Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Mario Batali
Posted in Around the Garden, Programs and Events on June 7 2013, by Matt Newman
Certainly the biggest news going into this weekend comes about on Monday, when we once again buddy up with Mario Batali for the Edible Academy Family Garden Picnic. For the past few summers, our work with this renowned chef and Friend of the Garden has produced some of the most fun and delicious adventures found in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, and this year’s event is no different! In fact, we’re even raising the bar. Join us on Monday, June 10 for an exclusive picnic dinner as conceived by Mario himself, followed by a book signing with the chef and his always lively cooking demonstration. And there are plenty of family activities to keep even the most tireless toddler occupied in the meantime.
All proceeds from this event will go to the Edible Academy, an NYBG initiative to create a year-round center for gardening education that focuses not only on the practice of being a green thumb, but the important connections between plants, gardening, nutrition, and health. And it’s not just for kids—the Edible Academy will educate families, adults, and teachers as well. Tickets to the picnic are dwindling, so register while you can!
Over the past few days I’ve also been in touch with our Senior Advisor for the Rose Garden, Peter Kukielski, trading numbers at a rapid-fire pace. “90%, 95%, 99%!” The Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden went from a subtle collection of buds to a vibrant spread of blooms in the course of a week thanks to the warmer weather, and that sudden explosion of color needed tracking on our Rose Watch page. I could barely keep up! But just yesterday, as I was about to leave for the day, Peter floated me one last message: “Make it 100%! I’m recording peak bloom for 2013 as of today!”
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Posted in Programs and Events on June 3 2013, by Matt Newman
Don’t mourn spring for too long! Even if those idyllic daytime temperatures came and went like an afterthought, what follows is that much better: summer, and all the delectable eats that tank-tops-and-flip-flops weather brings along with it. Spring’s fruit and vegetable plantings are teetering on the edge of the first harvest (I know, where did the time go?) in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, and naturally that can only point to cookouts in our future. But we’re not about to settle for half measures when it comes to the tastes of the warmer months. With Mario Batali back in our corner for another round of edible outdoor adventures, how could we?
This year’s Edible Academy Family Picnic brings the maestro of all things culinary back to The New York Botanical Garden for an exclusive evening dining experience, complete with a seasonal cooking demonstration from the chef himself. That’s in addition to hands-on vegetable harvests in the Family Garden, tutorials for hopeful greenthumbs, tree climbing, and more than enough crafts and family activities to keep even the most tireless toddler happily occupied. It all begins at 4 p.m. on June 10, kicking off with a delicious picnic supper designed by Mario himself and enjoyed on the flowering Garden grounds. Afterwards, dig into the fun taking place in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden before joining Mario at 5:30 p.m. for a book signing, followed by his gourmet cooking demonstration alongside Daphne Oz, Mario’s co-host on ABC’s The Chew.
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Posted in Around the Garden on September 21 2012, by Matt Newman
As much as hearing the phrase rattled off might tap dance on your last nerve, good things really do come to those who wait. And that’s especially true for gardeners. During the first balmy weeks of summer the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden buzzed with activity as Mario Batali‘s top chefs planted nostalgia left and right, each seedling and young tomato plant a piece of their culinary history–a vegetable that inspired a recipe, or a memorable fruit from childhood. Their potential was nurtured and encouraged through months of careful tending, and now, with fall upon us, the Edible Garden‘s harvest is ready to take the spotlight.
The fanfare begins this Sunday in Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens, where gourmands–young and old alike–can pick up a few new recipes while exploring the bounty planted by each of Mario’s chefs. Decorate a harvest bag, make your own chef’s hat, or sample your way through organic goodies. Whatever makes you and your kids happy! The Edible Garden Festival is set to continue into the afternoon with cooking demonstrations by NYBG staff, capped off by a master lesson from none other than Mario Batali himself. Afterwards, he’ll set to stunning tastebuds with his four-course, garden-to-table dinner event in the famed Garden Stone Mill.
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Posted in Mario Batali's Edible Garden, Programs and Events on September 14 2012, by Matt Newman
With autumn so near at hand, you’d think the excitement would be winding down in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. Most vegetable gardens in New York are offering up the last of their produce right about now, while green thumbs stow their trowels for the next spring planting. But at the NYBG, the best of the season is still ahead of us! In fact, the atmosphere is nearly humming with anticipation for the peak event of the summer: Mario Batali’s Edible Garden Festival. And while the legendary chef’s top culinary minds have inspired plenty of palates during Family Dinners throughout the season, it’s Mario himself that will treat your tastebuds for September’s pièce de résistance.
Now that the Family Dinners have come and gone, I got to wondering what might end up on Mario’s menu. And when you think of Italian cooking, you don’t have to be shy about it: your mind leaps straight to the tomatoes. Plump and delicious, blushing red (or yellow, or purple), they take center stage in so many of the dishes we’ve come to love. Still, while picking my way through the Family Garden in recent weeks, I thought to myself, “Why let the tomatoes hog the spotlight?” They’re delectable–don’t get me wrong–but Italy’s culinary history encompasses so much more! Mario knows this better than anyone. And when his acclaimed chefs first planted their vegetable plots, they dotted the Family Garden with leafy greens, pungent onions, and herbs enough to make your spice rack green with envy. And the peppers! So many peppers, in myriad shapes and colors.
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Posted in Mario Batali's Edible Garden on August 28 2012, by Matt Newman
Gardening and instant gratification rarely go hand in hand, much as we wish they would. But while we could only dream of fresh produce while planting Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens this past May, we’ve made the leap from sprout to salad in almost no time at all. Once-tiny tomato plants are now heavy with full, ripe fruit, and the peppers are piling up in all shapes and sizes. Between them, heaps of fresh greens get ready to make their way into a classic Italian recipe. And just in time for September’s Edible Garden Festival!
But it’s better to show than tell, right? Below are a few of the before and after snapshots taken in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, where Mario Batali’s top chefs have planted vegetables that best represent not only the flavors of their renowned New York City restaurants, but the nostalgic tastes that inspired them to cook in the first place.
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Posted in Around the Garden on August 20 2012, by Ann Rafalko
The Edible Garden Festival and Garden-to-Table Dinner and Cooking Demonstration with Mario Batali on September 23 is fast approaching! “Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens” in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden are bursting with produce. Check it out!
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Posted in Around the Garden on August 13 2012, by Ann Rafalko
Mark you calendars: The Edible Garden Festival is just over a month away; on September 23, The New York Botanical Garden will be home to one big, family-friendly edible festival featuring Garden friend Mario Batali!
Families can spend the day in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden exploring “Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens,” watch cooking demonstrations with NYBG staff, participate in a plethora of hands-on gardening activities, and enjoy food sampling. A special ticket is required for the Festival and includes All-Garden Pass access to the Garden. This ticket does not include the Mario Batali cooking demonstration or the Garden-to-Table Dinner with Mario Batali.
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Posted in Around the Garden, Mario Batali's Edible Garden on August 6 2012, by Matt Newman
It’s not often I get the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden to myself, but last week, before the school groups arrived, I snuck a peek at what was happening in Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens ahead of the coming Edible Garden Festival. The sun was high and bright, yet the sight of ripening vegetables, familiar varieties tucked in among the somewhat more exotic heirlooms, made it easy to deal with the summer heat.
I picked my way around the garden plots, noting leafy greens and sweet potatoes, kohlrabi, flowering artichokes, and a few ready globes of garlic. And dangling in friendly groups above them all: new tomatoes, plump and prolific in the sunshine. Some are already settling into that quirky adolescent phase, not yet ripe, blushing with spots of bright reds and oranges on one side while still a shy green on the other. Certain varieties are lumpy and rustic-looking, others smooth and plum-shaped, and all of them have been hand-selected by Mario Batali’s top chefs–some of the finest culinary minds in New York.
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Posted in Around the Garden, Programs and Events on August 1 2012, by Matt Newman
The Family Garden is changing gears for the foodie crowd, jumping from Sweet and Stinky to an equally (and pungently) delightful delicacy. You’ve probably been there: the corner deli clerk plucks a zeppelin-sized pickle from that greenish jug of brine on the counter, you set into it with a crunch, and your pastrami sandwich is suddenly transcendent. You’re likely thinking it would take a family history in the pickling business, not to mention a wealth of time, to make something so delicious. But, with a little practice, you’ll prove yourself wrong!
Putting together the perfect balance of spices and other flavoring blends is where time and imagination come into play. Otherwise, the brining process is about as easy as packing up leftovers! A few clean jars, a selection of fresh cucumbers, and a handful of other easily-attainable ingredients. It’s so simple you can pick it up during an afternoon “Pickle Me!” session, now running through August 17 in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, from 1:30 to 5:30* p.m. daily. You won’t even need your grandmother’s chilly cellar to let your pickles prepare; with our recipe, the refrigerator will suit just fine.
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Posted in Around the Garden on July 13 2012, by Matt Newman
“All beauties, like all possible phenomena, have something of the eternal and something of the ephemeral—of the absolute and the particular.” — Charles Baudelaire
The France of Claude Monet was a landscape beholden to the muse, not only in paint, but in verse, food, and music. Paris was the city of imagination! The city of Erik Satie and Rimbaud, and of the Lost Generation that arrived late in Monet’s life–Stein and Hemingway among them. This weekend, the NYBG partners with the Poetry Society of America to bring the Impressionist’s peers back into the spotlight. Here at the Garden, New York’s finest contemporary poets offer readings of the French Symbolists that inspired them most.
On Saturday, the focus falls on the oeuvre of Charles Baudelaire, an early figure in Monet’s time whose urban prose and verse set the foundation for many of the Symbolists who followed after. And on Sunday we switch gears, taking art to the table for our Family Dinner Event! With Mario Batali’s talented chefs on hand, we’ll venture abroad, looking beyond the recipes of France to bring you Continental flavor with local ingredients (many grown here at the NYBG). While you enjoy garden-inspired teas and wines paired with elegant dishes expertly prepared, the kids can busy themselves with Family Garden adventures. It’s about as high on the win-win scale as you’re ever likely to find yourself.
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Certainly the biggest news going into this weekend comes about on Monday, when we once again buddy up with Mario Batali for the Edible Academy Family Garden Picnic. For the past few summers, our work with this renowned chef and Friend of the Garden has produced some of the most fun and delicious adventures found in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, and this year’s event is no different! In fact, we’re even raising the bar. Join us on Monday, June 10 for an exclusive picnic dinner as conceived by Mario himself, followed by a book signing with the chef and his always lively cooking demonstration. And there are plenty of family activities to keep even the most tireless toddler occupied in the meantime.
