Friends Christmas!

My husband and I are blessed to have wonderful friends - on both sides, and what better time of year to be reminded of our luck! It's becoming a bit of a tradition to gather all the men and their wives and enjoy some very yummy food and some great company - and each year the honour of hosting the lovely bunch is passed on! This year, we stepped up to the plate, cleaned our house (or paid someone to do so!!) and brought the merry inside! Welcome to the 3rd Annual Christmas!

First comes the Turkey! I ordered a fresh turkey, but to my surprise - when I got home it was half frozen! Boycott Whitteveen Meat's at the St. Lawerence Market! I had to thaw it out a bit for two hours in cold water...then I was able to use the Cider-brine that I prepared a few days in advance, from a recipe from our trusty Bon Appetit November 2011 issue. (tip: clean and use a cooler and keep the bird in your garage to refrigerate).

Turkey patted dry with salt and pepper

Turkey about to go in the oven - breast side down....with cider and apples for basting juices! I combined a few tips from multiple recipes...also squished butter underneath the skin and put apples and onions inside the cavity for moisture during roasting.

Mid Roast!

The finished product! Success! 

The table is set - Dollarama styles!

And now...for the rest of the yummy food!

Stuffing - Sausage and exotic mushrooms (Chows)

Jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon!

Water chestnuts wrapped in bacon - double yum! (M&I)

Shrimp spread (N&M)

Prosciutto and brussel sprouts (Junior)

Parisian Green beans - Parmesean and bread crumbs (M&C)

Salad with Persimmons (sp?) - such a great unique salad fruit! (M!)

 
        Sushi candy (rice crispy squares and fruit roll ups!) (M&I)

PRAIRIE GIRL CUPCAKES...the ultimate! (J&A)

Cheers to our great friends and a wonderful evening!

Mommy to be!

My second Mommy-to-be shots! Love that these type of pictures are a bit more intimate, and are better black and white, which allows from great shadows and silhouettes, so it's fun to play. 

Found some difficulties again with lighting, as I really don't like flash and it was a really gray day - but I found playing with the brightness and contrast in Photoshop easily made them way better!

MINGA's Wedding!

It has been a long time (or has felt like it!), but I have finally purchased a new laptop - so I am no longer hostage to my husband and can process and post pictures again!

So after taking my Photoshop Basics course at GBC, I learned that all of my pictures should be taken in "raw" format (why didn't any of the first two instructors I had say anything about this!?), so I took my first set at Matt and Inga's wedding which was on September 18, 2010 in downtown Toronto. Their church was just goregous. Dimly lit, so I really do need to learn how to use my flash - so many great pics turn out fuzzy!

For the lens, I mainly used my fish-eye, since they had such an amazing photographer that was capturing all of the details, figured the fish-eye would give a different set of pics!

The groom at the end of the aisle, making his entrance with his proud parents

 

The altar - can't get over how cute the ring bearer is!
 

The wedding party...though, I think I cut out one of the groomsman...must give props to wedding photographers - how do you know which lens to have?!?

Pop! And the Champagne is flowing!

and flowing...

Beaming bride

Relieved groom

Lovely wedding for a lovely couple!



MINGA!

Two weeks ago, my friends Matt & Inga (MINGA for short!) granted me the pleasure of taking some engagement shots for them! They were my second couple to capture through the lens, and they were a ton of fun!

Here's a few of my favourite to share:

From this shoot, I realized that I didn't take that many close ups of them. Not sure if that was a limitation I felt with my lenses? Most of my favourite ones were with the fish-eye, but I love all my pics with that lens!

Can't wait for their wedding day - less than a month away now! I'll be sure to bring my camera and see what I can capture. The whole camera bag ensemble is usually so cumbersome, but need to get over it - so many good shots are not even tried!