you're invited!
If we've met, you may have noticed that there are three things I love, ad infinitum.
a) squeezing babies til they giggle...
b) photo gadgets and new equipment, and...
c) being surrounded by, oh, say, fifteen of my closest girlfriends. An impromptu photoshoot always ensues!
Last Thursday I decided to host a dinner party at my house.
I figured I'd cook the pants off it it so that I could try a bunch of new recipes. I also wanted to make a wine-fueled rolling dinner party SO addictive that a bunch of Greenpoint-bound gals could go home well fed and be willing to come back again for more in the future.
Next--A new gadget. I wanted to give myself some homework, as I'm wont to do. I like to pretend I'm still in art school at Brooks and give myself a single photographic constraint, to see if it'll help me make interesting pictures, or to see familiar things in a new way. On the suggestion of this amazing photographer, I decided to shoot the entire event, start to finish, from food to party pics, with only this tiny yet incredible lens, the Voigtlander 40mm. Pretty impressed with such big, robust images out of such a miniature and adorable (and lightweight!) piece of glass.
Lastly, babies. Well, there weren't any babies in attendance. But, there is always next time! Two out of three 'aint bad.
Major win.
We begin: the house!
I cleaned and scrubbed. I dripped all over my cookbooks and iPad. I'm neat, but I'm just not that worried about the small stuff. I also had help from this guy, one of the two cute little creatures I co-habitate with.
Biggie Smalls, pug.
Beginning to cook! Lots of vegetarians in attendance, so one of the main dishes will be a Tofu Quiche in a Rosemary Crust with caramelized onions and mushrooms. There's also toasty nuts and baked kale. The quiche and nuts are from one of my favorite new cookbooks, The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods
And people begin to arrive, with wine! (Huzzah!)
Amongst a bunch of people that work in fashion and commercial photography there are bound to be a fantastic bunch of personalities. I'm so jazzed that my friends all have such cool, varied lives and passions. Not that far into the night, model Cheryl Soell launched into a bun demo with this thing, because we all LOVED her perfect cute bun, and none of us knew how to do it. I bought one recently, but couldn't figure it out. Now, everything has changed and I'll be wearing a bun NON-STOP. Like, every day. Check out how easy this is:
And now, it's time to eat.
MENU:
Toasty Nuts with Rosemary
Homemade Lemon Hummus with Dill
Guacamole and Fire-Roasted Salsa
Baked Kale Chips with Sea Salt
Cheese plate with fresh figs, apricot preserves
Tofu Quiche with Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms in a Rosemary wheat crust
Lamb and Lentil Bites with Cumin Cream in Endive scoops
Homemade Pizza with whole-wheat dough, one Margarita, one Sopressata
Flourless Chocolate cookies with Toasted Walnuts
Chocolate Shortbread
Coconut-Lime Tart, whole grain crust
"Now is ze time on Sprockets vhen ve dance!"
The highlight of the night is definitely in these two Vines. (Have you been playing with the Vine app? If so, I'd love to hear from you about it!)
My cool roommate Amanda has a way with Vine. Here's her trip en route to the Girls' Night, Then, this one is the classic dance circle, this one is the end of the night.
Cheeky!