Lots of people are wild about Martha’s calendar, which has reappeared at the beginning of Martha Stewart Living. I have a calendar, but it’s just appointments and events – not household things. So, I’ve decided to follow Martha’s lead and make up a calendar for May. I’ve tried to think ahead and plan out what tasks will need doing when, but it’s hard to know. It will be interesting to see how closely I can stick to this.

F 5/1 House cleaning

Sat 5/2 garden clean up, clean garage, wash winter coat, walk dogs

Sun 5/3 seal deck, put away snowblower, walk dogs

Mon 5/4 morning walk, daughter’s prom dress fitting; buy Mother’s Day gifts

Tues 5/5 morning walk, webinar with one of my publishers

Wed 5/6 morning walk, son’s piano lesson, use new pet hair remover on furniture

Thurs 5/7 morning walk, phone interview, return items to store

Fri 5/8 daughter’s AP exam; house cleaning

Sat 5/9 clean porch furniture, plant vegetable seedlings in garden, put up awning, buy hanging plant baskets, buy new carpet for front porch, walk dogs

Sun 5/10 hang hanging plant baskets, cut lilacs,  Mother’s Day dinner with my parents, walk dogs

Mon 5/11 morning walk, son’s chorus concert

Tues 5/12 morning walk, daughter’s AP exam, dentist appointment

Wed 5/13 morning walk, son’s piano lesson, wash comforter

Thurs 5/14 morning walk, cook for tomorrow’s party

Fri 5/15 son’s dance and sleepover, daughter’s prom and post-prom party here, download Paypal reports, house cleaning

Sat 5/16 party clean up, plant herbs, walk dogs

Sun 5/17 replace basketball net backboard, buy perennials for new garden, walk dogs

Mon 5/18 morning walk, kids’ dentist appointment

Tues 5/19 morning walk, clean inside of dishwasher

Wed 5/20 morning walk, son’s piano lesson

Thurs 5/21 morning walk, clean out refrigerator

Fri 5/22 housecleaning, wash insides of wastebaskets around the house

Sat 5/23 clean windows,open pool, walk dogs

Sun 5/24 go to the lake

Mon 5/25 Memorial Day

Tues 5/26 morning walk, MSL Radio Morning Living appearance

Wed 5/27 morning walk, son’s piano lesson

Thurs 5/28 morning walk, son to camp with his class

Fri 5/29 house cleaning, make vet appointment

Sat 5/30 get new keys made, trim lilacs, walk dogs, clean behind beds

Sun 5/31 order new parts for grill, clean curio cabinet in bedroom, walk dogs

Lots of people are wild about Martha’s calendar, which has reappeared at the beginning of Martha Stewart Living. I have a calendar, but it’s just appointments and events – not household things. So, I’ve decided to follow Martha’s lead and make up a calendar for May. I’ve tried to think ahead and plan out what … Read more →

Although gelatin goes where I fear to tread, I gave Martha’s Watermelon Coolers (May Martha Stewart Living) a try. My family loves smoothies. They are a special treat for us, so I thought this could be a winner. Additionally, Mr. MarthaandMe is known to freeze pieces of watermelon and eat them.

The first step was to puree the watermelon and then push it through a sieve. Next you heat part of the juice with some salt and add your softened gelatin to it as well as some lemon juice. No other ingredients!

You set it in an ice bath until it starts to gel, then pour into glasses and refrigerate. It looked very pretty and I served it with Mr. MarthaandMe’s birthday dinner.

Thumbs down on this one, big time. I thought it was just awful. First of all, it wasn’t very sweet, so if you are used to smoothies or other sweet fruit drinks, it is a palate shocker. I also thought that if you were blindfolded, you would not be able to identify this as watermelon. The only way I can explain it is that it tasted green to me in some way.

The gelatin did not enhance anything about this. It felt like half melted Jello.

Nobody drank this and it went down the drain. A big loser.

Although gelatin goes where I fear to tread, I gave Martha’s Watermelon Coolers (May Martha Stewart Living) a try. My family loves smoothies. They are a special treat for us, so I thought this could be a winner. Additionally, Mr. MarthaandMe is known to freeze pieces of watermelon and eat them. The first step was … Read more →

I made part of the What’s For Dinner section of Martha Stewart Living (May issue) – soy-glazed flank steak and spring green salad. If you’re looking for a quick and tasty dinner, I recommend this one.

The hardest thing about this meal was that there were a lot of ingredients, since you have to make a soy glaze and a salad dressing. The soy glaze has ginger, soy sauce, garlic, red pepper, rice wine vinegar and salt. Mirin was another ingredient but I didn’t have it and honestly didn’t even know what it was! We grilled the flank steak and that worked well. I don’t think I’ve ever had flank steak and was worried it would be tough, but it really wasn’t. I also worried that it needed to marinate to really get the flavors, but it was pretty good. Marinating would definitely add to the flavor though.

As for the salad, again, lots of ingredients, but it was also tasty. You quickly cook some snap peas then put them in an ice bath. I used mache in my salad. You use a veggie peeler to make strips of zucchini for the salad and also add basil and scallions. The dressing was easy – honey, rice wine vinegar,lemon juice, salt, pepper and oil. It had a nice flavor and the dressing wasn’t too heavy. I did serve the meat on top of the greens and I liked them together a lot. This was a winner.

I made part of the What’s For Dinner section of Martha Stewart Living (May issue) – soy-glazed flank steak and spring green salad. If you’re looking for a quick and tasty dinner, I recommend this one. The hardest thing about this meal was that there were a lot of ingredients, since you have to make … Read more →

I made part of the What’s For Dinner section of Martha Stewart Living (May issue) – soy-glazed flank steak and spring green salad. If you’re looking for a quick and tasty dinner, I recommend this one.

The hardest thing about this meal was that there were a lot of ingredients, since you have to make a soy glaze and a salad dressing. The soy glaze has ginger, soy sauce, garlic, red pepper, rice wine vinegar and salt. Mirin was another ingredient but I didn’t have it and honestly didn’t even know what it was! We grilled the flank steak and that worked well. I don’t think I’ve ever had flank steak and was worried it would be tough, but it really wasn’t. I also worried that it needed to marinate to really get the flavors, but it was pretty good. Marinating would definitely add to the flavor though.

As for the salad, again, lots of ingredients, but it was also tasty. You quickly cook some snap peas then put them in an ice bath. I used mache in my salad. You use a veggie peeler to make strips of zucchini for the salad and also add basil and scallions. The dressing was easy – honey, rice wine vinegar,lemon juice, salt, pepper and oil. It had a nice flavor and the dressing wasn’t too heavy. I did serve the meat on top of the greens and I liked them together a lot. This was a winner.

I made part of the What’s For Dinner section of Martha Stewart Living (May issue) – soy-glazed flank steak and spring green salad. If you’re looking for a quick and tasty dinner, I recommend this one. The hardest thing about this meal was that there were a lot of ingredients, since you have to make … Read more →

Gelatin? Really, Martha? Martha has a whole section of gelatin-based desserts in May Living. I find gelatin really unappealing in general (except in the hospital when it’s the only food they will let you have), but I was willing to give Martha the benefit of the doubt. I gave the Strawberry Shortcake Jellies a try. When Martha made these on the show last week they did look kind of cute.

First task was to puree and strain the strawberries and get the gelatin into them. Let me please say here that my gelatin did not make a cute little disk like Martha’s did – mine was kind of gloppy looking.

I got the strawberry into bowls and refrigerated that. While it was chilling, I made the cake. Martha says to use a 9 x 13 rimmed baking sheet. I didn’t have one that small, so I used a 9×13 baking pan. I was just barely able to cut out all the circles I needed from this – it was a very tight squeeze. The cake tasted great –

moist and lemony.

While I was cutting out the cake, I was also cooking the cream and milk for the panna cotta. I turned my back for a second and it boiled over making a huge mess. The panna cotta was not hard to make. I cooked it and strained it and added the gelatin. I didn’t have a whole vanilla bean so I just added some vanilla to it. I chilled the panna cotta over an ice bath until it started to set up, although this took longer than I expected.

I spooned the panna cotta over the chilled strawberry gelatin and then placed the cake rounds on top. Into the fridge again.

We took this out about 8 hours later that evening and I was nervous about the unmolding process. If you saw Martha make this on the show, you know that it did not go well for her.  It was a big disaster, in fact. I had little hope that I could do better than Martha, but I was willing to try. I dipped the bottom of the bowl in warm water and swirled it around. I took it out, dried the bottom with a towel and flipped it. Nothing. I did it again. Nothing. A third time. Nothing. I decided to go around the edge with a knife and then it came out nicely. Mr. MarthaandMe insisted he didn’t need a knife

for his so he shook it after dipping and the cake and panna cotta came out, but the gelatin remained in the bowl. Not to say I told you so, but…..

He ended up using a knife to get the rest out.

This dessert was pretty looking, but I did not enjoy mine. I liked the cake. The strawberry gelatin part was ok, not great. The panna cotta was not good in my book. It looks like it should taste like pudding, but instead it ends up being a creamy sort of gelatin that is just not pleasing to my palate. I scraped it off and just ate the cake and strawberry. Then Dude Martha and I ate the cake scraps together and that was possibly the best part of the entire dessert!

Gelatin? Really, Martha? Martha has a whole section of gelatin-based desserts in May Living. I find gelatin really unappealing in general (except in the hospital when it’s the only food they will let you have), but I was willing to give Martha the benefit of the doubt. I gave the Strawberry Shortcake Jellies a try. … Read more →

I’ve never had a fish taco. There was a fish taco restaurant that opened near us a couple of years ago. We went in, but walked out. My concern with Mexican food is always that it is going to be too spicy. So, I was excited to see that Martha had a recipe for grilled-fish tacos with radish-cabbage slaw (again, the recipe doesn’t seem to up on the Martha web site yet) in May Living.  I had some ocean perch in the freezer, so I grilled that, after rubbing it with the spice mixture in the recipe. I mashed up an avocado and used some bagged slaw (I don’t like radishes so they weren’t missed). I kept the remaining oil, lime and seasoning mixture separate so we could drizzle on the amount each person wanted. I also served this with some sour cream.

This made nice tacos – just enough in them. I loved the taste of the fish in it and anything with avocado is bound to be a hit in my book.  I was all set to chalk this up as a big hit until later that night.

Do you remember a few weeks ago, when I made Martha’s pan sauteed sole? I had an allergic reaction later that night to the sole, which is a fish I’ve been eating regularly all my life. It seemed quite odd to me. Well, the same thing happened with the ocean perch, except it was more severe this time.  Here’s the interesting thing – I bought the perch and sole on the same day at the same fish market. These are both fishes that have never bothered me. I think something happened to this fish in transit or in storage  that caused the reaction I had. Maybe bacteria? I don’t know. But I refuse to believe I am suddenly allergic to fish. So I have to say that although I enjoyed the fish taco at the time, I’m not too fond of it in retrospect!

I’ve never had a fish taco. There was a fish taco restaurant that opened near us a couple of years ago. We went in, but walked out. My concern with Mexican food is always that it is going to be too spicy. So, I was excited to see that Martha had a recipe for grilled-fish … Read more →

The section in May Martha Stewart Living with pizzas was enticing, so I made Heirloom Tomato Pizza. I must confess though that I deviated drastically from this recipe. First, I didn’t make my own dough. I was going to, but ran out of time so I just used store bought dough. Next, there are no heirloom tomatoes to be had in April in Buffalo, so I used tomatoes off the vine from my grocery store. I did not order the Pecorino Pepato cheese you are supposed to for this and instead used parmesan. I also did not order the guanciale and instead used prosciutto. In my mind, those are reasonable substitutions.  In Martha’s mind,they are probably unacceptable.

I put this together and baked it. It was quite good. I like white pizza like this. I used wheat dough which makes me happy. My tomatoes were ok  – I’ll have to make this again in August when I am overrun with local tomatoes. I liked the sliced parmesan on this and the prosciutto got crispy and it was really good. So, whether or not this counts as a Martha dish, we liked it!

The section in May Martha Stewart Living with pizzas was enticing, so I made Heirloom Tomato Pizza. I must confess though that I deviated drastically from this recipe. First, I didn’t make my own dough. I was going to, but ran out of time so I just used store bought dough. Next, there are no … Read more →

Roasted Mushrooms from May Living sounded like it would an easy side dish to make for dinner, and I happened to have some mushrooms I needed to use up.  Assembly was simple – you dump the mushrooms with pancetta, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper and oil on a baking sheet and roast it. At the end you add some white wine and lemon zest. It smelled great as it was cooking. It tasted horrible. Inedible. I generally love mushrooms, but this dish tasted far too earthy for me – really, it tasted like dirt. It was truly awful.

Roasted Mushrooms from May Living sounded like it would an easy side dish to make for dinner, and I happened to have some mushrooms I needed to use up.  Assembly was simple – you dump the mushrooms with pancetta, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper and oil on a baking sheet and roast … Read more →

I made Martha’s Mexican Shrimp Salad (May Living – the link is not up yet on Martha’s site, I’ll post it once it is) thinking it would make a great, light dinner. This was pretty easy to make. You put lime juice, lime rinds, allspice (no I didn’t have berries so I used ground), pepper, salt, orange juice, orange zest and water in a pot and boil then simmer it. Add your unpeeled shrimp and cook quickly. Dump the shrimp in an ice bath and then peel them. Then you marinate them in tomato paste, orange juice, lime juice, lime zest and red pepper with some tomato and red onion mixed. I served it on lettuce leaves wtih sliced avocado as directed.

My first mouthful was bland. It didn’t taste like anything. My second mouthful was more lime flavor. By the third it tasted quite strong. Now, I was ok eating this, but Mr. MarthaandMe was picking at his eating large quantities of bread. I asked him if he liked it and he said it was too much lime flavor for him and he just didn’t care for it. Sigh. So I ended up saving his portion which I will have for lunch.

Overall I would say this was ok, but not great. It mostly tasted like a mouthful of lime and not much else.  It had avocado though and I will eat almost anything that has avocado since I love it so much, so I was able to eat this.

I made Martha’s Mexican Shrimp Salad (May Living – the link is not up yet on Martha’s site, I’ll post it once it is) thinking it would make a great, light dinner. This was pretty easy to make. You put lime juice, lime rinds, allspice (no I didn’t have berries so I used ground), pepper, … Read more →

I’m still anxiously checking my mailbox for my May issues of Martha’s magazines and I must say I am really sick of the April ones now – I’ve cooked everything I want to cook and crafted everything I am interested in.  So I thought I would tie together a few odds and ends from April while I’m waiting.

I got the book Egg & Nest (page 40 of April Living)  from my library this week, after being on a wait list for it for a few weeks. It really is a gorgeous book. It is amazing how many colors and designs (yes, designs!) eggs come in. The nests in the book are also beautiful. This would be a great coffee table book to put out around Easter. I love the fact that the magazine is now including books that are recommended by the editors.

Beginning on page 25, there is an interesting section about Martha’s trip to Prague. Now, I must admit, Prague is not very high on my travel list, but I found it fun to read. I’m looking forward to Martha’s travels in future issues and hope they feature some places that I want to go to.

I found the section on jackets (page 61) to be really weird and out of place.  I’m not a big fan of fashion magazines (I would rather look at a catalog, so if I see something I like I can actually buy it). And I have to say, since when are jackets big news? Big MarthaandMe has had jackets as part of her essential wardrobe for years and I too find that it is an easy way to create a pulled together look. I didn’t find this section inspiring in any way.

The fact that Martha’s calendar is back in the magazine is big news apparently. Let’s be honest about this. First of all, the magazine has to be ready to go to print months in advance, so there’s no way this is an accurate calendar. Also, if you own your own horses, do you really put riding on your calendar? Don’t you just do it when you happen to have a few free hours and the weather is good? I also do not believe Martha actually performs all the tasks that are on this calendar herself – we all know she has a giant staff. Not to mention that Martha is out at dinners, events, and social gatherings almost every single night. I also wish to point out that Martha said on her show she was hosting an Easter dinner, yet the calendar says it is an Easter brunch. For April 20, Martha says she will be setting out cabbages into the garden, yet on the show she already did this and showed us the little paper hats her gardeners put over them.

I’m still anxiously checking my mailbox for my May issues of Martha’s magazines and I must say I am really sick of the April ones now – I’ve cooked everything I want to cook and crafted everything I am interested in.  So I thought I would tie together a few odds and ends from April … Read more →