Entertaining at my Bedford, New York farm is always so much fun, especially when I host momentous occasions.
Yesterday, I invited more than 60 people for dinner to celebrate all those who have worked with me for 20-years or longer. Our feast centered around an Argentinian theme with foods prepared on an asado grill by Chef Pablo Calandroni - whole salmon, rib eye steak, beef short ribs, pork spare ribs, sweetbreads, chicken, and morcilla sausages. My friend Chef Pierre Schaedelin of PS Tailored Events also prepared a variety of delicious fresh salads - Spanish criolla salad, black bean salad, three-color carrot slaw, potato salad, beet salad, and my daughter's flavorful chopped salad with corn and jalapeño. Everything was so delicious, everyone went back for seconds and even thirds. For dessert - refreshing fruit ice pops, shortbread cookies, and tres leches cupcakes.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
It was a beautiful summer evening for a party. For this gathering, I decided to have a sit-down dinner for all 64 guests. We used green and grayish tan linens and my Drabware plates for the long table.
For the centerpieces, we placed potted herbs down the entire length of the table. I bought the chairs years ago during my catering days – 450 wicker chairs and they still come in so handy for these large parties. Each longtime employee had a small gift from me at their place setting.
Here is my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa, with his son, Mingmar, and his wife Pema. This day was Chhiring’s actual 20th anniversary working with me at the farm.
Video editor, Paul Delmiche, is another longtime colleague who started with me in our Westport television studio in 1997. Here he is with line producer, Jon Coniglio, who has also been with me for a number of years.
Here’s Lorna Aragon and her sister, Elizabeth. Lorna has been with me for more than 20-years – working with our flagship magazine, Living. Lorna oversaw the table setting for this event.
Many of you may recognize my longtime food editor, Sarah Carey, who has been with me for more than 20-years. Here she is with her wife, Maryann Vanderventer, who also worked with me on my television show.
Before dinner I welcomed everyone to Cantitoe Corners and thanked all the longtime celebrants for their years of hard work and dedication to my farm, my company, and my brand.
Not far from the table was the giant asado grill filled with so many delicious foods. The charcoal was lighted three hours earlier to get it perfectly hot for cooking.
Asado chef, Pablo Calandroni, and his sous chef, Kevin Thomas, cut all the meats for the buffet as soon as they were done cooking.
These chaffing dishes are heated with charcoal from the grill. Each one held a different meat – everything was so delicious.
Here is a first helping – a little bit of everything cooked so perfectly.
Kevin and Pablo stopped for this quick photo. Be sure to see more of Pablo’s great feasts on his Instagram page @asado.561.
My executive manager, Dorian Arrich, smiles for this photo with Fernando Ferrari, who has worked for all my television and video programs and shoots for more than 25 years.
The salads were all so beautiful and delicious. Chef Pierre used vegetables from my gardens to make them. We also had corn on the cob.
This is my daughter Alexis’s chopped salad with corn and jalapeño. It takes a bit of time to dice all the ingredients, but it is so worth it.
And look at this gorgeous deep red beet salad. The beets were harvested from my garden just the day before.
We also served cocktails – Martharitas and sangria. Here is our excellent wait staff.
For dessert, ice pops served in individual cups – currant, black raspberry, coconut, peach, lemon, and red raspberry. It was hard to choose just one.
Sarah Carey made these delectable tres leches cupcakes with candied orange slices.
And my favorite brown butter shortbread cookies – dessert was so perfect.
Each employee gift was wrapped in the same blue and white of the Argentinian flag to go along with our theme.
I gave Bandolier phone cases – the original luxury crossbody leather case. Practical and functional, I’ve been using them for several years and love all the different styles and colors. It was a perfect evening and perfect party with friends. And, you’ll soon be able to watch me make some of the dishes from this party on Roku!
Today at my Bedford, New York farm, I'm hosting a very special party to celebrate all those who have worked with me for 20-years and more.
With so much to do, everyone pitched in yesterday to get everything ready. Among the many tasks on our list - mow the lawns, weed the garden beds, mulch the carriage roads, harvest the vegetables, bathe the donkeys, and make the tablecloth and centerpieces for the outdoor sit-down dinner. We got so much done and fortunately this week's weather is fantastic.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My peafowl have the perfect “bird’s eye view” of all the party preparations going on at the farm. Here are three sitting atop one of the chickens coops “taking it all in.”
The courtyard is where everyone will gather – it is looking so pretty with the large potted sago palms on the cobblestone courtyard.
All the surrounding areas near the stable are freshly groomed. Here’s Domi mowing the lawn in front of the peafowl and goose enclosures.
Nearby, my stable manager, Helen, wipes down all the stall doors.
My vegetable garden is looking so lush and green. It was also cleaned and weeded.
These beets were harvested early in the day. The beetroot is the taproot of the beet plant, and is often called the table beet, garden beet, red or golden beet or simply… beet. Beets are highly nutritious and very good for maintaining strong cardiovascular health. It’s low in calories, contains zero cholesterol, and is rich in folates, vitamin-A, B-complex, and antioxidants.
Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean or fava bean is an ancient member of the pea family. They have a nutty taste and buttery texture. I always grow lots of fava beans. A trug bucket full is also picked for the party.
And here’s a bowl of fresh eggs from my gorgeous and most productive chickens.
Herbs are potted for use as our centerpieces. It is always nice to utilize natural elements to decorate the tables. Green is also a theme color for the table setting. It will go so nicely with my Drabware dishes.
Dawa is weeding the perennial garden across from the chicken coops – it’s all hands on deck for this special gathering.
And of course, the donkeys are getting bathed for the occasion.
Truman “TJ” Junior and Clive don’t seem to mind – these baths cool them down on a warm summer’s day.
Here’s Domi carefully weed whacking around the antique posts of the Asian pear espalier. I bought these posts from China. Originally, they were used as grape supports in a valley that was going to be dammed and flooded to create a reservoir. Now, I use these beautiful posts for various projects around my farm – including this row of espaliered fruits.
Inside my Flower Room kitchen, Chef Pierre Schaedelin from PS Tailored Events, cuts the beets into bite-sized pieces for a delicious salad.
Here’s sous chef Moises carrying a tray filled with citrus – ready for the cocktails and fruit popsicles.
Phurba puts fresh mulch around the boxwood in the long Boxwood Allée. Mulch is a layer of material applied to the soil surface. It helps to conserve soil moisture, improve fertility and health of the soil, reduce weed growth, and enhance the visual appeal of the area. All the organic mulch we use is made right here at the farm.
The peafowl have moved for a closer look – here they are on top of the mulch filled dump truck.
Here, Chhiring, who is celebrating his 20 years with me today, is burning all the pesky weeds that grow in between the cobblestone pavers.
Lorna unrolls the fabric to make our handmade tablecloths. I chose this dark gray color – it will look so pretty with the Drabware and herb centerpieces.
And here’s a tray of homemade currant fruit popsicles ready for the freezer.
We’re almost set for our fun summertime party! And I think the peafowl approve. This peahen is sitting on the rim of a giant stone birdbath in front of my Stable Office building – she is so interested and curious. I’ll be sure to share more photos of this party in my next blog – stay tuned.
My tall English hornbeam hedges always look so beautiful after a fresh pruning.
This week, my outdoor grounds crew trimmed the hornbeam hedges in front of my main greenhouse - the hedges surrounding part of my formal lily garden beds and the large sculpted hedge nearby. Botanically known as Carpinus betulus, the hornbeam is a fast growing deciduous tree that can grow up to several feet per year. I like to maintain the hedges using a traditional European style of pruning, so they have a nice, sculpted appearance. This means, it’s crucial that they be trimmed regularly, so they don’t look overgrown and unruly.
Here are some photos.
This tall hornbeam hedge grows at the edge of the gravel topped parking area directly in front of my main greenhouse. It is quite pretty here, but serves primarily as a privacy and noise barrier from the road. This photo was taken before any pruning began – one can see all the lush new growth.
With proper care, the hornbeam grows quickly, so it is important to trim and sculpt it regularly. Hornbeam is also very hardy and frost resistant, which is good in this area.
Carpinus betulus is native to Western Asia and central, eastern, and southern Europe, including southern England. Because of its dense foliage and tolerance to being cut back, this hornbeam is popularly used for hedges and topiaries. Hornbeams are often confused with the common beech because of their similar leaves; however, the hornbeam leaves are actually smaller and more deeply furrowed than beech leaves. The leaves are deciduous and alternate, with serrated margins.
Looking inside the hedge, the hornbeam has pale grey bark with vertical markings. All of these hornbeams are planted in a very straight line just a couple feet apart. One can see the sturdy branches and how they grow outward and slightly upward.
The crew does most of the pruning by hand. Everyone uses Japanese Okatsune shears specially made for trimming hedges. These shears are user friendly, and come in a range of sizes. It is more time consuming to trim these hedges by hand, but it is also more exact and provides straight clean cuts – very important when sculpting formal hedges.
We trim the hornbeams every year around this time. Pasang keeps the shears close to shoulder level. This allows the best control. He also holds the shears closer to the base of the blades.
Here, one can see what has been cut and what hasn’t.
It doesn’t take long for the ground to fill with clippings – and this is just from the front of the hedge.
Once the front of the hedge is done, our Hi-Lo is moved in, so Pasang could trim the uppermost sections and the top. The Hi-Lo is very useful, and because the hedge is accessible from the parking area, it always comes in handy for this task.
Manning the Hi-Lo is my outdoor grounds crew foreman, Chhiring Sherpa. He’s been working with me here at the farm for 20-years! He positions the Hi-Lo and its cage and makes sure Pasang can safely reach what he is pruning.
Once an area is trimmed, Pasang uses a soft rake to clear the top of any cut branches and leaves.
Next, he uses a long bamboo stake to ensure the hedges are all level and equal in height.
From above, the tops look flat with well-trimmed corners.
Here is a side view showing how the front is sculpted with the taller sections protruding just a bit. It is looking very straight and square.
And here is the finished hedge – trimmed beautifully. I can’t believe how much these grow every year.
Across the gravel road is the hornbeam hedge surrounding my formal white lily and hosta garden. Chhiring uses orange twine along the top of the hedge, so it can be trimmed straight.
Here, Chhiring uses a level to check that everything is perfectly even from one end to the other.
Here is a view once it is pruned. The dark green of the hornbeams look so nice in contrast to the lighter green of the lily foliage and hostas in the foreground.
At the side entrance leading to my berry bushes and rose garden, I decided to create a more sculpted top, so this bit will remain untouched while it grows. It will look so nice once we shape it.
And here’s the other side. Look how lush this garden is – I will be sure to share more photos once the lilies are blooming. Next to be done is the long European hornbeam hedge that runs along the back of my Summer House and Winter House. It’s a busy summer here at working farm – there’s always lots to do, but the gardens, allées, and groves are all looking so wonderful.
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