February 18th, 2007

I love Martha

Heart pattern with the words 'I LOVE MARTHA'.
Last Thursday D & I had an argument. Oh no no, don’t worry, it was nothing serious atall, but, the next evening, he came home from work with an apple ipod shuffle as an apology gift, bless. – For some time, I’d been telling him I was considering purchasing one, to listen to it for times like when I walk to the nursery (20 minutes) to fetch our son, so I was happy to accept it indeed.
.

So far, I.am.lovin’.it! The dinky thing (mine’s orange) is clipped on to my top all the time & I walk around with it at home. I casually listen to it on & off, hooked just on one ear (so that I can listen out for my son), while washing up dishes & rather unelegantly, even while on the bog…

.

And what was my first choice of content I imported? An audiobook – for once, ever since our kiddo’s born, I have a way to ‘read’ a book.

.

The audiobook I have downloaded via itunes store is titled The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success‘ written by Martha Stewart & read by herself. Martha Stewart has been a bit of a heroine for me for sometime. Okay okay, she maybe a convicted felon…, but I admire her for managing to turn her personal passion into an undeniably successful business empire. (All the more because she started just as a home based caterer, just like me!) In that respect, I can see that there’s something that I can learn from her & her business. Her omnimedia style is inspirational, & her sense of style is beautiful throughout, focusing on pretty much everything domestic (food, kitchen, bodycare, everything home interior, wedding, home-crafts, pets, flowers & gardening…). I can understand that they are all interconnected – if you’re interested in food, you’d want a better kitchen & equipment, & a nice interior to serve that food, etc.
.
The chapter on ‘what’s passion got to do with it’, really struck a chord. It’s true, ‘when work is based in passion, it does not feel like work’, & that ‘passion is the first and most essential ingredient’. And what she says: be frugal, trust yourself, know your customers, pay attention to the details, make it beautiful; boosts what I also believe in.

.

Her website is a treasure trove of ideas for domestic style. It’s a huge website, which is a bit too overwhelming, but when ever I have time, I will browse through it, with the keenness of a kid in a candy store.
My current haunt is the video library section of ‘The Martha Stewart Show’. Notable clip was when Martha invited Jacques Torres (Chocolatier) to make molded chocolate turkey, rabbit & easter eggs on her show. I was so impressed & happy to see that she invited a true proffessional like Torres to showcase ‘good’ chocolate work – something I rarely see on easy-going UK food shows.

.

Now, my fascination of Martha recently got me ordering a year subscription of her Martha Stewart Living Magazine. My first issue should arrive end of this month. Can’t wait.

.

I think I rather love Martha.

.

This Saturday:

The weather was good. The people came out in droves. My large cakes went in no time & my chocolate truffles were bought up quickly too. I feel as though I made ‘just’ the right amount of items, which is unusual for me – I often make too much & have to stay extra longer to finish selling them.
.

This week, I experimented with making some ‘baked cheese tarts’. It’s basically a cheese cake encased in a tart case. It is absolutely delicious, I love baked cheese cake, rather than ‘rare’. BUT, it ‘looks’ real boring & savoury like a quiche. I scribbled the word ‘cheese’ on it in white chocolate to somehow make it look better, but am just not 100% satisfied. While having a chat with a chef called Roger who drops by regularly, we thought that maybe baking some raspberries in the cake may help – the red blobs scattered against the cream/ brown colour of the cake may look good… although I think it is a 50/50 chance that it might instead look sickly. I’ll have a go anyway…

.

Post Update 07.05.07:

I’ve just read through my 3rd issue, & I can gladly say I am happy that I’ve subscribed to it. The articles are interesting & informative. And the pictures are stylish & inspirational. BUT… sorry Martha, there’s too many advertisement pages in it, pretty much inbetween each article, & even on the side columns on article pages! It’s hard to tell which page is real content, especially as advertisers nowadays try to design their adverts like it is part of magazine content…! And also dear Martha, the quality of the paper stock is cheap. My butter fingers can’t catch the pages! I think it is a shame when the magazine format does not match the quality content…

4 Comments »

  1. I just had to comment because I love Martha too!! I tape all her shows and watch them religiously. I love my ipod too! Can’t live without it..I listen to podcasts mainly like capital fm which i miss living here in Japan but with the podcast I can imagine I am in London listening live. What a convenient world we live in now!

    Comment by Akiko Ueda - February 20, 2007 11:56 pm

  2. Wow, you tape her shows? How? I’m jealous / i don’t think there are any channels here that show ’em. And, hey capital radio!! – you probably know more than me about all the latest music on the UK charts scene then! ;-)

    Comment by tamami - February 21, 2007 1:43 pm

  3. What a wonderful blog! I have bookmarked it for future reading and the recipes sound lovely!

    Finding anything Martha related in the UK is difficult, but try looking on eBay where there is a small sampling of her stuff. Sometimes it goes for over the odds but you can find a good bargain too – it all depends.

    If you are interested in her shows (as far as I know none are shown in the UK) you can get snippets of them on her DVDs, which also are sold on eBay or other websites. They are all region one though so keep that in mind in case you do not have a region-free DVD player. Luckily, I have lots of them (her older shows – not the newer ones I’m not too much of a fan of them – they have lost their appeal at least for me) on VHS tape and when in the mood just pop them in.

    You won’t be disappointed with her magazine as I have continued my subscription since moving here 9 years ago and they now come like clock work (probably due to my constant complaining!). WHSmith’s used to sell it but they are often hit or miss and it is probably cheaper by subscription even more so with the exchange rate!

    Good luck with your stall – I do envy you, as I would love nothing better than to do that myself.

    Comment by MysticBunny - April 2, 2007 4:11 pm

  4. Hello fellow UK Martha fan!
    Oh wow! thank you for pointing me to ebay for martha goods! I’ve just looked, and I see there are some magazines going at a good price – and a DVD for wedding cakes…, which I am currently trying to master the technique of, as time to time I have people asking for one.
    I’ve now received two ‘Living’ magazines since I have written this post, & have thoroughly enjoyed them!

    Comment by tamami - April 2, 2007 7:33 pm

 

Leave a comment