1) What are you thankful for - As we are approaching Thanksgiving, is there anything you are particularly thankful for this year?  I am thankful to be blessed with a great family.  Not only the family that Stacey and I have started, but both of our families.  We will be going to my Dad's which has been a long standing tradition.  It isn't anything fancy, but it is always inviting, warm, and brings back good memories.  Plus Stacey makes a killer pie :).  I am also very thankful for the support that we have been giving in moving further forward with our business.  It was a big decision for Stacey and I to both go full time with the business, but it couldn't have made either of us more happy.  How many people get to say they love what they do?  We have also been blessed to have made some incredible relationships through our business that have been great and helped us more than they may ever know!

2) Tradition or Entertainment - There are a few things quintessentially American about Thanksgiving.  What immediately comes to mind when you think about Thanksgiving?  Well there's family, turkey, pumpkin pie, and football to name a few.  In regards to football, what teams do you think of?  The Cowboys and Lions of course.  The question I have is, do you like tradition or would you prefer entertainment.  So the Cowboys can provide both, but do we really need to watch another Lions game?  So they had a very entertaining game this week, but overall, I would rather eat the whole bowl of cranberries!

3) H1N1 Hell - I took Lauren and Ian to get their H1N1 vaccines today and I swear it came close to making me contemplate a straight jacket and earplugs.  First off you have to fill out the forms while the lobby is like a "Twilight" appearance at a high school.  I have never seen so many people in a Doctor's office before.  After trying to restrain Ian from thinking he is a light technician on Broadway, while filling out the host of Yes or No boxes you need to check, we made it to the hallway of screams.  Nothing like a bunch of kids all there to get shots!  Needless to say, I felt terrible having to physically restrain my children, but hopefully they won't hate me for it later. 

4) MVP Minneapolis - Green Bay may like to think of itself as Titletown, but after this year we may be called MVP Minneapolis.  Twins catcher, Joe Mauer, just won his first MVP award to go with his three batting championships.  The question is will he be overshadowed by the possibility of Brett Favre winning his fourth?  Watching these two athletes this year has been an absolute treat for a local sports fan!

5) The tasty bite, Thanksgiving wine selection - So you have the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and all the fixings, but what kind of wine do you bring or serve on Thanksgiving?  Each family has it's own traditions when it comes to the holidays and may serve different dishes.  Turkey is kind of basic, and should pair well with a variety of wines.  I recently read a great piece of advice that suggested you think more about the side dishes when thinking of what wine to drink on Thanksgiving.  Do you serve sweet potatoes or might you have a more southern influenced meal that includes collard or mustard greens?  I'm going to offer my suggestion on a couple of wines that should work well for the "standard" Midwest Thanksgiving.

White: Sauvingon Blanc or something from the Alsace region.  Either of these wines tend to be dry and crisp.  The Alsace may have a bit more mineral or earthy bite to it which can work well with Thanksgiving dishes, while they both have some sweetness that provides a nice balance.

Red: Pinot Noir can be an excellent option particularly for those of you who love dark meat.  A well done Pinot is going to provide wonderful fruit flavors while balancing it with earthy undertones.  If you are looking for something fruitier, try a Beaujolai Nouveau.  Either one has long been a Thanksgiving favorite!

Looking to bring something new to the table, try an Albarino.  While being Spain's most popular white, this exhibits a lot of the crispness that the Sauvingon Blanc or Alsace provides, yet is unique and something your guests may not have tried before.

Last but not least, if you know you like something else, drink that!  Bon Appetite and have a fantastic Thanksgiving!   

So you were all beginning to think that the "Bits and Bites" section bit it, didn't you.  Oh, it's alright you won't hurt our feelings if you thinks so :).  What if we told you it just took a bit of a hiatus and had a little too much tequila while we were in Mexico.  Well like any good thing, it's going to take a little more than that to put and end to it.  Now that we are all back on track, here we go with this week's "Bits and Bites"!


1) Is sushi addictive - Ok, I admit this might be better reserved for "The Tasty Bite", but I have a sushi craving at the moment so it's going number 1 with a bullet.  Stacey and I have been tossing this question around and need to know your thoughts, IS SUSHI ADDICTIVE?  We are in great debate whether it is the wasabi served with sushi that forces us back time and again or the glorious rolls themselves.  At any rate, if anyone could send me a number nine roll right about now, it would bring a smile to my face :).

2) Language barrier, or not - So we recently shot a destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico and finished everything off with a day after session in Valladolid.  It is an original Spanish Colonial town about an hour or so west of Cancun.  It was very cool and exactly what we were looking for.  Our day started off with a terrible time parking, and ended an absolutely great experience.  One of the fun (but unexpected) things that happened was lunch...yes, lunch:)  We wandered into this quaint little restaurant for what was going to be a Corona and small snack.  Somehow we ended up ordering everything listed on the Specials menu!.  It didn't matter though because we had a blast, and really enjoyed the authentic spread that was presented.   I have been wondering though if it was a language barrier issue or just a smooth waiter?

3) Valladolid - Stacey and I have decided that we could easily spend a whole weekend just shooting around this town.  It had the greatest colored walls and unbelievable textures!  It seems like a lot of destination wedding photographers shoot a day after session on the beach when in Mexico.  Matt and Tonia were having a beach wedding, so they were already going to get those pictures.  With that in mind, we wanted something that felt more like authentic Mexico, not to mention we were in the mood for a little adventure.  Insert a rental car, an hour and a half drive, some awe-inspiring speed bumps and a bus load full of Italian tourists. It was a memorable experience to say the least.  We hope Matt and Tonia enjoyed our little get away as much as we did!   Here is a peek of Valladolid in one of the images Stacey took. Stay tuned for more!   If you ever get the opportunity, you should really check it out.  It is very near Chichen Itza. 



4) Is "Wedding Photojournalism" dead - This was a question I came across on a photography forum the other day.  I found it a fascinating question, as this was the mother of all buzzwords about 4-5 years ago.  Somehow every wedding photographer under the sun was a photojournalist, and now we are wondering if it is dead.  The rationale was that with the advent of video in still cameras, you can technically pull out a frame from the video vs. capturing what Henri Cartier-Bresson dubbed as the decisive moment.  Personally I think it sounds like a TON of editing and a way to become lazy while shooting vs. keeping sharp with your instincts.  Beyond that, I do notice a shift in wedding photography styles.  I think you do see less photojournalism in images now then a few years ago.  What is fun, is that you can take on whatever kind of style you want, and as long as you believe in it, there are going to be people who will appreciate your work! 

5) The tasty bite, a Staja Studios suggestion - Many of you may already know this, but I just recently discovered it.  Granite City offers customers a "Growler" of beer.  If you haven't heard, a growler is 1/2 of a gallon.  It cost $25 dollars to buy the growler (which comes full), and then you can get it refilled for $10.  The great part is that on Tuesday's and Thursday's you can get it filled for $5.  There is no better time to get one than now, as their Octoberfest is still on tap.

  

With Minnesota being the center of the sporting world recently, I only thought it would be fitting to have a bit of a sports spin on bits and bites this week.  

Where do I even begin with this weeks edition of bits and bites?  I had a plan after Saturday, and then Sunday came around and shot that out of the water.  We had two client viewings yesterday where a comment got me thinking and then when I got home, I got to watch the Vikings game from the DVR.  Needless to say, my plans changed a bit.


1) Annie's Update - We have had multiple people ask us about how Annie is doing.  We were so delighted to hear from her Mom this morning.  She told us that there is a Caring Bridge journal set up for Annie to let people know her progress.  We are so very happy to report that the past few days have seemed to be going well for Annie and they are hoping that she will be out of ICU in a couple of days.  If you are interested in leaving her a note of encouragement, you can find her journal by going to CaringBridge.org.  Once there, you can visit her website by typing in "annieschurman" in the area that says visit a CaringBridge website.  You will need to create a login somewhere in the process. 

P.S.  If you are a little lost about Annie's story, you can read last week's Bits and Bites.


2) Clients, blogging, and the Staja Experience - Yesterday was a real treat because we had two great client proof screenings.  The day started off with Susan and Ryan's.  It was so much fun to see them again, plus we also shot Susan's sister's wedding.  There is something extra special about doing weddings for families we have already worked with.  In a way it was bitter-sweet, as Susan is the last Mortensen girl to wed....sigh. 

During the viewing, Susan's mother made a comment to me that her daughter Jenny had asked her to tell us.  Long story short, it had to do with how pictures become memories and emotional treasures of the people that are in them.  If the past few months have taught us anything, it is that you never know what life is going to throw at you.  It just helped encapsulate the reason we LOVE what we do.  We are so blessed and honored to be entrusted to capture the people and moments that we do!

Later in the day, we had Aly and Mike's viewing.  I put out the food and was tidying a few things up when Mike's mom asked if Stacey's famous pasta salad was going to be up on Bits and Bites.  I thought it was so cool that Mike's mom was keeping up on the blog and knew so much about some of the posts. 

At the end of the day it was very satisfying to hear so many nice comments.  Comments about the pictures, the way we invite clients and their families to the studio for a "Movie Premiere", the blog, etc.  It just reinforced our belief that Staja Studios is here to create an experience for people, not just images! 


3) Flipping the Script - What a fun weekend for MN football fans!  Starting with the Gophers win over Northwestern on Saturday, and finishing with one of the best plays in recent Vikings history.  In both cases, the MN fans got to celebrate vs. hang their heads in agony. 

The Gophers have had a run of bad luck coming down the stretch in games against Northwestern.  Snake-bitten, jinxed, or just bad play, no matter how you look at it, they have had some rough finishes against the Wildcats lately.  You have to look no further than last year's loss where Northwestern returned an interception for a touchdown with 16 seconds left in the game for the win.  This year it was the Gophers D making a couple big plays to help take the lead and seal the victory. 

As for the Vikings, what can you say.  It looks like the old gunslinger still may have a few bullets left in the chamber.  It wasn't a pretty game by any means, but it sure was a fun one to watch!  It was rather enjoyable to be on the right side of a Favre comeback vs. the other side.  Going into yesterday's game, 8 of Favre's 4th quarter comebacks have come against the Vikings.  For those of you who may have missed it (particularly any Packer fans :), HERE YOU GO!


4) GLEE - Has anyone seen the show GLEE on Fox?  As any good relationship is made up of compromises and doing things you may not always want to do, I reluctantly nestled into the couch to watch this new show with Stacey.  She wanted to watch it and all I could think of was GLEE club, what am I doing!  I get the football game, so I figured if She wanted me to sit and watch a bunch of awkward high school kids sing, what the heck.  Little did I know, that it would actually have some good writing and be overall entertaining.  Just don't let Stacey know I said so :).  I have to say that watching the school's football team preform Beyonce during a game, made for pretty good humor.  Sure it was a bit absurd, but it had to make you chuckle.


5) The Tasty Bite, Octoberfest Stew - Here is a nice little recipe to warm up your fall evenings!

2.5 pounds boneless beef stew meat or roast , cut into approximately 1.5 inch cubes
1/2+ cup of flour
3 teaspoons salt (I prefer Kosher)
1 teaspoon+ black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups cubed carrots
4 teaspoons fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 teaspoons chopped garlic
3 cups beef stock
2 bottles of your favorite Octoberfest Beer
3 cups cubed red potatoes
8 oz. white button mushrooms halved or quartered
1/4-1/3 cup water

In a large food storage bag, shake beef with 1/4 cup flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 2/3 teaspoon black pepper.  Melt butter in a large (I like a 5 - 6.5 quart) dutch oven over medium heat.  Brown beef and remove.  Stir in the onion, carrots, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic; saute for about 4 minutes.  Stir back in the beef, beef stock, and the beer.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the beef is really nice and tender (3 - 3.5 hours).  Add in the potatoes and simmer until tender (20 - 25 minutes). 

Combine and stir the remaining 1/4 - 1/3 cup flour and matching amount of water until smooth; slowly pour into the stew, stirring constantly.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil.  Boil and stir for 1 minute.  Remove bay leaves and stir in the remaning 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/3 teaspoon+ black pepper 



I personally like to enjoy with a French Baquette and a nice cold glass of Octoberfest.

We hope you enjoyed this installment of Bits and Bites.  Bon Appetit and Enjoy!

Woo Hoo, we are successful in getting around to Bits and Bites two weeks in a row!  Blogging baby steps I guess.

1) Meet Chelsea - Although far from a bit, we would like to introduce Chelsea to everyone.  Some of you have already met Chelsea, but for those of you who haven't, she has been working with us for the summer and we are looking forward her to becoming more involved within the studio.  Starting soon, she will be taking on family portrait sessions (she is particularly great with kids), so inquire about booking soon!  To be clear, this does not mean Stacey will not be available for your portraits, we are just expanding our offerings.  So without further delay, (cue up best Ed McMahon voice) heeeeeeere's Chelsea.  We will let Chelsea formally introduce herself later in the week, but in the meantime, here is a quick preview.




We are so excited to have her with us. It's been a super fun and successful summer so far and we can't wait to see what accomplishments she will achieve behind the camera:)  Please give her a shout out on the blog and make her feel welcome!


2) Vision Awards - Wish us luck this coming Thursday, as we have been nominated for a Vision Award in the category of Planner's Choice - My Favorite Vendor.  The Vision Awards are put on by Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal and will be taking place at  the Chambers Hotel.


3) The Reason Why - Why are we wedding photographers?  Is it for the late nights editing in front of a computer screen or the waking up in the middle of the night breaking out in a cold sweat because you had another wedding nightmare (we are talking real nightmares of the dream variety, not the stories that sound too wacky to be true).  I'm guessing you are all shaking your head thinking no.  You would be correct!  In a case where a picture truly speaks a thousand words, THIS IS WHY WE ARE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS!

If you look closely, you will notice a tear running down Megan's cheek, as her and Derek saw one another for the first time.  Needless to say, we were reminded that it would be hard to find a greater privilege and more rewarding job than to document these special moments in people's lives!
 

4) A Special Request - We are starting to realize that when you are in this business long enough, you see and hear a lot of things that touch you one way or another.  We got a call this past week from the mother of the bride for a wedding we were scheduled to have in a couple of weeks.  She was calling to let us know that unfortunately the wedding wasn't going to take place as planned.  We were disappointed, but our disappointment soon turned to concern, as she explained why.  Our bride, Annie, had just suffered a brain aneurysm and she is only in her early to mid 20's.  The good news is that she made it to the hospital and through the surgery, but is in ICU at this moment.  We were heartbroken to hear this sad news for two families that were so excited about the upcoming wedding.  We ask anyone who is reading this to please keep Annie, her fiance Chad, and both families in your thoughts and prayers as they try to help Annie recover and get back on her feet.  Needless to say, there is nothing we would be happier to capture than Annie walking down the aisle at some point in the very near future!


5) Enjoy Life - If Annie's story doesn't make you pause and think, please do!  Stacey and I have seen and been apart of a lot this summer.  Between my trip to Tanzania, the loss of our dear brother-in-law, and another summer of wonderful couples, we have had life really put into perspective for us!  No one knows how long we will be around, and life can change in the blink of an eye.  We hope you all wake up to people you love surrounding you and look forward to the exciting day ahead.  Life is too short and unpredictable to not enjoy every bit of it!


6) The Tasty Bite - There is a reason that Jimmy Buffett wrote "Cheesburger in Paradise"!  The cheeseburger really is about as simple and satisfying as it gets!  Plus it doesn't get much more classic than the version in his lyrics:

"I like mine with lettuce and tomato
Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes
Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer
Well good God Almighty which way do I steer"

However, sometimes you may want to put a little twist on this American Classic, and go for a different vibe.  Want a nice glass of red wine with that burger?  If so, give this a try:

Take your burger and season with a little Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper (plenty of pepper).  While your burger is on the grill for about 5-6 minutes each side over medium high heat, cut up some onions and mushrooms and saute them for about three minutes.  Remove the onions and mushrooms and pour some of the wine you will be enjoying into the pan and reduce to about one half to one third of the original amount.  At this point, add a small amount of heavy cream to the wine to help thicken it up and smooth out some of that tang.  Add your onions and mushrooms back to the sauce and keep warm.  Put your burger on a nice steakhouse bun, cover with some of the onions, mushrooms, and wine sauce, and top it off with some bleu cheese!  This tastes great with some sweet potato fries and a nice crisp salad.  If you are not up for cooking, the Burger Bar Americain at Salut Bar Americain in Edina was the original inspiration for today's tasty bite, and I highly recommend giving it a try.

Looking for a flavorful, yet inexpensive wine to pair with this delicious burger?  Consider trying the Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon Washington State 2006.  It has plenty of fruit and stands up well to the beef and cheese within the burger.

We hope you enjoyed this installment of Bits and Bites.  Bon Appetit and Enjoy!

* P.S.  The Jimmy Buffett reference was for Stacey, my Parrot Head wife :)