For Love of Life

Step back from all the details -- the menu, guest counts and RSVP's, room layout, operational minutia, music, florist, photographer -- and just focus on the ingredients.

We start with the food, the foundation of the meal that is the focus of our attention and the hands that lovingly handle and transform it from one state to another. There is a group dynamic in the kitchen and in an organized and methodical fashion ingredients to go from crate and container to platter and plate.

Spend time in the kitchen watching the choreography of cooking. It is intense, delicious, divine, satisfying and fun -- all in the same moment. Throughout the company, from the main commissary to our kitchen at the Plaza to the prep pantry in the El Museo cafe, it was a week of inspiration and delight. Days start early and end late. And each venue has its unique flavors and rhythm, yet a similar respect for the ingredients and teamwork.

Then, there are the gatherings, some grand, others simple. Martha Stewart Weddings celebrated its 15th year anniversary in the Plaza Grand Ballroom. An industry built on celebratory details feted this milestone with beautifully crafted food and drink. And, the fundraising event for Northern Westchester Hospital at Caramoor, where despite torrential rain and a tent built to withstand a storm but not a monsoon, 650 supporters gathered to support an institution doing innovative work in patient health care.

Clients came to our kitchen, pre-event, to taste and vet their menu selections for their upcoming galas. A mini-party, but it is also a chance for us to get to know each other. It is the opportunity to speak in depth about food trends, or to share what is growing on the farm while learning more about a non-profit organization and the people who devote themselves to its mission. And our role becomes even more meaningful than just providing excellent food and warm hospitality -- we become invested in their success. It is not on the menu, but it is in our nature.

Then there are our people -- when we come together as a community like yesterday as we celebrated our annual Fall Harvest Festival at Katchkie Farm. It was the friends and families of GP -- parents and children, brothers and sisters, a crop of new babies, spouses and special friends. It was a beautiful, crisp autumn day with brilliant sunlight highlighting the intensity of the remaining yellow and orange leaves and the shades of green in the fields. It was a day to celebrate life and the wonder of how things grow.

In the scheme of things that are deemed important -- news that makes the front page -- it is never about a day at the farm, or the joy that comes from working together, or the explosion of tastes, or the work that goes into creating the right environment and experience of a group of guests. And yet for us, these are more than just details, they connect in ways that are intensely rich and life affirming. They are simple uncomplicated moments. There is no high tech in this universe, no Nobel prizes or political aspirations.

Tomorrow, our good friend Sandy starts her battle against breast cancer with her first round of chemotherapy. I dedicate this post to her in the hope that all that is good in the world will be there to support her. We rejoice in the simple things in life, because on a day like tomorrow, that is all that matters. It is a blessing to be able to devote ourselves to nurturing, through food; and to connecting to people, by helping to bring them together. It opens our hearts to the goodness in life, but maintains our humanity so we can understand pain as well. We feel the fullness of each moment, aware of the gifts and the struggles in each of our lives.

Follow Liz Neumark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GPfood