This year our girls each took up an instrument, Madeline the piano and Cameron the harp. A friend of ours, Monika and I decided to have a mini recital for the children in our home, play a few Christmas songs and each share food from our own heritage. Another family joined in and we had a party on our hands!

We started the evening by grabbing a couple of hot sausage rolls and walking to the Hoboken Homeless Shelter. The kids sang Christmas carols to the guests while Monika accompanied on her violin…everyone joined it and had a great time.

We headed home and enjoyed a Hungarian tradition — warm, mulled white wine -  while listening to our children’s choice of music for the night. The night was made complete with a solo by Monika on the violin — there was not a dry eye in the house! Earlier that day, I had thrown together a beef stew and we tucked in and followed up with UK mince pies (dried fruit filling), German apple pie and Hungarian Beigli (pastry with poppy seeds and walnut filling).

What started out as a sweet idea turned into a wonderful event that we plan to repeat soon.

Jamie Oliver’s Beef Stew
Ingredients

• olive oil
• a knob of butter
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• a handful of fresh sage leaves
• 800g/1¾lb stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into 5cm/2 inch pieces
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• flour, to dust
• 2 parsnips, peeled and quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and halved
• ½ a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
• optional: a handful of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and halved
• 500g/1lb 2oz small potatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• ½ a bottle of red wine
• 285ml/½ pint beef or vegetable stock
• zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
• a handful of rosemary, leaves picked
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Put a little oil and your knob of butter in casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and gently stir together. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and just a little salt. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender. Sometimes this takes 3 hours, sometimes 4 – it depends on what cut of meat you’re using and how fresh it is. The only way to test is to mash up a piece of meat and if it falls apart easily it’s ready. Once it’s cooked, you can turn the oven down to about 225°F and just hold it there until you’re ready to eat.

The best way to serve this is by ladling big spoonfuls into bowls, accompanied by a glass of French red wine and some really fresh, warmed bread. Mix the lemon zest, chopped rosemary and garlic together and sprinkle over the stew before eating. Just the smallest amount will make a world of difference – as soon as it hits the hot stew it will release an amazing fragrance.

This kind family has a family friend who attends this fantastic school and bid on our package at the event. Mac met them on the beach at Bay Head for this happy family portrait session.

It was a pleasure to work with the fundraising committee and all of the generous families that support this worthy cause.
Learn more about this event here on our earlier blog post.

We met some wonderful people and helped raise money for a very important charity. This lovely family is one of the generous donors that Mac had the pleasure of photographing.

Find the “Under The Tuscan Moon” event on Facebook here
Learn more about Family & Children’s Service here

Come out and beat your demons (and the 200+ run­ners who have already reg­is­tered!) at the inau­gural HoBOOken Halloween 5K Race and Scary Scurry Kids’ Run on Saturday, October 29, at 10 a.m.! The USATF– certified race course will fol­low along Hoboken’s beau­ti­ful water­front and fin­ish on Pier A. For all the little ghosts and gob­lins, the Scary Scurry Kids’ Run will start at 10:00 a.m. on Pier A. All par­tic­i­pat­ing chil­dren will receive finishers’ ribbons.

Top fin­ish­ers for over­all, mas­ters, and age groups will receive awards…as will the best cos­tume. So get creative!

Both the HoBOOken 5K Race and the Scary Scurry Kids’ Run are pro­duced by the Hoboken Elysianette Running Society (the Elysianettes) to ben­e­fit The Hoboken Homeless Shelter fulfill their goal in assisting homeless men and women in developing the skills needed to gain employment, achieve independence, & re-integrate into the community.  The ultimate goal is to end homelessness one person at a time!

To reg­is­ter, go to www.hoBOOken5k.com or visit Fleet Feet in Hoboken. Entry fees for the 5K are $25 until October 25, and $30 on race day. The entry fee for the Scary Scurry Kids’ Run is $10. T– shirts and goody bags will be avail­able on a first– come, first– served basis, and Dunkin Donuts will be pro­vid­ing cof­fee and bagels (and of course, donuts!).

This family won the portrait package we donated to the Montessori School Fundraiser in Tenafly. This photo shoot took place early summer because of the crazy wet spring that we experienced this year. Mac loves this location and we are close to being booked for Autumn, so call now if you had a park shoot in mind.

We are thrilled to announce that we are sponsoring a home for the Bay Head Kitchen Tour which takes place on September 24th this year.

The home we are sponsoring is owned by Smith Family. This stunning historical house, previously known as ‘The Gables’, was a bed and breakfast for many years.
Well known by the locals, (who all seem to have a story about the it) the house serves as a magical Summer home for this family and their four beautiful children.

Mac spent some time with the Smith Family taking portraits on the beach, which resulted in the fun images that you see here; some of which will be hanging in the Smith’s home in time for the tour.
Join us September 24th for the Kitchen Tour and support the Bay Head School Foundation.

The Mastro Montessori Academy, a nonprofit nonsectarian school established in 1968, is located in Little Silver, NJ. The school has operated from the same location in Monmouth County throughout its 40 year history and funds raised this year are in support of their New Building Fund.

In addition to photographing the event, Hartshorn Portraiture’s staff were on hand to promote our Meet Us At The Beach portrait sessions. These sessions take place July 15 Though September 18th at the Jersey Shore. For those guests that booked a shoot, Hartshorn Portraiture will donate 20% of our sitting fee to the Mastro Montessori Academy.

Thank you to everyone who attended the event and congratulations to Carmela Sheinin who won the raffle prize of a mini beach shoot this summer