactly like the photos in the recipe but I came up with a solution to get it close.   Be sure to check out his cooking schedule that is provided with the recipe, we followed it and that made the entire meal simple and easy to prepare.  Serve the meal in courses like he describes with Soup first, then the Risotto, then the main meal.  It’s a nice pace this way and you just give small portions of the first two courses to get the meal started.

So here’s a look at how our versions of the menu turned out.

Roasted fennel soup with cranberries and hazelnuts

Roasting Fennel and Onions

Transfer the vegetables to veggie broth to continue cooking.

Puree the soup.

Finished soup with fresh drizzle of olive oil, roasted hazelnuts and chopped craisin garnish.

Butternut squash risotto with toasted walnuts and fried sage leaves

Roasted and pureed butternut squash

Final stages of the Risotto after the diced squash has been added.

Frying the Sage leaves, takes only seconds, incredible addition.

Butternut Squash Risotto topped with roasted walnuts, fresh parmesan and fried sage leaf.

Roast turkey with garlic, sage and orange

Heads chopped off garlic, making oil / sage / orange rub for turkey

Massaging the oil all around the turkey.

Bagging up the bird, I use oven bags for my birds to keep them very moist. They also cut about 1 hour off cooking time.

The roasted bird.

Sliced and ready for serving.

Carmelized Leek and Sage Stuffing.

Slice leeks lengthwise, then into small slices.

After chopping the leeks, clean thoroughly in a bowl.

Fresh Artisan bread from Costco, yep, Costco.

Cubed bread toasted in the oven.

Stuffing prepped and ready for the oven.  Two pans worked out nice so we could serve one and leave the other for later.

The finished stuffing, incredible.

Cauliflower sformato

Finely chop the cauliflower.

Mixing all the ingredients together.

Very well buttered and breadcrumbed angel food pan

Lightly browned from the oven.

After allowing to fully cool, we flipped it out, not as browned as the picture.

I dusted the top of the Sformato with more breadcrumb and broiled it for a few minutes to get the crust.

Mushrooms in parchment paper

Mix of mushrooms from Costco

Kylee sauteeing the shrooms.

Beautifully sauteed mushrooms.

Parchment in a “clamshell”

Folded and sealed parchment.

The finished product.

Broccoli rabe with chili and garlic

Finished product, super easy to make.

Pine nut pie

Finished Pine Nut Pie.

It’s like a pecan pie, but with pine nuts instead.

Fresh hot chocolate. 4oz 60% or darker chocolate melted in a double boiler in 2 tsp of water, add one cup of warmed milk, stir until warmed through, add sugar to taste. Makes two servings.

Happy Eats from Walter, Nathan and Kylee!

The post Get a Life! Part 1 of a continuing series – Recipes from the Kitchen appeared first on WalterBiscardi.com.