Where to Eat in Seattle: Seattle Espresso

Since being diagnosed with celiac disease I have kept my eyes out for any restaurant with a sign that has the words "gluten free" on it.  I noticed this one quite awhile ago, and it's my go-to place for chai tea lattes and sweet treats.  It's called Seattle Espresso and it's located conveniently close to Wish, so you can stop in for a snack after shopping for cute clothing and accessories.  Their address is 4405 Wallingford Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98103.  When I went in today I saw that they have new gluten-free shortbread and I knew that I had to try it.  Everyone loves their shortbread but I had never been able to eat it before because it wasn't gluten-free.  In the past I have had their gluten-free cookies (biscotti, monster cookie and lemon oatmeal cookie) and gluten-free blueberry pound cake.  Everything I've tried has been delicious and I would get any of it again in a heartbeat.  Sometimes I just can't choose and I get more than one thing.  I have never experienced any glutening symptoms from my celiac disease after going to Seattle Espresso.  They always do a fantastic job of avoiding cross-contamination between the gluten-free food and gluten-containing ones.  Today I got the gluten-free mint chocolate chip shortbread and a chai tea latte.  It was so good that I ate it really slowly to savor every single bite.  I am definitely going to have to try the other gluten-free shortbread flavors in the future.  Here are some photos for you to drool over.

Seattle Espresso makes really tasty food and drinks that are also really pretty.  It's a really great place to sit and relax and read a book (which is what I usually do there).  Everyone who works there is really nice and friendly, especially Patty.  She always remembers my name and we have a pleasant chat.  She goes above and beyond to make sure everyone has a great experience.  One time she even stayed open late for me and another girl.

Besides delicious gluten-free baked goods, Seattle Espresso also offers handmade Brazilian empanadas and a variety of shortbread cookies and pastries.  I can't comment on the flavor of them because they contain gluten so I have never tasted them, but I have only ever heard the customers say good things about them.  And they certainly look delicious.  Seattle Espresso also makes different coffee drinks and other hot drinks, including apple cider.  They also have amazing catering services.

So whether you eat gluten-free, ove good food, want a sweet treat, enjoy a hot beverage, are hosting an event, or just want to relax in a friendly environment, I highly recommend Seattle Espresso.

Tuesday Tutorial: Retouching Photos of People in Photoshop

A few days ago I discovered this great blog called Kirsten Learns.  It's all about this girl named Kirsten and how she's learning to do things.  One of the things she's learning to do is edit photos with Photoshop.  She wrote a post with some photos she's edited and the tutorials she used to edit them.  She wasn't pleased with how the final photo of herself turned out, so since I like editing photos and haven't tried making a Photoshop tutorial yet, I decided to see if I could come up with a good edit of her photo and write a tutorial for how to do it.  I asked her for permission to edit her photo and post it and the tutorial on my blog and she said that I  definitely could, so here we go.

Here is the original photo.

It's not bad, a bit underexposed, but nothing too hard to fix.

So here's what I did, step by step.  (If you would like me to clarify any of the steps let me know in the comments and I'll add a screenshot of that step.)

1.  Adjust the exposure.  In Adjustments, click Exposure and adjust it so the photo looks like it's the right exposure.  (The exposure is the amount that the light lets in when the photo is taken.  If it's underexposed, that means there was not enough light let in and the photo will look dark, like this one.)  I adjusted the exposure of this photo to +1.7.

2. Add a photo filter.  In Adjustments, click Photo Filter.  I used Warming Filter (81) at 10% density.

3. Adjust brightness and contrast.  In Adjustments, click Brightness/Contrast.  I adjusted the brightness to 5 and the contrast to 10.

4.  Adjust vibrancy.  In Adjustments, click Vibrance.  I adjusted it to +10.

5.  Copy the background layer.

6.  Use the Dodge tool on the eyes to make them more lively.  I used the Dodge tool with Range: Midtones and Exposure: 20%.  Get the eyes nice and bright, then lower the layer fill (in the Layers panel) until the eyes look natural.

7.  Create a new layer.  Zoom in on the eyes.  You are going to add something called catch lights, which are just the reflection by a light source in a person's eye.  Adding them helps to make the eyes more lively.  Choose a brush with 50% hardness and make it the size that the catch lights would be.  (On this photo there were already very light catch lights, so I just used them to determine the brush size and then made them a bit more intense.)  I used a 56 pixel brush size.  Click the brush once on each catch light (if you're using a photo that already has them) or click once on each eye in roughly the same position (if you're using a photo that doesn't already have catch lights).

8.  Set the blend mode of the layer to Overlay.  Turn the layer opacity down until it looks natural.  (I used 25%)

9.  Create a new layer filled with 50% gray.  (Do this by clicking Create a new layer in the Layers panel, then clicking Edit, then Fill.  Set it to Use: 50% Gray, Blending Mode: Normal, Opacity 100%.)

10.  Set the blend mode of the 50% gray layer to Overlay.

11.  While on the 50% gray layer use the Dodge tool on the parts you want to brighten (such as the shine on the hair and the lips) and the Burn tool on the parts you want to darken.  (There might not be any but if parts of the face are looking flat and not 3D like they would be in real life, you can darken the edges to make it look more 3D.  For example, on this photo I used the burn tool just a little bit where the shadows around the nose were.)  This is the Photoshop equivalent of using highlighter and bronzer with makeup to contour your face.  Doing it on a 50% gray layer set to Overlay lets you add depth to the photo with a lot of control.

And that's it.  With this photo you really only need to adjust the exposure, if you're a Photoshop beginner, to make it look way better.  The other steps are all optional and more advanced.  I hope something from this tutorial is helpful for you.  And definitely let me know if there are any parts of this tutorial that you would like me to explain further or expand upon.  Like I said, this is my first Photoshop tutorial, so it's not perfect and I would love to improve it for you in any way possible.

Without further ado, here is the finished product.

Friday Fashion: If My Blog was an Outfit

If My Blog was an Outfit by jaythejedi featuring black boots

I saw this post idea on two blogs I follow (Lariats and Lavender and My Life as a Teacup), and I loved it.  The link-up for it is over but I still wanted to make the outfit version of my blog, and I love how it turned out.

If my blog was an outfit, it would be cute, edgy, a little weird, and pretty casual.  This prompt has also made me think of some new blog design ideas.  I also really like the idea of an outfit as a moodboard, even though that wasn't the intent.

Gluten Free Finds: The Best Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix

My mom sent me a care package full of gluten-free baking mixes and other gluten-free foods.  One of the items in it was this pizza crust mix.  If you know anything about gluten-free food, you know that you need to enter into any new-to-you food situation with very low expectations.  I expected this pizza crust to be bland, weird-textured, and thin.  And I was pleasantly surprised to find it was just the opposite.  I can honestly say that this is the best pizza crust I've ever had.  Period.  And I'm including gluten crusts I've had in the past!  This beats any restaurant, delivery, or frozen pizza crust I've ever had.

This is the box for the pizza mix.  It's King Arthur Flour brand, which I've never heard of before.  I can't find this exact one, but on their website I found a gluten-free bread and pizza mix, which might be the same thing.  It's gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free.  It makes two crusts or one giant crust, and I went for the one giant crust.  The crust takes about five minutes to mix up, then 1 hour to rise in 2 30-minute increments.  It's really easy to make and the instructions worked out perfectly for me.  After it rose for 30 minutes, it didn't really look like it rose at all and I was a little worried, but it turned out great.

This pizza crust turned out thick, golden brown, flaky, and delicious.  I topped it with alfredo sauce, five slices of bacon chopped up, baby bella mushrooms, artichoke hearts, three kinds of shredded cheese (mozzarella, Parmesan, and mild cheddar), avocado, and tomato.  I also added a secret spice blend.  I drizzled the whole thing with the bacon grease before popping it into the oven.  That's how you make a pizza extra good.

Here's a link to King Arthur Flour's other gluten-free mixes, which I'll definitely have to try in the future.  Tell your wallet I'm sorry.