Please share with family/friends we would love to bounce back from this shut down and get back on track to giving back in all the ways we do! <3 We are officially open for business (within the required safety guidelines of course) at partial capacity for few (limited) non-touch photography services. Our Preparedness Plan is in place including our (as always) strict standards for cleanliness and sanitation. Please contact me directly if you have specific questions about what services are available at this time and how Covid19 may effect services being offered. Since my services vary from Zoom/Skype/phone consultations to photographing large weddings both in Minnesota and internationally, rather than list all of the details here as things change month to month and vary by location, we will take care of each unique situation on a case by case basis. Please understand that if we do not follow the executive orders in place during this pandemic, we are at risk of gross misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $3,000 and a year in jail. Thank you for your support of my small business!
With everything being shutdown, besides spending more time with our puppy, we’re learning to make sourdough starter from scratch with just flour, water and natural fermentation. The connection between food when it’s made from scratch is so different than just buying it from the store. Sourdough bread in particular is such an amazing art form! The starter takes on a life, you have a relationship with it, it’s a living thing you have to care for everyday. The first loaf we made was ok, but the second loaf was really awesome! I can’t wait for the third loaf…just a few tweaks and I think it will be so amazing! It’s so time consuming but also so rewarding…when else will we have time to do something like this and what a great skill to have! This is essentially what we’re doing in our kitchen: https://amyinthekitchen.com/how-to-make-sourdough-starter-recipe/.jpg)
Anyone interested in geeking out about sourdough bread? Feel free to send me an email or comment below! Take care friends <3
The most important aspect of beautiful wedding and engagement photos is that you look natural and comfortable. Because let’s face it, even if the lighting and posing looks great, if you don’t like your expression then none of the other stuff really matters right? This is why I spend a lot of time listening and making sure you feel comfortable, I guide you through and make it super fun, easy (and work quickly) with you and your whole wedding party. It takes years of experience to get good enough and fast enough that you know what you’re doing so the focus can be on taking care of your couples. If you are stopping to think too long about camera adjustments or composition, you loose precious time that can be spent on a different scene or the wedding party going off to mingle during cocktail hour (which in itself can be a great photo opportunity right? Wedding couples we work with (and wedding parties) frequently say they can tell we know what we’re doing and that we’ve obviously had a lot of experience or that we make it look so easy. We make it look easy because it is easy for us, we’ve been doing this for a long time, our cameras are an extension of us. Read what our couples say (link to live reviews) and learn more about us on my website. www.mhuberphotography.com I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people tell me they wished they had hired a more experienced professional like me to photograph their wedding. It really saddens me to hear stories about people who waited months to get their wedding images back only to be disappointed in both the quality and quantity of their images. Our couples understand and appreciate what goes into quality professional wedding photography. I would be happy to explain all of the technical aspects and the behind the scenes of what goes into every wedding, but for now I just thought I would share one of the biggest differences our couples notice-how easy it is to work with us and how easy we make it for them to relax and feel natural for photos because this is the most important aspect of a photograph of yourself right? After the engagement session our couples tell us “thank you so much for making that so easy and making us feel comfortable” By that point I have shown them some images throughout the session so they know what to look forward to when they see the previews and feel good about what was captured. This helps tremendously for the wedding day as well. Our couples know we are going to make them look good and capture lots of great images of the wedding, they trust us and are able to just experience the day, be in the moment and just “take in” the whole thing without a single worry about the photography..jpg)
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I’m writing this on 7/21/19. Cancer is a horrible thief. Cancer took my best friend, my sweet boy who I miss so much. I am completely devastated by this loss of my loyal sweet boy. His first symptom was on June 26th, just a few weeks ago he sneezed and a tiny little speck of blood with some clear discharge came out of his nose onto the ground. It was such a tiny speck of blood I thought maybe it was from a scratch in his nose as he loves to root around so much in the sharp pokey brush around the property. I was slightly concerned…
Then just two weeks ago we were out walking when he sneezed and some snot shot out onto the driveway. I could see it and was shocked as it was clearly streaked with blood. I have had dogs all my life and had never known a dog to have snot, let alone snot with blood in it. I knew this was not good. I ran in the house and grabbed my cell phone and took a picture of it then called the vet. Big was diagnosed with nasal cancer. The vet said usually 1-3 months to live, but in one case a miracle occurred and a dog lived one whole year. The progression of this cancer was extremely fast. Last Sunday we thought we were going to loose him for sure, there was a lot of blood coming from his nose and his mouth. I thought he was going to bleed out. he lost about a cup and a half of blood that we could see, not including blood that likely went down his throat over a period of just a few hours. Our vet gave him some strong anti inflammatory medications that were supposed to slow the growth and provide him with some relief. His airway seemed to be closing as sometimes when he was breathing he sounded like he was snoring very loudly. Within a few days he could no longer breath through his nose at all. He could only breath through his mouth and it was very challenging for him. On Thursday I noticed that his limbs would sometimes tremble fast and he would loose use of one or two of them at a time. The vet said the reason for that is he was not getting enough oxygen. the limbs are the last part of the body to get oxygen, so they were experiencing that loss. By Thursday he was having obvious pain when he tried to eat or drink (he would yelp). By Friday he hardly drank water anymore and wouldn’t even eat a piece of cheese. His breathing was so labored that with each breath his rib cage got huge as he tried to take in air. By this time there was a constant drip of blood from his nose and mouth and he seemed absolutely miserable. I knew he was near the end and could not bare to see him suffer so much. In hind sight, I wish I would have made the call sooner. We called a vet out to the house on Saturday afternoon. He died peacefully Saturday afternoon at 3:00. After we said our good bye and he had passed, I opened his mouth to get a better look at his tumor and I was absolutely shocked at what I saw. The tumor was so huge it had split the roof of his mouth and looked like it was splitting his head in half from within. It was also protruding out so far I’m surprised he was able to close his mouth at all. I can’t even imagine how painful that must have been. I wish I had ended his suffering sooner. I felt awful. Our family is devastated by the loss of our sweet boy and miss him so much….words cannot even describe the grief I am feeling over this loss. I loved him so much!
Rest in peace sweet boy, I hope you know how much I love you. You were the best dog I ever had and taken from us way too soon. The house is so quiet now without you, we are devastated…
I absolutely love Pad Thai….BUT, the only time I have ever had it at a restaurant and actually liked it was at Big Bowl. I have ordered it so many times all over during our travels but am so disappointed. I have been tweaking a recipe over the years and I think I have finally have it (dare I say) perfected. I have it pictured above with sesame seeds but I don’t usually use them. Also, pictured is my daughter’s cute doggo “Junie” they were over visiting for the day. She is the sweetest dog I have ever met, you can follow her story on here Instagram
So, anyhoo….back to the recipe:
Must have:
Crushed peanuts
Fresh Bean Sprouts
Fresh lime juice (one or 2 limes)
Fresh cilantro
large cuts of green onion
Flat Thai rice noodles
the sauce (recipe below)
Optional:
julienne carrots-about 2 large
about a half of an onion thick sliced
rough chopped garlic 2 large cloves
snap peas chopped-handful
1 large jalapeno pepper (mandolin or very thin sliced)
1 or 2 chili thai peppers (mandolin or very thin sliced)
Cubed firm tofu
Make the rice noodles, rinse in cold water, strain, set aside.
Make the sauce-in small saucepan combine and heat on high:
(heat just to boil then set aside)
3 T. Fish sauce
1 heaping T. chili oil sauce (see pic below) got this at Whole Foods
1 T. Soy Sauce
5 T. brown sugar
1 T. rice vinegar
If you like it really spicy you can add Sriracha to add more heat or more hot sliced peppers.
In a large fry pan, heat up about 5T. peanut oil on high, add cubed tofu or other desired protein, heat until a little crispy on edges. Some of it will stick to the pan, that’s ok. Add garlic & onions, then carrots, toss. Remove pan from heat, squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lime over everything in the pan, let it sit and “sweat”. Once things cool down a bit it will loosen and a spoon or spatula will easily scrape everything loose that’s stuck to the pan. Now bring back to high heat, add noodles and sauce, mix around in pan, then push everything over to the side, add a T. butter to the pan, then 2 eggs, stir them up a bit so they will be “scrambled” and let sit a bit. Once pan has heated up nicely and eggs are almost cooked fully, mix everything up. remove from heat again and add rest of ingredients (crushed peanuts, green onions, cilantro, fresh bean sprouts, more lime juice) just before you plate the food (or even after its plated-will look pretty)This stuff is magical, you HAVE to get some…seriously so good!!!