As we continue the holiday week, I hope you enjoy this encore blog from my vacation in Costa Rica. It was originally posted on December 16, 2019.
I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season.
Some of you have asked for photos of my Thanksgiving. This year, my family and I went away. It felt odd at first - no turkey, no cranberry sauce, and no pie, but once we got to Costa Rica, near Dominical, a beach-front town in the province of Puntarenas, I started to relax and loved every minute of the five days we spent there. We enjoyed the beaches, the wildlife, and of course the many spectacular views from our villa.
Enjoy these photos.
Here I am at Los Elementos, an extraordinary villa built on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The house is superb – a large, secluded home built by two very talented garden designers. The pool area was one of our favorite spots.
Los Elementos has four levels and is reminiscent of an open-air house in Bali. In fact, the house was inspired by five Balinese elements – water, earth, fire, air and ether. All the couches were so beautiful and generously sized.
The entire space was so tranquil – look closely at the hammock at the back. There were many spaces in which to lounge.
There were also some resident pets – this cat was so friendly and loved entertaining my grandchildren.
Here is my gorgeous daughter Alexis. She did her yoga exercises every morning by the pool.
Los Elementos has a wonderful infinity-edge swimming pool. Jude and Truman, who love the water and are excellent swimmers, swam nonstop.
Los Elementos is just a short walk to some of the area’s most beautiful and secluded beaches. Here I am with our friend, Milena. She loves the beach.
The views from the beach were endless. Dominical Beach is well known around the world as one of the best places for surfing.
My grandchildren played and played and played – they adore the water.
We were there for the end of the “green season” or wet season, which runs from May to mid-November. The weather was excellent – mid to high 80s during the day with lows in the 70s – perfect beach weather.
The modern garden at Los Elementos was designed by Dennis Schrader, owner of Landcraft Environments, Ltd., a pre-eminent wholesaler of tropical, tender perennials, and exotic annuals, in Mattituck, New York. This garden showcases tropical plants, including water lilies, Calathea, palms, and Heliconia.
Bismarckia palms, my favorite fan palm, abound in Costa Rica.
The water lilies are so beautiful – they are in full bloom every morning.
Here’s a closer look at the water lilies, Nymphaea. These are hardy pond plants that live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species.
I was so intrigued by this extraordinary vine. Its leaves cling to the tree trunk, all separated and exposed to the light.
Jude floated purple flowers in the pool. She also loves photography and took this picture herself.
And here is another photo by Jude.
The flowers are picked off this pergola – the gardens were so well-maintained – everything was groomed and swept every day.
Here is a beautiful sunset seen from the infinity-edge pool. The sunsets were so stunning.
Here is a photo I took one early morning of a gecko on the screen. It reminded me of an Aztec lizard print.
We also visited Playa Ventanas. The name comes from the caves that look like little windows – ventanas means windows in Spanish. The caves of Playa Ventanas are natural formations.
Our boat was able to go through some of the them – this can only be done at low tide.
Playa Ventanas is located south of Dominical and Uvita and north of Ojochal and San Buenas.
At both ends of the beach are huge boulders covered with lush vegetation that extends to the sea.
Here is another view of one of the “windows.”
Here is Milena standing at the entrance of one of the caves. During the low tide, one can walk through and see the waves breaking inside.
At night, we enjoyed dinner back at Los Elementos. Jude and our friend, Ari, who also accompanied us on the trip, made these arrangements for the table. In my next blog, I will share more photos of our holiday in Costa Rica.
And here are more fun photos from that memorable holiday party in 2017. It was originally posted on December 22nd of that year.
It makes me so happy to hear how much you’ve enjoyed these holiday party blogs.
My recent gathering was a huge success - delicious food, beautiful decorations and quality time spent with friends and family. Here are more photos from the festive evening, including some with my special guest, Santa Claus.
The party was scheduled from 3pm to 5pm in the evening. Everyone was very punctual.
We put this tree out on my terrace parterre – one of a handful of real trees we used this year. I never like to cut down trees, but this was the top of one tree that needed some good pruning.
Coat racks were placed on my large porch, so guests could remove their coats and shoes at the door.
Here are some guests in my Brown Room enjoying eggnog, hors d’oeuvres and good conversation. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
Here is the gorgeous Buche de Noel we made – brought inside and ready to serve. Everyone loved it. Buche de Noel is made of sponge cake to resemble a miniature actual Yule log – it is a form of sweet roulade, and so delicious. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
Chef Pierre Schaedelin from PS Tailored Events and his talented team did such a wonderful job preparing the dishes. Here he is making red caviar appetizers. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
There were selfies being taken in every room. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
Outside, my driver, Carlos, helped bring guests from their cars to my house.
My friend, Jim Klinko, gifted me this beautiful 18th-century planter – I think it will look perfect up at Skylands, my home in Maine.
And here he is, the jolly ol’ man himself – Santa Claus.
Everyone loved the oysters from Norm Bloom – we ordered 400 delicious oysters, served on the half shell with cocktail sauce and mignonette. http://www.coppsislandoysters.com (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
Here is my gorgeous Empress Qin looking up at Kevin as he captures this quick snapshot.
We also had four wonderful carolers singing on the terrace parterre.
Santa wished everyone a Merry Christmas as they walked from house to house.
My property director, Fred Jacobsen, and some of my outdoor grounds crew – Chhewang, Chhiring, Pemba, and Phurba – took this nice photo with Santa.
Here is Santa with the daughters of my nephew, Morgan – Beatrix and Kit.
My driver, Rock Pereira, and Heather Kirkland, who is in charge of all these special events, posed for this photo.
Here are my friends, Laura Blau, and her husband, Michael Citro.
Here are Carlos and Wilmer.
This is our head of programming and development, Kim Miller-Olko, and her family.
Churchill is Susan Magrino’s miniature poodle – he’s pictured here with Susan’s driver, Laurentius Surca, and of course, Santa.
Here’s my friend, Muffin Dowdle, aboard the sleigh with Santa.
And, here’s Terre Blair and Melinda Shea.
Allyn Magrino also took a fun photo with Santa Claus.
On Santa’s left is Dr. Pedda Reddy – he is a very passionate peafowl breeder and has given me several beautiful peacocks and peahens. He attended the party with his lovely wife, Leela, and their son.
Dawa, who is in charge of caring for all my outdoor birds, brought up the day’s chicken eggs and took this quick photo with Santa.
My special eggnog, made with rum, bourbon, cognac, and whipped cream folded in, was very popular. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
Here is my kitchen – bustling with guests having a great time and enjoying all the delicious food. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
Kevin, and my friend, Richard Christiansen, joined me for this photo. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
And here I am with Santa – I hope you all have a very special holiday with you and your families.
Everyone had such a great time at the party. Over the next week, I will share some of our best holiday blog memories from years past. (Photo by Peter T. Michaelis)
I hope you enjoy this encore blog from December 21, 2017.
Here are more photos from this year’s holiday party at my Bedford, New farm.
My Winter House was where all our delicious savory dishes were served. My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin from PS Tailored Events, prepared a fabulous feast - cooked hams, homemade biscuits, an array of mouthwatering hors d’oeuvres, and of course, lots and lots of fresh shrimp and oysters. I made panettone, plum puddings, and a giant Buche de Noel. Every room of my Winter House was beautifully decorated in glistening shades of gold, silver, white and green. It was all so gorgeous and perfect for our holiday gathering.
Enjoy these photos.
Guests entered the Winter House through the large porch. We started a nice fire in my sugar pot. This is one of two huge cast iron sugar kettles I keep as fire pits. They add such a nice accent to the terraces and have always been fun conversation pieces during gatherings.
Another sign tells guests what they will find inside this building – it was by far the most crowded house during the party.
The giant bird in my entrance hall greeted everyone as they arrived.
My Green Room is just off the foyer. Laura decorated this sunken parlor in gorgeous gold and green. I love these two trees filled with ornaments – they just light up the room.
Here is a closer look at one of the trees – overflowing with balls in every shade of green.
I love how everything shimmers on the branches.
On one table is a collection of green bottle brush trees.
Another grouping of bottle brush trees sits on this high chest. Kevin’s reflection can be seen in the mirror.
My Bird Room is on the other side of the foyer. It is the smaller of two dining rooms. Here, Laura added touches of green and silver – in the back right corner is another gorgeous tree.
This is a 7.5 foot silver tinseled tree from my collection at The Home Depot. goo.gl/judpnB
On the table is another lovely napkin display – simply rolled and piled neatly together.
The napkins were set next to nuts and dried fruits from New York City’s famous Eataly Downtown. https://www.eataly.com/
This is my servery – a room from which meals are served. During parties, I often serve drinks from this area. This big silver bowl is for my special eggnog.
We filled this room with lots of white decorations dotted with copper and silver-colored accents.
More trees and woodland animals fill my mantel in the Brown Room.
In this corner, a green tree from my collection at The Home Depot – adorned with strings of lights. Beautiful decorations don’t always have to be elaborate. This tree was a big favorite.
A smaller tabletop tree with glass icicle ornaments – also very simple, but so elegant.
We moved my long dining table closer to one side, so we could serve the foods buffet-style – it’s a wonderful solution for large gatherings.
Meringues, cakes, and cookies filled the table.
Whenever possible, always try to use real china. Here, we stacked a combination of white and white with gold plates for all the guests.
Nearby, a tray of forks – even the flatware looked so decorative on the table.
Laura folded these napkins in rectangles and then arranged them in a crisscross pattern.
This is one of the plum pudding cakes I made for the party – it was so deliciously moist and flavorful. Next to it is a hard sauce I made with cognac.
My daughter, Alexis, is an excellent baker and cook. She brought this gorgeous cake topped with berries.
Here is a platter of beautifully sculpted meringues.
On this plate, stollen with marzipan from Balthazar New York. It is surrounded by Noel Nut Balls, the tasty cookie made from our Martha & Marley Spoon Holiday Cookie Box. http://balthazarny.com
Our shrimp came from True North – 40 pounds of the freshest shrimp. We served it on cake stands garnished with lettuces from my garden – they look like flowers. http://www.truenorthseafood.com
Jason Schreiber and I created this giant Buche de Noel – I added these whimsical mice right before the party – they were perfect.
My kitchen is where we served our hams – it is quite a spread.
This ham in the center is from my friend, Pat LaFrieda. It is a 20-pound smoked ham. http://www.lafrieda.com
This one is a whole country ham from Loveless Cafe – so flavorful. https://www.lovelesscafe.com
And the ham in the foreground at the bottom of the photo is from La Quercia – a spectacular acorn-fed prosciutto style ham. http://laquercia.us
The hams were served with homemade biscuits and mustard sauces.
We made a delicious pomegranate punch using concentrate from my friends at POM Wonderful mixed with citrus slices. It was very popular with all our guests. https://www.pomwonderful.com
And look how beautiful it is in this giant bowl.
Everything looks so stunning all prepared on my kitchen counter.
Tomorrow, I will share more of the food, photos of friends and family who attended, and of the special visit from the jolliest of them all – Santa Claus. I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season.
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