Joy, Part 1of 2

At first, seeing Thom Yorke on stage without Radiohead was sorta like seeing one's father with his NEW wife for the first time. You're sure she's nice and all but you hate her because its not your mom and your afraid life is going to be ruined now and how could he do this to you!

And so it was last night.

It took a few songs for me to relax into the Eraser stuff. Its NOT Radiohead in any way other than that 5' 5" lead man Thom Yorke singing sweetly and dancing across the stage as only he and Ed Grimley can.

Matching his footwork was Flea of the RHCP... who I wanted to hate, but just couldn't. Effortlessly working his bass.... I could tell where the bass ended and he began. Its sounds lame, but its true... he was mesmerizing.

About 2/3rds of the way through, they all left the stage and after 5 solid minute of applause, Thom came back alone to play some new Radiohead stuff. (insert deafening cheers). He moved between solo guitar and solo piano... and though he was alone, I could see Jonny, Coz, Phil and Ed building the music around him. Deep sigh of relief.

So.... all is right with the world. Tonight, we see them again and this time, from note one I'll be at ease, able to enjoy the Eraser as a 1-night stand, knowing Radiohead is still in the studio coming up with new ways to leave me breathless.

-Catherine

Using Our Photography for Good... and Pancakes

Tomorrow morning we're getting up at the crack to drive down to Escondido for a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk!

Deanna is doing the 3-Day walk (60 miles!) in November as part of TEEM GEEM with Sherri Fry-Suchy (her BFF since the Reagan Administration) and Sherri's family. They're all walking in honor of the memory of Sherri's grandma Geem, who lost her battle with the disease earlier this year.

Anyhoo... so you ask..... how are pancakes involved? Well, the Fry family is having a pancake breakfast at the Esconido First Church of the Nazerene tomorrow morning from 8am - 11am.

http://www.efcn.com/

There'll be pancakes, and vendors selling candles, and holiday goodies. AND your two favorite photographers (that's us) will be there to snap family pics for the low sum of $35! What a bargain! We'll shoot you with your family, your dog, your Camero or heck, even with your pancakes! If you can't join us, consider donating a few $$ to the cause!

Go Teem Geem!

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/SanDiegoEvent2009?px=3501262&pg=personal&fr_id=1298

-Catherine

Notre Raison D'être

Thanks to a late night text from a fellow devotee (Kidj), we've got tickets for BOTH nights for Thom Yorke at the Orpheum Theatre this Sunday and Monday. I can hardly believe that we did it.... we're all getting in! I haven't had much time to process this yet, so it doesn't seem real.

But it IS... SO SO SO real.

-Catherine

Shooting Up, Downtown

Shot another month of Mindshare downtown. Art, 3-D music, personal aircrafts, talks about tantric, bass fueled fire displays, cocktails, tacos and fundraising for malaria mosquito nets in africa.....it always makes me wonder what else is hiding in the dark alley ways of our quiet city.

-Catherine

Zach + Jude

We're shooting Zach and Jude's wedding at Pitzer College in October so met up with them a few weeks ago to see the campus and snap some practice pics. They met at Pitzer so it seemed the perfect place for their I do's. Should be a super-fun wedding!

-Catherine

Vegan Cinnamon Bun Cookies

My sister Laurie is an AMAZING baker. AND though she's not vegan, she is one of my only relatives that doesn't looks at me cross-eyed for being one myself . Sooo... as a vegan sympathizer, she used her baking powers for good and sent me this batch of Cinnamon Bun Cookies for my birthday.

Despite traveling 3000 miles, the cookies arrived without being broken into a zillion pieces. Frankly, I would have eaten them anyway, but I just love seeing the ribbon of cinnamon swirling around like that. Ahhh. Along with the cookies she included the recipe too... so I guess she expects me to make them for myself from now on. Jeeez.

Vegan Cinnamon Bun Cookies:

Requires chilling dough in fridge for 3 hours.

Filling:
1/2 cup organic sugar
2 tbsp. ground cinnamon

For the Dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup vegan butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
Equivalent of 2 eggs (using egg replacer like Ener-G)
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Filling:
Combine sugar and 2 tbsp cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

Dough:
Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.

In a new bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with a mixer until smooth. Add the egg replacer and vanilla; mix until Incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, blending until just Incorporated; do not over mix.

Trace a 16" x 9" rectangle on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Using your hands, pat the dough into the rectangle shape.

Sprinkle filling mixture evenly over the dough.

Beginning on the long side and using the paper to help you, roll the dough into a log. (do not roll paper into the log... duh.) Wrap the log in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. (At this point I'd probably just eat all the raw dough, but that's just me.)

While your waiting for the big chill, go for a nice hike or bike ride.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Remove dough from fridge and remove plastic wrap. Slice the chilled dough into 1/4" thick slices and arrange on the cookie sheets spacing about 1" apart. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cookies cool on the sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack.

Enjoy!

Catherine

Life Gave Me Lemons

So, we went on a picnic Saturday night in honor of my birthday. What with it being summer and all, I thought it would be fun to make some simple, fresh treats to eat. Aside from home made Sangria (thanks Deanna!) and a Mediterranean spread from our local middle eastern market, I made a crazy good Herbs-de-Provence roasted onion and tomato to slather of french bread and sliced up some sweet summer watermelon for dessert. The secret ingredient to FANTASTIC watermelon is to add a big ol' squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top. The two flavors are perfect together.

Don't let me fool you... we also had vegan cupcakes, lemon shortbread cookies and cinnamon pinwheel cookies too, but I was too busy eating them to take any photos!

-Catherine