No. 017 | August 2024

DRAX ISSUE 17

AUGUST 2024

THE MARKET ISSUE FEATURING DRAX MARKETPLACE

VITALI-TEA

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SICILIAN LEMON SPAGHETTI

Jacqueline Balassa (1954 - present) Gorge with Waterhole| 2003 Oil on board| Wooden frame Signed lower left, recto.

22 x 29 in. (55.9 x 73.7 cm.)

Depiction of a natural Australian landscape.

Courtesy of Drax Fine Art.

d r X FINE ART For more information, please contact Giavanna Mattera at giavanna@draxfineart.com.

CONTENTS

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FROM THE EDITOR

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BUSINESSES

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Bread Story + Drax Marketplace

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Burr Hall Farm

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Drax Fine Art

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SvL Institute

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Drax Productions

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Wellness+ Studio

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VITALI-TEA An Inside Scoop on Wellness+ Studio’s Famous Custom Tea Blend

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SICILIAN LEMON SPAGHETTI Bread Story’s seasonal berry tart

CULTIVATE YOUR BEST SELF 980 Madison Avenue, Suite 203 | 646.398.8080 | www.wellnessplusstudio.com

FROM THE EDITOR

Drax Digest is published monthly by Drax Publishing, LLC. Publisher Editor Featured Writer

Michael Ennis Eleonora Fogg Julia Healey

Don’t hesitate to contact us with your ideas for future issues at eleonora@svvl.net!

To-go cups, 20-minute lunch breaks, plastic-laden wrapping, fast food, and artificial ingredients are just a few things plaguing our relationship with food in a world where profit takes precedence over health for corporations. Neon orange, coated with sugar and stuffed with artificial flavors—can we really call it food anymore?

Food is one of life’s greatest pleasures—the single greatest pleasure in my book, second only to perhaps sleep. Food is a beautiful community catalyst, attracting people from all backgrounds, generations, ethnicities, orientations, values, and pasts. Not only is food the glue of community and family, but it is also supposed to be a source of nourishment, wellness, and vitality. In the messy divorce between us and the food we eat, will we ever gain custody of our autonomy and right to healthy food that is safe for us, our bodies, our children, and our families?

Unfortunately, many families turn to these ”foods” out of necessity and lack access to healthy alternatives. At Drax, we are doing our part to change that narrative. With many of our entities actively working to provide people with safe, delicious, and nutrient-dense food, we also make a point of sharing our excess with local food banks and people in need.

In this issue, we bring you a fresh new summer recipe and some insights into the development of collaborations between Bread Story, Burr Hall Farm, Wellness+ Studio, and the brand new Drax Marketplace on supplying our communities with healthy, fresh transitioning-to-organic produce, honey, artisanal French bread, and revitalizing tea.

I hope you enjoy this edition, perhaps while enjoying a Bread Story croissant and a mug of Vitality tea with honey from Burr Hall Farm, and take the time to really taste and enjoy the delicious food that fuels and nurtures our bodies. Until next month!

With love and light,

Left: A family enjoying Bread Story’s products Right: Art from Drax Fine Art’s Artist in Residence, Genie (Mary) Burn

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BUSINESSES

Bread Story + Drax Marketplace Happy Bastille Day! This year marks the 235th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison, kicking off what knowknow today as as the the French Revolution. This we today French patriotic holiday is celebrated Revolution.

This patriotic holiday by the French, along with manybyother cities around the is celebrated the major French, world. with Hosted by other L’Alliance, New York City’s along many major annualaround Bastille Day Parade cities the world.

Hosted features live performances, authentic by L’Alliance, music, New York City’s French cuisine, along with handcrafted annual Bastille Day goods Parade and decorative art. This year, Story and the newly created features liveBread performances, Drax Marketplace joined cuisine, in on commemorating music, authentic French the French holiday,goods where they sold out along with National handcrafted of their beloved art. breads and decorative This and year,pastries at the street fair, whichand hosted 30,000 people.

Bread Story theover newly created Drax Marketplace joined in on commemorating the French National holiday, where they sold out of their beloved breads and pastries at the street fair, which hosted over 30,000 people.

Top: Assortment of Bread Story’s baked goods with the French flag.

Bottom: Image of the Bread Story bakery display case.

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Highlights and Pieces by Julia Healey

Top: Image featuring goodies and food boxes.

Bread

Story’s

Burr Hall Farm Squash, Tomatoes, Kale — Oh My! It’s been quite a busy season over at Burr Hall Farm. Crispy green kale, golden yellow summer squash, and a plethora of cherry and beefy tomatoes are making theirThe debut approach their debut as we approach peak harvest time. staffasis we working hard,peak but harvest time.

The staff is working the bees are working harder. Over 1,000 pounds of dark knotweed honey has hard, the beesDidareyou working been harvested and is ready to be jarred andbut packaged. know harder. Over 1,000 apounds of dark knotweed honey is perfect for cooking and baking?

Knotweed, plant that’s a knotw part of the buckwheat family, brings a nutty, laidback, and versatile flavor to any recipe. Next time you bake, instead of using sugar try swapping it for Burr Hall Farm’s honey. It adds a more dimensional flavor to a dish while providing you with countless vitamins and minerals. Soon enough, you can expect to see the introduction of the farm’s produce and recipe baskets, which feature inseason produce along with tried and true farm-to-table recipes. Be on the lookout for our Challah Bread recipe basket; starring Breadstory’s homemade Challah bread, Burr Hall Farm’s honey, fresh chicken eggs, adorned with your choice of fruit. Or, opt for a basket filled with a variety of Burr Hall Farm’s fresh veggies and herbs, we’ll leave the rest up to you!

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Drax Fine Art Jacqueline Balassa: A Differing View of the Land Down Under Have you ever heard of contemporary landscape artist Jacqueline Balassa? Based in Sydney, Australia, Jacqueline works in the mediums of oil painting, gouache painting, and graphite pencil drawing. Her love of European visual art and the respect she has for the natural environment is heavily influenced by her parents.

Featured Art: Depictions of varying Australian landscapes by Jacqueline Balassa.

Jacqueline combines her emotional responses with her observations of nature in her work, creating vibrant and unique landscape paintings and prints. Balassa’s works are inspired by artists like Veneziano, Giotto, Duccio, and Picasso and the Early Italian Renaissance, particularly because they showcase a balance of real-world observation and the inner world of the imagination. Jacqueline strives to achieve a similar balance in her own work. In her most recent series of paintings, Balassa found inspiration in the change of seasons and also in her personal garden, painting landscapes that reflect nature at certain times of the day and year.

Her educational journey is more than impressive; Jacqueline has a Bachelor of Fine Art (painting), a Master of Art (painting), and a Master of Fine Art from the College of Fine Arts and the University of New South Wales. She also studied at the Academia delle Belle Artes in Florence, Italy. She has a long list of selected awards like the Highly Commended Prize at Waverley Art Prize as well as the Highly Commended in 1997, amongst many others.

Today, Jacqueline is primarily represented by the Art Atrium Gallery in Sydney, and her work is housed in numerous private and public collections, including Drax Fine Art.

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Images of two differing panels from the Bloomberg Green Festival in Seattle, 2024.

The Suzanne von Liebig Institute had the pleasure of attending the Bloomberg Green Festival during Seattle’s annual climate week. The four-day program hosted discussion panels, conferences, and networking events with a variety of speakers who shared a passion for making the world a more sustainable place. The collective concern for our planet brought endless and unexpected perspectives on how climate change affects every one of us. The festival welcomed government officials, neuroscientists, Michelin star chefs, as well as many other professionals to speak and share their views on sustainability.

Politics and the 2024 presidential election was a topic brought up continuously throughout the week, for good reason. It was agreed upon that no matter who wins the election this year, the effects of politicizing sustainability are doing a disservice to us all. Looking at the bright side when it comes to discussing Earth’s warming climate is especially hard, but the Bloomberg Green Festival did a fantastic job balancing the good and the bad. Green energy, specifically solar energy, has reached heights in numbers over the past couple of years due to becoming more affordable and convenient, allowing people and businesses to save money and the Earth.

The Bloomberg Green Festival put on numerous networking events where members of the institute were able to meet with other participants and nonprofits, bringing out a sense of excitement for potential collaboration in the near future. Inspiring things are blooming within the institute, and there’s more to come during NYC’s Climate Week in September. Stay tuned!

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DRAX’S DREADFUL & OPERATIC DEVELOPMENTS Many exciting things are brewing for Drax Productions. We officially just engaged William Morris Agency (WME) to help us with OPERATIC, which looks behind the curtain of the Opera world—a universe known yet mysteriously enigmatic to many. The creative production team is working tirelessly to create a captivating compilation of captured footage to present to networks, agents, and executives in the next month or so.

As OPERATIC gains some long-awaited momentum, Drax Production’s first movie shoot start date is fast approaching. The Dreadful, starring Sophie Turner and Kit Harington from the acclaimed series Game of Thrones, is set to begin filming in upstate New York and Cornwall, England in September of this year. Sophie and Kit are also rumored to be joined by Minnie Driver in a more and more starstudded cast.

Eleonora Fogg

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Wellness+ Studio Complete Wellness, In Complete Privacy The Wellness+ Studio offers something unlike a regular gym membership or a local spa package. At Wellness, everything is tailored specifically to your needs, whether a fitness plan or a facial. Upon consultation, they offer a complimentary Body Composition Test, a perfect and highly innovative way to track your muscle mass and body fat percentage. After the first assessment, the Wellness team uses their expertise to design a fitness plan that targets your body’s needs. Whether it’s working on strength, circulation, balance, flexibility, or all of the above, Wellness+ Studio has you covered. Having the whole studio to yourself creates an atmosphere of privacy and focus, allowing you to leave the anxiety and self-consciousness at home. Whether it’s yoga, pilates, or strength training, you can walk into the studio feeling confident and assured.

After each workout, a trainer administers a recovery session, releasing muscle tension and improving joint health. In my experience, training at the Wellness+ Studio differs from other gyms because it leaves you feeling fully acknowledged, cared for, and supported.

Photo of the brewed Vitality Tea served at Wellness+ Studio

Vitali-TEA An Inside Scoop on Wellness+ Studio’s Famous Custom Tea Blend It’s funny how many people consider herbalism pseudo-science when it is a practice that has survived thousands of years and, arguably, helped keep our species alive for this long. The plants surrounding us often have the solutions for the things that ail us, and something as simple and comforting as a good tea can alleviate pain or support whatever wellness you need.

A custom herbal blend including hibiscus, rose, and rosehips, Vitality is meant to support your wellness and, well, vitality.

Loaded with antioxidants, this tea can assist and support weight loss efforts, as well

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well as reduce blood pressure and balance female hormones. With their anti-inflammatory properties and high Vitamin C content, the herbs in this tea may also help build and maintain a strong immune system and potentially protect against the formation of cancer cells.

With a beautiful, refreshing flavor, especially when served with fresh orange slices, Vitality is an excellent iced wellness boost while cooling off in this sweltering summer heat.

Eleonora Fogg

Denisa’s Desserts B Y

D E N I S A

B A T I S T A

Sicilian Lemon Spaghetti

by Christopher Varroux-Renaud Makes 8 Servings

Craving a taste of the Mediterranean? This Sicilian Lemon Spaghetti is a perfect blend of bright citrus and rich flavors, transporting you straight to the sunny shores of Sicily. Easy to prepare and bursting with freshness, it's a delightful dish that celebrates the simplicity of Italian cuisine.

Whether you're hosting a dinner party or enjoying a quiet night in, this recipe promises to bring sunshine from our Chef Christopher’s kitchen to your table. Buon appetito!

Ingredients: 1 lb spaghetti 4 TB olive oil, plus extra for serving 1 organic lemon 4 cloves garlic, finely minced 1/2 tsp chili flakes or finely sliced chili

2 TB capers 1 can anchovy filets 2/3 cup bread crumbs 1 cup of fresh parsley

Directions: 1. In a hot pan, slightly toast the bread crumbs in olive oil on medium heat until golden.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain and reserve a cup of pasta water.

3. Heat the rest of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the whole anchovies, capers, minced garlic, and chilis, cooking till fragrant. Add the reserved pasta liquid and pasta to the pan and cook until the pasta fully absorbs the liquid and starts to slightly stick to the pan.

4. Add the zest and the juice of one lemon and parsley while tossing the pasta in the pan for the last 30 seconds.

5. Plate the pasta with the breadcrumbs, topping with a little extra parsley and lemon zest. Add a generous drizzle of olive oil and serve immediately.

6. Enjoy :)

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Now Available at Wellness+ Studio | 646 - 398 - 8080 980 Madison Avenue, Suite 203, New York, NY