A Seat at the Table

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell don't really want you to call their new book a "cookbook." As they have both noted, no one really needs another cookbook. Any recipe in any variation can be found in countless online and previously-published sources.

But what their latest book brings to the table - aside from 115 delicious recipes - is a celebration of community. A Seat at the Table, the fourth 'recipe book' by the Beekman Boys, demonstrates how a community can nourish your soul as much as the meals you share with them can nourish your body.

The book, which was published last week, shares recipes that embody the traditional story of stone soup, in which everyone in the community brings their small piece to the pot to create a sum much greater than its parts.

When Brent and Josh first moved to Sharon Springs full-time, during the economic crisis of 2008, they were not sure they would make it there. Both jobless, both unsure of what their next move should be and both in love with the land and the people they had come to know in Sharon Springs, New York, they found comfort, support and inspiration in a community of artisans and makers who welcomed them with open arms.

A Seat at the Table is a celebration of this community, a thank-you feast to the people who helped build their dreams.

Fittingly, the recipes were developed with the help of a good neighbour, Rose Marie Trapani, who is arguably the best home cook in Sharon Springs, according to Brent and Josh - and basically everyone in town! (Apparently, a dinner invite from Rose Marie and her husband Joe is the most coveted ticket one can get in Sharon Springs!)

Rich with Sicilian flare, the recipes have an earthy, rustic goodness, brought to life through the 130 moody photographs by Christian Watson. (Follow him on Instagram @1924us)

I blog about Brent and Josh frequently. Having the privilege to call them friends of mine makes me all the more excited and enthusiastic for their latest ventures. Even though I don't see them very often, I know what it's like to be welcomed into their home, and the homes of some of their neighbours. I've been lucky enough to have had a seat at their table. I've had the luxury of slowly walking through their beautiful fields and gardens and the fascinating experience of exploring the storied streets of Sharon Springs. I know what it's like to be recognized by the shop owners and the inn keepers. I do not live in Sharon Springs but somehow it lives within me.

These two are the real deal. And so is this book.

You can purchase autographed copies at Beekman1802.com or standard copies at Amazon.com.

IN OTHER BEEKMAN 1802 NEWS!

Expanding on the success of Beekman 1802 bath and body line, 'the boys' have just released a new line of all-natural cleaning products made from plant-based ingredients and goat’s milk, a line they've been working on for several years. Formulated and bottled in the U.S., Beekman 1802 Happy Place products are designed to provide safer and more natural options to cleaning. You can purchase the products at Beekman1802.com or through Evine. (Doesn't this photos just make you smile?)

The New Beekman 1802 Bedding & Furniture Collections

My friends Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, founders of the Beekman 1802 brand, have finally unveiled their new bedding and furniture collections. It has been more than a year since I heard they were working on furniture, lighting and bed-linen designs and now we get to see these designs fully realized! To say that I am impressed by the beauty of the designs would be an understatement. I am actually quite gobsmacked by how astoundingly gorgeous their vision of home furnishing is: deeply inspired by history with a true commitment to quality. While I have not yet seen the collection in person, I am encouraged by the high level of craftsmanship they employ when designing and making all of their products. (You can read all the details of each item in the collection by visiting the Beekman 1802 Shop.) 

I am so proud of the burgeoning home and lifestyle brand these intrepid entrepreneurs are building. Below are samples of some of my favourite picks from their new collections. I hope you will find them as beautiful as I do.

THE BELLVALE COLLECTION: Beekman 1802 has created four new bedding collections, each one based on elements of a historic American town. Above is the Bellvale Collection, shown on the Beekman 1802 Hollywood Hotel bed, which is upholstered in linen. Bellvale, NY, was part of a land grant from Queen Anne in 1703. New world settlers were drawn to the area because of the abundant timber, game and water power. The Bellvale bedding collection is inspired by the currents of that creek and all of the creativity and craftsmanship that it powered.

THE FULTON COLLECTION: The industrial nature of Fulton, NY, led to a very stable workforce for many years. In fact, during the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the New York Sun newspaper wrote a lengthy article featuring Fulton, its residents and the strong local economy. It was headlined as, "Fulton, the City the Great Depression Missed." That type of work-ethic and the natural colorful beauty of New York State inspired the Fulton bedding line, shown here on the Beekman 1802 Hotel Adler Bed.

THE SANGERFIELD COLLECTION: In the mid-1800s, the development of railway service through the town of Sangerfield made the area a major shipping point for all kinds of manufacturing, including textiles. It’s a town that has long survived on its own steam (literally), and it has inspired the varied and eclectically beautiful elements making up the Sangerfield bedding collection.

THE STILLWATER COLLECTION: During the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Stillwater was a turning point toward American independence. Independent spirit. Free spirit. American spirit. Those are the things that inspire our Stillwater bed designs.

BEEKMAN 1802 FURNITURE: The new furniture collection is also a marvel and there is scarcely enough space here to showcase all of my favourite pieces from the line, which includes bedroom, living- and dining-room pieces (beds, cabinets, drawer units, tables, sofas, chairs), as well as rugs and lighting. Please visit their online furniture gallery to see all of their amazing new designs. If you happen to be in Sharon Springs, New York, where Beekman 1802 is headquartered, you can visit the Beekman 1802 Merchantile to see the pieces yourself in their new furniture emporium, located above their shop on Main Street.

Book of the Month: Eat Your (Heirloom) Vegetables!

My friends Brent and Josh are back in book stores with their latest cookbook, which is out today: The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook. It features 100 recipes that were developed by Brent, Josh and their food-editor Sandy Gluck, formerly the editor in chief of Everyday Food magazine. The book is the third cookbook in their "Heirloom" series (the Heirloom Cookbook and the Heirloom Dessert Cookbook were both smash hits) and 'the boys' say this is their best book yet. Like the others, this cookbook is divided by season, ensuring that the home cook can find what she is looking for at the supermarket or the farmer's market - or in her own backyard - while it is in season and at its freshest. Most of the recipes are vegetarian, some are vegan and there is the occasional recipe that does contain meat - but rest assured, the veggies are the stars of this show! You can order a personalized and autographed copy of the book here. Below is the cover and several photographs from the book, which were once again provided by art photographer Paulette Tavormina.

 

African Smoky Milk Tea

When you travel, what is it that most inspires you? Is it the landscape, the food, the culture? For me, it is all of the above and then some. I always try to learn something new when I venture to another country, something I can bring back with me and share with others. My friends Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell recently returned from a trip to Africa, specifically the Samburu region of Kenya, and brought back with them a host of new ideas and experiences that they were anxious to share with readers of their blogs at Beekman1802.com - a lifestyle website designed to inspire and teach. There was one post about their trip to Africa that really capitvated me. It was about a delicious tea they had tried while in Kenya called Smoky Milk Tea.

The key to its flavour is its smokiness, which is traditionally achieved by inserting a smoldering stick into the vessel the tea will be made in. The Samburu people use a vessel carved out of wood or a hollowed-out gourd, shown below, to store their goats' milk. Brent and Josh were told that this vessel could store milk for up to four days without any refrigeration. The intense heat of the embers at the tip of the burning stick acts as a sterilizer but has the added benefit of imparting a luscious smoky taste to the milk. When they tasted tea made with this milk for the first time, they knew they had to see how it was made. Below are beautiful photographs taken by Josh of the tea and its various components. Following the photos is the recipe that Brent and Josh developed to replicate the same delicious smoky milk tea. In the midst of a cold February weekend, I can think of nothing I'd rather try! Please click here to read the full story.

This is the traditional vessel that the Samburu use to store their goat's milk. It is usually carved out of wood or made from a hollowed-out gourd. It is shown here with a stick that will be burned at the tip and then inserted into the vessel to sterilize it. Next to it is a drinking vessel made from the same material.

Inside one of the small Manyattas, Josh and Brent witnessed how the vessel was sterilized by fire. Here, one of the tribeswomen demonstrates the process.

This young boy had the task of whisking out the vessel after it was sterilized. Presumably, this is done to remove any excess soot.

Back at their farm in Sharon Springs, New York, Josh replicated the process by using a heavy-duty thermos as the vessel, filled at the bottom with 1/2 cup of water at room temperature. Josh suggests using applewood to impart the smoky flavour to the thermos since it contains no toxic compounds when burned. Select a stick that is at least 1.5 to 2 inches thick and cut to a length that will fit entirely inside the thermos. Light one end, letting it burn until embers form. Insert the smoldering stick (burned side down) into the water at the base of the thermos. Quickly secure the cap and then swirl it around gently for about a minute. This will allow the smoke to fill the container.

Open the cap of the thermos near an open window or a vent to allow the smoke and steam to escape and remove the stick. Pour the water through a fine sieve into a saucepan. The sieve will catch any excess soot. Add another cup of water as well as the tea and spices and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about four minutes.

Add the milk and sugar and bring to a high simmer, just below boiling point. Once warmed, pour the mixture through a fine sieve directly into the serving mugs.

And voila! You have Smoky Milk Tea! A big thank you to Josh for the use of his photographs on this blog and to both Brent and Josh for sharing this amazing treat. Here is their recipe.

Summary:

Prep time: 15 Min
Cook time: 10 Min
Total time: 25 Min

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup water
2 bags of black tea (not herbal,) or 1 ½ tablespoons of loose black tea.
8 crushed cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick (or ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon)
6 whole cloves (or 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves)
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 inch segment of fresh ginger, sliced thinly
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar or honey

Directions:

Follow instructions above for making “smoky” water. Heat the water in a heavy saucepan with tea, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns & ginger. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer over low heat for four minutes.
Add milk and sugar (or honey.) Bring back to simmer (not boil) while stirring over low heat.
Strain directly into mugs and serve immediately. (Strained mixture can also be chilled and served over ice.)

The New Book by the Beekman Boys

My friends Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell will be releasing their third cookbook this spring, and this one is all about veggies! The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook is now availalbe for pre-order at Amazon and will be released in bookstores on May 13th. The team that worked on their last cookbook, the Heirloom Dessert Cookbook, is back to help with this volume as well: Paulette Tavormina supplies the gorgeous photographs and Sandy Gluck, formerly the editor-in-chief of Everyday Food magazine, helped develop the recipes. I can't wait to add this volume to my collection!

Who Wants Seconds?

Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are poised to release their second cookbook this week and I couldn't be more excited about its subject: desserts! Their first offering, The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook, which was published in 2011, was a tremendous hit, sold internationally with excellent reviews from critics and readers alike. The ‘heirloom’ function of the book, which is designed to be interactive, makes it extremely special among cookbooks. Amidst the pages are envelopes for readers to keep and collect their own cherished recipes and my copy is now stuffed with several of my mother’s handwritten family recipes for some of her most treasured (and delicious) dishes: my great grandmother’s plum pudding, my grandmother’s christmas cake, my aunt’s cherry squares and my uncle’s tabouleh, plus many more of my own favourites gathered over the years from friends.

That so many of the recipes I’ve held on to and love are recipes for desserts is no coincidence. Desserts, for me, have the biggest impact on my childhood food memories: chocolate icing on my birthday cakes, the warm apple filling in my grandmother’s pie at Thanksgiving, and all that Christmas baking!

The Beekman 1802Heirloom Dessert Cookbook, which comes out on Tuesday, contains Brent and Josh’s favourite dessert recipes, compiled with the help of food editor Sandy Gluck, formerly of Everyday Food magazine. The photographs, by PauletteTavormina, look as decadent as the desserts themselves: moody, rich and enticing. The book is organized seasonally (Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring) with recipes that make the most of the season's freshest ingredients and contains the same treasure-keeping envelopes for amassing your own collection of family heirloom recipes with blank pages for additional notes and instructions.

Among the recipes are peach cobbler biscuits, banana pudding with vanilla wafers, one-bowl chocolate almond cake, baked manhattan ice-cream cake (can you imagine?!), plum upside-down cake, creamsicle pound cake, German chocolate cake and oatmeal cream pies with ginger cream. Dig in!

 

 

Congratulations to my Friends, Brent and Josh!

I love seeing history in the making! My friends Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell were married today at their farm in Sharon Springs, New York. I have blogged about this intrepid pair often, and their 'fabulous' business Beekman 1802. I visited Brent and Josh last month and was invited to their wedding today but could not make it, sadly. Brent and Josh have worked so hard to make their dreams come true and this is one dream made real that will carry them through their entire life together: commitment and security as a couple recognized in law. I am so very happy for them!

 

Even though I was not there, several people I know did attend the wedding and they are sharing some their photos with you here on the blog. Jeff White and Kenn LaFramboise took the photos below. I am told it was a very special day - despite the rain. You may notice a certain statuesque blond who happened to be at the wedding... Her name is Martha Stewart!

The happy couple!

Brent with his mother, left, and his grandmother, right.

Proprietors of The American Hotel in Sharon Springs, Garth Roberts and Doug Plummer were at the wedding and brought a lot of color! Doug was recently named the mayor of Sharon Springs!

Martha was at the wedding!

Guess who brought the colorful hard-boiled eggs from her chicken coop in Bedford...

My friend Kenn got a Martha Moment with the lady herself! Martha was very charmed by the buscuits Kenn brought to the wedding and asked him to send her the recipe! Maybe we'll see it in the pages of Martha Stewart Living in a future issue...

A Visit With Brent & Josh In Sharon Springs

Last weekend I got the chance to catch up with my friends Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell in Sharon Springs, New York. I visited them at their home - the beautiful Beekman Farm near Cobleskill. The "boys" always have something on the go and they were both especially excited about the new location of their store, The Beekman Merchantile, which opens on Main Street Sharon Springs this weekend. It's a beautiful old building that they have refurbished and renovated. They will now have lots of space to display and sell their many products. One nice feature of the new location is an ice-cream parlour where they will be selling exotic flavors of their new Beekman Ice Cream this summer! Josh also showed me some of the prototypes for some of the new products they're developing. Very exciting!

 

Even though the day was extremely cold, it was still a fresh, spring day. The fruit trees were blooming and the gardens were turning green with new life. The goats are always happy to see smiling faces and all the newborn kids were keeping warm in the barn. Sharon Springs is such a special place and Brent's gentle prodding for me to move there becomes a little less necessary with each new visit. The town has cast its spell on me! Below are some photographs from my visit to their home, with special attention paid to some of the smaller details in its storied rooms.