Turkey Day

Julia made this turkey army for our Thanksgiving dinner tonight. It's made from Oreo cookies, peanut butter cups, candy corn and malted milk balls. The darned things were hard to find! They didn't have any at Ralphs, or Albertsons, the local liquor store, and 7-Eleven. Finally, they were found at CVS... By the way, thanks for the tip, Daniel!

We also had a first tonight. Fried turkey. Yes, we know that it's dangerous, but a family friend who was here for dinner was in charge of it, so we went along. We were actually pretty excited about trying it. And we both agree, it's the best turkey we've ever had! And before you start emailing us, we had a fire extinguisher on hand the whole time!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! The tryptophan is starting to kick in...

Gobble gobble! Good-night, America. Don't forget to count your blessings and be thankful!

Brief Pumpkin Update

As you know, Julia brought home 12 pumpkins. And we promised to update you on the status of these pumpkins. So far, Julia has made 14 pumpkin pies and two pots of curried pumpkin soup. And we have 4 very happy neighbors around us!

Imperial Garlic

These odd looking things you see above are Imperial Garlic. We saw these at a store today, and Julia was curious enough to buy them. They claimed to be "one clove heads" of garlic. Once we got home and unwrapped, we found they are exactly what they claimed to be. They taste just like regular garlic. A little bit disappointing, we have to say. For some reason, we half-expected them to taste a little different...

Elizabeth and Alberto's Wedding

Elizabeth and Alberto's Wedding from southbaystudio on Vimeo.

Shannon and Diran's Wedding Video

Diana and Ben's Wedding Video

Brandi and George's Wedding Video

12 pumpkins = Pie!

This is actually the first time Julia has made pumpkin pie from scratch. She wasn't expecting it to be this easy... She plans to make more for the neighbors! Bon appetit!

What can you make with 12 pumpkins?

This year Albertsons was giving out free pumpkins after Halloween, like last year. Julia went crazy and picked out the 12 big ones you see in the picture here. Eddie is asking her, "What can you make with 12 pumpkins?!?" She swears that a lot can be done with pumpkins. Well, we'll keep you posted...

California Travel and Tourism Commission Event

The California Travel and Tourism Commission had a media event at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills yesterday. They asked us to cover the event and set up a green screen studio for some still shots. Here is Julia working hard.



They had all this wonderful looking food and desserts, lots of useful information, and we think the event went really well.

Everyone from the California Travel and Tourism Commission, as well as the Beverly Wilshire staff were very friendly, kind and professional. We'd like to thank them for a wonderful experience.

If you want to find out more about the California Travel and Tourism Commission, go to www.visitcalifornia.com

Jenny's 18th Birthday Party

We went to the Torrance Holiday Inn yesterday to cover Jenny's 18th Birthday celebration. Eddie did photo, as usual, while Julia did video.
Here is Julia getting some birthday wishes on tape for the birthday girl.



Happy birthday, Jenny! Hope you had a great time!

Lily & JC's Engagement Photo Shoot

Here is a lovely couple we met with last Friday for an engagement shoot. This engagement shoot was included in the wedding package they ordered in September. We shot at the Botanical Gardens and at the Point Vicente Lighthouse.

SoHo Thai Fusion Bar & Grill

Today is Eddie's birthday!! We went to SoHo Thai Fusion Bar & Grill to celebrate, and this photo above was taken with Eddie's camera phone, so you'll have to excuse the quality... These are the appetizer Angel Wings. Pretty good, we have to say. They are chicken wings with the bones removed, and stuffed with a mixture of pork and some other ingredients that I'm sure they will not share with us... It tasted a little reminiscent of Vietnamese fried egg rolls. The chicken was nice and crispy, not too over fried; the texture was great! This restaurant is fairly new, so those of you who haven't tried it yet, go check it out. Their website is www.sohothai.com

Point Vicente Lighthouse

We spent some time on Palos Verdes today, scouting for good photo locations. We ended up at the Point Vicente Lighthouse. We have been there before, but never stayed until it got pretty dark like we did today. It was the first time we saw the lighthouse actually lit up! And there was some fog (what else is new in PV?) so we had to listen to the fog horn the whole time we were there.

The last time we were there the new visitor's center was still in construction. Now it's done, but we were there too late in the day to be able to take photos and look around, so we took the photos and decided to go back some other day to be tourists. Today was strictly a "work" visit.

Evan's Artwork

These are 4 paintings that we photographed today. They were done by a very gifted local artist by the name of Even Peelle. He wanted high resolution files for possible future reproduction.
The final results - four 700Mb files!

Apparently, great artistic ability runs in Evan's family. Having a sculptor grandfather and a painter mother, art has been a part of Evan's life since he could remember.

If you are interested in any of these stunning works of art, or would like to have a portrait painted, please visit Evan's website for more information:

www.evanpeelle.com

All images are copyrighted by Evan Peelle.

Anna and Jose's wedding

Meet Anna and Jose. A very fun couple, great sports, and great sense of humor. We did this photo shoot at Wilson Park. It wasn't too hot that day, so it was perfect for a shoot at the park. And the newly built tree-house was lots of fun.
According to Anna, Jose made all the bouquets and boutonnieres. We think he did a great job! If you guys need flower arrangements, we can hook you up!

Harry's Oklahoma Style BBQ

We went to Wilson Park in Torrance today for a 2 hour photo shoot. The couple had just gotten married, and wanted some photos. So we met with them, their wedding party and their happy moms.

After the shoot, we were hungry, and decided to go to Harry's Oklahoma Style BBQ in Lomita. We had read great reviews about it online, and couldn't wait to try it. Apparently, we didn't read the reviews closely enough, so we showed up having no idea that it was a take-out only place! No matter, though. We ordered their #1 combo, which included a full rack of smoked bbq baby back ribs, 1 lb. of smoked bbq tri-tip, 2 smoked bbq half chicken brests, 1 quart of molasses baked beans, 1 pint of coleslaw, 1 pint of potato salad, and 4 dinner rolls.

We left the restaurant as Julia giggled with anticipation. It's no surprise that Julia loved the food, but even Eddie, who has a slightly harder-to-please palate, had to agree that it was very good. All the meats were tender, juicy, and cooked to smoky perfection!

If you haven't been to Harry's yet, it's easy to miss it. It's at the corner of Narbonne Avenue and 255th in Lomita. Here's the exact address: 25501 Narbonne Avenue, Lomita, CA 90717. We recommend you call ahead to order then just drop by to pick it up. That way, you don't have to sit there, like us two silly ducks. Their number is (877)HARY-BBQ. You can thank us later.

Savory Mini Tuna Danish

Julia made these tonight. She got the recipe from a website, but ended up making so many changes that it became an entirely different thing. Julia named them Savory Mini Tuna Danish. She's not particularly fond of the name, but it's the most fitting name she could think of... Eddie's not going to argue. She makes them, he eats them.!

Lori & David's Wedding

Yesterday we did Lori and David's wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, and the weather could not have cooperated more.

Here, the happy newlyweds dance to Rascal Flatts.
Congratulations, Lori and David!

New Website??

Can't believe this is happening!
Eddie is thinking about updating our website... again! Julia thinks our website looks great, but guess Eddie didn't think so...
We will keep you updated on this one... -_-

Focaccia

Focaccia!!

Lisa and David

Even though we have done so many engagement photo shoots, we still think every couple is so different and very interesting. We have met so many lovely people that are so much in love...
Here is another reason of we love what we do: another lovely couple, Lisa and David. Very good sports, and fun to work with.

Mylene & Marnie's Wedding

This is Mylene getting ready for her big day. The make up artist you see here did a pretty good job, in our opinion. The bride looked good, but still looked very much like herself. Not too over the top. Simple, but elegant, just like the happy couple!


The wedding was beautiful. It was aboard the Queen Mary, and there were lots of places for good photos. Like this one, overlooking the Long Beach skyline, while the couple steals a kiss.
Mylene and Marnie take a shortcut through the ship to get to their reception.


Congratulations, Mylene and Marnie!

Lily and J.C.

We met with this very nice couple today, fellow Long Beach alumni Lily and J.C., who have hired us to photograph their wedding. We met at their wedding location, which is a really nice location with a great view of the ocean. They were a little concerned it might be too dark for good photos since it's a December outdoor wedding.

We are grateful to them for pointing this out to us so that we can have a chance to think about how to deal with the situation. Most customers we meet don't have the kind of insight that this couple does, and they have made our jobs a whole lot easier by letting us know exactly what we are dealing with.

Hooray for Lily and J.C.! Yes, we know. We are lame...

Mylene & Marnie's Wedding

Just got back from Mylene and Marnie's wedding on the Queen Mary, and we are a little tired...
But there are a lot of great photos. We will keep you updated...

This is a first!!

We met with a couple today, Mylene and Marnie. They are a little stressed out... Their wedding is this upcoming Sunday, and apparently, the photographer they had booked fell ill. Not exactly sure what happened, but seems like he was hemorrhaging from the nose! So they were looking for a replacement with less than a week to go!

Luckily, we were available, and we were more than happy that we could offer our services to this couple. We are sure it will all work out, and afterwards, they will have a good story to tell people and be able to laugh about it afterwards. This is a first! And now, we have another interesting story to tell too!

We look forward to working with this nice couple. Despite the stress they must be feeling, they were still very respectful, polite and considerate people.

Kathryn and Will

We just finished editing Kathryn and Will's photos, which we shot at the beach a couple of days ago. What a lovely couple! We are glad to have met them; they were such a pleasure and so much fun to work with!
They were such great sports, especially Will, since he was kept in the dark about the whole thing until we were actually at the beach. There he was, dressed in shorts, which he claims that he usually doesn't wear, driving to an unknown location, but completely trusting Kathryn and just going along with it.
They are one of those few couples that you can just look at and not only see, but also feel their genuine love for each other and feel inspired by it. A truly picture perfect couple to boot! It's rare for us to finish a photo shoot and come out of it feeling more energized than we did before the shoot, but that's how much fun this couple was.
Here's to you, Kathryn and Will! To many more years to come!

An interesting email

Today we got an email from Iowa. It was from a lady called Kathryn, who sounded (or read, actually) very lovely. She and her husband are coming to Los Angeles this week to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and she would like an engagement-style photo shoot at the beach.

We look forward to working with them... They sound like a lovely couple!

Lori and David

We met with Lori and David for the second time today, and they have decided to hire us for their wedding. At our first meeting, we got the impression they were very genuine people, and they were very easy to talk to. So we are glad for the opportunity to work with them. It should be a beautiful wedding, in an outdoor, garden setting.

Meatballs with Sticky Rice

Here is a recipe for a simple Chinese dish that we enjoyed. It's steamed and on the lighter side, for those of you who care about that kind of stuff. We don't know how authentic it is, but it seems pretty "Chinese". Julia found this recipe somewhere, she can't remember where, but it was done with beef, which tasted a little funny to us. This time she made it with pork, which we all agreed tastes much better. We hope you enjoy it. (Recipe under the photo)

Meatballs with Sticky Rice

-1 cup glutinous rice

-1 lb. lean ground pork

-2 tsp. minced ginger

-1 small onion, chopped finely

-1 egg

-1 tbsp. soy sauce

-1/2 tsp. cornstarch

-1/2 tsp. sugar

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. rice wine

1. Place the rice in a bowl and cover with water. Let it soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Mix all the other ingredients thoroughly, making sure the onions are chopped finely, or the meatballs will fall apart.

3. Roll meatballs into walnut sized portions and set aside.

4. Drain the rice. Roll the meatballs in the rice, gently pushing down so the rice will stick.

5. Steam the meatballs for 20 to 30 minutes.