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What an awesome way to start off the new year! I’m having the best time shooting an exciting cookbook that is so appropos for Rosh Hashanah: The New Jewish Table. It’s a collaboration with Chef Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray, the husband-wife team behind DC restaurants Equinox, Todd Gray’s Watershed and Todd Gray’s Muse at The Corcoran (and other projects under their Harvest Moon Hospitality Group). We’re really generating lots of creative energy together!

Ellen describes the book as, “an ‘ethnically diverse’ cookbook that mixes Jewish cooking with today’s modern cuisine trends from a professional chef’s point of view.” She explains, “Todd gained his knowledge by marrying me—a Jewish woman—and together we opened a restaurant 11 years ago. The New Jewish Table is about the foods that have evolved. Many traditionally ‘Jewish foods,’ like potato latkes [as seen above], have found a permant home on the menu.”

Rosh Hashanah is a time of recalling and enjoying our connections with tradition, family, loved ones and community, another reason why doing this book in this season is so resonant. Ellen says, “The recipes are updates of classic Jewish regional cuisine, many of which were passed along from my Great Aunt Lil and my Grandmother Rose.” The shot above is of fig and port wine blintzes.

This cookbook is delicious—in many ways. I’m thankful for projects which inspire me and give me this feeling of connection. With each shot I feel like jumping up and down because it is so good, so yummy; and we are having so much fun as a creative team! It’s cool that this is such a cozy, family-inspired concept and project. Shooting in their home kitchen, we’re totally nestled into their everyday life, and it feels just like my own house. Their big, lovable dogs are sniffing around, and their 12-year-old son, Harrison is hanging out doing this homework (and, he comes over to stick his fingers in the whipped cream on this Upside Down Pineapple Cake!).

This reminds me (even more) of how I miss my own son, Dov, who’ll be away at college for Rosh Hashanah for the first time… So, spurred by a little “empty nest” twinge, I already sent him this Mini Pastrami Rueben Sandwich shot—just to make him hungry!

Best wishes to all for a good year. L’shanah tovah!

“Chocolatier to the Stars” should be the newest claim-to-fame of Zoe’s Chocolates. Selected to be the “Official Chocolatier of the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards Salon,” my client is doing its own star turn in Hollywood this weekend. Being the “Official Chocolatier” means that Zoe’s Chocolates are presented to the influential Emmy participants in the exclusive venue of a “gifting lounge,” positioning their artisanal chocolates alongside other distinguished, luxurious items.

Zoe Tsoukatos told me how this came about, “Last February, we received a surprise call from the Emmy Salon production company indicating that they knew of our chocolates and asked if we would  send them samples for a tasting. One month later, the follow-up call was a better surprise. We had been chosen and were invited to participate.”

This third-generation family business has locations in Waynesboro, PA and Frederick, MD. Both towns are proud of their own local business sharing the Emmy spotlight. Zoe  told The Waynesboro Herald : “We have a quality product and it’s rewarding to be able to get that kind of feedback.”

Zoe’s brother, Pantelis Tsoukatos told The Frederick News Post: “We’re very proud of our products, our reputation and all the great press we’ve gotten, but we certainly did not expect Hollywood to come to our small hometown. We’re extremely happy and excited…”

I get to share the excitement, too! I shot the chocolates above, which are included in the Emmy celebrity boxes. That collection includes the Pear Spice Caramel, which tastes as good as Zoe’s own description makes it sound: “We cook pears with a hint of seasonal spices and combine them with lightly salted smooth caramel and roasted walnuts and cover in dark chocolate.” Um…wow…

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Marty always makes my birthdays special. For his 54th birthday, on September 4th, I wanted to make his celebration really special, too. Marty and I  have different preferences for our birthdays: I love a low-key, quiet evening with just him; he revels in being surrounded by friends. So, we planned a surprise party. It wasn’t easy, but we really pulled it off, as you can tell from the look of delight on his face as he opened my studio door, revealing 36 guests and party decorations! When we arrived, the party was definitely in full-swing.

We tried hard to conjure up some scheme where we could get Marty, the family chef, to cook for his own surprise party! But, figuring that wouldn’t work, we were lucky enough to have help from friends: there was fabulous food courtesy of Carolyn Schimley, great wines selected by Steve Borko and a lovely cake by our friend, Carol Corillon.

I really wanted this party to be memorable, especially because Dov and Mara are both still at home, at least for a few more days. With both of them going away to college after this week, we won’t be able to count on everyone being together for birthdays very often.

Both Mara and Dov prepared pieces to read to Marty for the occasion. In his opening remarks, Dov pointed out that his father’s 54th brithday happened to come at a unique time, observing, ” I’m about to start college and Mara has to start thinking about leaving it.”

In her remarks, Mara described her relationship with Marty as transitioning from “being a parent-child relationship to a parent-adult relationship [and] an adult-adult relationship.” She admitted, “I think we both struggle with this sometimes…but he’s still my dad, and I’m still his daughter, so we have managed to work through our misunderstandings.” She concluded, “I am so lucky to have a father that never gives up on me…I’ll be lucky to become half the parent you are, and I love you so much. Thank you for being such a wonderful dad.”

Then, Dov continued with his tribute, saying,”Dad, we want you to know that we feel like you are always there for us—no matter what. … it’s the type of quality that makes you a good husband, a good friend, and a good boss. When Mom and I started coming up with the guest list for this party, Mom told me she wanted to keep it ‘smaller.’ About 30 seconds later we gave up on that idea. Your ability to make everyone feel cared for has brought you many friends in life. Too many friends for a ‘small’ birthday party. Mara and I want to make a toast to you, for your birthday. May you continue to support your children, your wife, your friends, family, and co-workers; always. And may this be the best birthday yet! Happy Birthday!”

Marty is a pie guy, so the candles he blew out were on a key lime pie garnished with blueberries. I hope all his birthday wishes come true!

I think we are now (almost) officially empty-nesters! Dov is starting at The Ohio State University at Columbus soon. In July we went to Freshmen Orientation and really started to explore the campus and city that we expect to get to know better over the next four years. We even made an effort to show some school spirit already by posing with a statue of the school mascot, Brutus Buckeye.

Before Dov decided on this college, considering other potential schools gave us a great reason to travel this year. We made trips to Pennsylvania and California, and discovered some unique spots for food along the way. In Columbus, we already have one new favorite place, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

They have a wide variety of flavors (Salty Caramel is my personal fave), and they were super pleasant about letting us try as many as wanted. After we tasted about ten of them, they graciously served us our selections and said, “Welcome to Ohio!” Yeah, it is really different there…

They make it difficult to choose from a tempting gamut of unusual flavors such as, “Parmesan & Zucchini Bread,” “Beet Cake With Walnuts,” or “Rockmill Golden Ale & Apricots.” But you can also order vanilla (“Ugandan Vanilla Bean”).

Their website claims they sell Jeni’s in DC and MD at Whole Foods and some other stores. So, we may have to indulge in a Jeni’s fix between visits to see Dov.

Naturally, we weren’t the only visitors in Columbus. Apparently, Mr. Peanut was staying at our hotel. It was so sweltering that my camera lens fogged going from air-conditioned hotel to parking lot to capture his Nut Mobile!