Bike Museum

When Carina and I visited the Buffalo area for Dave and Meredith’s wedding, we also stopped in at the Peddling History Museum.  Apparently it is going to close down soon, but its kind of amazing. It’s also run by the cutest old man ever.

weddings weddings weddings

Not to breeze through any of these weddings, cause they were all fantastic, but I think I’ll just post my favorites just to catch up!!

So here they are…

Whitney and Craig:

Laura and Jeremy:

Erin and Brian:

Dave and Meredith:

Zoe and David:

Chocolate Cake

John and I entered a dessert contest at Dock Street Brewery.  It was more specifically for desserts made with beer.  Normally, he’s a better baker than I am, but I won!  I credit that to the fact that everyone loves chocolate.

So, here’s the recipe I made.  There are lots and lots of steps, but not too many ingredients.

Espresso Stout Flourless Chocolate Cake with a Double Cream Stout Chocolate Ganache and Summer Ale Raspberry Sauce

3/4 lb semi-sweet chocolate  (I use Trader Joes 1lb plus of Dark )

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup Espresso Stout reduced down from 1 1/2 cups

palm full of salt

a little vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease up a 9 in spring-form pan

Chop the chocolate fine and melt it with the butter in a double boiler.  Meanwhile mix Sugar, Eggs, Salt, vanilla, and cocoa powder.

Once chocolate is melted and whisked to make sure there are no chunks, let it cool for a few minutes.  Pour chocolate into the egg/sugar mixture.  Then pour in the reduced beer.   Mix until it is very very smooth.

Pour batter in about half way up the pan.

Bake for about an hour, or until you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean.

Cake should cool at least an hour, or overnight

Raspberry sauce

1 bag frozen rasberries

1 bottle of summer ale (I used PBC’s Fleur de Lehigh)

Pour 1 bottle of a good Summer Ale over a container of raspberries.  I used frozen ones, but fresh is probably better.  Let sit (refrigerated) overnight.

Strain the liquid from the fruit and into a pot.  Reduce sauce by half and add a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar to thicken it a bit.  Let cool.

Ganache

1 cup beer

1 cup dark chocolate

Bring about a cup of a cream or milk stout to a boil.  Chop up another cup of dark chocolate.  Pour beer over the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.  Let sit for a few minute then whisk together.  Let cool.

I’m sure there are more elegant ways of serving this cake, but I poured the raspberry sauce on the bottom of the serving dish, then filled up the sides with the soaked whole raspberries.  I frosted the top of the cake with a thin layer of ganache and sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Right before serving I made a little pile of rasberries in the center of the cake (not pictured)

Sorry for lack of a better photo.  I was running late, as usual, and didn’t bring my camera to the competition.

Happy Valentine’s Day

I made truffles!   I took a few photos before going to work and giving most of them away.  Maybe I’ll take nicer photos tomorrow.

AND a giant mess…..

New love me do designs!

I put together some postcards and business cards with our new wedding photography  logo .  I love how girly and pink they are!  Thanks to Eleanor at Push Me Pull You design for the logo design.

Baked

Baked is a local “microbakery” in Fishtown.  They also are participating in the Unbridaled Expo this year with some fancy wedding-appropriate cupcakes.   These were probably the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. The truffles were vegan and rich.  And the scones may have been one of the tastiest things ever.   Also, I believe the Memphis Taproom carries the ginger-carrot-raisin cake (with coconut cream cheese frosting!). I suggest you stop by and have a slice. So good!

NY Times rules

Can I just say I love the New York Times slide shows?

Like these ones from election night

“the World Reacts”

“Watching the Election”

AND one of a cute Korean boxer

“A Champion Korean Boxer”

 Thanks New York Times!   Maybe I should quit my job and be a photojournalist.

Election Day

My sister and I spent most of the day at a polling location in Port Richmond, with the occasional breaks to knock on doors and get snacks.  I expected the worst from this spot in Philadelphia; it is not know for it’s fondness of African Americans.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I had a great day meeting voters and talking to both the Republican and Democratic Committee members who were also working.  

The best part of the day, however was arriving home right as the polls were closing to see that Pennsylvania was being colored in Blue. Shortly followed by Ohio, which pretty much ended it. It felt so good to have been a tiny part of this campaign.  

So, here is a photo from the inside of the Fishtown canvassing office.  These people are amazing.  I hope everyone there (and all the other people that worked so hard knocking on doors and making phone calls) are taking a well-deserved vacation right now.

And because I can’t help myself, a photo of Boris in his Obama bandana

 

Read Sarah’s article about the day here:

http://globalcomment.com/2008/joy-from-historic-obama-campaign/

Jen and Craig

 

Jen and Craig were a ton of fun.  Not only are they both geniuses, but they are hilarious and adorable.  We had been excited about photographing down in Bartram’s Gardens for a while now too.  It was a perfectly lovely day.

 

 

 

 

 

Obama Rally

A couple weekends ago Barack Obama held 4 rallies in Philadelphia. One in Germantown, one in North Philly, one by Temple and one in West Philly.  We went to the one in West Philly, along with 10,000 other people.  It was awesome, although the only thing I could see was the backs of people’s heads, or their children perched on shoulders.  I was also only able to bring the tiny camera, but I still took a handful of photos.