Here in the Northeast, we're celebrating the holidays like no other - this year with the debut of Christmas by Martha Stewart at Foxwoods, the largest resort casino in the region and the location for my second restaurant, The Bedford by Martha Stewart, opening in March!
Earlier this week, I traveled to Mashantucket, Connecticut to see the Grand Pequot Tower lobby at Foxwoods and the immersive holiday décor I curated for the space. It looks magical - holiday trees with bright, colorful ornaments under glistening shooting stars. And a giant snow globe where guests could take holiday photos surrounded by a cheerful winter scene. Before leaving, I also took a peek at my restaurant under construction. Everything looks great and in excellent shape for our scheduled spring opening!
Enjoy these photos.
I hope you’re all enjoying this holiday season. Here I am at Foxwoods Resort Casino, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. It was such a pleasure to design the Foxwoods lobby for the holidays.
Look at the transformation. The area is decorated with trees, lights, and shimmering stars.
The more ornaments, the better. I always decorate every branch. Here at Foxwoods, the theme colors include silvery blue, silver, gold, red, and white.
There are trees of all sizes – and all beautifully adorned. My hope was make the space as immersive as possible, so guests could sit, explore, and enjoy all the details.
This photo is of me and Jason Guyot, President and CEO of Foxwoods. We’re behind a snow globe frame where guests can take memorable images surrounded by a charming winter wonderland.
Here’s a photo with my team – Ben Luckadoo, Sophie Roche, Isabella Falcione, and Thomas Joseph.
And here I am with some of the members of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s Tribal Council – Secretary Matthew Pearson, Vice Chairwoman Latoya Cluff, Councilor Crystal Whipple, Councilor-Elect Rahiem Eleazer, and Jason.
We all gathered for lunch at Foxwood’s brasserie, Vue 24. The menu included a variety of fresh salads, roasted chicken, beef tenderloin fry bread, seared tautog, shrimp scampi bucatini, and an array of holiday desserts.
Following lunch, I gifted members of the Tribal Council with bonsai trees. I am very fond of bonsai trees and have nurtured many over the years.
Each of these is a jade bonsai – a dwarf version of the fleshy, soft, woody tree. These have such beautiful fine branch structures with thick green oval-shaped succulent leaves.
And here I am inside what will soon be The Bedford by Martha Stewart. I am so excited for the spring opening.
The walls are up in the dining spaces.
Floor to ceiling windows between rooms are already framed out.
And photo renderings of the space to be are displayed.
While all the rooms are inspired by my home, one in particular will be decorated similarly to my green parlor with faux bois walls.
Here is how the entrance to the dining rooms will look like.
Before leaving, I gifted the Foxwoods team with copies of my newly re-launched book, Entertaining. Here I am with SVP Marketing Blair Bendel, VP Food and Beverage Eddie Allen, Michelle Shriver SVP Hospitality, and Jason. It was a productive and pleasant visit. I can’t wait to come back in March for the restaurant’s grand opening.
The holiday season is one of my favorite times to entertain.
Earlier this week, I hosted a small business dinner for seven. My Winter House was decorated with lots of beautiful trees glistening in green, silver, and gold. Chef Molly Wenk, who has worked with me on many television and video food productions, and I, collaborated on a wonderful menu that included endive and radicchio salad, celeriac soup that I made using vegetables from my garden, beef bourguignon and mashed potatoes, and for dessert, apple tarte tatin. It was a great evening and a most delicious late autumn feast.
Enjoy these photos.
I always fill my Winter House rooms with many trees during the holidays – big, small, fresh, and charming feather trees like this one in my entrance hall, adorned with bright gold ornaments.
In my Brown Room, my long table is also decorated with gold and umber colored bottlebrush trees down the center with deer.
Each table setting has coordinating plates and napkins – all ready for a delicious meal.
I served a wonderful endive and radicchio salad. Both endive and radicchio are part of the chicory family. Endive has a mild, slightly bitter flavor, while radicchio tastes more bold and peppery – they are great together. Frisée is also known as curly endive or chicory endive and adds a nice green color to this assortment.
The dressing is a light and refreshing shallot vinaigrette.
Beef bourguignon takes about three to four hours to complete. This duration includes preparation, searing of the meat, braising, and resting. After 90-minutes in the oven, Molly takes it out to check. She is using one of my Enamel Cast Iron Dutch Ovens – see my latest pieces at my shop on Amazon.
It’s looking so delicious. Beef bourguignon, or beef burgundy, is a classic and rich slow-cooked French stew with chunks of fork-tender beef braised in red wine and vegetables.
The dish will be topped with mushrooms, pearl onions, pancetta cubes and herbs when done. Here is Molly preparing the mushrooms.
Molly also made mashed potatoes to serve with the beef bourguignon.
This is celeriac, also known as celery root. It is the root of the celery plant and has an earthy flavor with a hint of celery. I grow celeriac every year and love to use it for soup.
For dessert, I decided to serve apple tarte tatin. Tarte tatin is a classic French dessert with caramelized apples, baked under a flaky pastry crust and served upside down. Molly starts by melting down the butter and sugar in a skillet.
Once the caramel is the right consistency, it is used to coat the apple slices.
Molly arranges the apples in a circular pattern, overlapping them slightly to create a spiral.
Then the entire skillet is covered with pastry dough cut to fit just over the apples.
It is placed into the oven and baked until the crust is golden brown.
Inside my Winter House kitchen, beautiful white feather trees are decorated and displayed on my counter.
Here is my celeriac soup topped with homemade brioche croutons.
The colorful endive and radicchio salad is served next.
Here’s our entrée – a generous serving of beef bourguignon on a bed of silky mashed potatoes.
A side of pees is also served to my guests.
And here is the apple tarte tatin – baked perfectly and then decorated with gold leaf.
A lovely slice with a dollop of crème fraîche – not a morsel was left on anyone’s plate. It was a delicious meal for all.
This holiday season, please stop by a winter market or crafts fair where you live and support local makers - it's a great way to meet the artisans and learn about their specialties.
Over the weekend, I drove up to Stissing House for its third annual Holiday Craft Feast. Stissing House is a charming country restaurant in the historic town of Pine Plains, New York in Duchess County. For two days, Stissing House opened its doors to 50 collectors and craftspeople selling many collectibles and handmade items such as pottery, baskets, woven textiles, jewelry, knits, etc. Hundreds of ticketed guests walked through the space and shopped. There were carolers, craft projects, and lots of refreshments. It was a wonderful place to meet entrepreneurs, shop for gifts, and celebrate the holidays.
Enjoy these photos - most were taken by my grandnephew Silas Slater.
I attended the event with my niece, Sophie Herbert Slater, her handsome son Silas, and my dear friend Terre Blair. Silas took most of these photos – he is an excellent photographer. The brooms I bought are from Custodian Studio.
It was a very cold day in the Northeast, but inside it was warm, cozy, and filled with holiday cheer.
And there was a good supply of wood for the fire.
Thee were lots of sweets to try including the quince donuts. If you’ve never tried a quince jelly donut, it adds a sweet and floral flavor to the dough.
There were also lots of cookies.
And delicious popcorn, ready to bag up and enjoy.
At this station, bone broth made right at Stissing House for those needing a little more warmth.
Here’s a photo Silas took of his mother Sophie and Stissing House chef and proprietor, Clare de Boer.
One of the first vendors we visited was Roseland. The table was filled with beautifully made pottery.
Among them, this charming salt cellar.
Here are some forced winter flower bulbs that should open by Christmas – offered by English Garden Grown.
Maine Heritage Weavers sold many warm blankets.
These damask linens were weaved at The Burroughs Garret in Newbury, Vermont.
One could also make their own miniature brooms.
Here is a group learning how to tie and shape their brooms from Cynthia at Sunhouse Craft. Broom making is a meticulous process often passed down through generations.
Silas made this one – it is excellently crafted.
I saw other colleagues at the event. Here’s our own Ryan Mesina enjoying some cookies.
JLD Knives had these handmade offerings made by Jack Dolan who uses carbon steel, stainless steel and wood as his sources.
This collector’s table is set up by Warren Battle, co-owner of @battle_brown from nearby Hudson, New York.
Here are some of the wonderful handmade pieces from Signe Ceramics.
More beautifully crafted pottery from Amanda Moffat.
Stissing House also had some great items for sale, such as shortbread cookies by Laurie Ellen, cheese, ginger cake, hot sauce, and holiday ornaments.
And here’s young Silas taking a short break by the Christmas tree. Thanks for all the great photos, Silas. And what a fun event, Stissing House. Thanks to Clare, Katie Pearce, and Nathan Rawlinson for setting it all up. Looking forward to next year.
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