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November 17th, 2009

A tag sale at my offices - Prada, Escada, Ralph Lauren and more

Last Friday, we held our annual tag sale at my offices in the Starrett Lehigh building in Manhattan. What we were selling was my television wardrobe from last season. Many of these items were only worn once and are of very good quality. The idea for this sale is to offer employees a really great deal for this merchandise. The clothing was placed in bins and moved from the TV studio. At Starrett, it was arranged on long tables, organized by sweaters, blouses, pants, shoes, etc. My executive assistant, Jessica, helped me price and tag everything. The sale began at noon and as tag sales go, it was quite a scene. I was happy to see that people were very happy with their finds.

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1 This is the clerestory. As you can see, it is a wonderful space for large events. The tag sale only took up one corner of this room. On either side of the clerestory, there are busy work areas behind the scrims.

2 The tag sale drew quite a crowd.

3 These gentlemen each have an armload of clothing! I wonder who the lucky women are?

4 The shoes were displayed in zipper bags and priced very reasonably.

5 All good tag sales have a give away area. This one featured assorted yarns, fabrics, and trimmings.

6 The clothing was displayed neatly folded upon long tables.

7 Simply stated

8 Doreen Hunt and Lee Evans tallied up the sales.

9 Ralph Lauren jeans

10 A great buy on Ralph Rucci silk pants!

11 White Escada trousers

12 I can't believe these prices!

13 This group of shoppers wanted free arms and stacked their finds on the floor.

14 These are the bins that the clothing was transported in.

15 A quick try on

16 Lisa just loves this Brooks Brother's shirt.

17 Tori is crazy about this bright pink Façonnable blouse.

18 Lynn plans on giving this silk yarn to her cousin to knit into an afghan.

19 Tana and her son, Dana - she is happy about her shoe purchase.

20 Claudia is browsing

21 Elizabeth, from the test kitchen, strolling by and taking a peek

22 Stephanie - another browser

23 Helene is contemplating this pair of Donna Karan tweed slacks.

Posted on November 17th, 2009 in Behind the Scenes, Photo Gallery | direct link to this entry
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November 16th, 2009

Finding beauty on a gloomy day

Last week, two major weather systems sat over the Northeast, bringing rains and high winds. Many coastal areas were flooded and my heart goes out to the families of those who perished and to those with property damage. Away from the coast, the days were long and dreary and I decided to wander around the farm and capture some images of this rather bleak time. As my eyes began to wander, I was amazed at how much beauty there was just waiting to be seen, even on a gloomy day. Enjoy, and this week promises to be sunny!

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1 The sun is trying to be seen through the heavy cloud cover.

2 Leaves still dropping

3 So much work went into building this nest. I wonder where the little birds flew off to?

4 These dried stalks were the flower stems of leafy hosta plants.

5 The crab apple is now without leaves.

6 A close up of the fruit

7 A row of bald cypress nearly bare of foliage

8 These wisteria standards are late to drop.

9 How funny and strange - an oriental poppy is wanting to bloom in November!

10 My giant Kenneth Lynch urns have been covered over with protective burlap.

11 The cole crops - kale and collards look good in the vegetable garden.

12 The asparagus bed has gone to seed and needs to be trimmed back. I cannot wait to eat more in the spring.

13 How did we miss those raspberries?

14 I hope the berry patch is as prolific next season.

15 Entrance reducers have been installed in the bee hives to help keep the hives warm during frigid weather.

16 This is my cold frame.

17 This is what's growing inside the cold frame - leafy lettuces and herbs.

18 My little Japanese garden

19 The climbing hydrangea - clinging vines

20 Remember the jewel-like currants?

21 The woody stems of the blueberry bushes have a red tinge.

22 Into the woods

23 The Pomeranian geese are happy in their penned yard.

24 A grove of metasequoia - a coniferous tree with deciduous needles, thought to be extinct until it was discovered growing in China in the 1940s.

25 Needles and cones dropping from white pines

26 The dried flowers of a peegee hydrangea

27 Again - the sun

28 The tennis court with net down and lines lifted

29 The newly planted Japanese maple grove now void of color

30 No leaves left here

31 Ramon sporting his winter coat

32 This tarp is beneath the giant ginko tree collecting the falling, smelly fruit. When dried, the nuts are edible.

33 The tree peony bed all trimmed and cleaned

34 The herbaceous peonies cut back and resting for the winter

35 Another renegade flower - this time a clemetis

36 Sans blooming clematis, the pergola looks so bare.

37 Not much foliage left on this landscape.

38 Leaves still clinging to pin oaks

Posted on November 16th, 2009 in Gardens, My Home, Photo Gallery | direct link to this entry
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November 13th, 2009

What is a tub grinder?

As you know from reading this blog, I am a very serious gardener and am very serious about my compost yard. About once a year, we hire a tub grinder to help us out. In the course of the year, my ground's crew amasses quite a large pile of organic debris from the farm including stumps, logs, and brush. All of this material will eventually decay, however, to speed the process up by many years, a tub grinder is necessary. Basically, material is fed into this large piece of equipment, where it is hammered into much finer wood chips, accelerating the decomposition of this organic matter.

Dan Repola, of Material Processors, located in Spring Valley, New York, has been at the farm working hard on this project. Once all the wood has gone through the tub grinder, Dan passes it through a second time to make it even finer. He also screens the older piles of decaying matter, turning them into the dark and rich compost that I like to call 'black gold.' I hope you enjoy these photos of this amazing process.

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1 This is approaching the tub grinder in the compost yard with piles in various stages of decay.

2 As you can see, this is major heavy equipment.

3 An excavator is used to grab big mouthfuls of logs and brush.

4 It is then transferred into the revolving tub of the grinder, which, by the way, measures 10-feet 6-inches across.

5 As the tub revolves, a hammer mill below, shatters the wood into fragments.

6 Those fragments travel on a long conveyor belt, forming a large mound.

7 You can see how finely the wood is ground up.

8 What is Laura taking a picture of?

9 Oh! It's Eliad in the Hi-Lo taking a picture of Laura!

10 Eliad got a better view from above.

11 That's Dan in the excavator feeding the tub grinder.

12 As the tub spins, friction actually causes some of the wood to smoke.

13 A better look

14 In one year, this wood pile had gotten quite large.

15 Another view of the ground up wood. By the way, it's very fragrant.

16 When the pile gets too tall, Dan uses the claw to push it down a bit.

17 This machine can lift even a mighty tree trunk.

18 It's hard to imagine that this could fit into the tub grinder, but it did!

19 Dan retrieves the nicer looking wood from the pile that he thinks will make good firewood.

20 That wood is sawed into manageable pieces and is neatly stacked for splitting into firewood.

Posted on November 13th, 2009 in Gardens, My Home, Photo Gallery | direct link to this entry
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November 12th, 2009

A terrific evening for the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai

Two nights ago, I hosted the second annual gala for the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai. This is a special project I have been involved with for more than five years and is something very dear to my heart. When it opened, I dedicated the center to my beloved mother, who passed away two years ago this month at the age of ninety-three. The Center for Living is designed to provide out patients with whole patient care, including medical examinations, advice about diet and exercise, and the all important need for care giving. Simply stated, the main focus of the center is to teach how to grow old gracefully, something we should all start focusing on around the age of fifty.

The gala, held at my office in the Starrett Lehigh bulding in Manhattan, was a huge success with 375 guests in attendance. At the end of the evening, which included an auction, more than one million dollars was raised. The food was exquisitely prepared by Chef Pierre Schaedelin, who is now executive chef and part owner of Benoit in New York City. www.benoitny.com Sir Harold Evans, the legendary editor and journalist was our honoree of the evening and the event was emceed by Liz Smith. I wish to thank all who contributed and a special thanks to Jean Graham, Heather Kirkland, and Erin Fury, from our corporate events department, for all of their hard work in making this evening so wonderful. There is still time to bid on some great items to contribute to the Center for Living by visiting Charitybuzz.com.

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1 Tina Brown, Sir Harold Evans, and me DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

2 Here I am with Jim Cramer.

3 My daughter, Alexis, joined me for the occasion DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

4 Here I am with Tina Brown DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

5 Liz Smith, the Grand Dame of Dish, was our emcee for the evening.

6 With Liz Smith and Charles Koppelman - our Chairman of the Board DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

7 Here I am with Ed Victor and his mother-in-law - Florence Boggs - nearly 106 years old!

8 Robin Marino and Kevin Sharkey DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

9 Posing with Cynthia McFadden of Nightline and my niece, Sophie Herbert Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

10 Susan Magrino, her mother Mary Cross, me, and Allyn Magrino Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

11 With my friend, Dan Shedrick Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

12 Dr. Al Siu and me Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING 2009 © Patrick McMullan

13 With Larry Shire Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING 200 © Patrick McMullan

19 Darcy Miller with Sophie Herbert - my niece, and Christopher Herbert - my nephew

20 Michael Citro, Laura Blau, Muffin Dowdle, and Peter Michaelis

23 Jeffrey Brown and Robin Marino Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

24 Bunny Williams, John Rosselli, and me Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

25 Barry and Diana Levinson Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

26 Pomegranate martinis Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

27 Chateau St Jean donated all of the white wine for the evening

28 The vodka for the martinis - Imperia, of course Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

29 The tables were set in the clerestory Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

30 I contributed some of my photographs for the auction.

31 Other various auction items and bidding forms

32 These items were also available for bidding on Charitybuzz.com - some are still open.

33 Here is one of the stations set up for bidding.

34 The room was decorated with large stained plywood squares with silhouettes of bonsai trees made from white and silver vinyl.

35 Another image

36 And another

37 The logo for the Center for Living

38 Chef Pierre Schaedelin and famed Alain Ducasse

39 Pierre's menu taped in the kitchen area for easy reference

40 These racks held the lobster salad awaiting to be dressed and served.

41 The first course was a colorful lobster Salad consisting of lobster, lettuce cup, heart of palm, green beans, avocado, tomato, and grapefruit.

42 Dr. Audrey Chun addressing the room

43 Dr. Dennis Charney

44 Here I am thanking everyone for coming. Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

45 My image up on the big screen

46 Pierre keeping a watchful eye over every detail

47 A very efficient assembly line

48 Pierre manning the ovens

49 The pace was fast in the kitchen.

50 The main course was salmon en croute served with carrot puree, spinach, and tarragon sauce.

51 The parade of food emerges from the kitchen.

52 The auctioneer for the evening

53 The Charitybuzz.com representative received bids by cell phone.

54 Dessert was a wonderful meringue shell filled with chestnut mousse.

55 Piping the filling into each shell

56 Candied marron garnished the top.

57 Cynthia McFadden and Sophie Herbert Photo - DAVID X PRUTTING/ PatrickMcMullan.com====

58 Dr. Nimesh Nagarsheth - the drummer for N.E.D, a rock band made up of six doctors.

59 Karen Hart - Steve Schwarz's daughter on the board of the Brookdale foundation and my friend, Ralph Robbins

Posted on November 12th, 2009 in Behind the Scenes, Food & Recipes, Giving, Personal, Photo Gallery | direct link to this entry
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