food fight

"I can't wait to get these tomato seeds out of my bra."

That's not a sentence you hear too often in my kitchen. But it was uttered this afternoon, along with a dozen other peculiar-out-of-context sentences. Except, even in context, this was a peculiar afternoon.

Today, Molly (of Orangette fame) and I had our first photo shoot for a magazine. Seattle Metropolitan, a glossy magazine for our fair city, will be running a story on the two of us soon, a story about the fact that we both have food blogs and book deals. I'm thrilled that Molly was the other person in the shoot, because she is one of my dearest friends. I could not have done this without her.

The photographer, the talented John Keatley, called each of us last week and said he had an idea. "When I heard the subjects were food bloggers, I had one idea: food fight. Are you game?" Well, why not? Molly agreed, which made me happy. I couldn't do a shot of me at the computer, or me cooking in the kitchen. I'd much rather laugh.

So, this afternoon, John and his assistant Alison brought in enormous bags and tremendous lights and cords galore. They boiled up rice pasta (thank you to them both for making sure that all the food we used was gluten-free) and cleaned up the hood above the stove. (Thanks for that too. That has been needing to happen for months.) And then, we were were ready.

"Work it, girls!" Even though John said this as a joke, I couldn't help laughing. I never thought anyone with a camera would say that to me.

"Can I put a little more mustard on your forehead?"

"Should we put flour on our pants?"

"Alison, can you just get some pasta to stick on that thumb tack on the wall?"

"All right, look sassy. Now, smirk. Now, look amazed and happy at the same time. Look at the camera. Tilt your head to the left but look at the camera with your eyes. Now, laugh uncontrollably."

It was all a little dizzying, and certainly exhausting. But I have to admit: god, this was fun.

However, the sensation of closing my eyes and allowing someone to throw sorghum flour at my face? I don't think I need to repeat that one.

After it was all over, Molly and I went into the bathroom to wipe the gunk off our faces. I mean — I had chunks of avocado hanging off my cheeks. (Why does anyone pay money at a spa to do that?) We took our own photographs, and this time, we didn't have to pose..

Laughing uncontrollably? That was easy.