Everyday Entertaining

Dinner with a Favorite Game Ranger

I invited a fun group of friends to dinner last night to welcome my friend Marlon du Toit, a game ranger from the very fabulous game lodge Singita Lembombo in South Africa. Marlon is one of the most learned people on all things Africa; I referred to him as the Google of the bush. He’s incredibly talented, engaging, and charming, and everyone who spends time with him falls in love with him. I had such a good time with him on the game rides and learned so much that I wanted to return the favor and show him how New Yorkers welcome their guests. Marlon came to NYC to appear on the Martha Stewart Show. She was a guest at Singita Lembombo just before I arrived and fell in love with him too.

Aside from Marlon du Toit, my dinner guests included Martha Stewart, the fabulous designers Naeem and Ranjana Khan, über fabulous Ghislaine Maxwell whom I refer to as my Bond girl (she’s the female James Bond and does everything from fly a helicopter to captain a submarine), power publicist Susan Magrino, photographer Patrick McMullan, interior designer Kevin Sharkey, and mixologist Yusef Austin who shook a Spotted Plum cocktail that jump started the night. (Yusef created this cocktail while on safari with me in South Africa after we just had spotted a leopard.)

Dinner began with a spring pea soup with fresh crab, followed by a spice rubbed rack of lamb with lentils, sweated tomatoes, and ramps. We finished off with a dessert of orange segments with strawberries, mint, and orange blossom water with mango sorbet. Fresh, light and delicious! It was a delicious evening filled with great stories and lots of laughter.

As always, there’s more to come.