I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday. This encore blog was originally posted on January 02, 2024.
Just before Christmas, I hosted a very special gathering for my entire staff at my farm. My employees work so hard during the year - caring for the property and my many pets and gardens, and helping me prepare for all the meetings, shoots, and other events. I took everyone to La Bastide by Andrea Calstier and Cenadou Bistrot, a quaint establishment in North Salem, New York featuring two French restaurants owned by Chef Andrea Calstier and his wife Elena Oliver. We all enjoyed a buffet of delicious hors d'ouevres including tuna tartare with avocado and yuzu, Compté filled gougères, chickpea panisses with smoked espelette pepper coulis, truffle croque-monsieur, and garden salads. For sweets, we had Madeleine cookies, choux, chocolates, and other treats. It was a most enjoyable party.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
These two French restaurants are housed in the same building. Cenadou serves traditional French dishes while La Bastide offers a more formal tasting menu for fine dining. Cenadou, the 50-seat French bistro is upstairs and La Bastide, which seats 12 is downstairs – both with beautiful views of the property’s landscape.
Both restaurants feature open kitchens and local, seasonal cuisine.
To start, we had a buffet of hors d’oeuvres including tuna tartare with avocado and yuzu. Tuna tartare is a dish made with raw tuna cut into small pieces or cubes that are usually served in a bowl. The Asian flavors such as ginger, soy, chile, and lime juice are added to highlight the taste of the tuna. Each was topped with a slice of yuzu – a citrus fruit that is tart and fragrant, closely resembling grapefruit, with overtones of mandarin orange.
This is chickpea panisse with smoked espelette peppers coulis. Panisses, or chickpea flour fries, are a popular street snack from the south of France.
I took many snapshots. Here I am with my crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa. He has been working with me at the farm for more than 22-years.
This is the garden salad – so fresh and light. It was a big favorite.
Gougères are baked savory choux pastries made with cheese. The cheese in these is Compté. Comté is a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France bordering Switzerland. It is classified as an Alpine cheese.
And these are mini truffle croque-monsieurs. A croque-monsieur is a hot sandwich made with ham and cheese.
This photo is of me, Pete Sherpa and Fernando Ferrari.
I also gave away grab-bag gifts. Every one selected a number out of a container and then chose their own present.
Here is Elvira – she got one of the early numbers. I think she is very happy with her choice.
In this photo – Fernando, my longtime driver Andres Velastegui, and Phurba Sherpa.
We had several cocktails – Sancha with tequila, lemon verbena, cucumber, lime, spicy homemade tincture; Nougat with vodka, beet juice, elderflower, lemon, cremant de bourgogne; Voyeur with bourbon, dark maple syrup, orange and lemon juice, and angostura bitters.
We also enjoyed white wine and other cocktails.
From my security detail – Tommy Spasiano and Patrick Tierney.
Here are Jimmy Oliveros, Juan Londoño, and Helen Peparo – my stable team.
Here I am with my longtime driver, Carlos “Uno” Villamil.
The dessert table was filled with cookies and other sweets.
We had pâte à choux filled with sweet pastry cream and decorated with a tiny piece of edible gold leaf.
Is a Madeleine a cake or a cookie? Technically, they are small butter cakes; however, because of their shape and size they’re often referred to as cookies – very small sponge cake cookies with a distinctive shell-like shape.
My operations manager, Matt Krack, loves to cook and bake. He brought in these delectable cookies to share – spiced chocolate ganache sandwich cookies and his Aunt Stella’s cuccidati.
We also had chocolate…
… and peanut brittle. Everyone took treats home.
Here are Patrick and my head gardener, Ryan McCallister.
Here, my gardener Brian O’Kelly, Claudia Lieto-McKenna my special projects manager, and Ryan take a “selfie.”
This is Cesar Felix. He takes care of all my birds – the chickens, Guinea hens, turkeys, peafowl, geese, and now pheasants.
Another quick photo – Brenda Pinto, Carlos “dos” Restrepo, and Elvira, from my housekeeping and housecleaning crew.
And here I am with the owners, chef Andrea Calstier and his wife Elena Oliver. Thank you so much for a lovely evening. If you’re in the Westchester, New York area, I encourage you to try to La Bastide by Andrea Calstier and Cenadou Bistrot – you will love them both.
As we continue with our holiday memories, here's another encore blog. It was originally posted on January 06, 2024.
I often travel somewhere warm for New Year's - a brief trip south to escape the cold winter can be so invigorating.
You may have seen photos from my recent holiday trip to Palm Beach, Florida. I was joined by my dear friend, Terre Blair. I always try to include as much as I can during my trips, so they are productive, informational, and fun. We spent most of our brief stay touring farms, enjoying great meals, shopping along Worth Avenue, attending parties, and visiting with friends.
Enjoy these photos.
This large cruise ship is Margaritaville at Sea – a cruise line that operates two-day voyages out of West Palm Beach, Florida to Grand Bahama Island. If you want to drink
margartitas, or Martha-ritas, and listen to Jimmy Buffet songs while relaxing under the warm sun, a trip aboard the Margaritaville at Sea is a great way to do it!
Soon after arriving in Palm Beach, we attended our first holiday party. Here I am with Lenny Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s brother – always looking so dapper and fun. I am wearing a comfortable Azzedine Alaïa kaftan.
The next morning, we went to Chikmonk Coffee, a unique farmer owned, locally roasted Indian specialty coffee company. Here I am at the pop-up coffee bar with owners, Nandini Jayaprasad and David Beil. They import the coffee from their family’s plantation estate in Chikmagalur, India. It was so delicious, I brought some home with me.
This is the front façade of the private club, Carriage House. Its owners, Michael Bickford and his wife Paula, enlisted the help of architect Keith Spina to handle the restoration of the Palm Beach landmark buildings and worked with Madrid-based designer Luis Bustamante on the interiors. The front is decorated with thousands of holiday glass ornaments.
I also stopped at the Paul Lebrecque Salon for a blow-out. Here I am with Paul on my right and the salon’s manager, Collin Adams, on my left.
Here I am for an evening of fun and celebration with my friends Terre Blair and Susan Magrino. I am wearing my new crisp white Oscar de la Renta kaftan.
On this night, we attended the 65th birthday part of my friend, Laura Slatkin. Pictured in this selfie – George Ledes, owner of the iconic fragrance Fracas by Robert Piguet, myself, Terre Blair, makeup artist Daisy Schwartzberg Toye, my longtime publicist Susan Magrino, and photographer Douglas Friedman.
Here I am with Douglas in another photo. this was taken inside the Slatkins’ beautiful home.
At Swank, they grow all their own crops from seed. Here are the starter trays with tomato seeds.
In another section are trays with developing seedlings. Everything is carefully watched and monitored. These plants look very healthy.
Because of rising waters and sandy soils, all the plants go from trays to individual grow buckets. There are more than 25-thousand plastic containers here at Swank.
This area has growing frisée or curly endive. The tan tops are blanching caps put on the head of frisée to keep the sunlight away, turning it into a beautiful yellow and making the leaves more tender and less bitter.
These are the peppers – millions of peppers growing and thriving in these plastic containers.
Here is a closer look at some of the hot peppers growing. Peppers need room for their roots to spread, so when growing in containers, remember to choose pots at least 12-inches in diameter.
The farm grows more than 350 varieties of produce consisting of leaf lettuces, specialty greens, cooking greens, baby and full size vegetables, edible flowers, herbs, tomatoes, micro greens, strawberries, wild flower bouquets and more.
Here I am with Swank Specialty Produce proprietors, Darrin and Jodi Swank. Aside from the farm, they also have a market held in an open-air 8500 square foot barn where they host about 25-bakers, growers, gardeners, and sellers of quality, all-natural fresh foods and products.
This is Dan Lembessis, owner of Blis Farms, where they make authentic Greek virgin olive oil, vinegar, jams, salt, and many other items.
They also had boxes of delicious sourdough bread.
Blis also sells a variety of honey – Wild Greek Forest Honey, Wild Greek Island Honey, and Greek Golden Vanilla Honey.
This honey is made from rare vanilla fir trees. It looks very creamy.
Here I am with Dan and his son. I purchased several items to take home with me. The market is filled with so many wonderful and flavorful items.
I stopped for this quick photo with a bunch of fresh baby fennel.
And one could smell the porchetta by Pork-etta – after it was cooked for eight hours.
There was also a table showcasing a large selection of Paulie’s Pasta.
Of course, I couldn’t visit Palm Beach without stopping at an orchid farm. There were so many beautiful blooming plants.
I selected a few vandas for my greenhouse collection. Vandas are rare orchids and are loved for their stunning colors. Vandas range from tiny orange flowers to gigantic blue and pink ones with interesting markings.
Here is one in beautiful dark pink. Vanda is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are currently up to 90 species of Vanda orchids.
And then we had some of the best Latin street food I have ever had at Cholo Soy Cocina. We enjoyed one of every kind of taco and a sweet corn salad. Cholo Soy Cocina is in the Antiques district, and features a large variety of tacos, quesadillas, empanadas, and other dishes.
I didn’t notice it at first, but look at the sign… I definitely approve! Do stop in if you’re ever in the area. You’ll love everything you try! In my next blog, more photos from my short trip to Palm Beach. Stay tuned.
Here's the continuation of my family's holiday excursion to Costa Rica. This encore blog was originally posted on December 17, 2019 - enjoy.
There is so much to see in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is a Central American country with coastlines on the Caribbean and the Pacific. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador to the south. Costa Rica is known for its beaches, its volcanoes, and its biodiversity - roughly a quarter of its area is made up of protected jungle, rich with wildlife, plants, and trees.
Here are more photos from my trip, enjoy.
Costa Rica is not very large. The land area measures at about 20-thousand square miles – a little smaller than the US state of West Virginia. But the views over the water are vast and amazing. We took many photos of these spectacular views.
While driving in Costa Rica, one will see numerous fruit stands – many with pipa fría, or fresh chilled green coconut. Coconut water is full of electrolytes and packed with calcium, magnesium, and potassium – it is so good and so good for you.
Discarded coconut shells are made into beautiful bowls and other natural products and sold at these roadside stands.
We visited the Baru National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses more than 800-acres of land along the Pacific, offering spectacular bird and wildlife viewing. There are many trails through primary and secondary forests, mangroves, grasslands, and even a beach. There are hundreds of types of birds and animals, including sloths, monkeys, peccaries, and toucans. Looking up, we saw this huge ant colony in the tree.
Up in another tree, we saw several capuchin monkeys. They were all swinging through the trees playing with each other. This duo stopped to look at all the activity below.
There are four monkey species that are native to the forests of Costa Rica. They include the Central American squirrel monkey, this Panamanian white-faced capuchin, the mantled howler monkey, and the spider monkey.
Capuchin monkeys, also called white-faced monkeys, occupy the wet lowland forests on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Panama and in the deciduous dry forests on the Pacific coast. These animals are very curious.
The boardwalks have wire netting along the top to make them more non-slip when wet. This is a great idea.
Here’s Ari next to the buttress roots of this huge tree. In Costa Rica, these roots line the forest floor.
Here are the roots of another large tree. Like the name suggests, these roots buttress or keep the tree from falling down.
We also visited another mountain top animal facility, the Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary – dedicated to the protection and conservation of Costa Rica’s wildlife. the facility provides wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education and research.
Peccaries are adorable little wild pigs found in the deciduous dry forest, tropical rainforests, low-lying shrub forests, and agricultural areas in Costa Rica. They are quite resourceful and adaptable and live in herds of between three and 30 other peccaries, maintaining a hierarchical structure within their herd.
There are six sloth species in the world, and two of the six live in Costa Rica. Sloths sleep about 20 hours a day. Here is a pair napping in their enclosure – they didn’t mind our visit one bit.
Here’s another capuchin monkey at the sanctuary. The sanctuary has a more private area for wounded animals that need special care during rehabilitation.
This is a yellow-naped Parrot, Amazona a. auropalliata. It is almost entirely green, with a large patch of yellow on its nape.
This is the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan or Swainson’s Toucan, a brightly marked bird with a large bill. The male can reach up to two feet in length, while the smaller female reaches about 20-inches long at maturity. This toucan eats a variety of fruit, including different seeds, berries, drupes, and fruit fleshes. They also like insects or small snakes and hunt for birds’ eggs, nestlings, and lizards.
We also went on a Titi Canopy Tour – ziplining through the rainforests. Titi Canopy is the only zipline tour located close to Manuel Antonio. The company runs 12 lines, 22 platforms, one rappel, one Tarzan swing and a treetop suspension bridge. It was a great way to see nature.
We ate at my friend’s restaurant, Restaurante La Parcela, specializing in local cuisine, and seafood, as well as more beautiful views.
On another day, we looked at some of the fruits of Costa Rica. Breadfruit, native to Southeast Asia, arrived in Costa Rica with sailors in the early 1800s. In Costa Rica, breadfruit trees grow up to 50-feet tall and have smooth, brown trunks. This flowering tree, which is part of the mulberry family, can produce up to 200 fruits each year.
And do you know what this is? Theobroma cacao also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree. It is a small evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. After four years, the mature cacao tree produces fruit in the form of elongated pods; it may yield up to 70 such fruits annually.
If you saw my photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen these two black vultures, Coragyps atratus. We saw vultures everywhere – these large, mostly black birds with bald, wrinkled, charcoal-black heads and wingspans up to five feet. With keen eyesight, they can spot carcass from far distances, but these scavengers have a poor sense of smell.
And, on our way back to the airport, we went over the famous Tarcoles River. Driving over the Tarcoles Bridge, you might see dozens of crocodiles. We saw glimpses of some just under the water.
And look at the gorgeous view beyond. If you get the chance, visit Costa Rica – you’ll have a great time. We certainly did.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
