103rd Street Community Garden

Last month the New York Restoration Project opened a new community garden on E. 103rd Street. NYRP restores and creates parks all over New York City, and we were happy to support their work with this East Harlem space.

This was the empty land before NYRP:During their renovations:And after. Click to enlarge - Wow!:Our family foundation donated a tree for this garden in memory of a dear friend of ours that died -- we thought this was a lovely way to honor his memory and to add something positive to our city.

Our dogwood tree was looking pretty that afternoon, and I'm sure it'll look glorious when it flowers next spring:
Bette Midler, the founder of NYRP, was on hand to cut the ceremonial garland:
The neighborhood children particularly enjoyed this grassy hill - there were lots of cartwheels and somersaults going on:
And what opening is complete without some balloons? Chappy was feeling/looking very festive!:
The popular new playground space, part of the 103rd Street garden:And speaking of playground space...

You're never too old and/or big for the slide:For more information on the New York Restoration Project, please visit their website.
For more information on the E. 103rd Street Community Garden, click here or go visit in person -- and please say hello to our dogwood tree!

Organic Avenue - LOVE* Deep Cleanse

Desserts like the one I posted yesterday are terrific, but it's also nice to swing the pendulum the other way towards the uber healthy sometimes... Enter Organic Avenue, an NYC-based health and wellness company that makes some of the yummiest juices in town.

I was feeling a bit blah after my long weekend of indulgence in Chicago and I thought a 3-day juice cleanse would be the perfect pick-me-up.

Here's the pretty rainbow of day 1 of Organic Avenue's LOVE* deep juice cleanse:I ordered online from O.A., but there was some sort of shipping mix up the day I was meant to begin my cleanse. Nothing arrived -- big boo! But in the spirit of good customer service, O.A. gave me a full refund and offered me a complimentary cleanse. I happily accepted, and now I'm hooked on their juices.

My cleanse started off with a shot of chlorophyll elixir and ended with a green vegetable juice. You can see the other juice varieties I drank throughout the day here if you click to enlarge:It's a lot of juice, and I honestly wasn't hungry at all. I missed my morning - and mid-morning, and afternoon - espressos a lot, but apart from that life was good on this juice cleanse.

Some of the juices taste fruity, some taste vegetal, and others are a bit spicy. They're all pretty good, but this was my least favorite of the juices -- it has some type of beets in it and it just wasn't my cup of tea:But no matter, O.A. will replace individual juices based on your taste preferences, so I'm all set to be beet-less next time I order with them.

And this was my favorite -- the carrot juice:I've had dozens of different carrot juices before, but this is the best by a mile. It's creamy, sweet, and tastes soooooo fresh. I've been back to O.A.'s UES boutique a handful of times just to purchase that carrot juice as an afternoon snack. It's better than a cupcake (really).

Despite the rocky start with O.A.'s shipping, I'm totally sold on their product. I'll definitely be doing another 3-day cleanse in the near future, and I'll definitely try to find a way to regularlt incorporate their juices into my normal diet.

For more information on O.A.'s LOVE* deep cleanse, visit their website. I'm off to find a way to re-route my day past their Lexington Avenue shop for some more carrot juice...

Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis

This simple, extra delicious dessert recipe is from Gourmet magazine. It looks elegant and requires minimal prep work, so I think it's perfect for a dinner party. If you're a chocolate lover, give this one a go...

Somewhere between custard and cake lies the clafoutis, a simple French country dessert traditionally made with cherries. In this dark chocolate and raspberry version, your blender does most of the work.

Ingredients:

* 18 ounces fresh raspberries
* 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
* 3 large eggs
* 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3 to ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

My clafoutis pre-baking:Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter a 9'' pie dish.

IMPORTANT: Toss berries with granulated sugar and let stand 15-20 minutes. Make sure the berries are nice and soft.

Blend milk, butter, eggs, brown sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt in a blender until smooth, about 15-20 seconds. Scatter berries (with juices) evenly in baking dish, then pour batter over top.

Bake until slightly puffed and firm to the touch, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chopped chocolate. Cool to warm, about 20 minutes.

Out of the oven:And a close-up:I served ours with a little scoop of fresh vanilla whipped cream. Enjoy!

Monty Monday - In Maine

Monty is enjoying a quick visit to Maine this week...

He's been having tons of fun sprinting on the beach:
Posing with seasonal decorations:
And relaxing in front of a cozy fire:This doggie loves his time Down East!

Monty Monday - Jaunty Jacket

Monty was chilly during a recent car ride up to our country house, so I took off and tossed him my jacket.

He scratched at it, fluffed it, dove into it, circled around a few times...

And he came up like this:Note the collar is even half popped there too.

Given the panache with which he wears that quilted jacket, I think he's got a future as a J. McLaughlin model - don't you?:(By the by, these are totally unstaged photos -- the dog just has some naturally cool style.)

Post-Game Party Report

Last Monday night was the America Theatre Wing's Annual Gala at The Plaza. The glamorous, black tie event honored Sir Howard Stringer, the Chairman & CEO of Sony, and he brought out some big time stars... Jennifer Hudson, Kelli O'Hara, and Elaine Page all sang. Amazingly well. Mayor Bloomberg and Angela Lansbury spoke, and I spotted Samuel L. Jackson in the crowd. Snazzy.

A portion of the evening was set aside a special tribute to our late, dear friend (and Monty favorite), Doug Leeds. Doug was a former president of The Wing, and was a loyal supporter of their efforts for decades.

Erin Mackey sang "DeLovely" as a duet with Colin Donnell (pictured here) during dinner and dedicated it to Doug:Doug would have loved it.

Chappy and I are proud members of the 'Quest 400', a list of notable New Yorkers complied by Quest magazine each year. Quest held a party for the release of its 400 list issue at Doubles, the speakeasy/private club in the Sherry-Netherland.

Many of the '400' were there to mingle, and we were all smiles at the party:Photo by Patrick McMullan via NYSD.

It's opera season again, and I was beyond excited to be back at the Met to see my girl crush, Anna Netrebko, in the title role of Anna Bolena:I got a seat upgrade this year which is big news. Many subscription tickets are held for years and years, or are even passed down through generations. The super good seats are hard to get, but if you hang around long enough you'll eventually get bumped up to a nicer seat, a better box, etc. I'm now sitting pretty in a side Grand Tier box.

It's totally illegal to take a pic inside the house, but you get the idea with this sneaky shot - nice sight and sound lines for Mel!:More music - lots and lots and lots more music - to come next week...

Walnut Plum Tart/Crumble (Walnut Plum Trumble?)

I'm not much of a baker, but I am always up for trying something new. So, last weekend I volunteered to bring a dessert to a dinner party.

I needed a dessert that was fairly easy to make, and I wanted something seasonal for fall. So, I came up with this plum tart/crumble recipe. It's not really a proper tart since it doesn't have a separate crust and bottom, but it's not really a crumble either because the fruit is baked along with the rest of the 'pie'. But whatever it is, it tastes nutty, fruity, and really delicious.


Mel's Walnut Plum Tart

Ingredients:1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1.5 sticks of butter, unsalted. sliced and kept cold.
1 egg yolk
about 8 Damson plums. pitted and sliced lengthwise into sixths.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine cinnamon and white sugar. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mix over plum slices and toss to coat thoroughly.

Combine flour, brown sugar, salt, and walnuts in a large bowl. Add egg yolk, then bit by bit, add sliced butter. Mix by hand until all ingredients combine and have a dry, crumbly texture.

Cover the bottom of a 9.5 inch tart pan generously with the crumble mixture. Use wax paper to press and firm the mixture evenly into the sides and base of the pan, then add more crumb mixture and press and shape the mixture again with wax paper. Make sure top surface of crumble mixture is level.

Place plum slices, skin side down, on top of the crumble mixture in a neat, decorative pattern. (I placed mine in a circle, but it's chef's choice here.) Use as many of the plum slices as possible to top the crumble mixture to give the tart an extra fruity flavor.

Once plums are arranged, sprinkle a bit of the remaining crumble mixture over the top of the plums. Here's mine ready for the oven:Bake the tart for 40 minutes. It should be beginning to brown at the edges. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool, while still in the tart pan, for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Yum!:For a little extra kick I...
A. chopped up and sprinkled some of Martha Stewart's candied walnuts over top of the tart to add a sweet crunch, and...
B. offered a spoonful of Schlag, a dollop of crème fraîche, or a scoop of vanilla gelato to serve with a slice depending on the varied ethnic traditions we all had going around our table that night. Each of the accompaniments worked, so serve your Plum Walnut Plum Tart -- even if it's just plain by it self, or with some good old-fashioned Vanilla ice cream -- however it suits you and yours.

Enjoy!