travel

Newport Flower Show June 22-24: Mark Your Calendar

Written on May 11, 2012 at 2:58 pm
By Rebecca Christian

My fellow garden editors tell me that the Newport Flower Show has the Wow Factor in spades (couldn’t resist — I’ll try to make that the only garden pun in this post). So I am really pleased to go to the show that ushers summer into Rhode Island this year June 22-24, staged on and in the grounds, reception rooms, oceanfront terrace and emerald lawns of the opulent Rosecliff Mansion. Rosecliff is one of several mansions Newport is known for. This year the theme is Salsa—A Celebration of Latin Cultures. A fusion of hot colors, passionate designers, exotic plants, cultural adventures and dancing under the stars is promised; I’ll settle for tangos and tapas at the opening night party.

 

 

The Rosecliff Mansion

The Rosecliff mansion has particular cache because it was designed by Stanford White, the architect famous not only for breathtaking Beaux Arts buildings designed for the ridiculously rich (Rosecliff is modeled after Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles), but also for being murdered by the millionaire husband of an actress he dallied with, Evelyn Nesbit.

 

Evelyn Nesbit

(you can see why Stanford White was smitten)

 

Dubbed “The Murder of the Century,” White’s murder was immortalized in E.L. Doctorow’s wildly original novel Ragtime (which later became a musical) and which I devoured in a weekend when it came out in 1975.

During the show, the grounds will be vibrant with Oceanside Boutiques and a Gardener’s Marketplace. Here are some scenes from previous shows.

 

 

 

 

 

The show has tons of programming, including lectures and displays of winners in contests such as garden photography and retail window displays. I’m intrigued by contests tied to this year’s theme — for example, interpretive headpieces that capture the color and drama of Rio’s Carnaval in the form of fresh plant material. Speakers at the flower show include rock stars of the garden world, including Mario Fernadez of Belle Fleur, who has designed stunning arragements for the homes and soirees of Oprah, Gloria Estefan, and Will Smith, and whose arrangements graced the runway of Carolina Herrera’s bridal show. Donna Lane, diva of dahlias (watch out, dahlias with their gratifying dinner-plate sized blooms are as addictive as oxycodone) will be on hand, as will garden writer Derek Fell, talking  about the hot new trend of vertical gardening.

 

The Garden at The Elms Mansion

(The Elms, along with Chepstow, are on a Tree Tour during the Flower Show.)

 

Going to the flower show also affords a chance to explore the rest of Newport, an island city fabled as a New England summer resort in the Gilded Age (I’m picturing behatted Edith Wharton heroines) and the epitome of classic Americana for its Summer White Houses during Ike and JFK’s administrations. Don’t forget your parasol! http://www.newportmansions.org/events/newport-flower-show

Welcome Spring with “In The Garden”

Written on April 18, 2012 at 3:02 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Many garden books come across my desk, and while I can easily resist how-tos on propagation, I don’t stand a chance when a book has a cover that draws me into its world; somehow it feels like glimpsing a scene, powerful and intact, if fleeting, from a train window. Such was the case with the luminous jacket of Stacy Bass’s new book, In The Garden (Melcher Media). Bass shoots at dawn when possible. “That sweet and gentle light,” she writes in the book’s introduction, “coupled often with a morning mist or fog, has proven so seductive that it’s hard to resist.”

 

I want to step away from my desk, into that garden, and under that arbor, with that dog at my heels.  The garden on the cover is in Greenfield Hill, and consists of a series of outdoor “rooms.” The book, with photos by Bass and essays by Suzanne Gannon, tells how the 18 New England gardens featured were brought to life by gardeners inspired by a landscape, a single flower, or a garden seen on travels. The gardens range from orderly, with geometric parterres, to rambling, with wild grasses.

 

The Greenwich garden above, with its sprays of pretty pink peonies, was designed by horticulturalist and garden designer Phillip Watson.

The book’s photographer, Stacy Bass, says, “I love going to a new place, usually before the sun rises, and being taken by surprise about what will be before me as the sun comes up.  Unless it is necessary for an assignment, I prefer not to look at scouting shots so that I can react, in real time, to what I see without any preconceived notions about what to shoot and from what angles.” 

 

Here at another Greenwich garden, the roses — ballerina hybrid musk — are so dense and beautiful they keep the white picket fence from looking clichéd.

 

This garden at Greenfield Hill echoes the gardens of Europe with an array of classic features within — armillaries, benches, tuteurs, and spheres.

The owner of this formal garden in New Canaan once made her living in the theatre. A formal sunken garden (Act I, perhaps?) is ready to steal the scene just inside the gate.

In The Garden releases April 24; you can order it for $31.50 at amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Garden-Stacy-Bass/dp/1595910735

 

So Good You Gotta Eat It With Your Eyes Closed

Written on March 30, 2012 at 4:55 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Classical music, bubble bath, and really good desserts are best savored with one’s eyes closed, in my experience, and I know that the jolly co-authors of The Back In the Day Bakery Cookbook would agree with me, because in the intro to the recipe for Coconut Cream Pie,  Cheryl Day reminisces about sitting with her dad at the counter of a coffee shop the first time she had the pie, she and her dad  eating it with their eyes closed because it was sooo good.

 

 

 

You know this is not going to be one of those kale-is-really-delicious when served with a splat of wasabi and a Brussel sprout abused with fennel when you see that Cheryl, a former Soul Train dancer, refers to the pie, which has five eggs, two cups of half and half, and two cups of heavy cream as “refreshing and light.” Any other doubts you have will be erased upon learning that the foreword is by Paula Deen. All the same, the book — with recipes from the couple’s much-loved bakery in Savannah –  also has some sophisticated savory recipes, like Bacon-Jam Empanadas and Roasted Cheddar Pecan Rounds and a number of rustic breads. It was written to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their bakery. Dancer Cheryl and funk musician Griff met in their early twenties and reconnected 15 years later, when they discovered a mutual delight in scratch baking. The book has anecdotes about each lavishly illustrated, droolworthy recipe, as well as good tips for the novice and accomplished baker alike. For example, when a recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate, they recommend using one with 99 percent cocoa content for a more intense flavor. Or when a recipe calls for bringing the eggs to room temperature, why you should not ignore it: Because when you add them to your creamed butter, the batter will resist mixing.

 

Hummingbird Cake

 

The recipe that caught my eye was for Hummingbird Cake, because it is pretty as a bride in June. Here is the recipe:

Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

hums of happiness

Serves 10 to 12

Spiced with cinnamon and studded with pecans, this cake is a true Southern classic. Bananas and pineapple give it a luscious texture, and its flavors mingle and grow more intense the day after baking.

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground mace

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/4 cups canola oil

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 5 large bananas)

One 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

1 ½ cups chopped pecans

1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with parchment and butter it as well. Lightly dust the pans with flour, tapping the pans on the counter to shake out the excess.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, mace, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer), beat both sugars with the oil for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then mix for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, bananas, and pineapple, mixing until just combined. On low speed, add the flour mixture in thirds, beating until combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Fold in ½ cup of the pecans.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. Tap the pans firmly on the countertop to remove any air bubbles from the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes, then remove the layers from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

To assemble the cake: Level the top of one of the layers with a serrated knife so it is flat. Place it cut side down on a serving plate. Using an offset spatula or a butter knife, spread the top of the layer with a dollop of frosting. Place the second cake layer on top, right side up, and frost the top and sides with the remaining frosting. Decorate the sides of the cake with the remaining 1 cup of pecans. The cake can be stored wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Serve at room temperature.

Excerpted from The Back In The Day Bakery Cookbook (Artisan Books). Copyright 2012. Photographs by Squire Fox.

I’m giving this book to my sister for her birthday, but it’s really more of a gift for me: I hope she makes me the Hummingbird Cake. And the Chocolate Heaven Cake. And the Salted Apple Caramel Pie.

You can order it from Amazon.com for about $16. It’ll do until I can get down to Savannah and try the Days’ ‘Nana Puddin’.

 

Trad Home Photographer’s Dreamy New Book

Written on March 15, 2012 at 4:53 pm
By Rebecca Christian

I always light up when I see Tria Giovan is scheduled to shoot one of our stories here at Traditional Home; her work shows a sensitivity to the subject matter that makes you look, and look again. So I was intrigued when I learned that the photographer/oceanophile (yes, I made that up) has a new book out, composed of the the moody, misty, and magical pictures she has been taking for years of the beaches of Sagaponack, near her home in Sag Harbor.  To me, Tria’s photographs focus on a scene in a way that is painterly—paring it down to its essence. The photos are the visual equivalent of haiku, the most important element, perhaps, being what has left out. Speaking of, she has culled for the book 63 favorites of the 10,000 images she has captured of the beach for this book.

Tria, who was raised in the Caribbean, is a world traveler whose work has appeared in Vogue, Aperture, Esquire, Elle, and Harper’s, and her photographs also reside in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art  and The New York Public Library, among other august places.

Photographer Tria Giovan

White Line—Summer

 

In an essay about Tria’s work that serves as the foreword to the book, Carl Safina, marine conservationist and president of The Blue Ocean Institute, had this to say: “Through a decade of seasons Giovan charted the permutations of tides, wind, sand, and sky. The 63 selected images featured in Sand Sea Sky: The Beaches of Sagaponack document a meteorological drama ranging from the threatening and explosive storm to the suffusing sunlight of midday and incandescent gloaming.” (Gloaming, don’t you love that word? I love it so much I have to say it again—gloaming.)

 

Winter Wave

 

Safina went on to say of Tria’s images, “In their invitation to become motionless they acquire an affecting intimate immensity that echoes America’s enduring belief in the transcendent spiritual beauty of nature.”

 

 

August Storm

I didn’t realize Tria was adept with the pen as well as the camera. Here’s her musing on why Sagaponack is her True North: “Avid collectors cannot often pinpoint the origins of their obsessions, except to say that there is some stirring association that fuels their passion. I have amassed these images as a collector might, still not completely sure what drives me, but committed to compile a faithful and extensive record of the myriad witnessed moments. These photographs are a meditation paying homage to a place where the spirit is enlivened, primordial forces resonate, and impermanence reigns.”

Well said—and well photographed.

 

 

Marine Layer—Spring

Published by Daminai, Tria’s book is available at amazon.com for $26.50.

Bluestem, a cookbook for progressive American cuisine

Written on October 28, 2011 at 3:31 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Bluestem is a restaurant in Kansas City, much-praised for creating dishes that are imaginative but that ordinary people might actually want to eat: Smoked Salmon Panna Cotta, Rack of Venison with Pickled Lady Apples, Stone Fruit Cobbler, Oatmeal-Ale Cake. It’s run by passionate foodies and husband-and-wife chefs Colby and Megan Garrelts. Bluestem is also the name of their new cookbook, which is written in the first person with instructions such as “Know thy monger and thy butcher.”

If you’re already thinking Christmas like I am, it would make a nice gift for the foodie on your list (and maybe he or she would invite you over to try the Honey Custard with Linzer Wafer Cookies). The book becomes available from Andrews McMeel Publishing November 8, and you can order it for $28.22 from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bluestem-Cookbook-Colby-Garrelts/dp/1449400612

It’s also filled with the chatty asides you might expect from those who live and breathe food, such as dessert maker Megan’s anthropomorphism of sugar : “As a woman, I can confidently say that sugar is definitely female: It can be cranky and temperamental…Hell hath no fury like hot sugar.”

The cookbook is divided into seasons, keeping the emphasis on cooking whatever is fresh, good, and locally available. Each season has recipes organized this way: amuse-bouche, cold, hot, pasta, water (seafood), land (meat), sweet, and petits fours.

This autumnal recipe for Risotto with Butternut Squash caught my attention:

 

Risotto, butternut squash, allspice
Serves 8 as a first course,
4 as a main course

If you’ve ever patiently stirred risotto until it’s thick and creamy, you know why it is such a rewarding task when it turns out right. Despite the patience required, you’ll want to make it over and over again.
Risotto is not difficult to make. But before you start, make sure that you have the correct variety of rice (long-grain rice will not yield the right results), all of the stock warm and ready to go, and, above all, the time. Don’t try to rush this, or you’ll end up with rice that looks cooked but is gritty and hard within. And make sure you’re ready to eat it right when it’s done. Risotto does not reward your patience with patience; it has a very short shelf life once it’s cooked. Let it sit for more than a few minutes and it will begin to turn soft and gummy.
Any type of fleshy winter squash will work for this recipe, including pumpkin and acorn squash.

8 cups Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 shallots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups butternut squash in ½-inch cubes
2 cups Carnaroli rice
¾ cup white wine
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Freshly grated allspice

Heat the chicken stock in a stockpot over low heat. Cover and keep warm.
Heat the softened butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and butternut squash and stir until softened, about 5 minutes (you don’t want to develop any color). Using a wooden spoon, stir in the rice, coating it with the butter and seasonings.
Continue to stir and toast the rice for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and stir until it evaporates.
Stirring the rice continuously, add the warm stock, 1
cup at a time, making sure that the liquid is completely absorbed by the rice before adding the next cup. The rice will start to release its starch and thicken into a creamy porridge, about 30 minutes. Depending on the texture of risotto you like, the grains of rice should be tender to firm, but not gritty. Season the risotto with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and let sit for a couple of minutes.
Beat the cold butter and Parmesan into the risotto. Serve immediately. Grate a bit of allspice over the risotto with a nut grater or Microplane zester and any additional Parmesan over the risotto at the table if you like.

—From Bluestem: The Cookbook by Colby Garrelts and Megan Garrelts with Bonjwing Lee

I was also taken with this one for Beets with Whipped Blue Cheese and Candied Pecans, with an introductory comment from Colby:

 

Beets, whipped blue cheese, candied pecans
Serves 4

I can’t keep Megan away from beets when the gem-like baby ones roll in. Lucky for her, beets are readily available year-round in the Midwest. Although this salad can take on one of many variations, we strip it down to its bare essentials, focusing on the beets, whose sweetness seems intensified against the salty whipped blue cheese that we pair with it. Candied pecans give the salad some needed snap, and a few tendrils of baby frisée lettuce frame it all nicely with a frilly border.

This salad is particularly pretty if you use different-colored beets. Just make sure you keep them separated before arranging them on plates so they don’t stain each other.

1 pound baby beets, trimmed of greens
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces blue cheese, softened
¼ cup Champagne Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
⅓ cup Candied Pecans, chopped (recipe follows)
Baby frisée, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Tightly seal the beets, whole, in a large sheet of aluminum foil. If you are using different-colored beats, package the beets separately by color so that the red ones won’t stain the lighter-colored ones.
Bake the beets for 40 minutes. To test the beets for doneness, a knife should slip in and out of them without any effort. Let the beets cool. Peel the thin layer of skin from each beet. Cut the beets into quarters. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese on high speed until soft and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed. Add the blue cheese and continue to whip, scraping the bowl as needed, until the two cheeses are evenly mixed and fluffy.
Season with salt and pepper to taste and whip a little more to incorporate.
Toss the beets with the vinaigrette. If you are using different-colored beets, toss them separately by color to prevent them from staining each other. Divide the beets among 4 plates.
Transfer the whipped cheese to a pastry bag and pipe the cheese in small mounds around the beets. Or you can simply spoon the cheese onto the plates. Garnish each salad with some pecans and frisée. Serve immediately.

+++

Champagne vinaigrette
Makes about 13/4 cups

With a nice balance of sweet and sour, this is an extremely versatile vinaigrette. At Bluestem, we find a place for it in every season.

 

1 cup Champagne vinegar

1∕₃ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1∕₃ cup honey
Combine all of the ingredients in a nonreactive bowl, adding the honey last to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the bowl. Whisk vigorously until combined. Tightly sealed, the vinaigrette will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Before using the vinaigrette in a recipe, bring the vinaigrette back to room temperature and rewhisk to combine.

+++

Candied pecans
Makes about 1 cup

We always have candied nuts on hand to use as a garnish for everything from salads to desserts. This recipe calls for pecans, but you may substitute any unsalted nut, though the wrinkly ones (like walnuts) give the candied glaze something to cling to. Just make sure that you adjust the baking time according to the size of the nut so that you don’t burn them.

1 cup pecans (about 31/2 ounces)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Spray a baking sheet or pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, tossing to coat the nuts with the seasonings and corn syrup (use your hands or a wooden spoon to get everything evenly mixed). Spread the nuts on the sheet evenly so that they don’t touch (clusters will be hard to break up after baking).
Stirring or shaking the pan occasionally to break up clumps, bake the nuts until they turn a deep golden brown and the sugar mixture is bubbling (about 15 minutes). Let the nuts cool completely on the baking sheet. Gently break the nuts apart if necessary and store them in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

—From Bluestem: The Cookbook by Colby Garrelts and Megan Garrelts with Bonjwing Lee

 

 

Sicilian Time (Don’t Wait up for Me!)

Written on September 30, 2010 at 1:50 pm
By Candace Ord Manroe

When our van finally turned down the long, narrow drive of c.-17th-century Villa Nicetta, the race was on. Which would sink first—the sun or me? Day one in Sicily as a guest of the Italian Government Tourist Board’s “Sicila Natura” (eco tours of the island’s vast nature preserves) was drawing to an end. Or so I thought.

Welcome to Sicily, where nothing occurs according to clockwork. Thankfully. The ancient island, I soon discovered, moves to more arcane rhythms.  Tip to travelers: Lose the lockstep and embrace the sway. There’s magic in motion.

Only too happy for release from the van and the refreshment of a shower, I passed on dinner, which would have required another hour’s van ride, each way, to and from the restaurant. Instead, our Italian hosts conversed with the villa’s managers, then assured me of “something light” to assuage my hunger. Hunger?? A five-course lunch at Ristorante Il Grande Pino in Sant’Agata (www.ilgrandepino.it) easily could’ve tided me over till touch-down at JFK the following week. See why?

So instead of bussing up to eat MORE, I opted out to absorb the beauty of this working farm, starting with the grape arbor outside my room.

There was a lot to absorb. The Aeolian Islands, for example, beckoned from across the Mediterranean, which sparkled at the horizon.

Jet-lagged and showered, I was ready to settle in with a book when summoned by the villa’s managers for my “something light.” I joined them in the villa’s slightly newer (18th century) restaurant, originally built as a mill. Its rustic ambience was set by the massive but  sculptural original millstone, which maintains a place of artful  honor as the focal point of the large space—empty, but for me that evening. “Something light,” turns out, meant a tableful of platters…an extravagance…a feast…an embarrassment of riches, with my hosts hovering. Fresh ricotta from the sheep I’d been visiting; chargrilled squash plucked fresh from the garden; ditto that for the caponata, vegetable toppings on the wood-oven-cooked pizza, and plates of assorted veggies both fresh and grilled; olive oil pressed from last year’s harvest from the grove outside….You get the picture. As I finally pushed away from the table, the 30-something daughter-in-law of the manager, Italian-English dictionary in hand, suggested we “run on the beach.” Why not?

So instead of crashing as planned, I rode with my new friend and her husand in their Fiat to Acquedolci, where we strolled the boardwalk and watched the surf break in the moonlight. (At this area, the Mediterranean is called the Thyrrenian Sea.) We stopped at a cafe across from the beach for a granita al limone (refreshing!) and some chic-Sicilian-people-watching. My friend’s mother and father and her two young children joined us. I don’t speak Italian, and my espresso mates spoke no English, but we communicated—through laughter with an occasional hit from the It-Eng dictionary.

When I returned to the villa, things were quiet. My journalist colleagues were back from their dinner and sound asleep. I have no idea what time I went to bed—only that it was past midnight. I was on Sicilian time, loving every minute.