The use of background quasars provides a powerful tool to probe the cool gas in the circum-galactic medium of foreground galaxies .
Here , we present new observations with SINFONI and X-Shooter of absorbing-galaxy candidates at z=0.7–1 .
We report the detection with both instruments of the H \alpha  emission line of one sub-DLA at z _ { abs } =0.94187 with \log \sc N ( \sc H~ { } { \sc I } ) =19.38 ^ { +0.10 } _ { -0.15 } towards SDSS J002133.27+004300.9 .
We estimate the star formation rate : SFR=3.6 \pm 2.2 M _ { \odot } /yr in that system .
A detailed kinematic study indicates a dynamical mass M _ { dyn } =10 ^ { 9.9 \pm 0.4 } M _ { \odot } and a halo mass M _ { halo } =10 ^ { 11.9 \pm 0.5 } M _ { \odot } .
In addition , we report the [ OÂ ii ] Â detection with X-Shooter of another DLA at z _ { abs } =0.7402 with \log \sc N ( \sc H~ { } { \sc I } ) =20.4 \pm 0.1 toward Q0052 + 0041 and an estimated SFR of 5.3 \pm 0.7 M _ { \odot } /yr .
Three other objects are detected in the continuum with X-Shooter but the nature and redshift of two of these objects are unconstrained due to the absence of emission lines , while the third object might be at the redshift of the quasar .
We use the objects detected in our whole \sc N ( \sc H~ { } { \sc I } ) -selected SINFONI survey to compute the metallicity difference between the galaxy and the absorbing gas , \delta _ { HI } ( X ) , where a positive ( negative ) value indicates infall ( outflow ) .
We compare this quantity with the quasar line of sight alignment with the galaxy ’ s major ( minor ) axis , another tracer of infall ( outflow ) .
We find that these quantities do not correlate as expected from simple assumptions .
Additional observations are necessary to relate these two independent probes of gas flows around galaxies .