I hope you caught a glimpse of what I did for the holidays on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48.
This Christmas, I attended a lovely dinner at Clove Brook Farm, the Hudson Valley, New York home of my friends, Christopher Spitzmiller and Anthony Bellomo. Among the many delicious dishes we enjoyed - radicchio pomegranate salad, corn pudding, Yorkshire pudding, baby Brussels sprouts, and the best Pat LaFrieda standing rib roast, which I brought to season and then cook at their home. For dessert, we had homemade Bûche de Noël. It was a wonderful celebration and feast.
Here are more photos, enjoy.
Christopher, the potter lamp maker, and his husband Anthony, the landscape architect, who owns Orangerie in Millbrook, have a silver tip Christmas tree. These trees are native to Oregon and Washington state.
It is often referred to as a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree. The spaces between the limbs highlight the ornaments and are reminiscent of Christmas trees from the 1920s and 1930s.
Christopher and Anthony decorate it with charming vintage ornaments and icicles.
This year, they used mostly cardinals. Christopher likes to purchase ornaments in groups of six so one’s eye moves all over the tree and sees familiar “friends.”
The tree topper is by Wendy Addison, who makes all sorts of wonderful seasonal holiday items – all by hand.
Here is the holiday table – set with antique Wedgwood plates edged in red and gold. The festive tablecloth is a discontinued print from Cowtan & Tout. Anthony arranged the flowers in the center cachepot and Christopher made the golf lustre faux barrel cachepots in his New York Studio.
Here’s a view of the beautifully set table from above.
I recommended that Anthony sugar pears, nectarines, apples, and grapes using egg whites and sugar. They look so pretty on the plate surrounding the tureen.
It looks real, doesn’t it? Look again. This hand made ceramic artichoke is by the ceramic artist Clare Potter.
I actually brought the rib roast to Christopher’s the day before, on Christmas Eve. Pat LaFrieda gave me a seven rib roast. We seasoned it and let it set for 24-hours before cooking.
And then on Christmas Day, we put it in the oven. Here’s Anthony smiling for a quick photo just before the roast goes in.
For medium rare, the temperature in the center of the roast should be between 130 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit when ready.
Meanwhile, guests enjoyed ROE Caviar, crème fresh, toast points and mini latkes Anthony prepared.
Here I am with guest and interior designer, Ashley Whittaker, warming up by the fire and drinking egg nog. Anthony made the egg nog using my recipe. Ashley and her husband Andrew Spence hosted a holiday gathering at their home the night before.
And the standing rib roast is done. Here’s Christopher after pulling it out of the oven. It is perfect.
And then Christopher does the honors – carves and plates the rib roast.
The buffet included a beautiful salad of radicchio, green leaf lettuce, endives, and pomegranate seeds.
There was also pan seared baby Brussels sprouts from Anthony and Christopher’s garden.
And corn pudding, which is a delicious creamy comfort food dish.
Here is the main entrée – sliced rib roast. It was a big hit.
Here is the Bûche de Noël made by Anthony with faux bois chocolate ganache. Christopher made the meringue mushrooms.
And here’s a view of everyone from upstairs. Thank you Christopher and Anthony for a wonderful Christmas meal.
I always look forward to seeing photos of our staff’s holiday celebrations.
If you follow this blog regularly, you know every year I send out an email asking friends, employees, and business partners to send me their Thanksgiving photos, so I could post them on a blog to share with readers. This year, I asked colleagues for more pictures to see how everyone spent their Christmas and New Year's holidays. The response was great.
Enjoy these photos.
I hope all of you have lots of fond memories of the holidays. Ryan Mesina, our own VP Creative Services, shares this photo of his decorated Christmas tree at his upstate New York home.
This is Ryan’s living room all decked out for a holiday “ham” party. He and his fiancé Ryan hosted 50 guests at their home.
And here is the dining room table with a gorgeous buffet feast.
Fiancé Ryan cooked a 21-pound ham. (Photo by Kyle Furlong)
And Ryan made the desserts. The snowman made from marzipan on top of the coconut cake was inspired by one of our old “Living” magazine covers – do you recall which one? The pavlova is topped with candied citron, kumquats, pomegranate, whipped cream, and calamondin curd made from his own calamondin tree.
At another holiday party, the Ryans visited “our” Ryan’s sister. Pictured here are fiancé Ryan, and sisters Vivien and Lynnette.
My outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, shared this family photo taken Christmas Day.
My longtime housekeeper, Enma Sandoval, and her family went to the Dominican Republic for the holidays.
Enma, her husband Rolondo, and their daughters Elvira and Kaily, enjoyed many warm weather activities.
Here they are on horseback.
My gardener, Brian O’Kelly, selected a Fraser fir tree for his Christmas this year – topped with a natural woodland cone.
Operations manager, Matt Krack, cooked a rib roast for Christmas dinner with his sons. His recipe: dress it with herbs, salt and garlic, cook low and slow at 225-degrees Fahrenheit for 2.5 hours, let it rest for 45-minutes, turn the heat up to 550-degrees Fahrenheit, roast for 10-minutes. Here is the before…
… and the after. A delicious medium rare four rib roast.
Francisco Sanchez, Marquee Brands office manager, enjoyed the Christmas holiday with his family in New York City. Everyone had a stocking.
There were many gifts – under and next to the tree.
Here is a plate of Francisco’s mom’s Santa Claus deviled eggs.
And here is Francisco with his family.
My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, went home for the holidays – home to California. Here he is visiting the Redwood Grove at the UC Botanical Garden. These redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, towering over the lush woodland floor were planted in the 1930s.
My longtime publicist and friend, Susan Magrino, spent the holidays at her Florida home. Here is her festive table.
Special projects manager, Claudia Lieto-McKenna, sent in the next few photos. She says, “I have come to the realization that no matter how much you “think” you are on top of preparing for Christmas- it’s just never enough time! This year, I had to decide – detailed decorating or bake? I chose baking. With nut and sesame allergies in our home, the decision was to make two favorites; gingerbread (Martha’s recipe, of course!) for son Luca and rugelach for son Tristan.
Here’s the rugelach – both the cookies and mini pastries were devoured quickly.
Claudia’s son collected some fallen branches of a conifer tree to adorn the dinner table and fireplace mantel!
Claudia’s parents also drove down from Montréal. Here is Claudia’s dog, Cenzo, with her mom.
Bill McCormack from my security team took his family to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Mario Silva, Art Director for Bruno Magli at Marquee Brands, submitted photos of his holiday dinner. He says, “my friends Sabrina, Alberto, and I cooked for Christmas Eve.”
Among the many dishes – “pan de jamón or bread with ham, a traditional Venezuelan side and one of our staples for the holidays.”
“Our main course was lamb, ravioli, and a fresh salad with pomegranate, mint, and other herbs. Alberto should take full credit as we all assisted him while having wine and a great conversation.”
Everything was cooked to perfection. It was a delicious and memorable occasion.
My special projects producer, Judy Morris, celebrated the New Year at a her brother’s wedding. Here is Judy with her husband, Jim.
These are Judy’s three sons – Eddie, Billy, and Jimmy. I’ve known all of them since they were born – they’ve grown into handsome young men.
And here is Judy with her dad, Jay Morris. The event was held in the iconic Seagram Building where Mr. Morris once worked. During his time there, he often ate at The Grill, which is still running successfully –
right next door to wedding venue, The Pool.
And here is The Pool – so beautiful and so perfect for the guests of honor, Dave and Ellie Morris. Congratulations!
Jenna Meistrell, VP of Global Brand Management for Body Glove and Dakine at Marquee Brands shared this photo of her holiday table.
And my podcast producer, Heather Kirkland, submitted this photo from New Year’s Eve. It is of her friend Diane’s longhaired Chihuahua, Piper – dressed to ring in 2024.
And here is a photo of my crew on Christmas morning. I made breakfast for all of us – layered omelettes, homemade yogurt with farm honey, panattone, smoked salmon, coffee and tea. I’ll share more of my holiday photos in a separate blog. Thanks to all who contributed to this gallery, and here’s to a healthy, happy, and productive New Year!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Here's to a prosperous and healthy New Year ahead.
Just before Christmas, I hosted a very special gathering for my entire staff at my Bedford, New York 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 new establishment 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.
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