Our DECEMBER Cookbook Conversation celebrated Dolci! by Renato Poliafito, the acclaimed baking expert behind Baked! and Ciao Gloria in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The book catalogs a range of recipes from the Italian, American, and Italian American baking traditions. In almost a hundred recipes, James Beard–nominated baker Renato Poliafito pays homage to pastries of the Old World and the New—with perfected versions of classics like Pastiera and Torta Caprese, Honey-Ricotta Black and Whites, and Butter Cookies. Renato was joined by Sarah Copeland for a walk down memory lane in discussing his upbringing, his career and craft, and the writing of his book celebrating “American baking with an Italian accent”.
Indeed, the whole month of DECEMBER was sweet at Kingston Social. We introduced an authentic regional speciality from Helena’s father’s hometown of Turin, an espresso drink called bicerin (pronounced ‘BEE-chair-een’) that incorporates a delectable sipping chocolate that had people exclaiming Dio mio! upon first taste. Along with stocking traditional Italian panettone and pandoro for the holidays, the mercantile was filled with wonderful gift ideas and fine art as well as visitors from near and far enjoying the space exactly as we envisioned it.
HOLIDAY 2024
In NOVEMBER, we held an opening for our late fall exhibition, BY MOONLIGHT | THE MAGICAL LANDSCAPES OF CAROLINE BURDETT, and collaborated with the Catskill Cocktail Club to offer drinks that corresponded to the theme. Caroline Burdett is a uniquely talented visual artist based in Woodstock, and we were honored to host this up-and-coming artist’s first solo show in the gallery at Kingston Social. Caroline interweaves symbols and patterns into her surrealistic landscapes, which also typically contain a mysterious lone figure as is talismanic of Burdett’s work, which itself is created in the ebbs and flows of iteration like water rides in and out with the tides.
Images by Jessica Jameson.
