Category: food

B204 – THE DAY MY CAMERA NEARLY DIED!

joshfspear4 Comments

Back in New York and the main thing im going to take away from today is that New York rain seems to be something you cant find anywhere else. its non stop and literally everything just gets soaked through. I went out today not expecting to get that wet, it was just like a little bit of drizzle when I left, well that turned into some thing completely different, but a few years ago I watched that documentary of the New York photographer Bill Cunningham and in that documentary Bill talks about being out in all weathers in New York because thats when you get the best shots, and the guy is completely right, New York seems to go into this completely different mode when it starts raining. My highlight of New York in the rain today was seeing a women walk round with a metal Bin on her head to project her afro, she literally didn’t get a damm what she looked like as long as her hair stayed dry.

if you read yesterdays post you would know my plan for today was to stay around Hunter’s point and take it easy. Well after a quick chat with my parents my dad said I had to have a chill dog from a street vendor, so that became my mission, track down a street vendor and have a chilli dog on the “side walk”. and as soon as I got off the subway at 7th and 59th street, there he was a street vendor with all the goodies apart from Chilli dogs, sorry dad but I just went for a hot dog, I hope that counts. I did plan on not giving up till I got a chilli dog but I was hungry, so that will have todo.

My other plan for today  became getting a good shot of the smoke or stream that comes up from the ground around NYC and after hunting for ages to try and find somewhere, I finally bumped into the perfect location just by 42nd and Grand Central Street. ( im trying to remember the names of the streets, just so I feel like a local). Once I found this spot I only had to wait a few minutes before this guy walked past, it was a pure case of right place right time, but thats how street photography works really, the more hours you spend on the streets, the more places you end up in at the right time.  This is one of my favourite photos Ive taken in a long time, this whole photo feels quite peaceful at a time when everything is starting to get a bit crazy. Im not sure if that makes sense to you, but it does to me.

Here are my photos from today, Ive tried to take it easy today and just get some good rest, now I’m looking forward to laying in bed watching some movies and getting some proper sleep!

I hope you like my photos. oh and if your wondering about my title today, my camera nearly broke because the rain just didn’t stop and I really wasn’t prepared for that. Apart from that I would say its been a pretty successful day.

B204 (1 of 1)-6
– this is one of my favourite photos Ive taken recently –

B204 (1 of 1)-5
– mum is that you?  –

B204 (1 of 1)-4
– the rain today was proper rain, the stuff that no matter watch jacket you had on your T shirt was getting wet –

B204 (1 of 1)-2
– here you go dad, this is where I got my hot dog from –

B202 – 17 HOURS LATER…

joshfspearLeave a comment

Tomorrow we leave Florida and head back to New York, its fair to say that we are now in the middle of filming and if we can get through the next 11 days of pure craziness and long hours we will be sitting on that flight home with a beer in hand. But first back to reality, before we leave florida tomorrow morning, this place has left us with one last gift a heard of blood thirsty mosquitos, which have really just aimed for my legs and attacked both my pale white bread sticks with all they have. my legs have lost the battle and the war to these mosquitos and now I can stop itching them.

My post today is about the other famous restaurant in town, it wouldnt be fair to write about one and not the other, this time im talking about the BBQ joint called Sonnys. this place is everything I hope for an more, they know what they are doing when it comes to baked beans and BBQ meat, both times Ive gone for the two meat, two sides option and it hasnt let me down. today I had some kind of sausage and pulled pork with Mac “n” Cheese and BBQ Baked beans and it was just what I needed. its totally different to Catfish country which was more of a family run place, this is a small food chain in Florida, but it packs a punch, they even make their own range of sauces, from what I can remember I had only had the Spicy sauce and that had just the right amount of spice, not too hot not too mild. no one wants a really spicey BBQ, its just not right.

if you’re ever in Bartow, please go and try both Sonnys and Catfish Country and let me know which on you think is better! for the experiacne I would say Catfish Country but if you really want to reach food coma levels go to Sonny’s.

Anyway I think ill keep todays nice a short, I cant really keep my eyes open much longer, its been a proper long day.  the next few weeks are jammed packed, so ill do my best to keep these post top notch, but sorry in advance for any rubbish days that might pop up (like this one). I haven’t done Sonny’s justice.

Also you know the rules, any spelling or grammer just ignore them, we all know it’s one of my downfalls.

Enjoy these snaps.

B202 (1 of 1)
– it may look simple on the outside but this place serves some proper food –
B202 (1 of 1)-2
– It just looks like a southern BBQ joint, happy days –
B202 (1 of 1)-3
– did what to show a picture of my food, but it arrived I ate it and forgot to take a picture, so heres a photo of a beer and some of their own sauce –

B201 – CATFISH, SOUTHERN STYLE

joshfspearLeave a comment

If anyone has driven from Tampa to Bartow, or even been to this little town somewhere in florida called Bartow, you will hear the local talk about Catfish Country as a place you need to go an eat it. you will hear them talk about how great the cat fish is and how its such a famous place to go and eat at. Ive never had Catfish before and today was really my first time, ( I had a cat fish Sandwhich the other day but I spilt most of it down my top and covered the whole thing in ketchup. So Im counting this as my first time, this is kind of my review of cat fish and the restaurant Cat fish country.

One thing I wont talk about is the service, America waiters and waitress are the best in the world, where ever you go you’ll get a good service and thats because they work for tips. so its unfair for me to talk about their service.  As someone whos a huge fan of the traditional cod and chips, this is a biased opinion. but when cod and chips isnt on the menu, would I go for Cat fish, probably not. but if I was in florida again, would I go for Cat fish and chips, probably. its got an OK taste and is a bit like cod in the texture, but no where near the same amount of favour.

but what you get at this place Catfish Country is the whole experience, if feels like a food restaurant in the south should feel, and has all the right things, a massive TV showing the sports highlights, unlimited ice tea and the perfect atmosphere, these places always feel like they’ve spent 50 years collecting things from passers by, including their number plates and other weird items and this place is no exception, its full of just about everything you can image from over the size bud light neon signs, to taxidermy, to things that look like they belong to on a boat. but all done in a real aesthetically pleasing way. its just all looks like it genuinely belongs there.

If you are ever driving down highway 98 towards Bartow definitely stop off and give this place a try, you cant miss it theres a massive sign that says “Catfish Country”.

Heres my photos from the meal, I’m sorry to the locals but nothing you cook will be able to beat fish and chips from Brighton Pier.

B201 (1 of 1)
– this place definatly looks 10 x better than any fish and chip shop in the UK –
B201 (1 of 1)-2
– I wasnt even aware there was a catfish festival –
B201 (1 of 1)-3
– It looks almost the same to standard fish and chips but they do give you this little corn do ball thing –
B201 (1 of 1)-4
– I really like the fact every table had a paper hand towel roll, that always means you going to be in for some good food –
 

 

 

B196 – I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD END UP HERE!

joshfspearLeave a comment

Firstly I have something I need to admit, for the past month or so my camera has only really been on auto everything, auto focus, auto exposure, auto shutter. this started off as a way for me not to miss a shot, always guarantee I get the photo I want. but its kind of doing the opposite, its nice knowing that everything will also be ok but I don’t think about the lighting or movement anymore I just snap away. When I first started this project my camera was always manual so it would always mean I would constantly be adjusting everything quickly to get the photo. Ive just got lazy I suppose, well from today onward every photo I take with my Canon 5d will be manual. Im not going to use auto for the rest of this challenge unless Ive been drinking, then I cant make any promises, it will probably be auto.

Anyway yesterday I was talking about how big the houses were and today I actually managed to take a snap of one, this is my no means the biggest house around here but for some reason its probably my favourite. Big houses just mean longer walks to the fridge for the sofa and thats not what I want in a house. I feel like this one has space but at the same time could fit me just right. I quite like this whole area to be honest, today on the drive to the local supermarket for some lunch and even that was a pretty cool experience. In the UK going to pick up food normally means finding the closest Sainsburys or Tescos, where as here you go to this massive farmers supermarket and get a whole bunch of cool treats. it even has an old clock on the top.

One thing that has surprised me about this part of the world is how much they love Halloween, everyone goes mad for it and buys all these cool skeletons for the houses and loads of pumkins, every wall seems to have some sort of pumpkin on it. I didnt take any photos of houses with pumpkins on them but I did get some shots from out side the front of the Supermarket with pumpkins. thats my goal for tomorrow, find a house with Pumpkins out the front. Ill see what over the top Halloween houses I can find.

Heres my photos from today below. and remember from now on NO auto settings, I promise!

B196 (1 of 1)
– just your average house round here –
B196 (1 of 1)-3
– going halloween crazy at the local supermarket –
B196 (1 of 1)-2
– this is the local supermarket, not a tescos cubcard poster in sight –

 

 

B190 – HOW HAVE I NOT DONE THIS YET

joshfspearLeave a comment

Its been 190 days since I started this blog and I still cant believe this hasn’t come up before. Im talking about dedicating a post the Restaurant across the road La Forchetta, the place for food in East London and possibly London (bar charlotte street which is home to Siam central) has the best food. 

La Forchetta is on Bethnal green road just up by the Underground station and a stones throw away from Mcdonalds, if you can see Mcdonalds you can see La Forchetta. some people might think this is a biased opinion on my behalf but I can honestly say anyone who goes there would agree there pizza’s are the best and the service is up there too, not voodoo rays friendly where people just slag off politicians and talk about vintage markets, then charge you £4 a slice of pizza and a £1 for a pot of Ketchup. but La Forchetta is somewhere thats stood the test of time and proven that good food doesn’t have to be expensive, they even offer the occasional post dinner shot of Lemoncello.

The main waiter’s been there since I started going like 3 years ago and from what I can tell has been running the place ever since. He’s a pretty quite guy but always up for chucking a few jokes out there every now and again.

Living in London is a weird thing, before I moved here I didn’t think I would find an area and spend 99% of my time there, but thats not the case. when Im in London its almost like my life revolves around a 2 mile square radius  full of pubs, shops and things todo when Im bored and inside that radius is where I feel at home. Then I might travel to west London and that could be a different world for all I know, full of different shops and people. its definitely true what they say about people not leaving the area in London. from now on I’m going to make a more conscious decision to try and break that cycle and start seeing new parts of this city.

but for now, I’m packed and ready for my next destination, tomorrow morning I leave for New York. see you in 24 days London!

Anyway enough of the talking, heres some of the photos from today.

B190 (1 of 1)
– theres no pizza that can compete –

B190 (1 of 1)-6
– they even have a picture of the godfather up and an actual boat stuck on the wall –

B190 (1 of 1)-4
– these olives maybe from a local supermarket but that doesn’t matter –
 

B189 – ITS FINALLY HAPPENED A TRUE GAME CHANGER

joshfspearLeave a comment

The Condo has hit a new level, If you’ve ever been to the flat you would know that theres been one big thing missing from it and that is Curtains, for some reason We’ve never got round to putting up curtains or blinds. Its not that we are lazy its that we haven’t really needed them and I’ve just kind of adapted to natural light in the morning. today though that has changed and my DIY skills have gone up a new level. Most people know that my DIY and manual labour skills are pretty much below average, well not any more, my first day of being 24 and Ive just used my first drill, and made multiple even level holes and put up blinds. this is well and truly a big step.

the DIY bug has hit me hard and now things are going to change round here. before it was all about the painting, now thats pretty much out the way, Ive now got to start building things, taking things away and updating things, its a never ending job that I’m now getting excited about. I just need to keep Amy away from Pinterest and I might have a chance of getting this done.

Now im pretty much a site man and a grafter, it was only right that after my success at putting the blinds up, i sat down and had a proper cup of tea, Bilbo ( bilbo Baggins – leave the bag in) with a lot of milk, the only difference being to take the photo I needed a a second pair of hands and a few pints of milk.

At last though, im now sitting on the sofa watching Tattoo fixers and dont have anything todo apart from right this post, tomorrow I pack for a trip to America so be prepared for some cool shots of the states, Ive got a busy 6 weeks of travel and Im looking forward to showing you guys what I get up too!

Im having a really weird moment where Ive confused myself because this post is written the night before its posted. is that confusing, would you rather I wrote in past tense or current tense. I dont mind just want to know what reads better.

Any way let me know and enjoy the snaps.

B189-1-2
– a proper cup of tea –
B189-1
– the bed room with the blinds, its finally coming a long, the white wall by the blinds is dirty because I was leaning on it. just ignore that –
B189-1-3
– this is amy sitting on the floor asking if we can stop running about doing things now –

 

B188 – GOPRO GOPRO GOPRO

joshfspearLeave a comment

As some of you may know it was my birthday yesterday and I was given a Gopro from Amy. Since they came out Ive wanted to have my own Gopro, but just never got round to getting it. well yesterday Amy made that happen, so naturally all my photos yesterday were taken on the Gopro.

We weren’t jumping off cliffs or anything life that, just out of a family meal at some local pub near me called the white bear for a roast. fast forward 12 hours and im now sat on my sofa, writing this post, really wishing I had wrote it last night. Im in full Monday Morning mood, and need to pull myself off this sofa and actually get dressed.

Ive got one of those days again where an extra 3 hours fitted inbetween 2 and 3 O’clock would make a whole lot of difference to my day, but I suppose thats not going to happen so I just got to do what I can.

Back to the Gopro, this thing is insane. My main reason for like it, was because its basically josh friendly, I can drop it, submerge it underwater and it wont break. 95% of the time when my camera’s break its my fault, but now I really think this camera will be able to stand up to what ever I put it through. Im really looking till I can use the gopro for what its made for, capturing those crazy moments, that a normal camera cant or just doesnt get. maybe its time to finally learn todo backflips and see how they look on camera.

but for now its time to pull myself off the sofa, make myself look half presentable for work and head out the door and kick off those Monday Morning blues, otherwise I think Ill just end up sitting on the sofa watching netflix and not doing anything ever again.

Heres som photos I took yesterday with the Gopro. its not a 5D, but its definitely going to be fun to use.

DCIM100GOPROGOPR0071.JPG
– I love birthday cake –
DCIM100GOPROG0020075.JPG
– no idea how this happened, but I kind of like the effect –
DCIM100GOPROGOPR0052.JPG
– running round after flo trying to get a decided picture of her is not easy –

 

B180 – THE BEST FOOD IVE EVER HAD – SKETCH, LONDON

joshfspear3 Comments

Yesterday was all about getting some good food, so Amy and me headed off the this little restaurant in town called Sketch. If you’ve heard of it before its probably becuase its one of the coolest places to eat. I booked that table about 4 weeks ago and was struggling to get a good table, thats how packed this place is. the food was incredible too, we had the duck Foie Gras for starts with the leeks and razor clams. both of us have never had clams before, they we actually really good.

for mains I though it would be rude not to have the Kent Lamb loin, as i am from kent and know that we do good food. it was perfect and the sauce they put on the top was unbelievable, no meal is complete without a side of chips. so thats what finished us off.

Amy let me have a taste of her Sea Bass main meal and after spending a month in america where you think fish is fresh, this was a different level of fresh. its fair to say that all the processed food in the states, was starting to become more of a mission and having that food has brought me back to reality. its now lie that america josh had started to put on the pounds, a mixture of 1 minute pancakes and Chuckey cheese, had started to show. but lucky I’m now back to good fresh food.

I do love going to new cities and countries and exploring loads of places, but I think theres only one city I can call home and thats London. I even love the rude people that give you funny looks on the tube. even they have a certain London look, that you don’t find anywhere else in the world.

B180-1
– This place is like no other restaurant ive been in –
B180-1-3
– this photo was taken by turning the table lamp upside down and using the light from it –
B180-1-2
– a bad quality photo but I still like it –

 

 

B167 – COOL UNKOWN AMERICA – ST LOUIS TO CHICAGO PT.2

joshfspear3 Comments

today we drove from St.louis to our next destination Chicago for the fourth location on this little filming trip. its fair to say this country is absolutely bonkers but in a good way, from the size of the food portions to the crazy ideas that people seem to have and then make them work. like the city museum in downtown St.louis, where they have a 10 story side and have decided to park a school bus and a plane on top of the building, it was the sort of place were kids and grown ups can just run around and explore climbing weird structures and old planes high above the city sky line! I thought it was amazing but i wanted to explore the city and decided to go and check out downtown, I got about 5 blocks from the museum when a bunch of motorbikes started racing down the road pulling wheels and stuff just like in the movie creed it was nuts. my camera was on completely the wrong settings, so the photos were just over exposed. thats why I need the Leica M.

After this little de tour, we hit the road heading for Chicago, driving north on the 55, around an hour into the drive we went past this crazy vintage car dealer, it literally had every car you could imagine from pre 1970, including rolls royce’s, ford pops and the car that malcoms parents drive in Malcom in the middle. unfortunatly it shut like 10 mintues before me got there, which basically meant we could only look at it from the fench. I still managed to get some photos of a burnt out car they must of brought to resort. I have no idea what car it is, but I properly like the picture.

Im now at the hotel in Chicago in the area of Lake on The Hill, not sure if im near a lake but it sounds like I am. the lady at the reception told us to go and try the famous restaurant Portillo’s across the road, its fair to say that is was a good shout. that place is amazing and as its somewhere that I quite like, so heres some info on it.

Portillos was founded in 1963 by a man names dick portillo, After he was honourably discharge from the marine corpe decided to open up a hot dog stand and invested $1,100 in a 6 x 12ft trailer and parked it on North Avenue in Villa Park, Chicago. he called it “The Dog House”. the van didnt have any running water so he would have to run 250m to a local bar every now and again to give his stand a top up.

4 years later he had turned it into a successfull business and decided it was time for a revamp and opened “Portillos” , it basically took off and he went on to open more and more locations. then in 1983, the first drive though opened in Downers Grove (Chicago) and instantly became know for its quick service and good hot dogs.

this place is quickly developing a name for its self all over the US and has now opened up in southern California, Florida, Wisconsin and Minnesota. If you ever pass one of these places, trust me and stop off for a hotdog. they’re crazy enough ship anywhere in the USA!

I also drove along route 66, which i didnt get todo last time as my mates didn’t think I was a good enough driver to drive the RV. well this time I did and it was pretty cool. Im also not sure if this post fits in my project, Cool Unknown America. But I feel like this is cool america off the beaten track so it should be allow and its my project so I can say its allow, so it is. I suppose this post is more of a dairy kind of think which I quite like.

heres my snaps from today, let me know what you think! Im also not sure if this 20mm prime lens is working properly, so tomorrow im going to put it through its paces and see what happens. so if tomorrow photos are crap I apologies in advance.

B167 (1 of 1)
– route 66, just off the north 55 –
B167 (1 of 1)-2
– st. louis city museum –
B167 (1 of 1)-4
– the vintage car dealer on route 66, is burnt out car was waiting out the front –
B167 (1 of 1)-3
– Portillos, chicago. Hot dog and fries. Well worth it –

 

B164 – THE DAY I LOST 20,000 PHOTOS.

joshfspear1 Comment

20,000. Thats the number of photos I may have lost today. my hard drive that I’ve been using for the past 2 months has gone down. its not being recognised in any computer. Im pretty sure its the SATA bridge but there no way to know until I get back to the UK and can run some tests, so I wont know for certain until the 29th if Ive lost those photos. Now, no one comment “did you not back them up” because I have, and at home I have two back ups for all my photos, just not any back ups from the last two months. I was going to back up those 90 days when I got back. I try to back up every month but to be honest I just havent for the past two months. this isn’t a lesson, this is just a test to see how good I am at digging myself out of a crappy situation. I got this. this is just what technology does, it breaks and goes down without any warning. I was using a professional 1TB LaCie Rugged, and its just gone down.

Im praying to god that I can fix this when I get back, by simply switching out the SATA bridge with one off Amazon or ebay. heres a link to the one I will probably buy.

https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-SY-ADA20079-Adapter-Cable/dp/B0057UAB2K/ref=sr_1_25?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1505357243&sr=1-25&keywords=sata+bridge

All I need todo is unscrew the casing of the drive and then disconnect the actually hard drive from the SATA to USB bridge that will be at one end and then plug it into my new one that you’ve brought of Amazon. easy.

if the same thing has happened to you, heres some tips: make sure you buy the right bridge, because depending on if you have 2.5 inch drive or a 3inch drive that will depend on what replacement you get). its easy todo and im pretty sure anyone can it do. please drop me a message at joshfspear@icloud.com with your make and model or the broken drive and I will help you to find the correct part.

Im writing this post to help anyone else who might be in this problem and has had a drive go down. its possible the worst feeling when you’ve lost content that you think is not recoverable. Im not saying its 100% that I’m going to be able to get it all back and if I cant I will be paying someone to do. it has added about 10 times more stress to my day and to this blog challenge!

to everyone else, read this and then go and back up all your content. please just do it for me. If I have lost all those photos I’ve taken on the first half of this trip, trust me they were probably the best photos you would ever of seen! they were incredible.

anyway heres some cool photos I took today in and around historic downtown st Charles just outside of St Louis. its about a 40 minute drive and is worth it. the street is full of cool little shops and is famous for its fried Ravioli, we wanted to try it last night but ended up with a burrito. tomorrow it is on the cards. enjoy these photos and let me know what you think.

164 (1 of 1)
– this man was just sitting on the curb drawing on his diggery do –
164 (1 of 1)-3
– this car looks like something out of a movie –
164 (1 of 1)-2
– cant beat a good sunset shot –