Mantis 7 is back this summer with a few amazing new pieces. Designer Roger Canevari sources these hand carved coral skulls from south east asia and encrusts them with precious metals and stones. A set of these skull cufflinks will keep everyone at the party guessing.

Wow! Summer is already here and I feel like I lost the end of Spring somewhere in there.

Keep an eye out for New Work coming to aaroncameronmuntz.com in the coming weeks. Right now you’ll find my recent photos of home canned and pickled veggies. I will never forget the sounds and smells of my Grandmother canning veggies from the garden when I was growing up. The farmers markets here in New York are just about in full swing by now. I hope these images will inspire you to visit the market.

In addition to the new work currently posted, I’ve been slowly but surely plugging away at shooting some gorgeous time pieces, coming to the site mid July.

Each year the Humane Society honors journalists, television and film makers, entertainers and other people whose work in the media bring public awareness to animal issues. Celebrity animal lovers gather along side Humane Society members to present awards to the most outstanding individuals. This year the awards were attended by the likes of James Cromwell, Kristin Davis, Wendie Malick and the radiant Betty White.

I am proud to share that the Genesis Award for feature documentary was presented to The Elephant in the Living Room.

Over the past years, I have had the pleasure of working with this award winning documentary, photographing the two main subjects as well as the director. And also following the film to several film festivals. While event photography isn’t my forte, it was certainly exciting to share the red carpet with reporters from so many respected media outlets as I chased photos of Mike Webber and Tim Harrison who accepted the award.

Director Mike Webber and Tim Harrison, head of Outreach for Animals interviewed on the red carpet at the 25 Genesis Awards.

Director Mike Webber holding his Genesis Award for the Feature Documentary, The Elephant in the Living Room.

If you would like to see the film, it will be opening in select theaters in April. It opens April 1st in Los Angeles at the Mann Chinese Theater and April 8th in New York City at the Regal Cinemas E-Walk Stadium. Mike and Tim will be on hand at these opening nights to answer questions following the screening. For more information and a complete list of cities and theaters visit theelephantinthelivingroom.com/screenings.html.

I just couldn’t wait for spring to bring mountains of tasty greens. So we planted some lettuce ourselves to stave off the desire. It’s been a huge surprise how well the mesclun mix and black seeded simpson have grown in our shoebox garden. Here is a tasty little treat, a simple crust of bread, swiss cheese crumbles and baby mizuna (from the mesclun mix). A little salt, pepper and a nice extra virgin olive oil.

Looks great like this in the photo, and tasted even better when I ate it with some left over pot roast on top.

Its embarrassing that I’m just now getting around to posting a recipe. I love food, and cooking and especially baking. And now that the weather has cooled down outside, I’ve been heating up the oven inside. I try to bake a loaf of bread every week. Baking yeast breads takes a certain amount of time commitment, there’s really no rushing a good loaf of bread.

This is my go to recipe, adapted to the local stone ground flours I use, my oven, and of course my tastes. A lot of people find baking mysterious, but with a little practice and patience it’s so rewarding.

1 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 cups stone ground whole wheat flour
2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp softened butter (plus more for the bowl and pan)
1 cup cool milk
1/2 cup cracked oats

Get up a little early on a morning that you’ll be spending the day at home. I try to make bread on days I’ll be working from my home office. Preping the dough usually takes me about half an hour.

Sift together the flours into a large bowl, place half the flour, salt and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer. (with a little adjustment, the dough can be made in a food processor or by hand). With the mixer and paddle attachment on low, add the butter, mix until well incorporated, add the honey, and again, mix until well incorporated. Add all the milk. Then little by little add the flour until the dough starts to come together. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and switch to the dough hook. It takes time for the flour to really soak up all the liquid so be careful not to add too much flour too quickly. With the mixer and dough hook on low, add flour a tablespoon or so at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides and is handleable, yet slightly sticky, slightly stickier than a fresh post-it note. Sprinkle your work surface with some of the cracked oats and knead, adding the remaining oats until they are all incorporated. Place the dough in a well buttered bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel and place in a warm dry place. I put mine in the cold oven, if the apartment is particularly cool, I will turn the oven to 500 for just one minute to get things warmed up a touch. Let the dough rise for about 2 hours or until it’s doubled in size.

At this point I head upstairs to the office to work. After two hours slaving away at my bookkeeping, I check on the dough. It should be about doubled, so by my best judgement I’ll either pull it and continue or give it another half hour.

Once doubled, punch the dough down and pour it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Only punch it once, and allow the ball to deflate slightly. With the whole grains I notice it often doesn’t deflate very much, it’s ok. Form the dough into a new ball place it on your work surface and cover with the bowl. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.

Now shape the dough into a rectangle roughly 6×12 inches. Fold the long edges up toward each other and pinch them together until sealed, then pull up the short ends and pinch them together with the other folded sides. It should resemble the back of a wrapped gift or envelope, and should now be about 3×9 inches, the proper size to fit a 9 inch loaf pan.

Drop the shaped dough into your loaf pan seam side down and using the back of your hand, press the dough lightly into the corners of the pan. Cover the pan with a damp kitchen towel and let it rise for another two hours or until it has risen to the top of the pan. I usually check on it after an hour and a half, pull it out of the oven and set it aside while I preheat the oven to 350.

When the oven is ready and the dough is risen, brush the top of the loaf with water and sprinkle with cracked oats. Place the pan in the pre heated oven for 30-45 minutes. I’ve found that 30-35 works best for my oven. When it’s done, the top should be a rich brown and once out of the pan a thump on the bottom of the loaf should sound hollow. Let the bread cool completely on a wire rack before storing. If you love bread like I do it won’t last long enough to go bad, but remember it won’t stay fresh as long as a store bought loaf filled with preservatives. If the bread dries out too much to be palletable, it will make great bread crumbs or croutons, and the best French toast is always made with slightly stale bread.

Wow! I can’t believe fall is winding down and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Pretty soon I’ll be donning winter gear and my love of cycling will be, once again, a love, hate relationship. I don’t really mind riding in the cold, but weekends like this past one are my favorite. Not only was the weather gorgeous but I had a great excuse to take a ride as Staten Island hosted SICX 3.0 at Wolfe’s Pond Park Preserve. Cyclocross is a brutal cycling discipline, while the riders appear to spend most of their races in “the pain cave”, the spectators ring cowbells and heckle the racers and each other.

Sports photography isn’t really my thing but I had a great time taking some picture and supporting some friends. The light was beautiful in the single track section of the course. The low sun just lit up the remaining fall foliage.

Cat 4 2nd place winner Al Barouh shouldering his bike in the single track.

A glut of new work goes up on my website today, including the beautiful ABC Carpet Color Reform campaign, Mantis7’s gorgeous jewelry, and Proenza Schouler’s latest accessory masterpieces.

The Color Reform Collection from ABC is an intense collision of modern technique and antique textiles. These reclaimed rugs are stripped of their color, then over dyed to create brilliant floor coverings.

ABC Color Reform Collection

For more information regarding the beautiful one of a kind jewelry by Mantis7, contact them at 949.735.5805 or via email: mantisseven@me.com

Mantis7

Proenza Schouler offers many of their accessories and other items direct, including this tote.

Proenza Schouler Paper Bag Shopping Tote

To see the rest, visit aaroncameronmuntz.com.