A Three-Year-Old Baseball Connoisseur

I have never met a kid as young as Milo more passionate about one thing than he is about baseball. And at three and a half, he is a dedicated student of the game. This little one eats, sleeps and breathes baseball. He knows all of the A's players, their positions, uniform numbers, and batting order. You name it, he knows it. And he's a switch hitter with a pretty mean follow through. 

We walked to a nearby park to get in some batting practice. Just like every day. As soon as he put on his A's gear, the excitement bubbled up from his sneakers to his fingertips. He beamed. We played for about 45 minutes. He was so focused. It made my job easy. The backdrop and lighting could not have been better, and I love all of the lines and shadows. And that smile! That lead off stance! He could not be cuter. It reaffirms that my favorite thing to photograph is people doing what they love most. He worked up an appetite and earned himself a homemade cookie. Milo Man, when you're an all-star, I hope these are the photos that flash on the big screen. 

Recipe // Portabella, Shiitake and Herb Lasagna

Mushrooms are my soul food. When we go out, if there is a mushroom dish on the menu I can't order anything else, and I have yet to be disappointed. One of the most memorable meals Jeffery and I ever made was on Valentine's Day about 6 years ago. We slow cooked polenta with 4 types of cheese and made a sauce out of hedgehog mushrooms and heirloom tomatoes. Paired it with macadamia nut crusted halibut. It was all delicious, but that mushroom tomato sauce is what sticks in my mind. I can even remember savoring the leftovers. If I concentrate hard enough, I can taste it. I lost the recipe, but I think I'll try recreating it sometime soon. When I was mushroom shopping for this meal, I did see some furry little hedgehog mushrooms.

You will need:

16 lasagna noodles (4 layers)

4 cups milk

1 stick butter (I used salted, if you use unsalted, add more salt to your sauce)

1/2 cup flour

About 3/4 tsp. kosher salt

About 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1/2 an onion, diced (or two medium leeks sliced into rings)

1 1/2 pounds portabella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

1 cup finely grated fresh parmesan cheese 

 

Prep.

Determine how many noodles it takes to make a layer in your pan and multiply by 4. Soften noodles in a pot of very hot (but not boiling) water. Noodles should be soft but not fully cooked. 

Make béchamel sauce: Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan and remove from heat. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in four until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Whisk in milk all at once, keep whisking until smooth. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon, if too thick add more milk, if too thin, cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in garlic, 1/2 tbs. thyme and most of the parsley (leave some to sprinkle on dish after it bakes).

Preheat oven to 375°. Heat a deep, wide pot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil. Sauté the onion (or leeks if you have them) until translucent, set aside. In the same pot, add the remaining olive oil and sauté mushrooms, covered, until mushrooms are tender and beginning to release juices, about 5 minutes. Lightly salt and pepper mushrooms. Uncover and cook until edges start to brown. Stir in the cooked onion and remaining 1/2 tsp. thyme. 

Assemble lasagna: Lightly oil a 9-by-13-in. baking dish. Spread a few spoonfuls of béchamel over bottom. Add a layer of noodles, then spoon on a layer of béchamel sauce (about 1/2 cup), followed by a third of the mushrooms and third of the cheese. Repeat layers twice more. Top with a final layer of noodles and remaining béchamel and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. 

Bake lasagna until browned and bubbling, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and let sit for 15 minutes before slicing. Pair with chilled Lambrusco (Trader Joe's has a good one).

Recipe adapted from here. (Warning, this recipe creates a mountain of dishes. And in our case they are still waiting to be washed...)

A Pre-Thanksgiving Gathering

We gathered with some of our favorite people before Thanksgiving to eat, drink, play Settlers of Catan, and watch scary movies. We barbecued tri-tip and ate other delicious and untraditional Thanksgiving foods. These photos were taken early, as the sun was going down and before most of the other guests had arrived.

I am loving how my camera preforms in low light. And I am really loving getting together regularly with good friends. Feeling particularly thankful for friendship this season.

Environmental Portraits of a Photographer // Oakland Hills

I am really lucky to have such a great photographer friend. It makes it even better that she's gorgeous and doubles as a pretty spectacular model. I have learned so much from Sadie. We met in a photography class, and one of our assignments was to team up with a classmate and take portraits of one another. Looking back at our portrait session from just over a year ago I didn't know the first thing about taking portraits. I used my kit lens, all the photos were take in f/5 and didn't know where to stand in relation to my model and the light, which is really the most important part. In February she generously photographed me for my website, we walked around Golden Gate Park at sunset and froze. It was time to return the favor. 

For this shoot I wanted to play around with a wider angle lens to incorporate more environment. I had a difficult time location scouting. The day before I drove around Oakland and Berkeley for about an hour getting increasingly frustrated because I couldn't find a spot that wasn't littered with background distractions. It made me want to move to the country. Immediately. So I decided we'd wing it, trust our intuition and maybe discover some place new. We drove up to the Oakland hills, winding our way up to Joaquin Miller Park. We found a gorgeous patch of eucalyptus trees on the top of a hill that was all lit up. And then she found a stump to stand on. Genius. Our second location was a turnoff off of Grizzly Peak Blvd up above Claremont. That last photo was taken after the sun had set.

Being up so high, we got the most out of the early setting sun. And there were trees but there was also so much sky, which is the beauty of being on a hill, you get light filled images. I could have shot for a while longer, it was so beautiful, but we were both freezing.  And there wasn't very much room for us on the side of the road. It was a pretty sheer drop. When I got home I made some black been and sweet potato chili. (Recipe here. It was definitely on the sweet side, but with a generous amount of salt and a drizzle of lime on top it was really good.)

Maybe for our next shoot we can be in the tropics. 

Holiday Weekend Mentionables

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving up in Sonoma with extended family, my parents were king and queen of the kitchen and cooked up a killer meal. I took portraits of my cousins and their beautiful labrador. On Friday we drove down to Santa Cruz for two nights, where it was hot, in the high seventies. There were so many pelicans, more than I have ever seen in one place. We watched them at Natural Bridges, skein after skein flying in and landing, resting and preening. My parents took us to the Arboretum, which is up attached to the UCSC campus. There were so many exotic varieties of plants, many originating from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Tons of protea. We took a leisurely walk through the gardens, pausing for photos and games of frisbee. In all a very relaxing escape, it was great spending entire days with family. What were your favorite moments from the holiday?

Happy Family of Four // East Bay Family Portrait Photography

As soon as I met this family I knew I was going to really like them. People who smile big and smile often are good people. Those smiles are contagious and being around them makes you happy.

Thank you Scott and Susan and little Twyla and Jiyo for your smiles and your kindness.

Recipe for a Successful Family Session // East Bay Family Portrait Photography

Start with the lovely Miss Charlotte. 

Add a healthy dose of bouncing on Mom and Dad's bed... (white linens are so good for photos!)

...and a tickle fest... 

...and then try for some group shots. 

But the toddler really wants to play at her water table...

so change her shirt and let her play.

When she's had enough water play, go for a walk.  

Pick some flowers... 

...and when that gets old, go for a ride on dad's shoulders...

...and then throw her in the air. 

By now your little one may be a bit tired and reluctant, so you'll probably have to carry her. 

(Now is a good time to sneak in some kisses.)

Have a destination in mind...

...like the playground!

Let your little monkey play.

Watch for indications that she's tired. For Charlotte, the sign is hair-twirling.

Head home for lunch.

But never stop playing!

And keep trying for that group shot. 

Lastly, always bring along a toy monkey! 

Thank you Stephanie and Kevin for being so welcoming and relaxed and for having fun the whole time!  You guys are a photographer's dream.

The Life of a Cat

After I wrote my last blog post on Sunday morning, I hopped out of bed, scarfed down the delicious French toast my husband made out of a loaf of Acme bread (the best), and drove 15 minutes to North Berkeley for a game of pickup soccer. It was great, there were 10 girls so we played 5 vs 5, and then as people had to leave it turned to 4 vs 4 and eventually got down to 4 vs 3. We should have stopped at 4 vs 4. We should have stopped, or at least I should have stopped, when I yelled "last goal wins" and the other team scored on our pitiful group of 3. But even though we were hot and tired and mismatched, we kept playing.

And then something stupid happened and I rolled my ankle over the ball and collapsed to the ground. I knew then that it was bad. I knew I should have been wearing my ankle brace, which I had worn in my game the previous day and which had made my ankle feel good. My ankle felt so good that I made the conscious decision not to wear the brace for a game of pickup.

But I'm not going to get into all of the things I wish I had done differently to avoid being in my current state of immobility. Because in the last 48 hours I have made a lot of positive changes to my website and overall business that I probably wouldn't have made a priority if I weren't laid up. Please check it out. Click on the tabs, view those pretty faces and let me know what you think.

So, my life is that of a cat. And I don't know when I'll be able to walk again. And I don't know when I'll be able to go back to work watching kids. I also don't know when I'll be able to photograph clients, which is the worst part. If I still can't walk by the weekend I suppose I'll have to go in for an X-Ray. (The uninsured wait until they know it's not somethings that will heal on its own.) In the mean time, if you have any movie recommendations send them my way!

Signs of Fall // Welcoming November

I was quiet on the blog in October. That's because life took over. I was busy. I had two and a half weeks off from work in the afternoons (the big girls I watch were vacationing in Tahiti) and instead of taking the time to relax and reset, I took the opportunity to put everything I have into developing my business. I had seven photo shoots in October. Plus I helped Marina get her website up and running. I worked myself past exhaustion, and I got sick. And then I still couldn't slow down, so I stayed sick for two weeks. 

But it was an enormous period of growth for Roseann, the Photographer. I learned a ton. Learning by doing, that's my new thing. It's invigorating. 

There are two months left in the year, which is plenty of time to implement some positive change. I have realized that I need to condition myself to relax. I inherited this trait from my mother and grandmother, who are always on the go. It isn't a bad thing, they are very productive, but for me, if I go go go, then I tend to neglect important things, like sleep and diet and cleaning my house, and having meaningful conversations with my husband, and playing with my kitties. I need to start scheduling relaxation time, where I do nothing but lie around and catch up on TV shows, read a book, take a nap, or go for a walk. And I also need to schedule in productivity time where I avoid distractions. It's amazing how productive I can be when I focus on a task and don't get distracted. But I try to do too many things at once, and it makes me crazy.

So that's the plan. Two months to establish better balance.  Time is going by very fast. In three weeks my parents arrive and we will be joining them in Sonoma and Santa Cruz to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. In January, Jeffery and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary and eleven years together. And in February we are hoping to take a trip to the Big Island and possibly Maui.

I hope you all enjoy this holiday season and find more balance in your own lives.