One of our favorite places to pop in for a late-afternoon, after-work glass of wine and appetizers is our neighbor just across the courtyard, ART Restaurant & Lounge in the Four Seasons Hotel.

We’ve long been fans of Chef Kerry Sear’s amazing sliders–available in salmon, veggie, and beef iterations. We’ve also loved his shrimp appetizer, which featured perfectly cooked chunks of shrimp with a shooter glass full of spicy tomato juice. Eat a bite of shrimp, sip the juice, and you had a cool-tasting treat.

After a recent menu change, we were heartsick to find out the former shrimp app had disappeared, replaced with a new version–Poached Blue Shrimp with Lemon-Cilantro Aïoli and Chili Olive Oil.

But not to worry. It’s a gorgeous dish, served in a clear cup over dry ice, so that it leaves a trail of “smoke” as it passes through the dining room.

Which more than qualifies ART’s Poached Blue Shrimp as our Dish of the Day.

A couple of months ago, I started to become interested in plastic cameras, inexpensive cameras that offer unusual effects when you take pictures with them.

I was going to get a Holga or a set of Lensbaby lenses that diffuse the light, produce light leaks and color shifts, and shoot off center.

But, recent convert to Apple’s amazing iPhone4 that I am, instead I discovered an app called Hipstamatic that automatically creates these rather wonky images.

At first I thought I’d use the Hipstamatic iPhone app only to take photos in my other life. But one Saturday afternoon, over lunch at Bambuza Vietnamese Cuisine in downtown Seattle, I started playing around on some food shots.

Here’s one of the first ones I took. A simple shot of our tea cups and pot, striking against the vivid grains of the bamboo tabletop. And you just gotta love the 1960s-era ivory edges!

Below is my Vietnamese Crepe taken in a lot of natural light with the regular iPhone4 camera.

Same photo taken with the Hipstamatic! I love the way the crumpled napkin in my lap becomes part of the photo. . .like some sort of weird white sculptural element.

Over dinner at Vito’s on First Hill that evening, I took a photo of my Angel Hair Pasta with Calamari using the regular camera.

And the Hipstamatic, which created a warm and romantic shot, like something from another era.

Sunday evening, during dinner at the ever-romantic and long-running Andaluca in the Mayflower Park Hotel, I couldn’t resist playing around with the Hipstamatic once again.

Here’s a shot of our wine bottle and glass. . .love the frayed edges and rich, warm, crimson tones created by the seemingly magical Hipstamatic app.

I’m continuing to experiment with this very HIP(stamatic) app, and will post more food shots from time to time, so please stay tuned!