| Karen Polle rode “With Wings” to victory at the Hampton Classic Grand Prix |
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| 18 Year Old Victoria Colvin won our hearts! |
Last Sunday’s Grand Prix Day at the Hampton Classic was its 40th Anniversary. What started out as a truly local event has now become a major stop on the Equestrian circuit. Participation can affect Olympic status for the riders. Horses come from all over the world. This year, there was horse and rider from Argentina and the winner of the $250,000 Grand Prix was Karen Polle, a Japanese citizen riding a Japanese horse called “With Wings”. And of special interest to us was a very winning young rider named Victoria Colvin. 18 year old Victoria rode more than one dozen horses in the show. On it’s last day before the Classic, Victoria won first, second, fourth and fifth places in the Hermes Junior /Amateur-Owner Hunter Classic. Just before that she took home the championship ribbon in the East Coast Young Jumper Championship for 7 Year Olds. Her horse was Austria 2, owned by Take The High Road LLC of New Jersey. And why was she our personal favorite? Because she stayed at our house while pursuing her Hamptons Classic ribbons. Well done, Victoria. But Grand Prix Day isn’t just about the horses. Not by a long shot.
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| Jim and Michael with the perennially beautiful Barbara “B.” Smith |
Andrew and I feel so fortunate to be invited to the Big Event by the deans of Hampton’s florists and our dear friends Michael Grim and Jim Osburn. If they look familiar, it may be that you know them through their multiple appearances on Ina Garten’s wildly popular “Barefoot Contessa” cooking series on the Food Network. What Ina is to food, Michael and Jim are to flowers. Their handiwork is everywhere at the Classic. They
create fantasy table settings for the Grand Prix tents and some very bold-faced names. Think billionaire former Mayors for one. They even decorate the jumps for corporate clients. And then they turn their imaginations to their own table under the big tent.
This year, they ran with the 40th Anniversary theme and took it over the top. Having been at the Classic virtually from the beginning, and being inveterate photographers, they gathered together images of Classics past and transferred these images to white tablecloths. People, some of whom are sadly missed and many of whom stopped by to see themselves(!), gazed out from under glass plates. Those pictures that weren’t
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| Andrew and I on the tablecloth |
on the tablecloth peered out of plexiglass frames that ran down the center of the table along with pink orchids cut for the occasion. The food was all catered by our go-to take out purveyor, Loaves and Fishes. Lobster and steak salads joined the greenest peas on earth and our local Rosé flowed freely. Then came Andrew’s annual parade of phenomenal confections. Placed at the end of the table, they are so well-known and well-liked that a steady stream of friends stopped by to sample Andrew’s handiwork.
Before we get to the recipes, I thought you might like a glimpse of the star power that peoples Sunday’s Grand Prix. It really is the culmination of the season out here and you see practically everyone you’ve heard were here this summer but not laid eyes on. And oh what your eyes see. The Outfits! The Hats! The Jewellry! The rich, the famous, the infamous and the awful all parade past you in an unmatched event. See what we mean?
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| The inimitable Joy Marks who changes outfits midway through the Event |
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| Katie Couric and Brooke Shields |
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| Katie Couric and husband, John Molner |
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| Marla Maples, the 2nd Mrs. Donald Trump and Jason Binn, Publisher of Hamptons Magazine. |
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| Matt and Annette Lauer |
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| Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Grandson, Jasper |
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| One of the jumps created by The Bridgehampton Florist |
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| Yet another table by The Bridgehampton Florist |
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| Joy Marks, in vintage Pucci, stopped by with her husband Alan to see herself on The Bridgehampton Florist’s table topping. |
Every year, Andrew outdoes himself with his sweets. This year, in honor of the Anniversary, he went back into the vaults and presented two of his (and your) all-time favorites: Butterscotch Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. These two recipes have appeared here before. Follow these links and you’ll come to these recipes. For the Butterscotch Brownies: https://chewingthefat.us.com/2012/07/the-treats-trucks-recipe-for.html and for the Chocolate Chip Cookies, click here: https://chewingthefat.us.com/2012/09/we-took-joanne-chang-john-barricelli.html The new entry this year was for a Brownie, so dense and chocolate-y it takes the prize for best Brownie ever. The recipe came from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours” (Houghton Mifflin 2006). But talk about provenance! A Boston-based pastry chef named Rick Katz was laboring away helping Julia Child to produce the recipes for the “Baking with Julia” TV series and its accompanying book. There were 26 chefs involved but somehow Rick Katz managed to produce extra sweets, these brownies among them. They are very dark, very fudgy and made in away that Dorie Greenspan had never seen a brownie made before. Half the eggs and sugar are mixed in with the chocolate while the other half are beaten until they double in volume. That gives you a brownie that is light as a sponge. “Whipping the eggs”, Dorie writes, “creates the surprisingly creamy, soft and definitively fudgy texture. Here is the recipe”
Recipe for Rick Katz’s Brownies for Julia Child
Makes 18 1-1/2 X 3 inch Brownies.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1. Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a 9-inch square baking pan (Pyrex is good for this) on a baking sheet.
2. Whisk the flour and salt together.
3. Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the butter in the bowl and top with the chopped chocolate.
4. Stir frequently until the ingredients are just melted — you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Add 1 cup of the sugar and whisk gently just to incorporate it, then remove the bowl from the pan of water. Stir in the vanilla and transfer the warm chocolate to a large bowl.
5. Put the remaining 1 cup sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium bowl and, using a whisk, stir in the eggs. Stir the eggs and sugar together until they are a pale lemon color.
6. Switch to a rubber spatula and, little by little, add one half of the sugar-egg mixture to the warm chocolate, stirring very gently but without stopping — you don’t want the heat of the chocolate to cook the eggs.
7. With the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the remaining sugar and eggs on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, or until they double in volume.
8. Using the spatula and a light touch, fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate mixture, stopping just short of blending them in completely.
9. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the batter and delicately fold them in, working only until they disappear. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the spatula.
10. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until the top looks dry. Poke a thin knife into the center and take a peek: the brownies should be only just set and still pretty gooey. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.
The brownies are fragile and best cut in the pan. Cut eighteen 1 1/2-x-3-inch bars.
Tips
Serving: Because these are so intensely chocolaty, they are particularly good with espresso.
Storing: These will keep for 2 days at room temperature — cut what you need and keep the remainder covered tightly with plastic wrap. To freeze for up to 2 months, wrap the brownies airtight.