The convention is a gathering for education, inspiration and to discover new products. We enjoyed sharing ideas with other professionals and have come back excited about a new year at Hartshorn Portraiture.

The weather was beautiful and a lovely change from the cold weather of New Jersey. We made time to try local food, do a little celebrity spotting and enjoyed a night of great jazz.

The trip was only slightly marred by a phone call from our daughter Cameron. She informed that at her weekly swimming lesson she had been locked in a bathroom for over an hour! Apparently she kept calm, notes were passed back and forth and eventually the fire department was called to break the door down! Why does it always happen when you are out of town?

There is always room for improvement in any business and ours is not exception. We will continue to fine-tune our service on every level and plan to launch a few new products later this year.
We’ll keep you posted.

Thanks to Milena for all these beautiful images.

Our building, The Monroe Center for the Arts, has a new owner and things are shaping up here. At the Hoboken Artist Studio Tour our newly decorated lobby made its debut. Mac, along with two other photographers shot all the artists in the building in their studio and the images displayed are pretty cool.

Francesco, owner of Films by Francesco , has a studio next door to us and is an extremely talented videographer. He created a film featuring all the artists, capturing their personalities on a short film that is running in the lobby. Stop by to take a look.

Join us this Autumn in Central Park for a magical family portrait session.

Simple and comfortable dresses for the girls and shorts and t-shirts for the boys in earthy colors work with any home décor and are safe. But, if you want to branch out into something more colorful, I suggest taking one piece of clothing with a pattern -  like a girl’s dress — throw it on the bed and then pull clothing for the rest of the family using that color palette as a guide.

Remember to consider the colors theme in your home when you start playing with colors, but above all have fun and get creative.

These clothes were selected from two lines, Ella Moss for the girls and City Threads for the boys. Our good friends at Suki’s in Millburn carry these lines and can special order sizes if they are not in stock.

The mother said she was considering swimsuits for the younger girls as they would be comfortable that way and as you can see from the photographs  she was right! The girls look so cute racing across the Jersey Shore — not a care in the world.

We can’t wait to see this pretty princess again next year!

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

Here are two of my favorite auction categories:

1. The opportunity to spend time with a teacher — Our fantastic teachers offer a little of their time in the most creative ways and these do well in the silent auctions. Two of our teachers hosted a ‘Crazy Kickball Invitation’, the first 10 children with the highest bid were invited to attend and it raised nearly $1000.

2.  Art work created by the kids — I have seen blankets and murals sewn by a class, large multi media canvases created by the children are spectacular and create a bit of a healthy frenzy between parents in a live auction. Especially when the children sign or have their hands imprinted on the artwork.

This year Mac and I were involved in the artwork that was created at our daughter’s school auction — Elysian Charter. One of four classes chosen to produce art had the theme  “What I’d like to be when I grow up”.  Mac shot the children in costume, worked with the art teacher to create a collage and printed the result on a canvas which was wrapped.

My favorite was the Kindergarten canvas, a tree with the children’s fingerprints as leaves in golden hues (seen below with the very proud teacher Josie).  Many thanks to Pablo at Right Angle Framing for donating not only his time but the frames for all four pieces!

I have seen how much work it takes to make these auctions come together. Thanks to all those fantastic mums & dads who donate their time to raise money for their child’s schools

Market Risotto with Rock Shrimp

Serves 4

• 1 small    onion, diced
• 6 oz.     dry white wine
• 10 oz.    Arborio rice
• To taste    sea salt
• To taste    white pepper
• 1 lg can    chicken stock, (I like College Inn)
• 6 oz.    artichoke hearts
• 4 0z    sun dried tomatoes
• 4 leaves  fresh basil
• 2 oz    butter
• 1 1/2 oz    extra virgin olive oil
• 8 oz    Rock Shrimp or 31–40 shrimp
• 1/3 cup    English peas

Note:  When making risotto, the cooking method is the opposite of traditional rice
When preparing traditional rice, you add rice to boiling water.  When preparing risotto, you add hot liquid
to the sauteed rice until the proper consistency is achieved.

Risotto

Heat your heavy bottom stock pot over med heat with 2 oz. of olive oil.
Add your diced onions, let them saute until translucent.
When the onions are finished cooking, add your Arborio rice.
With a wooden spoon, sauté the rice and onions together for 2 minutes.
Add the first liquid 4 oz of white wine, pinch of salt and white pepper, then after that has been absorbed, add 8–10 oz. of chicken stock
Allow the stock to be absorbed, then add more as you need it.
After about 10–12 minutes you will see the rice start to become creamy, continue to work the rice adding your artichokes and tomatoes.
Now at 14 minutes add you raw shrimp and basil and English Peas
Let the rice cook for about 2 more minutes and work the whole butter into the rice
The rice should be creamy but not over cooked. The rice kernel should be al dente, but tender and pleasant to the bite
Adjust for taste and present in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil
Serve Immediately

~ Chef Anthony Pino

Follow Chef Anthony Pino on Facebook and visit either Bin 14 or Anthony David’s “The Dining Room” located in Hoboken.

• Chef Anthony Pino on Facebook
• Chef  Pino’s “Sunday Dinner” channel on YouTube
• Bin 14
• Anthony David’s & The Dining Room at Anthony David’s