Book Report Card for The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook

With back to school upon us  – sorry kids – school was on my mind.

I figured it’s time for a report card of sorts on The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.

There is so much activity surrounding the Homegrown book with a full schedule of book signings, talks, and then there is the communication via social media, including Facebook and Twitter and InstaGram and Tumblr and…

I try to keep up with it all.

I needed an intern to better keep pace then joked that I couldn’t manage to get the time to follow up with the organizations to actually secure the intern. 

(There’s a Seinfeld joke in there…)

Regardless, as another great entertainer Tony Bennett famously croons, “Life goes on…” 

Here, I tried to break out the summer highlights for The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.

In no particular order – following is a recap - or book report card - of what’s been going on in the world of Homegrown.   

It’s all good! Straight A’s! Go to the head of the Homegrown class!

Goodreads    

With a 4.5 out of a 5-star rating, my publisher says with a smile that is worth bragging rights. So with some modesty unleashed by a sense of self–nominating promotion - This is a big buzz worthy achievement worth posting on the digital Homegrown refrigerator aka as a trophy case!

Here is my Goodreads Dashboard: http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Homegrown continues to outsell on Amazon – consistently ranking in the top and coming in at a low to mid five figures ranking – which might not seem refrigerator-worthy to the uninitiated but Amazon tracks that sales metric out of the 8 million books they sell!  Millions! 

So it’s very, very impressive! 

According to Amazon, “Author Rank shows how an author's books sell relative to other authors in its category. It’s updated hourly. Like the Billboard charts, lower numbers are better.”

Thank you to everyone who has purchased from Amazon.  

I’m still looking for good book review postings, though. So if you are feeling the Homegrown love – I invite you to share.  There’s only three reviews – which doesn’t seem right.  Especially since one Oscar the Grouch is just that. Spoiler!

I don’t know why, but I don’t follow the Barnes & Noble onsite sales so assiduously. 

But I know I will be going forward as B&N has published Homegrown as an E-Book! 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. More on that in a minute.

Beach and Manhattan Magazine cited The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook as one of its Top 25 Cookbooks!

http://digital.modernluxury.com/publication/?i=169079&p=50

Beach & Manhattan Magazine's Top 25 Cookbook feature

To be selected as a card-carrying member of this elite cookbook coterie is a very big honor and certainly worth bragging about, don’t you think? 

This Cookbook club includes none other than the culinary cuties Gwyneth Paltrow and Katie Lee – my Authors Night gal pals. ha! 

Perhaps it’s no coincidence but besides me – there are three chefs from my book included in this Top 25 list!  

Claudia Fleming, North Fork Table & Inn www.nofoti.com - Anna Pump, Loaves & Fishes (www.landfcookshop.com and & Rosa Ross, Scrimshaw Restaurant www.scrimshawrestaurant.com ) are featured and loved chefs from my Homegrown book and would top or scale anyone’s foodie list.

Also included in the magazine’s Top 25 Cookbook list is the ultimate -  chef Eric Ripert. 

The food circles are getting smaller – see later post about my culinary “date” with chef Eric! 

And is destiny that I'm in the same culinary clutch yet again with the splendid, gentlemanly chef Eric Ripert? sigh...

Heavyweights on the list are Martha Stewart, Ricky Lauren, and Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa (I have an inside feature story about Ina from the early days of researching and including chefs for my book. Perhaps another time…)

Rizzoli Books 

This temple of all that is literary honored The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook yet again.  While there couldn’t be anything that could top the book-signing there accompanied by chef Joe Isidori, a featured master Homegrown chef in the book with Southfork restaurant and his inspired grower, Art Ludlow of Mecox Dairy.   

Chef Joe is now owner/chef of his own restaurant in where else? – food-friendly nirvana aka - Brooklyn. 

His Arthur on Smith restaurant is so named for his beloved father, Arthur. www.arthuronsmith.com

(Lots of "art" in chef Joe's world, I can't help but notice...)

Recently, chef Guy Reuge of Mirabelle restaurant in Stony Brook, www.lessings.com/restaurant_home wrote to alert me that he saw The Hamptons & Long Island Cookbook featured at Rizzoli Books – the elegant, classic bookshop that has been called “the most beautiful bookstore in New York.”

I couldn’t agree more.

All the gold and black and glamour is just so intoxicating.

Chef Guy tipped his toque to how the Homegrown book was showcased and applauded the book’s enduring popularity. 

For my part, I was keen to check out this pleasant surprise and honor – so the evening that I dropped off Chef Eric Ripert’s autographed book at Le Bernardin, I clicked those kitten heels up to 57^th Street to see this gift with my own eyes. 

Sure enough – The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook was given a place of honor with the summer reads under the Recommended by Rizzoli – in an area that is prime real estate in the store. 

Like a proud parent watching their progeny at their dance recital, I couldn’t stop staring or taking photos! 

Squeezing my eyes shut and then quickly opening then to see if it was a dream proved a fairly reliable way to confirm it was indeed a real moment. There it was, standing proudly next between “Salads for Dinner” and  “These Hamptons” and underneath Bobby Flay’s latest.

And – drum roll please – Rizzoli - - arbitrators of all things literary – featured the book and a poster of the book and me/author – in the store windows on fashionable 57^th Street. 

Can you believe this hat trick of a book-honor?!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

E-Book

Would you like to carry The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook in your pocket to take to the Greenmarket or follow the recipes on your tablet device or smartphone?

The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook is now available as an e-book from a few vendors – the biggest being Barns & Noble “Nook” and Google Play. 

Barnes & Noble Nook:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hamptons-and-long-island-homegrown-cookbook-leeann-lavin/1110871798?ean=9781610585644

Google Play:

http://bit.ly/16SJotD

According to Google, “Like your email, you can access all your books wirelessly in one place, no matter where you go. Google Play stores your library in the digital cloud, which means you get to enjoy your favorite books wherever you want, and read them wherever you go, using a compatible device with an Internet connection.

Whenever you open your book, you’ll pick up right where you left. Books on Google Play are compatible with Android phones and tablets, iPhones, iPads, iPod touch devices, most web browsers and many eReaders. That means you can start reading on your smartphone, continue on your laptop, and carry on reading on your tablet.”

Sounds deliciously good to me!

The Homegrown book is also available at many libraries, I learned. 

The Sachem Public Library in Holbrook, for example – where I just participated in the first-ever Authors Fair in their Inside/Out garden extension - uses the Overdrive system to provide their e-books.  So you can rent the book on your Nook or smartphone.  

I just think this is so cool.

92Y Passport NYC

As with many things that happen in Gotham, my introduction to the 92Y Passport Culinary program came about through a network – through a friend. 

My Aunt Margaret’s high school friend, Helen Conover, who quickly became a food and science and hort and theater friend of mine.  Helen waived her magic wand and arranged for me to do a presentation and chef cooking demo at the 92Y when the Homegrown book launched.

This season, she introduced me to her associates who produce Passport NYC asking if I would talk to two teen sessions about the culinary world – food careers that transcend working in the kitchen. 

I loved the idea of sharing with then to explore the world of food as an author, writer, photographer, stylist, and more.

This was dear to my Homegrown heart!

Then, in what seemed like a New York minute, I was able to arrange for my talk at the James Beard House – the mecca for all things culinary. 

Plus, the Passport teens would be at the Union Square Greenmarket on Wednesdays – which coincided with the “Beard on Books” talks, allowing the group to listen to the Beard lecture, eat their boxed lunch in the Beard garden and then I did my talk for them.

Kismet!

I enjoyed these kids – very enthusiastic and attentive and asked salient questions, too.

92Y Passport NYC Session 2

92Y Passport NYC Session 1

The good people at the Beard House were so gracious and accommodating. 

A special thanks to Diane, Izabela, and Victoria.  Their hospitality was tremendous. They welcomed the 92Y Passport teens and made everything so easy. It’s a memory I know they will cherish.

As a matter of fact, both groups wrote me a letter saying so.  (OK, OK, they can't spell my name correctly but who cares - at least I'm "Lean!"

Here is the background from the Y to better explain what their program is all about:

Passport NYC, a not for profit summer camp program through 92Y, www.92YPassportNYC.org offers teens from all over the world the opportunity to live at the 92^nd Street Y for two three week sessions to explore and study their greatest passion: Culinary Arts, Fashion, the Music Industry, Film, or Musical Theater.  

For the Culinary Arts, each day our teens participate in culinary classes taught by a professional chef.  They learn a multitude of hands on culinary skills in the kitchen and explore many different food cultures and ethnic cuisines.  Each meal they prepare serves as their lunch that day.  The afternoon is paired with experiences in the food world of New York City.  Our teens gain an understanding of the Green Markets through our partnership with GrowNYC as well as have a chance to meet with top-level professionals in the culinary field.  

As we head into our 4^th Passport NYC summer we are honored and thrilled to have restaurants and Culinary professionals like Gramercy Tavern, Food Network tours, Waffles and Dinges, Del Posto, LandMarc/Ditchplains and many, many more signed on as some of our site visits this summer. We are very happy we can add you to provide an opportunity for our teens to be exposed to the varying opportunities within NY’s food industry. It will be incredibly relevant and beneficial.

Swanky-ish Soirees 

This season, I was privileged to participate in three-plus very, very extraordinary events on behalf of The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook.

More than mere cocktail party chatting fodder, these are the kind of experiences one passes on through the prism of a life well-lived. It was never lost on me for a second how fortunate I was to be a part of these memorable exchanges and passages.

Please enjoy the full re-telling here:

Great Chefs Dinner and meeting Chef Eric Ripert  

http://celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-homegrown-hamptons-east-end-weekend.html

Authors Night and The Hamptons Magazine Dinner

The Authors Night book signing “Under the Tent,” as the East Hampton Library refers to their fanfest fundraiser, was followed by the Hamptons Magazine dinner that was also under a tent – and it was pure magic. 

I wrote a full recollection a few posts back.  I hope this captures the wonder and joy:

http://celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com  

Hamptons Magazine Authors Night Dinner Party in Editor at Large Michael Braverman's scandalously beautiful library. Michael- far right, Debra Halpert, publisher Hamptons Magazine, Jessica Soffer, Padma Lakshmi, John Searles, me, Suzanne Corso, & Samantha Yanks, Editor in Chief, Hamptons Magazine

And The Magic of East Hampton Authors Night is posted right before: 

http://celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-magic-of-east-hampton-library.html

me & my yogi master, Hilaria Baldwin.  Now she is #yogimama to beautiful baby Carmen 

From an Author's Perspective: Authors Night 2013 & The Hottest Ticket - The Hamptons Magazine Dinner Party

You could never dream a better evening. 

As an author and writer to be considered an invited guest, the evening’s homage to literature and books is unmatched.

Just look at the pedigree of authors who attend the event “Under the Tent” – as the Library refers to the book signing and the more formal element of the annual East Hampton Library fundraiser: http://www.authorsnight.org/authors.html#l

As an “L” or as a former boss, Bob Dorf used to refer to me, “Double L” – I was thrilled to be next to Padma Lakshmi – in the listing and at the Tent event.  

(As shared previously, Lakshmi didn’t actually show at the Library event but was a featured author at the Hamptons Magazine dinner afterwards.)

But we’re getting ahead of things.

When asked last month to provide a quote to Hamptons Magazine and describe how I felt about being a participating author at the East Hampton Library’s annual benefit for the library, I trembled a bit.

I wanted to strike a balance: I didn’t want to be viewed as too dramatic even though it was clearly operatic for me.

Nor did I want to be too familiar. Or cavalier.

I wrote from the heart. 

Honestly, I didn’t struggle too much with the words and sentiment.

I rather deliberated how it would be received.

I sent it to my Mother and husband Bill for review and feedback. 

Bill said it was too long and Mother said it was perfect.

See the ying and yang of my life??

Now that it was settled (ha) - I spell checked for the umpteenth time and hit “Send.”

The background to this adrenaline-inducing swoon is somewhat layered.

First there was the outreach from Hamptons Magazine initially sent to my publisher’s marketing pro, Katie that I somehow didn’t see.

Turns out, there was to be a feature in Hamptons Magazine for my book, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook. 

I was over the moon.

So jpegs were sent of the book cover and a telephone interview was coordinated and before you can say Hampton Heaven – the season’s premiere issue of the magazine was out with a mind-bending, full-color page feature:

http://hamptons-magazine.com/the-latest/east-end-eats/postings/hamptons-chefs-reveal-recipes-in-the-hamptons-and-long-island-homegrown-cookbook

But then in the fairy tale magic of the East End – this miracle was a “mere” prelude.

Or a Homegrown, “literary foreplay,” of sorts.

This – and the summer season of my lucky year ’13 (yes, admittedly – I am Very superstitious) was all turning into a fun, celebrity-filled Hamptons summer for the Homegrown book – and me…

In July sometime, I got an email from Michael Braverman, editor at large for Hamptons Magazine and contributor to Edible East End magazine - and someone who I’ve long admired, asking me to send a book to him for the feature he would write for the next issue of Hamptons Magazine next issue. 

This was kismet! 

I sent the Homegrown book posthaste – taking it myself to the local, marble-rich Post Office in Gotham near the apartment.  (Why the Stalin-era lines all the time?? They can’t think we’ll enjoy the architecture more, do they?)

Upon receipt of the book, Michael wrote that he "loved the organization, content and look of the book” and that it will be “Fun to write about.”

I replied with an enthusiastic and heartfelt thanks and then teased, “Where were you when I needed a blurb for the book jacket?!”

And I thought, who needed that Baldwin bad-boy, anyway?

Ha.

Michael’s feature was Hottest Tickets - “Turning the Page. A Major Fundraiser for the East Hampton Library, Authors Night Honors the Area’s Many Wordsmiths With Readings, Signing, And Celebratory Dinners.” 

He asked if I would provide a brief quote on what it means to be at Authors Night – writing that I had a lot of latitude in how I could answer. He said he’d edit for length – but gently. 

I felt I was in good hands.

I didn't realize what good hands until he clasped them at the dinner party…

So working against what was now a tight deadline, I wrote how this was such a big deal for me to be included in Authors Night.  

Here is my submission:

What it means to me to be to be at Author’s Night

To receive the offer to participate in Author’s Night was akin to a dream invitation to a special world – a blink-back moment that revealed a portal to a magical place filled with established, popular, and famous artists. 

Books and literature are the coin of the realm, I imagine, where writers, authors and their books are revered.

As someone who has been deeply, madly, in love with books and reading and writing and telling stories for my entire life, this is somewhere over the rainbow.

It’s a wonder to be a part of this literary tribe.  I feel a bit in simpatico with an Academy Award nominee who says it’s just so great to even be nominated…

It’s truly a “clutch your heart” thrill to be a part of Author’s Night. 

And the discerning audience makes it all the more so. 

The respect for the written word and the story telling is palpable and joyful. 

And I am most honored to be able to inscribe my book, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook for the guests and share their genuine pride for their local chefs and artisanal food makers and the relationship they have to each other and to the land and to the sea that is Long Island’s romantic East End.  

I was much blessed in that the quote text was well received by Michael.  

He wrote reassuringly that there was so much good stuff to choose from.

Sigh…

And the Cinderella moment continued. The bubble still hadn’t poofed.

I was asked if I would be a co-host author at the Hamptons Magazine premiere dinner event following the East Hamptons Library event.

Say it again?

If there was ever a hallowed moment for a writer it was to alight upon Mr. Braverman’s garden pool side-scene – straight out of a Slim Aarons’ Vanity Fair page  -- and have him clasp my hands and with a joyful cherubic smile, I remember him saying something like: “Thank you for the quote – so much good stuff  – and I had to use just about all of it!”

I melted with joy and humility.

See, like other great and accomplished artisans and leaders, Michael is someone that you immediately gravitate to.  

There is a quite confidence that radiates from this literary enthusiast and gracious host. He is the kind of person you want to like you. 

You are committed to earning his respect. 

Here is what Michael included in his feature about The Hamptons and Long Island Homegrown Cookbook in the Hamptons Magazine feature:

http://hamptons-magazine.com/digital-edition

My special Plus+1’s for the evenings' two events were Toni Sabatino, kitchen designer and Homegrown enthusiast extraordinaire http://tonisabatinostyle.com

as well as Bryan Futerman, chef and owner, of Water Mill’s Foody’s restaurant – and a featured chef in the Homegrown Cookbook. 

As noted in the previous blog post, we made our way from the Authors Night under the tent at Gardiner Farm posthaste. 

And in hindsight – that was probably a tad too hasty! 

It was only a short distance to Michael Braverman’s home and, speaking for myself, we could’ve taken a few minutes to freshen up.  We were still rather wilted from the ambient temperature under the tent, the celebrity buzz, and the excitement of the authors, the fans and selling out of The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook cases of books.

But it was the zeitgeist.

Hopping onto the chariot, er, golf cart, that whisked us down the allee driveway marked by flaming torches, I had the sense of driving through an enchanted woods.  Crossing the passageway to another world, we alighted a short distance away in front of the house. 

Here, the cart’s emergency horn blasted our arrival. The poor driver couldn’t get it to stop – and I had never had a cart sound off like that – whether at the country club or at the botanic gardens where I’d worked (they utilize golf carts for plant or visitor transportation.)

Oh well, it was a grand entrance in more ways than one!

Straight ahead I couldn’t help notice the lit walkway that ran away from the house and ended in a small fountain hugged by grove of shrubs.  That garden room led to a deer-covered edible garden.

I was transfixed.

  

But the front door beckoned – the home was rather glowing – lit golden from within. 

The short hallway opened up to the most magnificent room I think I’ve ever seen in a home.

It was like a multi-tiered wedding cake: two floors of the owner’s top-to-bottom private collection of books!  

So many beautiful books -- it was overwhelming…

As I later wrote to Michael:

“Your library continues to make me swoon.... I so felt a little bit like Daisy Buchanan who upon seeing Jay Gatsby's shirts bends her head and cries.  

I wanted to touch those books, caress their spines and explore the stories and authors...  I was embarrassed by my immense love of your literary beauty - I felt as if I was experiencing more than a bit of Stendhal Syndrome :) “

There was no doubt that room is the centerpiece of the night – we took the Authors’ photos there later, with Padma draping her loonnng legs ‘round an antique library ladder that Michael noted upon entering the room and seeing Padma with the other authors holding on to the iron banister while trying to squeeze into the photo. 

We also took several shots near the center table, piled with yet more books. 

Before I go on too much about the sensory experience of the evening, allow me to formally introduce the other authors, especially if you haven’t read the Hamptons Magazine feature piece yet.  I can’t wait to get the rest of the books not included in the evening’s swag bag and pray I can carve out some time over the long weekend to read these wonderful books.  You should too.

The featured authors are:

Suzanne Corso: Brooklyn Story http://amzn.to/1fhmu4c

Padma Lakshmi: Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every Day http://amzn.to/16ORtmw

John Searles: Help for the Haunted: A Novel  http://amzn.to/182zYhD

Jessica Soffer: Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots http://amzn.to/1do0XeA

The other authors at the dinner event and highlighted in Michael’s feature story have agreed to meet in town - with the exception of Padma who admittedly would be unlikely to hobnob with us up-and-comers – although Searles is not a first-time author and has quite a literary sash of badges to his credit.  Yet even Padma seemed in awe of the evening's spectacle and reverence.  At her dinner remarks, she cited her humble roots and begininngs, commenting about how she arrived in the US -- and living in Queens with her mother at that time -- never expected to be a “brown person” in such a Hamptons setting as this one and further, to be so well-received.  She was also grateful Hamptons Magazine has featured her – a person of color - on the cover more than a few times.

On another note, the funny Searles was egging us on to join him in the pool after our photos.  Sorry I couldn’t jump in the pool with him.  What a Gatsby-like moment!

The Dinner Scene

Gliding through the library to the dining room and then the outside terrace to where the authors’ books were placed on a round table, in front of a cozy fire, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I heard the woman ahead of us joking, “This room is SO like ours, just a different color!”   

Farther on, was the tony garden and pool area that looked like that Aarons magazine layout.

It all hit just the right note.

Guests were mingling or seated near the pool; waiters passed hors d’ouevres and Rosé with Ch. d’Esclans wine, compliments of Paul Chevalier, National Fine Wine Director for Shaw-Ross International Importers. We enjoyed two of the vineyard’s Rosés with dinner too. They are light, delicious and oh-so-pretty. 

Paul handed out a Rosé barometer – a way to describe and depict “The Many Shades of Pink Wine” on one side and the “Whispering Angel” bottle of Rosé on the other side. Appropriately, the barometer was like a bookmark.

The entire garden-scape milieu was all so dazzling.  And sublime. 

Stepping down a few steps to the pool area is where our gracious and cosmopolitan host, Michael, clasped my hands in his and made me feel so welcome and renewed.

I also met Samantha Yanks, editor-in-chief of Hamptons Magazine--the goddess of all things Hamptons - and the warm, sophisticated and gorgeous publisher, Debra Halpert.

My eyes were distracted somewhat by the serene garden design surrounding us. I couldn’t help notice there was a stone wall around the pool lawn area, filled with plants and twinkling candles on the wall that was surprisingly very similar to a garden design I did for clients some years back.

Refocusing, I could see the dinner tent was off to the right, already glowing…

After chatting it up and meeting so many guests and the authors, cocktails were soon over and we were ushered to the tent.

Tablescapes were designed with linen-draped tables set for a sumptuous meal and topped with gorgeous floral designs of white hydrangea, designed by BFloral.

BFloral

The dinner was catered by Elegant Affairs.

The menu consisted of First Course:

·      Kobe Beef Carpaccio with Black Truffle, Mache, Crostini & Chateau D’Esclans Rosé 2012 

The Main Course:

·      Baby Turbot, Lobster Sauce, Baby Spinach, Roasted Leek, Chervil Potatoes & Chateau D’Esclans “Garrus” Rosé 2011

The arrangement was that each author was seated at a table and their guests were mixed among the tables to better facilitate conversation. My guests sat at my table; lucky for us.

Following the appetizer Debra and Samantha took turns reading each author’s bio while the author stood and all could see whom the writer was.  Polite and sincere applause followed. 

It was the "jewel in the crown: for me that Debra Halpert read my bio.

More than a few guests remarked afterwards how privileged they felt to be there and to meet such accomplished artists.  After a few such compliments and understandably unaccustomed to this, I had to restrain myself from looking around to find out whom they were referring to!

Toni Sabatino, me, Chef Bryan Futerman, Foody's

Photos in the Library

As the dessert of Butlered Sweets was served, the call for the authors to gather for the group shot was heard. 
Toni asked if I wanted her to accompany me.  I thought it was just one or two photos and preferred she enjoy her dessert, so shook my head. 

I should’ve said ‘Yes.” 

It would have been so extraordinary to have some behind the scenes, "private" images of the authors in the library, cavorting and enjoying this mutual, hypnotic moment that was being documented. 

Plus the other authors had either their publicists or significant others with them…

And I should have freshened up before all the photos. I was already wilted from the Tent event and never got back the mojo.

Missed opportunities…

The other missed was that – unbelievable as it sounds – I never got a photo of Michael and me.  

Do over! 

As I wrote to him, there was just so much assaulting my senses that I wasn’t thinking clearly…

It wasn’t long before the rest of the party soon made their way to us in the library. 

Here, we enjoyed some coffee or a last glass of wine.. There was lots of picture talking too.

Gorgeous Debra Halpert, publisher Hamptons Magazine

Michael’s dog was a star and center of some attention, basking in the limelight and the luxury of the library’s divan.










Padma was leafing through a book about India and pointing out things she remembered as a child.

At one page she said, “See, the Indians invented polo – and the British stole it.”

Some of the authors also got a tour of the upstairs rooms. Others looked at the kitchen design. Most basked in the library’s collection and the moment of so much glamour and talent.

But all too soon, the perfect evening was drawing to a close.

It was Homegrown hugs all ‘round.

Me/author, Hamptons Magazine Editor in Chief, Samantha Yanks & Foody's Chef & owner, Bryan Futerman 

And then, just like that, we were trailblazing back through the enchanted woods to reality.

Not willing to have the evening end just yet, Toni and I made our way to Bostwick’s restaurant across from the hotel and we arrived just in time to order a bottle of the bubbly.  Ended up it was a Toni-treat!

It was a splendid way to indulge and recap what we’d just experienced and try to hold onto the glamour and magic for just a little longer….

It was all just this side of Hamptons Heaven…