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Author: Admin General

Teaching Gardens for Healthy Hearts

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On Valentine’s Day I am chairing the American Heart Association’s Palm Beach Heart Ball, the longest, continuous Heart Ball in the nation. Last year, the Heart Ball campaign raised just over $71 million nation-wide, providing funding for life-saving research and prevention programs in our community and across the country. I’m particularly passionate about their Teaching Gardens initiative, which is the reason I agreed to chair this year’s gala.

American Heart Association Teaching Gardens have now been planted in more than 200 elementary schools across the country. These gardens become real-life learning laboratories for students. The Teaching Garden program recently started in Palm Beach County and, since it is an initiative focused on reversing the current childhood obesity trends that our nation is facing, I took a look at the program to see if it was a fit for the Michael and Annie Falk Foundation, one focus of which is improving the lives of children.

Garden-based nutrition intervention programs can promote increased fruit and vegetable intake among children, which is absolutely critical when you consider that French fries make up one-fourth of their vegetable intake. As I explored the gardens, I heard so many inspiring stories; they taught me that the gardens do far more than just address dietary issues. At one school I observed a little girl being led out of a classroom by what appeared to be her state-appointed companion, and they headed straight for the gardens. I saw the companion later in the day and asked what she thought about the gardens and she explained that her charge used to get agitated in class and they would have to leave so as not to disturb the other children. This, of course, would only frustrate the girl even more and throw her into a full-blown episode, one that would end her day at school. Now, when she has to leave a classroom she heads to the garden, takes a few deep breaths, rocks back and forth, and then goes right back to class.

Because I want more people to learn about the positive impact these gardens have on young children and our environment, I—along with my sister Dawn Scibilia—produced a 15-minute film called Teaching Gardens. We want people to see and hear first hand what a difference the gardens make and the positive effect the gardens are having, not only on the children, their families, the school, and the community, but also on the environment. The children realize they must attract pollinators to their gardens, and now they are bee and butterfly keepers and bird watchers—stewards of the environment, keeping our planet clean and nourished for future generations.

The American Heart Associations Teaching Gardens are funded by donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and other community-based organizations. To learn more about fundraising or school requirements for an American Heart Association Teaching Garden, please contact teachinggardens@heart.org.

Turmeric Wellness Shot

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I have a lot of “happy places” around the world, but the newest one on my list and perhaps the resort I’m most obsessed with at the moment is the One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico. It is situated at the edge of the Baja Peninsula, overlooking the most breathtaking turquoise waters, and the service and cuisine are unparalleled. It was there, on Global Wellness Day, that I found myself doing shots with big wave surfer Laird Hamilton. No, not the mind-numbing tequila kind! After a day of paddling with Laird and a killer XPT workout with his beautiful wife, Gabrielle Reece, we shared some delicious and healthful shots of turmeric.

Turmeric, a rhizome similar to ginger, has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine, most often in its dried and powdered form. Recent studies show that one of this golden spice’s active ingredients, curcumin, is a powerful anti-inflammatory, making it the perfect remedy for everything from cranky knees to eczema. It’s an especially welcome elixir after a very active morning. Some physicians believe turmeric may help in detoxify carcinogens and that the benefits of consuming this golden powder may extend to mental health.

A sprinkle of black pepper can enhance the body’s absorption of curcumin by as much as 2000 percent, while consuming it with healthy fats (like those in coconuts) helps curcumin be absorbed directly by the bloodstream.

My friends at Pamilla shared their ingredient list and here’s my take on the wellness shot, one I’m going to enjoy on especially active days. 

Yield: Makes 8 (2-ounce) shots

Pumpkin Puree

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This year my family and I celebrated Thanksgiving in the rather exotic locale of Morocco. We knew in advance that a traditional turkey dinner would not be on the menu, so we decided to have a post Thanksgiving–inspired dinner at home when we returned from our trip.

The delicious Pharsi squash that inspired my Pumpkin Granita is the same one I used for this recipe. It’s simple, yet has all the flavors of Thanksgiving and pairs deliciously with a tart cranberry sauce and turkey breast. 

Our Thanksgiving trip inspired the table setting, which began with my antique Richard Gnori plates. They are certainly Moroccan-inspired and created the perfect backdrop for this dish.

Yield: Makes 9 Cups

Pumpkin Granita

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As the amber leaves of autumn dress the trees the air begins to cool and the ocean chills, yet there is warmth everywhere. The air is gentle against the skin and the water reflects a paler sky.

In the Hamptons, people begin to move at a slower pace, and there’s space to be more present, more connected. The bounty of autumn begins to flourish with fruits and vegetables that will carry us into the holiday season. Pumpkins have ripened after happily bloating under the summer sun. Orange, green, white and yellow pumpkins abound in whimsical shapes that made my mind reel. But on this day, I am searching for a sweet pumpkin—one destined for a terrific pie recipe shared by a friend.

The Green Thumb in Water Mill is my first stop, where I chat with Johanna Halsey, whose family has owned the farm since the mid-1600s. She points out a pumpkin she calls pharsi squash. It’s so beautiful, with a pale peach rind and distinctive stem, I am not sure if I want to display it or cook it! This particular pharsi squash evolved when Joanna’s brother returned from Nepal with seeds from the round, green pharsi squash native to that country. Once planted, the Nepalese pharsi cross-pollinated with our beloved heirloom Long Island cheese pumpkin to produce a variety that’s unique to the Halsey farm. I took one home for my pie.

The sweet flavor and creamy texture of the pharsi squash inspired me to go back the next day and pick up a few more for an early Thanksgiving celebration. One for another pie, of course, and the other to serve as both a puree to cradle leftovers and this granita, which I layered over a tart, frozen vanilla yogurt, my husband’s favorite treat!

Yield: Makes 6 cups

Annie’s Smokey Turkey Chili

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Chili tastes are highly personal, and this recipe is one I developed for my family.  We don’t eat red meat often, but we certainly do appreciate the overall depth of flavor pork and beef can add to a dish. What gives this Turkey Chili its distinct flavor and aroma is an infusion of Lapsang souchong, sometimes referred to as smoked tea. Its leaves are smoke-dried over pinewood and its distinctive flavor creates a smoky chili that is usually only achieved with beef, pork or ham hocks. It’s a leaner, more healthful chili, an amalgam of styles, with tea for complexity, spices for kick and lots of beans. Some chili aficionados will say the flavor of a good chili is all about cumin levels, others believe it’s all about the heat.  In our home, the success of this one pot meal hinges on the tea and its beguiling smoky aroma. 

Lapsang Souchong Tea

Yield: Makes 12 cups

Chocolate Chia Smoothie

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Chocolate is nature’s way of making up for Mondays and this smoothie is my way of starting the week off right. It is a sublime chocolate experience without any of the guilt, adapted from No Sweeter Than the Ripest Cherry, a comic-book/cookbook written and illustrated by the talented raw-food chef Suzie Bohannon. I received this seasonal, fresh food–inspired recipe book as a gift while staying at The Ashram retreat in California.

The vanilla, almond, and cacao make this smoothie a delicious family favorite, but it’s filled with healthy ingredients, too. The addition of chia seeds adds fiber, protein, calcium, and Omega-3s. A dash of E3Live (a nutrient-dense organic algae in powder form) and maca powder (from a radish-like root that grows in the mountains of Peru) raises this drink to super-food status.

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We’ve all heard about the benefits of eating a small amount of dark chocolate, but cacao—chocolate in its raw, unprocessed state—is filled with natural antioxidants that may benefit your heart health and increase longevity.

You’ll start to look forward to Mondays.

Yield: Makes about 2 (1 1/2 cup) servings

The Best Frozen Treats in the Hamptons

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I am blessed that all the men in my life love ice cream. Thanks to my husband, my nephew, and a few friends close enough to feel like family, I always have a partner in my endless quest for the perfect scoop. I am also fortunate that I’m very particular when it comes to ice cream: It has to be homemade and well worth the calories.

Frozen yogurt is never an option for me; one bite and I can taste the amalgam of chemicals. It sounds like such a healthful option, but truth be told almost all frozen yogurts contain additives like guar gum, maltodextrin, sodium citrate, cellulose gum, disodium phosphate and propylene glycol monoesters. A thickening agent called carrageenan usually makes an appearance as well and has been associated with adverse health effects. So I will continue to be particular and discerning when it comes to my frozen dessert consumption; both for the sake of my well-being and the satisfaction of my cravings. Good quality ice cream almost always wins, although I find sorbetto or granita to be especially refreshing on the warmest of days.

One of my favorite ice cream recipes was given to me by my friend Marie Samuels and appears in Hamptons Entertaining. It is egg based-custard, a rich creamy gelato redolent with the flavor of real vanilla bean. While I love Marie’s presentation, I tend to skip the decorating instructions and serve it in vintage crystal coups, topped with a little bit of chocolate sauce and crushed cocoa nibs for crunch, or I serve it alongside Marta’s Apple Pie, a recipe also featured in Hamptons Entertaining. Okay, now my mouth is watering!

When time is too short to make my own ice cream, there are a few places where I know I can find the perfect scoop—ones that will satisfy the boys in my life and live up to my standards too. The Hamptons offer several options, but these are the places that, thankfully, have a respect for the past, when good old-fashioned ingredients were still in style. When I walk into these shops, it’s like I’m a child again.

1. Sant Ambroeus – 30 Main Street, Southampton, NY

With homemade Italian gelato, sorbetto and granite, everyone can find an icy treat that will satisfy that frozen dessert craving at this Italian restaurant with a shop attached. When I’m looking for something decadent and celebratory I order the White Funny Cup, a deliciously tart lemon sorbet topped with prosecco. For dinner parties I’ll often pick up a container of vanilla and a few biscotti to serve on the side—it’s as good as homemade.

2. Sip ’n Soda – 40 Hampton Road, Southampton, NY

At this family-run establishment (which opened in 1958), the homemade ice cream recipes are a Parash family secret, passed from generation to generation. You can still get an old-fashioned egg cream soda here; one sip while seated in this classic soda fountain luncheonette will surely transport you back to simpler times. My daughters love the ice cream and we often take it home for BBQs and casual gatherings and serve it right out of the tub.

3. Bridgehampton Candy Kitchen – 2391 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton, NY

Founded in 1925, the Candy Kitchen is the oldest ice cream purveyor on the South Fork. Decidedly non-trendy and never-changing, locals and vacationing celebrities still clamor for a seat at the counter or in a booth at this luncheonette, and the ice cream is still homemade. Flavors range from vanilla to Oreo, peach to mint chip, but maple walnut is the flavor my dad favored when he indulged. A scoop of tuna with a pickle on the side, followed by a taste of maple walnut ice cream, brings back fond memories of lunch with Dad.

An Apple-a-Day Cereal

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My dad was well known for his one-liners, riddles, and corny jokes. He especially liked rhymes. Perhaps one of the most recognizable expressions, “an apple a day helps keep the doctor away,” is one I heard often. He loved the way it rolled off the tongue and he loved apples! This sage advice was almost always followed by tales of my father’s youth during the depression, when fruit (if it wasn’t growing in your own backyard) was quite expensive and hard to find. It seems he and his friends knew where the apple sellers picked up their fruit and the routes they took via hired carts back to the city. Knowing that these gentlemen were charging prices well above the market rate, the boys positioned themselves in nearby trees and would swoop down on ropes to “swipe” a few apples, guilt free, as the carts passed.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my dad was the procurer of all the wonderful and deliciously healthful things that entered our home—and that was especially true when it came to apples. Finding the sweetest apples, the tartest in the bunch, and everything in-between was an art to him. My father would tell me that apples were plentiful in pectin, and contained the fiber that reduces blood pressure and glucose levels. He talked about boron, a mineral found in apples, and its importance to bone health, and how apples are nature’s toothbrushs. Apples are low in calorie density, so you can eat big portions, as much as you like, and enjoy them in a variety of ways.

It’s no wonder I fell in love with this breakfast treat I discovered while staying at the Ashram retreat in California. It’s adapted from No Sweeter than the Ripest Cherry, a comic-book/cookbook written and illustrated by the talented raw-food chef Suzie Bohannon. Nut milks have become very popular because they are high in protein and low in sugar—and since they’re lactose-free, many people prefer them to cow’s milk. They’re also very easy to make at home, as proved by the recipe below.

Yield: Makes 1 Serving

Tropical Kale Salad

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Much more than a passing food trend, kale is here to stay. This wintery vegetable (a member of the cabbage family) is everywhere and I can’t get enough of it. Kale salads began popping up on menus about five years ago and remain very popular. Why do we love them? We’ve all read about the health benefits, and we know they’re delicious, but another reason is that kale holds up so well after the salad is dressed. In fact, kale salad benefits from being dressed at least an hour in advance of serving, and the sturdy leaves will become more tender if you “massage” them with the dressing of your choice. Kale won’t wilt or discolor within hours as some lettuces can, which is why I love making this salad in big batches so I can enjoy it over the course of several days. A small portion with a soup serves as a quick and healthful dinner; a full portion serves up a satisfying lunch.

There are a number of different types of kale available. I prefer to use curly kale in my salads because I like the ruffled edges and its peppery bite; other types of kale are lacinato, or dinosaur kale, red Russian, and redbor. Select whichever type looks best in the market.

As a New Yorker, springtime meant waiting with anticipation for the first blades of rhubarb or ramps, but since living in Florida I’ve discovered the many tropical treats that ripen right about now, like mango. It’s sweet, fragrant taste inspired this recipe and the juicy mango cubes give this salad its tropical flair. Kale pairs very well with fruit, no matter what the season.

Be sure your fruit is ripe, has a full, fruity aroma, and is slightly soft to the touch but not mushy. If your mango is firm, you can accelerate ripening by placing it in a paper bag overnight. The chia seeds add a boost of fiber, protein, calcium antioxidants, and omega-3s, making this salad a nutritionally balanced meal.

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 cup dressing and four salad servings

Season’s Cleanings

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When I first moved to Florida from New York City, I really missed the changing of the seasons. The Northeast moves from a burst of fall color to blankets of winter-white snow and drifts of spring daffodils that promise long, lazy days of summer. It took a long time before I realized that the South has four seasons, too, but they present themselves in subtle ways, unfolding slowly.

In Palm Beach, “season” is a word used primarily to refer to a pocket of time (Thanksgiving to Easter) when the population swells and parties, fundraisers, trunk shows and volunteer opportunities are plentiful. If you partake in all “season” has to offer it can be exhaustingly fun and, as with all good things, seems to pass in the blink of an eye.

After years of living here I began to notice there were signs of spring occurring all around me. It usually begins with the first blooming of my jade vine—a rare flowering climber that puts on a stunning display of blue-green blooms that dangle from my pergola as if floating in midair. Its first bloom seems to arrive each year right around the time the social season is winding down. The majestic yellow-flowering tabebuia tree is next to make its presence known, its vibrant, yellow blooms stealing a bit of thunder from the jade vine. It waits to be noticed, relishing in your admiration, and then rains golden petals that blanket the driveway from the front door to the street, as if to say “it’s time for your exit, here’s your golden carpet,” a flower-covered carpet inviting you to walk into summer.

It’s these signs from Mother Nature that remind me to host those last few dinner parties to be sure to see the friends who will disappear from my life until next fall. And, of course, that it’s time to begin spring-cleaning and prepare for my transition to the Hamptons.

There are so many ways to get it all done, and here I share with you eight organizations that motivate me to clean a little deeper and shed a little more.

1. Food

For the past five years, the Palm Beach Daily News has partnered with the Palm Beach Fire-Rescue and the Town of Palm Beach United Way for the annual Empty Your Pantry Food Drive. Known to locals as the Shiny Sheet food drive, it benefits the Feeding South Florida and The Glades Initiative by collecting non-perishable foods from all the snow birds before they fly up north. It’s a great incentive to empty the pantry after that final round of dinner parties.

2. Kitchen appliances and gadgets, dishware and drinkware:

It seems at the end of season I fall out of love with one appliance or another. This year, I broke up with my blender when I discovered the Nutribullet. I also always end up with an odd number of glasses, dishware, and even cutlery. The Church Mouse, a local resale shop benefitting local charities, is my go-to place to drop off these items.

3. Children’s clothing:

Schoola is a wonderful way to clean out your children’s closet while supporting schools in need. It’s easy to sign up and a portion of the sales go to the school of your choice.

4. Adult clothing:

ThredUP is another quick and easy way to clean out your closet. Through this fashion resale site you can take your earnings as a store credit, donate to a cause, or cash out through PayPal. They don’t accept everything, so you can opt to have them donate the items for your or return them to you.

5. Gowns and cocktail dresses:

My hard-to-part-with cocktail dresses and gowns, the ones my daughters are not interested in, find a home in one of the dozens of consignment shops on the island. Consignment shops are Palm Beach’s Starbucks—there’s one on every corner. Some shops specialize in particular designers or styles and by choosing carefully things sell quickly and at good prices.

6. Blankets, towels, and socks:

Blankets get torn, towels fray and socks seem to lose their mates over time. My go-to places for these types of items are the ASPCA and Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. Oftentimes they’ll have a specific wish list posted on their sites, so you may also find a new home for all those random things you have no use for and are not sure what to do with.

7. Office supplies, crafts, carpets, and more:

Built to divert waste that is destined for landfills by collecting, processing, and distributing it for use in education, art, and recreation programs, Resource Depot is perhaps my favorite way to rid myself of things I no longer need.

8. Electronics:

All the outdated televisions, cell phones, old computers, e-readers, and tablets that fill your drawers and closets can be dropped off at any one of the seven Solid Waste Authority’s Home Chemical and Recycling Centers.

After a good clean out, I’m able to leave Palm Beach feeling a little lighter, with the knowledge that my cast-offs have been able to do some good for the community.