From Me To You

John F. Kennedy Remembered

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”

To Taddy, with Love

I’ve always dreamed about going on the road with a classic rock band, photographing the shows, the artists, the tour and late nights. I mean Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger and Lynn Goldsmith all spent part of their careers with musicians. For about a year I took my old Hasselblad and my 35mm Pentax camera and rolls of Tri-X400 and photographed the band Taddy Porter around Oklahoma and Texas. We met in Norman, the first time hearing them I felt like it was the 70s and I was Penny Lane. They were magical on stage, inspiring to shoot, and became great friends of mine. Andy, Joe, Doug, Kevin and Scott- thank y’all for the beers, the music, the wonderful conversations, the very long nights… or I should say very early mornings, for giving me the access and getting to be apart of your creative world. I can’t wait to see y’all tomorrow. From Me To You~

Dinner & A Movie

Rosemary Flank Steak with Red Wine Shallot Sauce on top Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Interview With The Vampire

So we are back again this week with Brad Pitt and meat, didn’t get enough the first go ‘round I guess. I wanted to do a vampire themed Dinner & A Movie as sort of a sister project to my Immortal Autumn fall fashion story on WhatsWear. I thought, what’s more perfect with a bloody vampire movie than a great red wine sauce atop a bloody steak? I found this simple and wonderful recipe on Daily Unadventures in Cooking, one of my favorite food blogs, and it was without a doubt the best steak I’ve made yet. I think it’s the fresh herbs that really make it savory. I also got to use my new potato masher I picked up at a junk store in Salem for $1. No more mashing pathetically with a whisk. So the vampires feast, we feast, and everyone will go home satisfied.

Flank Steak with Red Wine Shallot Sauce

by Daily Unadventures in Cooking

Ingredients:

Flank Steak (we used a little over 1/2 pound for 2 people)
Rosemary or Thyme
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Red Wine Shallot Sauce
½ ounce butter
1.2 cup shallots, sliced
2 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 cup dry red wine
1 bay leaf
2 cup brown veal stock (we used beef stock)
1 ounce butter

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

by Alton Brown

3 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
16 fluid ounces (2 cups) half-and-half
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 ounces grated Parmesan

*We halved this recipe

From Daily Unadventures in Cooking:

To cook the flank steak I marinated it in a little fresh thyme, olive oil and lots of salt and pepper for about an hour then cooked it on our indoor cast iron grill. Make sure you cut the steak thin and on a diagonal as it is a fairly chewy piece of meat - but it makes up for it in flavour!

For the Red Wine Shallot Sauce: Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add shallots and garlic and saute until tender - about 5 minutes. Pour in wine, add bay leaf, and bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add the veal stock and cook until sauce is reduced by 1 3/4 cups, about 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Whisk in remaining butter off of the heat and serve immediately.

Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes from Alton Brown:

Peel and dice potatoes, making sure all are relatively the same size. Place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce heat to maintain a rolling boil. Cook until potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork.

Heat the half-and-half and the garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove the potatoes from the heat and drain off the water. Mash and add the garlic-cream mixture, salt, and Parmesan; stir to combine. Let stand for 5 minutes so that mixture thickens and then serve.

Dinner is served…

Immortal Autumn

This week Immortal Autumn came out on WhatsWear, an online fashion industry publication. It was a wonderfully romantic collaboration with the very talented stylist, jewelry designer and crafter Kylie Fife and amazing makeup artist and painter Virginia Bradley. The whole shoot came into it’s vampire-esque focus by Kylie’s fascination with a guy who wears a lace scarf around Williamsburg, before we knew it she was pulling vintage velvet hair ties and practicing her tulle bows. Terence from ORB Model Management was a perfect romantic intense and strong yet tragically fragile subject who gave me one of my favorite photographs which Kylie and I call The Michelangelo (beauty image on black with the open buttoned shirt and eyes closed).

We were so excited to see it live on WhatsWear, I hope you will stop by and see more of the images from Immortal Autumn on their rich fashion site!

Charlie & Sam

Brooklyn, New York

Last week we visited the Charlie and Sam trunk show, a charming Williamsburg boutique named after the two owner’s dogs which are immortalized in gilded frames behind the register. They sell unique treasures by handmade designers such as Alexandra Grecco who was there with her staple “sexy pink polaroid” and Telesca’s Meagan Camp with her signature poppy red lips. Oh so retro Hannah made the room a more beautiful place and Marco Argiro of The Mood filled the room with music and let me do a mini-photo shoot!