HOLIDAY HOUSE 2014 NYC

LETS SPREAD A LITTLE TINSEL AND CHARITY

Having done Kips Bay, I willingly and admiringly take my hat off to any designer willing to take on a showroom challenge. There are so many pitfalls, limited production times, and unexpected expenses that any designer who makes it to the finish line and actually ends up with a room deserves praise and not criticism. It's Christmas after all, a time when if you can't say anything nice you shouldn't say anything at all.

Let's take a tour of the seventh annual Holiday House located in the Blavatnik Mansion, 2 East 63rd Street, benefitting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The mansion holds four floors each decked out with an abundance of designer inspiration. After you've paid your $35 entrance fee and donation, you are squeezed through an entry vestibule and drawn forward by the enticing hint of holiday color peeking through from the grand dining room directly ahead, a gift from Amy Lau Design celebrating Baccarat's 250th Anniversary.

What's the Christmas holiday without red? From the red crystal goblets to the red crystals clinging like snowflakes to the chandelier to the vases filled with cranberries and pomegranates red danced and played over the table set for twenty. All of the crystal donated by Baccarat is to be auctioned off and donated to the research foundation. Generosity is always a major part of the holiday season.

My guess is Ally Coulter Design lucked out with a room already detailed with paneled walls, an intricate vaulted ceiling and a view to a beautiful courtyard. Having this already in place turns the designer's mandate into more of a decorating assignment then a construction transformation.

It might have made the task easier budget wise but it was clear the mansion owners weren't going to let the designer of this room damage the existing envelop with any unwanted nail holes.Artwork had to be selected that was large enough in scale to hold up resting on the floor or a mantel rather then being hung at eye-level.

The curved grand staircase designed by Carlton Varney, the protégé of Dorothy Draper, wound its holiday magic with lit garlands, candles and a magnificent Christmas tree around a the cantilevered steps and simple wrought iron railings.

The second floor rooms were smaller in scale but I'm guessing blanker canvases for the designers to deal with. Size has its benefits but blank canvases can be very very costly. The largest of the rooms was given to Matthew Patrick Smyth, an icon in the industry and a veteran of the show house circuit. If anyone were capable of dealing with a room this size it would be Matthew. The room he created is eclectic but demure. He has chosen a neutral palette as his backdrop and then taken us on a journey of historic period furniture from the Regency sofa, up to the French Moderne chandelier and on through to the contemporary art.

Gary McBournie chose to put heat in the holiday with his Caribbean Island Holiday retreat. Curtaining walls is often a copout in a show house room but one I understand since the life cycle of a room rarely exceeds thirty-one days. But here the choice of fabric everywhere made total sense. The room is an outdoor tent waiting for the slow lapping of a St. Barths surf.

In complete contrast was the sweet pastel bedroom lullaby created by Guillaume Gentet. The tiny scale of the room created a sweet intimacy that made you want to snuggle up with childish innocence waiting for Santa to appear.

The rooms got a bit smaller as you rose to the third floor, but no less intriguing. Pamela Banker brought dining for an intimate group of four into her seaside inspired seafoam dining room.

Patrick James Hamilton brought color into his room through both his chosen furniture and art. Pops of cerise and aquamarine glint across his daybed and chairs while an almost wildly colorized portrait of a bearded man scandalously follows you around the room with his glowing tangerine eyes.

The eerie broodiness of Louis Nararrete's cave-like space is totally spellbinding. The dark walls and rich woods make you constantly feel the need to check your back as you walk through his den. Overhead hangs a Warren Muller chandelier he has titled, BahdeeBahdu, an assemblage of odd bits of light and found metal pieces worthy of Freddie Krueger and just as foreboding.

There is only one room on the top floor, its original use remains a mystery to me. It has ballroom proportions with large arched windows and a skylight. It seems to far up for a public room but then too detailed for a storage attic. Justin Shaulis has transformed the space into a representation of the Miami art scene and this was my main reason for attending.

We work with and depend on the talents of a woman who has carried our weight through all of our recent work in the New York area. She not only has saved our collective asses time and time again with her architectural knowledge and knowhow but continues to create her own art in three-dimensional forms that stop you in your tracks. Pryor Callaway's beaded coffee table was my highlight. Like a parent's pride in seeing your child's delight and ingenuity, Pryor's sole piece burst my heart with joy.

For me the 2014 Holiday House was a success if only for this one piece and the knowledge of the cause the house supports. Please be generous during this season and beyond and if you can go to the Holiday House go and let it put a smile on your heart.

THE GALLERY

Charles James 1948 Collection, Vogue
Cecil Beaton, photographer
Represented by Staley-Wise Gallery, NYC

THE HOLIDAY LIGHTS OF NYC 2014

WINDOWS, CHRISTMAS TREES AND AN ANNUAL FLIGHT THROUGH NYC

There was a chill searing through the heavy sweater I wore. The tips of my exposed fingers had begun the aching prickly feeling. My gloves were tucked under my arm so I could hold my iphone as I squeezed my way through the crowds lining Fifth Avenue around Rockefeller Center. Most had stopped glued in place as projected snowflakes danced across the façade of Saks.  It was ten thirty at night but you wouldn't know by the number of kids perched on parent's shoulders their faces showing nothing but awe at the millions of lights and piped in Christmas carols. I can no longer hoist Emmy on to my shoulders or push her stroller past the windows of Lord & Taylor but I can't help making the walk. Perhaps there's still a little kid in me that can't resist braving the bitter winds as cold tears trickle down from my brilliant wide open winter stung eyes.
Here's my invitation to take the walk with me
Saks Fifth Avenue and their fairytale windows

The tree at Rockefeller Center

Radio City Music Hall

Tiffany and the star that hangs over the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street

A look down 58th Street and the entrance to the Plaza Hotel

Bergdorf Goodman's fashion forward extravaganzas

Inside Grand Central Station and the Holiday Market

Macy's; it's windows, the main floor and the chance to sit outside and watch Miracle on 34th Street on the big screen

Lord & Taylor's windows of imagination and whimsy

THE GALLERY

Times Square
Ciaran Tully, photographer
www.ciarantully.com

THANKSGIVING 2014 - MADISON

GIVING THANKS

We added a little blank booklet to our Thanksgiving table. It bore the title, "I Am Thankful For". Inside were a number of ruled pages waiting for each of us to take some time to consider how many lines of thankfulness we would fill. I looked around our table and started writing down each guest seated around our candlelit meal. Each person sitting there had brought something into our lives to be thankful for. Each person there had enriched our lives by their talents and their generosity. There was a wonderful meal spread out on the table, an abundance of food to be thankful for but the first thing we were thankful for were the ring of guests and the sphere of friends we've been giving through out our lives.

THE THANKSGIVING TABLE

Rick has always had an eye for flowers and the creativity to use them in unexpected ways. Our table was the beneficiary of his talent and imagination.

He combined miniature cabbages with cluster roses in a pair of fish bowls filled with orange slices, simple but elegant.

The rest of the house benefited from his vision and the aromatic characteristic of the roses that were scattered out from room to room.

When we did our first table for DIFFA's Dining by Design we had asked a friend of ours, Daniel Levy, to create a set of porcelain tabletop for the event. We needed place settings for ten. We loved Daniel's work. The set has stayed with us along with the blackened handled flatware by Patino Wolf. The glassware is a combination of vintage and new. The tall water glasses that we repurposed into our wine and Proseco glasses are vintage Bryce Apollo-Cerulean and the blue bottomed tumblers and water pitchers are straight from Bed, Bath and Beyond's Royal Dalton 1815 collection.

The colors and flavors of an autumn harvest were the inspiration for our place cards: a Bosc pear with a pheasant tail feather and a leftover sprig of leaves from our roses stuck into the meat of the pear.  A knife slice opened up a slit for the name card and our table settings were complete.














THE MENU

Thanksgiving is synonymous with turkey and we made one but for us Thanksgiving isn't complete without Rick's ham and biscuits. No matter how many guests it's always a whole bone-in smoked ham and a double batch of his cheddar biscuits. Emmy and I will eat these leftovers until there's nothing left but the bone of the ham and some crumbs from the biscuits. When we've reached that point in the life of our ham Rick freezes the bone and he'll make a ham and navy bean soup during the blizzards phase of January and February.

The preparation of the ham begins on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The trick to the ham is the glaze. Rick says it's never quite the same. He's got a recipe but he says he does a lot of it by eyeing the ham and feeling the ingredients as he pinches them between his fingers. Here's what he says is a close approximation of what he puts in the glaze:
2 cups of dark brown sugar
½ cup of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 teaspoon of whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon of whole Allspice
1 tablespoon of whole cloves
1 quart of apple cider plus an additional for the pan
He combines the sugar and mustard in a saucepan over medium heat and then adds the spices and cider and simmers the mixture until it reduces by about one quarter.
While this is going on I'm in charge of stripping the ham of it plastic and netting protective coating. Then I smear the ham with a healthy coating of Dijon mustard, score the ham with a crisscross pattern and spend hours trying to find the intersecting points in my crisscross pattern where I have to poke a whole clove. I'm a mustard mess by the time I finish my clove poking but it's worth it.

Since my hands are coated with mustard it's left to me to pick up the ham and put it in a deep baking pan. Here's where the one cup of cider is poured over the ham and then one half of the glaze is drizzled over the ham before it is shoved into a 350 degree preheated oven. He cooks the ham for three hours glazing the ham with the remainder of the glaze every twenty minutes then basting with the pan drippings for the remainder of the cooking time. The results are a beautiful ham with a touch of sweet and spicy, a perfect partner for his cheddar biscuits.

Rick's other specialty and a tradition for the holiday is his poached figs. This is another dish that stretches its hypnotic powers over your taste buds and won't quit until the last drop of its nectar has been consumed. You can top the turkey with these poached nuggets or ladle the resulting syrup over vanilla ice cream. We're all addicts when it comes to these figs. Here's the recipe:
1½ cups of sugar
1½ cups of water
1½ pounds of fresh figs, firm to ripe
Fresh rosemary sprigs
Orange peel
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 large jar
Place in a cheesecloth bag:
4 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary sprigs
2 bay leaves
½ tablespoon of juniper berries
1 tablespoon of whole allspice
1 4" long slice of orange peel
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring this to a boil stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce the heat to a simmer for about 5 to 7 minutes until the mixture begins to form a light syrup. Add the cheesecloth bag to the mixture and allow it to simmer for an additional 15 minutes.
Add the whole figs and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more turning the figs from time to time so that they are evenly cooked
Carefully remove the figs from the saucepan and place them in a jar. Reserve the syrup. Add the orange peel and rosemary sprig to the jar. Slowly pour the syrup and balsamic vinegar into the jar. When the figs are cool refrigerate them. You can do this well in advance of serving them. They'll keep like this for at least a week.

As accompaniment to the ham, biscuits and figs we did a brined turkey,

Brussels sprouts with bacon, gravy,

sweet Italian sausage dressing,

a bourbon pecan pie and an additional assortment of side dishes and desserts contributed by all our guests.

The best ingredient of our Thanksgiving meal wasn't something you could find on the table or come up with a recipe for, it was the conversation and the knowledge that we were joined to a larger community made up of not mere acquaintances but friends.














THE GALLERY

Grape Harvest II
Cy DeCosse, photographer
Represented by Verve Gallery, Santa Fe, NM