Be sure to tune in to my latest podcast on the iHeart media app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're releasing another interesting and fun episode today - this one with three longtime devotees of the Martha Stewart brand.
Many of you who follow this blog have also read my magazines, watched my television shows, and purchased my products. Over the years, I've worked hard to build and nurture an effective brand that not only provides how-to content, but also imparts interesting information that teaches, delights, and inspires. Andrew Ritchie, Bernie Wong, and Dennis Landon have not only supported me and the brand, but have also shared their experiences and all they've learned with others. Andrew is the creator of the “Martha Moments” blog and online community. Bernie and Dennis post their gardening, baking, and entertaining projects through Instagram @BernieWongGreen. And all three continue to heed one of my own favorite sayings - "learn something new every day."
Enjoy these photos and remember to listen to today's podcast.
Andrew designed and founded his “Martha Moments” blog in 2006 as a content archive written for fans and collectors of the Martha Stewart brand. It was a big hit and continues to delight readers 17 years later.
I invited Andrew to talk about his blog on my television show in 2010. Here’s a photo of us on set. I taught him how to make yarn cards. Andrew says it was his “first big Martha Moment!”
Andrew, Bernie, and Dennis first met through “Martha Moments” – listen to their stories on my podcast. They then traveled from their home states to attend my “Great American Tag Sale” last year. Here they are on the shuttle van.
I met Bernie and Dennis at the tag sale. Here is a photo of the three of us. If you also came to my tag sale, you may have seen them too – in their matching “Martha green” overalls.
All three of them got a ton of great items from the sale.
Andrew purchased this rolling pin from the tag sale and asked me to sign it for him.
Andrew also got a Martha by Mail squirrel and acorn caramel glass dish, which he long wanted and was so excited to find. Martha by Mail was our mail order catalog. It was loved by so many.
Dennis and Bernie bought these Martha by Mail spice racks.
Bernie and Dennis drove all their tag sale finds home in a trailer – they love green.
They are avid gardeners. Here’s their favorite watering can and cast iron twine dispenser – also bought at the tag sale.
And green enamel flower holders from the tag sale with flowers from their garden.
Here’s Andrew’s new wicker plant stand that I used to display potted plants in my Tenant House here at Bedford. Now it’s home to a Boston fern in Andrew’s dining room in Ottawa, Canada.
Weeks later, Dennis and Bernie hosted a viewing party to watch the Great American Tag Sale show. Here they are serving up treats on a Martha by Mail tray.
In this photo, their table is set for lunch with a fellow “Martha Moments” friend. Many of their entertaining and table setting ideas were inspired by my shows and the stories in our magazines.
They developed a love for brown transferware and have their own collection.
Bernie and Dennis share my love for chickens and appreciate the delicious eggs their hens produce every day.
And if you follow Bernie on Instagram @BernieWongGreen, you know he loves to bake and often uses these tried and true cookie cutters.
In this photo, Bernie and Dennis look through previous issues of my magazine “Living” and read through my books. It’s nice to see how much our hard work has taught and inspired readers and viewers over the years. Listen to my podcast with Andrew, Bernie and Dennis to hear how they all met, how two of these three fell in love and married, what tips and “Good Things” they value most, and so much more.
Happy Birthday, Andy Yu! Some of the best gatherings are those spent with friends celebrating special occasions.
Over the weekend, I attended a birthday luncheon for designer Andy Yu. Chef and restaurateur, David Burke, prepared a wonderful menu for 10. It included "clothesline" bacon and pastrami salmon, popovers, dressed oysters, lobster dumplings, burrata salad, tuna and salmon tartare, halibut t-bone, and several delectable desserts. I also made a delicious lemon and Armagnac pound cake for the party. It was a wonderful feast and a most delightful celebration.
Enjoy these photos.
Here I am with Chef David Burke and the guest of honor, Andy Yu. The party was held at Andy’s home, not far from my Bedford, New York farm. Andy designed his festive jacket.
There were lots of red decorations in observance of the Chinese New Year, which started less than a week earlier on January 22nd. This year is the Year of the Rabbit. Red is the color of good fortune.
There was a menu at each place setting – everything listed looked delicious.
… And each guest received several gifts, including this Reinstein Ross freshwater pearl.
We started with “clothesline” bacon served with black pepper maple glaze, pickle, and lemon.
There was also a pastrami salmon “clothesline” served with cornbread.
David also made giant popovers – served warm to the touch…
… with sweet butter.
These are dressed oysters – East Coast oysters with baby shrimp, ginger, and pickled vegetables, served on a brick of pink Himalayan salt.
We also enjoyed burrata salad as the appetizer with apples, acorn squash, kale, with a miso cider vinaigrette dressing. If you’ve never had burrata cheese, it is an Italian cow’s milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream formed into a thin pouch and then filled with soft, stringy curd and cream called stracciatella.
This is tuna and salmon tartare – with avocado, shaved vegetable salad, and gaufrettes – small crispy, potato wafers cut like waffles.
The main course was halibut t-bone with artichoke purée, tiny ratatouille vinaigrette, and kalamata olives.
Here is a lovely photo of my friend, Dominique Bluhdorn, and Andy.
For dessert, we enjoyed an Original David Burke Cake-top Tree with bubble gum whipped cream and cotton candy.
Also on the menu – Tin Can Cake with chocolate sauce, Heath Bar crunch, caramel anglaise, vanilla gelato, and whipped cream. It was devoured.
I made this cake earlier in the morning. It is a dense pound cake scented with lemon and Armagnac – a distinctive brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony in southwest France. I also covered it with a sugar-butter Armagnac glaze.
Another guest, Amy Wayne, brought these fun cookies shaped like Chinese New Year lanterns. Amy found the cookie cutter and had the cookies made locally at Bedford Village Bakery.
Andy and Amy stopped for this snapshot. The jacket Amy is wearing was also a gift to Andy. She embellished a denim jacket with a flower on the front…
… And “It Had to be Yu” decals on the back – a take on the old classic song, “It Had to Be You” composed by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn in 1924. It fits Andy perfectly.
It was a wonderful luncheon on a mild and pleasant winter’s day. In this photo, Andy is joined by Nicole Russo Steinthal, Andy’s husband Dr. Evan Goldstein, Brooke Vogell, Angelina Lipman, myself, Dominique, Anni de Saint Phalle, and Melissa Tolin. Thanks for inviting me to the party, Andy!
It's another mild winter day here at my Bedford, New York farm - cloudy with highs in the upper 40s, which means my peacocks and peahens will be out and about in their enclosure.
Peafowl are pretty tolerant of cooler weather - their feathering and ability to regulate body temperatures help them to stay warm. They also have a heated coop, where they can take shelter during unpleasant conditions. So many of you comment about how much you enjoy seeing the animals at my farm, so I thought it was a good time to share this update on my stunning peacocks and peahens. Currently, I have 13 peafowl - all of which live in a large pen just outside my stable. They’re all doing well and remain beautiful, active, and curious.
Here are some of the latest photos, enjoy.
It’s always so nice to stop by the peafowl pen and visit with these pretty and often comical birds. They are kept safe in this enclosure with a comfortable coop in the center. How many do you see here? I think the photo was “bombed” by a peacock.
Peafowl are happiest when living in small groups. All my outdoor birds have access to natural perches made from old felled trees here at the farm. This is a popular spot, where the peafowl can see all that is going on around them.
Since last autumn, the birds are also protected by fencing that spans across the top of the enclosure. Some of you may recall I posted photos of the process on this blog.
Peafowl are members of the pheasant family. There are two Asiatic species – the blue or Indian peafowl native to India and Sri Lanka, and the green peafowl originally from Java and Burma, and one African species, the Congo peafowl from African rain forests.
Peafowl are ground feeders. They do most of their foraging in the early morning and evening. As omnivores, they eat insects, plants, grains, and small creatures.
Peafowl are very smart, docile and adaptable birds. They are also quite clever. It is not unusual for peafowl to come running when the food appears. They are so curious and love to come up close when guests visit.
Remember, technically only the males are peacocks with their long and lustrous tales. The females are peahens, and both are peafowl. Babies are peachicks. A family of peafowl is called a bevy.
And, do you know… a group of peafowl is often called a party, a muster or an ostentation?
Full grown, peafowl can weigh up to 13-pounds. The peacock is a large sized bird with a length from bill to tail 39 to 45 inches. A peafowl’s legs are very strong. They have three toes on each foot facing forward, and one facing backwards. They also have sharp, powerful metatarsal spurs that are used for defense. Also, as they develop, males will tend to have longer legs than females.
Both male and female peafowl have a fan-shaped crest on their heads called a corona. It may take up to one year for a corona to reach full size.
In the afternoon, flurries started to fall. All the peafowl walked into their coop one by one until the snow ended.
I leave these doors open during the day, so they are free to walk in and out as they please.
Inside, they also have several perches on which they can roost.
In the wild, roosting up high keeps them safe from predators at night.
This peahen is on the ground hoping for some treats.
Peafowl have acute hearing, but can be poor at discerning from what direction certain sounds originate.
Peafowl will also look at one in the eye; however, if one stares at them or seems aggressive in body movements, these birds will feel threatened. Talking softly and keeping eyes averted tells them you are not a predator.
A peacock doesn’t grow its first train until three. And even then, it won’t be full grown or have showy ocelli. The train gets longer and more elaborate every year until five or six years old when it reaches maximum splendor. This is one of two mature males whose tail feather become more gorgeous every year. Mating season begins in a month – the males will be fanning their tails for all to see.
Here is one peahen watching all the activity from the doorway of the coop while two males eat in the background.
The light snow did not last long, and it did not stick to the grounds. These birds are ready to come out once again – to forage and observe.
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