Tag Archives: photography

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Heather and I both have a little Irish blood in us. So…hopefully you are wearing a touch of green to celebrate with us. Baileys Irish Cream is an easy way to turn your coffee into a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Does the swirl remind you of the tumultuous Irish sea? Or have you already had a few drinks? Only you can answer that! Either way, don’t forget to have your green shamrock cookies. Have a happy (and safe) St. Patrick’s Day!

Baileys and coffee. The Irish cream swirl! Tumultuous Irish sea?

Baileys Irish Cream. A nice blend of Irish cream, spirits, Irish whiskey, and a touch of chocolate.

Shamrock cookies. Would your St. Patrick's Day be complete without them??

Fabulous fresh figs

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It’s quite difficult to improve upon a fresh fig. The slightly sweet, almost honeyed, jammy fruit is amazing. We love eating plain fresh figs whenever we can find them, but the balsamic rosemary prosciutto wrapped fig is another great way to enjoy them. Halve the figs. Wrap each half with a small piece of prosciutto, then coat it lightly with balsamic glaze and rosemary. Sear them in a medium skillet until they just start to crisp. After plating, drizzle with a little more balsamic glaze and enjoy. Simple and fun!

Fresh figs. Yum!

Balsamic rosemary prosciutto wrapped figs.

Bourbon + Spice makes everything nice. (Even the intense competition inherent in local award shows!)

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I entered 2eat2drink in the Rochester Advertising Federation Addy competition, our local advertising awards. This gave me a chance to review my 2011 annual report. I did 67 posts, with 251 pictures (WOW, no wonder I had no free time!), and had over 12,000 page views (thank you!) in just over ten months! It’s been an extremly fun way to reach out to clients, friends, and friends-to-be around the world, while sharing a little about our lives and highlighting my photography. If this is your first visit I encourage a full review. Those of you looking to get a brief overview, here are some of my favorite and most viewed posts:

The drink of choice for Sam Axe: The Minty Mojito.
Gin + Juice
I like it chunky: Guacamole!
Campfires and the double marshmallow, Special Dark chocolate s’more!
Bourbon Tasting at the Lake
The first post! Honey Roasted Tomato Bruschetta
You know you want one…the creamy root beer float!
Gooey, earthy, creamy, pungent French camembert.
The NOLA Margarita
Blimey! That’s a good ale!
Yes, I really did drink prehistoric plant matter deposits.
I want Mahón!

Now that you’ve worked up a thirst, on to the bourbon + spice! This is the cocktail I prepared for Chef Mark’s Thanksgiving feast. It’s a marvelous combination of rich, spicy and sweet. Infusing the flavors of ginger, cinnamon and cloves into dark brown sugar simple syrup is step one. Combine one cup each of water and dark brown sugar in a saucepan.  Bring the mixture just shy of a boil while stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add 3-4 slices of ginger, 5-6 cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks, remove the pan from the heat and let steep for about an hour. Strain before use.

Over ice in a rocks glass add 2 oz. bourbon, 1 oz. cinnamon ginger clove simple syrup, 1 oz. Trader Vic’s Kona Coffee liqueur, and 3-4 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged bitters. Stir, garnish and enjoy. (Bottle and store the remaining syrup in the refrigerator.)

Cheers to the Addy judges and all those who work hard to make the Addys a great event!

The Bourbon + Spice cocktail!

The rich, sweet and spicy ingredients!

Willett Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was my choice for Bourbon + Spice.

Sweets for your sweet. Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Chocolate is a classic Valentine’s Day gift. I think we all know that, but based on my brief research at least 35 million heart shaped boxes of chocolate are sold every Valentine’s Day. That’s a lot of red hearts! These particular Andy’s Candies  truffles came to us via Heather’s sister and her husband. (Thanks!) They were delightful! I bet all you last minute shoppers can still find some. Heather will have to wait till tonight to see if her extremely lucky Valentine brought any for her….

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Andy's Candies assorted truffles.

Mmmmm, the gooey center!

The perfect chocolate martini, or “Heaven in a glass”

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This post required a fair amount of “research”. While on our honeymoon in Puerto Rico, we had a few chocolate martinis at the Copamarina resort. They were excellent! But we had no idea what the recipe was. So…..after some experimentation, and some more experimentation…..and a little more……..we came up with a delectable treat!

Over ice in a martini shaker add:1 oz. chocolate vodka, 1 oz. triple espresso vodka, 1 oz. Godiva chocolate liqueur, 1 oz. Kahlua Mocha, 1/2 oz. black raspberry liqueur, 2 oz. milk or half and half or cream (whichever you prefer), and a touch of dark chocolate syrup. Shake it up! Then pour in your martini glass….. after rimming the edge with chocolate shavings and drizzling a swirl of dark chocolate syrup around the inside of the glass.

Sip and enjoy!

The perfect chocolate martini!

Sweet Apple Goodness!

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Heather and I have many favorite desserts. The apple crostata is the newest on the list. The large size is $12 (small is $6), and quite the bargain in the bakery section at Wegmans. It’s worth every penny for its light as air crust and sweet apple goodness. I had actually purchased the cranberry apple crostata 3 times with the intention of shooting it, but we ate it first. When I went back for it the 4th time, the apple cranberry had been phased out. Thus, Heather presents the apple crostata! I have to add…they have now phased out the apple, and are on to cherry! My apologies, as I’ve been a little too busy to get this shot posted. But I hope you jump at the opportunity to get a cherry crostata!! Let me know if it’s as good as I’m dreaming it is…

The super yummy apple crostata!

The sparkling Finger Lakes!

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Hi, it’s Heather! As Rich mentioned in the last post, over the holiday season, we had the opportunity to try a few of the sparkling wines that are produced here in the Finger Lakes region. Here’s a quick synopsis of our taste test:

First we sampled Hunt Country’s Chardonnay Champagne. This wine was deep, rich and delicious, with pear and apple flavors, a surprising hint of buttered popcorn, and a caramelized-buttery finish. It reminded us of crème brulée, and we agreed that it would pair nicely with that dessert. We just may have to pick up another bottle soon!

Next up was the award-winning 2006 Chateau Frank Blanc de Blancs. We already knew that we liked Chateau Frank Célèbre, as well as Célèbre Rosé. We were eager to try the 2006 Blanc de Blancs, which won gold at both the Tasters Guild International and the Los Angeles International Wine Competitions. It also was given a 90 point rating by Wine and Spirits Magazine. This sparkling wine is made from 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Blanc. It was light, refreshing, and extremely well-balanced. The slightly floral aroma led into a sweet start with citrus and pear flavors. The finish was dry and crisp. We agreed that it was the most “Champagne-like” of the sparkling wines that we tasted, and well-deserving of its many honors.

Finally, we indulged in Swedish Hill’s Riesling Cuvée. This is another award-winning wine, having garnered the Governor’s Cup at the 2010 New York Wine and Food Classic, the highest honor for a New York State wine. It was pleasantly light and crisp, with a fruity aroma and hints of peach on the palate. This slightly sweet sparkling wine was quite amazing!

What’s your favorite Finger Lakes sparkling wine? Leave us a comment so we can try your recommendations!

Which fish can perform operations? (or help you celebrate the New Year?)

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The sturgeon is definitely good for more than just fish jokes! Namely….Caviar! I must say, it’s not something we have often, but it’s a nice treat. I had the opportunity to shoot a variety of caviar for Wegmans (thank you)…. which you can see here: caviar.  Ranging from $60 for the tin of domestic Hackleback Sturgeon to the $210 for the tin of Caspian Sea Golden Osetra (Sturgeon), caviar can be quite different. I believe the White Sturgeon was $130, and the Siberian Osetra was $170. Quality definitely goes up with the price, along with the size of the roe, and the Russian Caspian Sea Osetra was by far our favorite. It was delicate, buttery, mild, and slightly nutty. We knew it was fish, without it being “fishy” or salty. The Hackleback did have a tiny bit of a salty, fishy taste, was not as mild or buttery, but was still very good. We had all of them on baguette with the traditional accompaniments of creme fraiche and hard boiled egg. Next time I’ll plan to make blinis, as I couldn’t find any at the last minute, but the baguette was a good way to go.

Leave me a comment with your caviar experiences. As most people are very opinionated on caviar, I’d love to hear what you think!

We paired our caviar with ice cold vodka and champagne. As a match to the caviar we both liked the champagne, but I have to say that Sobieski makes a very good vodka. And it’s ridiculously cheap….less than half of most. Maybe it didn’t pair well being a Polish rye vodka, and unlike most Russian vodkas? It is quite bold in flavor, sweet to start with some citrus, and has a slightly bitter aftertaste. But it’s very smooth, and you almost forget it’s 70 proof. We had a vodka tasting party and this finished in the top two or three with most of us, but almost deserved it’s own category. Give it a try and let me know what you think of Sobieski as well!

We plan on trying a few Finger Lakes sparkling wines to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I will post about them next week…I mean next year. Be safe and Happy New Year!

Caviar tins, straight off the ice.

Serve on ice with creme fraiche and hard boiled eggs.

We ate ours on baguette, but you may want to try blinis as well.

Sobieski Vodka, frosted, straight from the freezer. Polish, not Russian to match the caviar, but excellent.

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

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Warmest holiday wishes to you all. Enjoy the time with family, and don’t forget to leave Santa a treat!

Heather’s cut-out cookies always bring me back to our first date, where we had quite a lengthy discussion about our favorite cookies. She then brought some to a party I hosted a week later and the rest is wonderful history. Leaving them for Santa will certainly help the boys out with their wish list!

I'm sure Santa will be pleased with Heather's Christmas cookies!

An apple a day……brings a smile!

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The supply of Honeycrisp apples is starting to dwindle. I’m not happy about that. As one of my favorite types of apple, I look forward to seeing them in the store every fall. The Honeycrisp is a cross between Macoun and Honey Gold apples that some ingenious apple scientist came up with.  I love the crunch and the blend of sweet and tart. Yum! (Makes smile!)

Heather, her mom and her grandmother mix up a wonderful batch of applesauce each fall. We portion it out and store it in the freezer so we can enjoy it year round….or until it runs out! I highly suggest you try it out, as I hear it’s fairly easy.

Grandma Betty’s Applesauce: Peel, core, and quarter one peck of apples. Rinse the apple pieces and put them in a large pot with 3 cups of water and  up to 3/4 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it). Add cinnamon to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer to desired consistency, stirring occasionally.

We also wanted to try the Honeycrisp apples with a trio of Grafton Village cheddar cheeses. Thinking it would be a fun experiment to pick the best pairing, we set up our cheeseboard and went to town! The one-year aged cheddar was slightly sharp, but smooth. It took the apple in a creamy direction. The two-year aged cheddar was crumbly and a fair amount sharper than the younger cheese. This was our least favorite pairing as it seemed dry in comparison to the first. The maple smoked cheddar was mild, creamy and – true to its name – smoky. It had a honey maple flavor that paired extremely well with the honey in the apple, making for an awesome combination.

Head to the store and grab some Honeycrisp apples while they’re still available! CRUNCH!

Honeycrisp apples. AWESOME...whether in applesauce or just snacking on them.

The trio of Grafton Village cheddar that we tried....Mmmmm.

The cheese trio posing for a close up.