Birthdays and Israeli food

These past couple of days have held birthdays of a few people close to Chris and me. On the 28th, it was my parents' 28th anniversary and my aunt's 54th birthday. Last night, we celebrated our good friend Wes' birthday at an Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia called Zahav.

Five of the six of us had never been to this place before, and we were all pretty much blown away by how good the food was. Plus, it was tapas style, so we were all able to taste a little bit of everything. My favorite presentation, though, had to be the starter salatim, which had eight different salads.



While the portions were small, we had so many dishes that we were all stuffed after the meal...but not stuffed enough to decline dessert! Cashew baklava, yum...



And here's Wes blowing out the candle from his dessert (the Halvah mousse):


Happy birthday!

Binh & Chen: Engagement

We had the pleasure of shooting Binh and Chen's engagement photos this past weekend at their alma mater, Rutgers University. We were pretty excited, as this was our first e-shoot, so THANK YOU, Binh and Chen, for trusting us with your photos!

These two were in the same physics class when Binh was a freshman and Chen was a sophomore. During an after-exam review, Binh and her roommate noticed Chen, and they referred to him as "The Physics Guy." They ran into each other randomly on the Rutgers bus, but Chen never noticed Binh sneaking glances at him as they rode to class.

One day, Binh's roommate intervened and dragged her to the computer lab (where Chen worked) under the guise of making photocopies for a class.

Finally, a year later, they met, and the rest is history.















After walking around campus, we headed to the famous Rutgers grease trucks for lunch, followed by I's Cafe for bubble tea (we on the west coast call it "boba").

Slow-roasted salmon

I absolutely love seafood. I can eat it raw, roasted, baked, broiled, fried (although not my favorite prep unless it's calamari), sauteed, you name it.

I recently found a recipe for slow-roasted salmon from the Cooking for Friends cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. My friend Steph is an avid cook and she and I like to scour the internet for recipes and trade. I saw this book at WS, fell in love with the photography first, and realized that this was a book we BOTH needed.

Chris and I decided to (and by Chris and I, I mean I decided to...he just agreed) try out this new recipe. It sounded healthy, very simple, and absolutely delicious. I paired with smashed potatoes from Simply Recipes, using red potatoes instead of new.

Verdict on the salmon was...well, let's just say Chris bought 1.8 pounds and we ended up eating 95% of it. It was THAT good (and good for you). Rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with only salt and pepper, it was simple enough to let the freshness of the fish shine through. We did squeeze some lemon on, after garnishing with chives and parsley, and pair it with a little bit of creme fraiche, and that just catapulted us into a whole other level of bliss.

Pam and Ray's wedding

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of flying out to California to attend the wedding of our two good friends, Pam and Ray. Chris and I met them in college (I was in a co-ed service fraternity with them and Chris worked in student government with Ray), and they were also in our wedding. Ray was Chris' best man and Pam was one of my bridesmaids. It made us so happy to see two of our favorite people start their married lives together!


Kiss from her dad...


...and kiss from her groom!


I love this photo of the two of them, mainly because we've never seen Pam look at anyone the way she is looking at Ray in this picture.


During the dragon dance


Classic Pam and Ray: Ray was laughing at her during their engagement video, and Pam puts up with Ray's shenanigans. :D


First dance

Spicy Asian Crab Cakes

When it comes to adding anything hot or spicy to a recipe, I tend to go a bit overboard. Not that whatever I'm making becomes inedible, but enough to make Chris and me hiss a little when we take our first bite. Nothing wrong with a little kick though! ;)

Tonight's dinner is courtesy of the Steamy Kitchen cookbook.

Happy 1st birthday, Jake!

Last Friday, Jake turned one year old. As Chris and I were taking pictures of Mike and Charlotte opening the gifts, we commented that we still remembered taking pictures at the baby shower!

After braving through a crazy snowstorm, we arrived to the party a little late, but just in time for cake and presents. Jake's party had a Paul Frank theme...I absolutely loved his hoodie!







After all the guests cleared out, Chris got this shot of one pooped Jake...

I got the sear!

One of my other passions (besides photography, traveling, and anything diabetes related) is cooking. Don't get excited now, I hate spending lots of time in the kitchen, so I appreciate quick, easy recipes. The last thing I want to do when I get home after a full day at work is cook something that takes three hours. No thanks.

Today, I found a simple recipe for scallops and pasta by one of my favorite food bloggers Jaden Hair. I thought I'd give scallops another try, because a few months ago, I made a dish with scallops purchased from the market. The guy lied to me and said they were dry packed, when in fact they were not. I was so disappointed that I gave up on trying again— it was a fairly expensive mistake. The total cost of ingredients that time around was about $20, which is a lot when you're accustomed to paying $5-7 for dinner.

This time around, I decided to go to a high-end market (Di Bruno Bros.) on the way home, pony up the extra dollars, and give it another shot. I got some tips from the seafood guy, who said, and I quote: “Pat it dry, then sear the f*ck out of it.” YESSIR! *salutes*

Imagine my joy when I did exactly what he (and Jaden) told me to do. I got an AWESOME sear (the apartment filled up with smoke, but let's ignore that). I whooped and hollered (literally; I scared Chris) when I flipped over the first scallop.

Chris snapped this while I was plating. For the record, we each had six jumbo scallops, but I only put four on so you could still see the pasta. ;) Total cost of dinner tonight: $25, which includes the scallops, pasta, tomatoes, onions, and other items.