During the summer, I love entertaining at Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine.
Earlier this month, I hosted a wonderful cocktail reception and dinner for Friends of Acadia and some of the organization's biggest supporters. The mission of Friends of Acadia is to preserve and to protect Acadia National Park and its surrounding communities. As many of you know, Acadia National Park is very important to me and to my family. Acadia is a beautiful 47-thousand acre Atlantic coast recreation area primarily on Mount Desert Island. It is filled with pristine woodlands, rocky beaches, clear ponds and so much more. I love hiking its many trails and always enjoy the stunning views and tranquility - especially now that my grandchildren, Jude and Truman, can join me.
You may recall, last year was an incredibly important year for both Acadia National Park and Friends of Acadia - the park and the National Park Service celebrated their centennials. As part of the celebration, Friends of Acadia announced its most ambitious fundraising campaign, the Second Century Campaign, which raised more than 26-million dollars for several key priorities including youth engagement, visitor experience, and protecting Acadia’s fragile resources. Here's to another 100-years at Acadia - a truly magical place. Enjoy these photos from the party.
This is my circular driveway at the front entrance of Skylands. The driveways and all the carriage roads at Skylands are covered with crushed pink granite stone. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Kevin Sharkey always creates such beautiful arrangements. This one is all white, and looks spectacular on my Living Hall table. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
I love how the smoke bush flowers, Cotinus, look in this arrangement – like a puffy cloud of “smoke”.
I love this view of my terrace through the leaded window panes. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Blue agave always looks so stunning in these Gertrude Jekyll style pots. Gertrude was an influential British garden designer, horticulturist, artist and writer. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
All my chaises longues are perfectly lined up under umbrella shades on my terrace. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Here are my glazed terra-cotta sphinxes watching over the terrace. These sphinxes were designed by Emile Muller. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Here’s a tranquil view through the woodland. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
I love to plant uniquely shaped succulents in this ancient English stone trough. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Heather Kirkland and I add some finishing touches to the table. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
FOA President, David MacDonald, and I take a last look at all the party preparations. Kristin Clements, our server, prepares the bar in the background. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
We served wines from Martha Stewart Wine Co. For the evening, I chose a delicious Villa Ruby and Marquis de Bacalan. Bacalan is a sauvignon blanc. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas) http://marthastewartwine.com
For cocktails, we made caipirinhas, martinis, and served tequila. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
David presented me with a hostess gift – a lovely vintage carriage road sign of Seal Harbor. The wrapping paper is the iconic image taken by Howie Motenko. It was used as the campaign image in many publications. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Here I am greeting guests in my Living Hall as they arrived – Henry Schultz, Bob Kogod, David Rockefeller, Susan Rockefeller and David. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
On my large faux bois table in the Living Hall, I always have a guest book opened for everyone to sign. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Here I am with Henry sharing a funny moment on the terrace. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Sorrel soup, gougeres, cheese straws, and deviled eggs were passed around to guests. A gougère, in French cuisine, is a baked savory choux pastry made of choux dough mixed with cheese – everyone loved our hors d’oeuvres. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Here I am joined by Henry Schultz, Susan Rockefeller, and Bob Kogod. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
This is Lisa Horsch Clark from FOA – she worked with me to plan the evening’s festivities. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Everyone had such an enjoyable evening. About 40-guests attended the party. The event was to thank those for their contributions to the Second Century Campaign. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
During dinner, I shared some of my deep ties and love for Acadia. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
FOA President, David MacDonald, welcomed our guests, thanked campaign donors, and shared updates on recent work in Acadia made possible by the guests’ support. (Photo by FOA/Julia Walker Thomas)
Dinner was prepared by my friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, of PS Tailored Events and his great team. The first course was a flavorful Risotto with chanterelles. http://pstailoredevents.com
Here is Pierre plating the entree – Soupe de Poission, with Lobster, mussels, clams, potato, and fennel.
Warm pieces of toast with rouille were also served.
For those who do not like seafood, we served lamb chops.
During dinner, Jude and Truman presented their lists of what they loved about Acadia – this was so special to me. You can see a closer look of the list on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. What a wonderful evening.
Every year around this time, I try to spend a wonderful week, or two - give or take - at my beautiful refuge in Seal Harbor, Maine. This year, the weather has been fantastic, and it has been so much fun spending time with my daughter, Alexis, my grandchildren, Jude and Truman, and all my dear friends who visit.
This is the first of several blogs I will share featuring some of the highlights of my stay. My first week included a visit to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden, a delicious lunch at the Islesford Dock Restaurant, hikes at Acadia National Park and spectacular views of Seal Harbor and the surrounding areas. Enjoy these photos.
Here I am leaving for my trip to Skylands. I am very fortunate to be able to fly privately. The trip is under a couple of hours to Bar Harbor, Maine.
My dogs came along for the ride. Here is Creme Brûlée in the cockpit just before lift off.
It was a gorgeous clear morning, and look at these views – so majestic.
This is an aerial view of Seal Harbor, Islesford, and Sutton Island.
On one day, we enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Islesford Dock Restaurant on Little Cranberry Island in Islesford, Maine.
Here I am with my friends, Memrie Lewis and Jean Lipkin at Islesford Dock.
And here I am in the restaurant, with a view of the docked boats behind me.
This is a sunset view of Mt. Desert Island from Islesford – so breathtaking.
We also visited the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden. Memrie and I stopped for this quick photo.
The garden was designed by the legendary landscape architect, Beatrix Farrand, for John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller in the 1920s. It is open for private tours once a week from late July to mid September. Check their web site to make an appointment to visit. https://www.rockgardenmaine.com
The garden is enclosed by this high pink stucco wall. The wall is capped with orange tiles that were imported from China.
The Garden was designed as a classic English garden bed, with a rectangular shape, and surrounded by pink granite pebble paths.
For the Rockefeller Garden, peak bloom time is generally mid to late August – everything looks so beautiful.
The gardens are perfectly manicured with immaculately kept flower beds filled with dahlias, lisianthus, sunflowers, verbena, salvia, gladioli and so much more.
Here is some gorgeous pink phlox.
This is a reproduction of the Moon Gate created by Beatrix Farrand in 1926.
The Garden contains many Asian structures and statuary. These are called the Garden Spirits.
The Rockefeller Garden is a wonderful place to visit. If you’re even in this part of Maine, I encourage you to stop by.
I love hiking whenever I am in Maine. Here I am with my dear Chow Chow, GK, during one of our walks around Jordan Pond.
A visit to Jordan Pond must include this view of the North and South Bubbles. The North Bubble has an elevation of 872-feet. The South Bubble follows closely at 766-feet.
Here are Kevin and GK posing for a quick snapshot.
Jordan Pond serves as a wildlife habitat and provides water for nearby communities as well as Jordan Pond House. At its deepest point, it is 150-feet. The water is spectacularly clear.
This work is done by beavers. When a beaver cuts down a tree it wants to eat the inner, growing cambium layer of the tree bark.
Once the bark is all eaten, they reuse the stick to build their lodges and dams.
Here are mergansers. The elegant gray-bodied females have rich, cinnamon heads with a short crest. In summer, they can often be seen leading their ducklings through freshwater rivers, lakes and streams.
Beautiful ferns – I love this all natural environment.
Here is another photo of me and GK on the walking bridge.
And another gorgeous photo of the Pond with the Bubbles in the distance.
This weekend, why not make some delicious homemade tomato sauce with tomatoes harvested from your own garden? It's so easy to do.
As you know from my last blog, I love making lots of tomato sauce. It's delicious, nutritious, and easy to add to your favorite pastas. Plus, if you have the freezer space, it can be stored in plastic containers for any time you need a tasty, quick meal. I also like to save it for entertaining - guests love this homemade sauce - and you will too.
Yesterday, before I left for another few days at Skylands, my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, I made several quarts of flavorful tomato sauce with the peeled and seeded tomatoes I prepared earlier in the week. Enjoy these photos.
After a brief ride around the farm to see how everything was doing, I decided to make a couple batches of tomato sauce. We’ve been harvesting so many tomatoes – there will be lots of great sauce to enjoy all year long.
The first step is to prepare the onions – for about 12-cups of sauce, you’ll need about four onions. These onions are from my garden, of course.
I removed all the skins and cut them in half.
And then sliced and chopped them into small pieces.
These Cangshan knives are so sharp. They are hand forged and hand sharpened, and have
Swedish sourced stain resistant high-alloy steel blades – they’re great.
Using your favorite olive oil, pour some into the pot. This pot is from my collection exclusively at Macy’s. I love my stainless steel pots – they’re so durable.
Add the chopped onions, and stir them occasionally as they saute, so they do not burn.
I used two different pots, so I could keep the tomato colors separated – one pot for the orange tomatoes and one pot for the red.
Here is my favorite spoon rest – also from my collection exclusively at Macy’s. It’s large enough to hold a variety of utensils. goo.gl/A8Ev1W
After adding the onions, add a couple cloves of garlic, sliced, into each pot.
Then, add the tomatoes.
I love the bold orange color of these tomatoes – so beautiful. Next, add salt and pepper to taste.
And in the red batch of tomatoes, my special tip – add a touch of sugar, about a teaspoon. The orange sauce won’t need it.
Next, add a bunch of chopped basil to each pot, and let it simmer for about an hour, uncovered. And don’t forget to stir it occasionally. So easy!
Here is the orange sauce after about 45-minutes. I love the chunky pieces of tomato – this sauce is delicious with any pasta.
And here is the red sauce – it’s almost done.
I set out quart-sized containers on the counter. These are great for freezing almost anything, and can be ordered in bulk, online. They’re also very useful when sharing your homemade sauce with family and friends.
Once the sauces are done, I poured all of it into the containers using my square ladle I designed for my collection at Macy’s. It gets into corners so easily.
Don’t overfill – you can always use another container. Here, I did have a little leftover for a smaller, pint-sized container. Let the sauce cool before covering.
I made labels for all the lids with the type of sauce and the date it was made.
We still have lots of tomatoes to peel, seed and cook – these tomatoes were all harvested yesterday morning – they are so beautiful.
I decided to take these small tomatoes with me – they’re great for snacking.
And the process continues. My housekeepers, Sanu and Laura, and I are very busy in my kitchen…
… And “what happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen.” Happy cooking!
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