Endometriosis Foundation of America
Blossom Ball – 2012
Padma Lakshmi
Wow! How much is that going to cost me? Anyway, thank you Tyra, enough about me but thank you Tyra. Just for being here first all, damn! I have known her for 20 years and every time I see her she gets taller. It is not fair.
Welcome to the fourth annual Blossom Ball. Today, you know, the first thing I want to say just to get it over with, not to get it over with, but because it is serious, and I have been thinking about it all day, it has been on the tip of my tongue, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being here every one of you. All the photographers, the wait staff, every single person in this room thank you so much. It is our fourth year. We were sold out a week ago, thank you for doing that.
The room look beautiful, the flowers are pretty, yes, I am glad it smells good, my experiment worked but it is really, really beautiful because you are in it. That is why this room is beautiful because all of you are in it here with me and with other young girls who do not know what is wrong with them but have knights in shining armor like Tamer Seckin. And all the other doctors that are here and continue to come back every year and support us and open their mouths and treat their paints. And the spouses that allow them to take those 4:00 am phone calls day in and year out. Thank you.
I just really want to say thank you also to Janet Rosel. Janet you are such a class act I am learning so much from you. You just came in like a secret superhero and gave us wings and we will never forget you. We are glad you are staying and we know you are going to keep taking care of us like a mommy should. Thank you Janet. And I really want to thank Diageo and Sterling and Pip Jones wherever you are – where are you? I know you are somewhere there hiding behind the roses. Thanks for the booze. No! It’s expensive; booze is expensive and you know, tonight is about celebration. Hey, thanks a lot! It has been great working with you, professionally, as a culinary person, but also as a person and as a woman and your commitment to helping us do what we have been doing, and will hopefully do again. Thank you.
Thank you to the new florists, the room looks really pretty, it is just what I wanted and I love those peacocks, thanks!
I hope you like the food. I was sure my dress was going to fall down!
Thank you to The Great Performances Catering Company who is back with us and we are so lucky to have them. I drove them crazy. Not really, because they were really yummy but tonight, if your food is too spicy, I am sorry. If anyone has gastric problems there are a lot of doctors here. The food is spicy. No, I am serious. We are having a green chili and cheese tamale, which I believe is vegetarian but not vegan, obviously. And there is Mol é Brisket with chipotle and a slammin’ green apple coleslaw that is very herbaceous. So I hope you enjoy.
We have Cucu Diamantes who is so sexy and cool and thank you to Donna D’Cruz for helping with that. Next year maybe we will get you on the stage Donna, in all your feathered finery. Tonight I look like Big Bird.
Thank you to everyone, but most of all thank you to the people that support us every year. I talked about knights in shining armor, thank you to all the men in the room. Thank you for supporting a woman’s charity and knowing that the health of the woman you love is as important to you as your own health. There are many of you; some in this room and some who can no longer be with us, thank you for being our knights in shining armor. I want you guys to have a really good night. I want you to celebrate, I want you to drink a lot and eat a lot and dance a lot because we have a lot to be thankful for.
If you guys could just be quiet I just want to tell you all the really cool things we did. We had a nurse’s conference for 60 women who were nurses from the tri-state area. We have a great medical conference that is going on. We continue to work with Linda Griffith at MIT on her research. We also are really excited about this tissue bank at Lenox Hill Hospital and most of all we just want every girl to know when she is learning about her own womanhood and the rest of her sexuality that if you have pain there is a reason, and maybe we can help. To that end thank you to Serin Seckin for a beautiful poster. I hope to see one in every high school and college, health service, ladies room, locker room, changing room and every health spa in New York. We got an email today from a health spa that said, “Hey, we want to hang your poster” in it. Our poster, choking poster, is also in the Columbia University Health Services thanks to Sharon Sperling-Silber.
Thanks to everybody who helped in so many ways, please continue to support us. Thank you to my shiny objects, you know who you are. Thank you and please have a good time. If it is too spicy, I am sorry; we will just give you some ice cream or milk. BYE!
