Hummus Pizza

I had a craving for hummus but I needed to turn that into a meal. So I came up with hummus pizza.

• One can garbanzo beans
• Juice from one lemon 
• Healthy dose of olive oil
• Healthy dose of paprika
• 3 garlic cloves
• One big bunch of fresh spinach
• Goat cheese crumbles
• Pocketless pita bread 

Combine first five ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Sautee spinach in a bit of olive oil and salt. Spread hummus on top of warmed pita bread and top with spinach and goat cheese.  My hummus tends to just be whatever is on hand and I can imagine all sorts of other things on this. Like curried cauliflower or olives or cilantro or pine nuts.

Soccer Practice

Jet Linx Advertisement

Jet Linx used my photos as a full page ad. I think they worked out really well. The man pictured is not a model, but an actual boss of the prestigious company. I remember we were rained out once and on the day we rescheduled, it was drizzling.  We were cut short due to a full on rain. Luckily, I shoot quick!

La Fiorentina spread in Modern Luxury Magazine

Check out this month's issue of Modern Luxury Magazine for a beautiful layout of La Fiorentina photos. I loved this shoot and working with all of the people here. The remodel on the building, once a burger joint and a church, is thoughtful and finds a lot of new uses for old materials. (For example, the ceiling is composed of walls they took out.) The food is sizzling and scrumptious and brought to you by boisterous Italian accents.

Goal Rush, Lose 4-2

Penn's soccer team, Goal Rush, got to wear jersey's at their 3rd game. It's a handsome change from the t-shirts and practice jerseys.  We lost 4-2. An attentive parent pointed out in the last quarter that the other team had more players on the field than we did. Doh! Despite the disadvantage, our boys played a fine game.

It was neat to watch the game unfold in photos and see Penn blocking shots with his body or dribbling around someone or chasing a ball and turning it around or passing it. The kids aren't just randomly kicking it ... as much. Ha. It is just 7 year old boys, after all. But I have photo proof they are improving.

Sadly, we don't have any more games on our picturesque Lakewood field anymore. This field is not so pretty and the morning colors and busyness of the place looked like confetti through the lens. This was a black and white picture kind of place.

Click here for more photos.

LillaMai

Over Spring Break we traveled to Michigan to meet my new niece, LillaMai. She is beautiful and tiny and sleepy. I had some plans for her newborn photos, but she protested the posing. She preferred the soft grey blanket that Aunt Carissa crocheted for her and I didn't try very hard to change her mind. So far I've made her a blanket, booties and two bunnies. Her colder climate will keep my hands busy.

It is quite lovely to watch my sister become a mom. I am in love with being an Aunt. I wished we lived closer so I could rock her to sleep when Lise's arms got tired and spoil her with Aunty cuddles.

First Grade Performance

Tonight Penn's cub scout den performed the color guard for the PTA meeting and at the end the whole first grade performed a musical selection.







They were great and adorable, of course. Although, most of us could barely see our kids due to the swarms of obnoxious parents taking pictures and filming. I don't have the wide angle on my camera, so you can't see everyone around me, but it's truly awful. One woman (pictured above) filmed the entire thing on her phone by holding her phone over her head the whole time. I'm particularly upset with this woman because her phone was right in front of Penn's head.

If I ruled the world ....

Michigan 2011

The birth of my sister's first child and Spring Break were timed perfectly. We flew to Chicago where my brother picked us up and toted us back to family and a house full of memories.

Daniel summed it up best:

The last week in Michigan was awesome for so many reasons. The weather was perfect. I enjoyed being out in the country. It reminded me very much of where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I enjoyed getting to know Carissa’s family more, including meeting relatives I’d never met before and seeing where Carissa’s brother and stepfather make their pizza ovens as well as where they are going to have their restaurant. We had fresh roasted coffee every morning, either pour-over or via their new industrial espresso machine. We had home-made pizza one evening, made with home-made cheese, home-made dough, washed down with locally brewed 10% IPA (that might have made me a little bit belligerent…oops). We went to awesome stores and to the dunes by Lake Michigan. We ate homemade crepes for lunch…twice. After relatively painless drives/flights back we all quickly fell asleep Friday night. Penn slept for over 12 hours that night.

Baby LillaMai is perfect. She's small and like a little doll. She's blonde and blue-eyed and looks just like her daddy already, so like Penn it will take some convincing to prove she's part Korean.
                                















They are remodeling a very old building for the new restaurant featuring artisan pizza and coffee roasted in house. They discovered the space had once been a doctor's office in the 30's. They found his receipt book (with no charges over 5.00) and a ton of x-rays. Mom and I coordinated some of the paperwork and found that he charged 1.00 for an x-ray.


 It was really fun watching them actually build the ovens.






I love hiking around the dunes on Lake Michigan.








My Grandpa Moon passed while we were there. He's pictured here with his wife and children. He was the sweetest man. Calm, patient, generous and forgiving and will be dearly missed. Can you guess which children are adopted?

Thanks to the timer on the camera I got us all into a photo before we left!


It really was a perfect trip. I love my family. I love reveling in our many similarities. Like our need to create, our perfectionism in particular areas and the talents we have in cooking. My brother and I have the same approach to food, but I think he's better. He roasted coffee beans and made us an espresso first thing every morning. If that's not the key to a perfect vacation, I don't know what is.


Click here for more photos.

Fruit and Seed Bread

My mother had some delicious fruit studded bread from Apple Valley that I ate for breakfast. Since  Apple Valley is only in Michigan, I had to come up with my own. I made some modifications to a recipe I already had and it turned out really well.

1 cup lukewarm milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon yeast
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup mixed dried fruit and toasted pumpkin seeds (I used Sunmaid Fruit Bits.)

Mix sugar, yeast, oil, eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Mix in flour and fruits. Cover and let rise for 2 hours.

Use immediateley or put in fridge overnight to chill. Cut dough in half. Put half in greased loaf pans or form a boule and let rise for 1 hour and 40 minutes. (Or just 40 minutes if you didn't refrigerate overnight.)

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Butter the top when you pull it out of the oven.

*modified from Sunflower Seed loaf in "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day."