Hot Stuff

On Saturday, a few of my friends and I saw disco diva Donna Summer at an outdoor show at the Memphis Botanic Garden. She may be gettin' on in age, but Donna still has it. Girl had at least four fabulous costume changes, a posse of high-energy dancers, and flashy, animated backgrounds that made the whole stage look it was on fire.

The Botanic Gardens hosts these outdoor shows once a month on their lush, sprawling grounds. My friends and I go to most of the shows, and we always pack a picnic and a bottle of vino. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my Nikon into the show because there was a 30 percent chance of rain, so all I had was my iPhone camera. It takes good shots sometimes, but not when it's getting dark ... as it was in this shot of Nathan's plate:

In the center are my Butter Bean Bruschetta, a recipe going in my cookbook. On the upper left corner of the plate, you can barely see the vegan ranch dip underneath those carrots. That recipe is also going in my book. Greg's tahini-less hummus is in the bottom right. And not pictured is Nathan's creamy avocado dip. We scooped up all those dips with crudite and tortilla chips while we sipped on blush wine.

Just for fun, we took pictures of each other with my Hipstamatic app for the iPhone. This app makes photos look like they were taken in the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s (this may be my favorite app!). Here's hipstamatic Nathan with a mouth full of food:

And hipstamatic Greg, also in the act of chewing (not sure why I took everyone's photo while they were eating):

And here I am with my plate, about to stuff my face as usual: