The Martha Stewart Show...

A couple of weeks ago something pretty awesome happened to me...

I was able to attend a live taping of.... the Martha Stewart show!!!!

I cannot tell you how happy happy happy that made me!!!!

(One of my very best idols... love her and her empire...

the queen of craft... Martha stewart!)

The episode being taped included 3 female chefs, who made the most delicious dishes.

The first chef made home-made pasta and introduced me to the world of a pasta chitarra.

 (You can buy a chitarra at sur la table here) 

A pasta chitarra is a traditional italian tool used to cut fresh pasta sheets.  It resembles a guitar with its strings and you roll the pasta sheet over the strings using a rolling pin and that motion cuts the sheet into ribbons of pasta ready to be used. (You bet I am going to be wish listing that for my birthday.)

The second chef made a delicious dish with shrimp using something I had never used before called Israeli cous cous.  I have made traditional cous cous mainly known as tabouli before but never this round,  pellet-like wheat kind.  If you want to purchase it you can do so( here at amazon,)  though I bought mine in the bulk section  of Whole Foods supermarket. 

And the third chef made a delicious butterscotch sauce using a milk stout beer and poured it over a delicious dessert called "monkey bread".... I cannot wait to make that!!!  

The audience each received a french hand made "Staub" black mini cast-iron cocotte... 

if you are curious as to what it is peek or buy (here)

It was the mini pots used to bake the monkey bread in 

but I was quite disappointed to be given just ONE... it did not even come with a tasting of that delicious monkey bread! Bummer.

When I got home I googled the little black pot to see if I could buy another 5 to actually be able to make enough of the mini monkey breads to feed the family 

and to my astonishment I discovered that each mini pot is worth $49 bucks... 

So you can bet that monkey bread is going to be made in another container and that gifted one will now hold my coins, keys or I will give it to honeypie as her first VERY EXPENSIVE addition to her play kitchen.  Not a bad idea.

It was a wonderful day, full of good friends and ideas and maybe...

MAYBE... (as i dream here)

one day Martha and I can actually partake in a session of serious baking together or needle felting on-air.  

A girl can dream...NO?

:)

Here is  her studio...

Lots of camaras, lights  and TV monitors... 

(can you see her craft area on the end there?  love that crafting table)

Ohhhh her gorgeous kitchen... (there is she with her 3 female chef guests)

yes, that is me (with a Martha shopping bag)

could not leave without getting some goods!!! 

But I was very good...

only got a glitter set for honeypie and an apron for me...

cuz' its 

A GOOD THING!!

super fun day... maybe I'll even have my one second of fame on-air as audience clapping... heh heh.

Ed Emberley Film Documentary (make a world)

Just the other day I received a new comment on one of my old posts... (wooh hoo!!)
The post (here)  was about ED EMBERLEY, the wonderful writer and illustrator of many children's books.

(The book  Honeypie and I have been trying to draw from is his thumbprint book below...)

the post by "mity quinn" said...

"Well done! I really like this post. 

I thought you might be interested about a documentary film I'm working on about Ed:

www.makeaworldfilm.com 

All the best!"

Well...

It seems that there is going to be a GREAT documentary on Ed Emberley and we can't wait to see it!!!

Thanks for the comment mity quinn!      And    Good luck with the film!

Here's a quote from the film's "make a world" website...

"In 1972, Ed Emberley published a book called, “Make a World”.

This simple 32-page book, packed with more than 400 illustrations,shows children how to draw almost anything. In the most literal sense, it’s an instructional drawing guide for children.
Yet it’s much more than that.
Called by some a visual dictionary and even a bible, it’s a powerful influence on contemporary designers and artists. It’s used in a wide range of educational contexts, from elementary schools to college courses, to promote creative thinking. It’s even been embraced in Japan as an aesthetic approach unto itself.
Perhaps most importantly, since “Make a World” emerges from Mr. Emberley’s definitive New England upbringing, the book defines an empowering democratic ethos; that equipped with the proper tools and the proper frame of mind, anything is possible.
In short, “Make a World” is the little book with a big impact.

You can also view a teaser trailer for the film  (here)

and...

Here's a wonderful peek inside Ed Emberley's art studio! (here)

and...

You can show support for the film by buying one of their t-shirts (here)...

Through art... we can "make a world"!

~birdycake

Canning

Today we did a little fruit canning from the "Ball complete book of home preserving"...(link here )
Just testing out some recipes to see which ones were really tasty and would make again...
So far my favorites have been the spiced apple preserves with lemon peel and even more delicious... The Ginger pear preserves with Lime zest.!!

Mmmmm


















This canner pot has made things easier...
The brand is "Granite-ware" and you can purchase it on amazon. (link here )
I have the 21 quart.







It comes with a lift rack!!!
And you can stack jars.







We got some other books on pickling for Christmas and I look forward to trying those out next!


-- Post From My iPhone
^_^ birdycake on the go!

Happy birthday, A.A Milne

Today we celebrated A.A Milne's birthday!
British author Alan Alexander Milne is best known for the wonderful stories of Winnie the Pooh... And we enjoy them here very much!
If he had been alive today, he would have been 127 years old.


We started the day with honey yogurt pooh pancakes...


















Made a honey pie ... (with pecans!)










Read some stories....

















And baked a sweet potato bundt Cake in the shape of a beehive for pooh!









Lovely stories... Timeless.

^_^

A little late night Cheese Making...

Yes, it's true... while the cat's away, the mice will play BUT...
While the cat's asleep... the mice will make cheese!!!!

This weekend while Honeypie slept the night away...
my husband decided to play with his christmas gift... a cheese press!!!
It was our first time undertaking cheese making and we had so much fun!
I was  "assistant",  as  husband undertook the world of live cultures and its mathematical proportions...
not as complicated as it sounds ... just alot of temperature watching and babysitting milk...
It worked out fantastic and super easy.

We used the books...

-Making great cheese by Barbara Ciletti
-Cheese making made easy by Ricki Carrol

and the recipe for parmesan and ricotta we used, was from the book
-Making artisan cheese by Tim Smith

We unfortunally had to cross-reference all three books ... being that the "making artisan cheese" book was not too clear in its instructions...

The cheese press and supplies we bought
from The New England Cheese company.

We decided on making a parmesan cheese first which calls for only the curds of the milk.
What is left after heating and culture using, is a whole lot of milk whey... so we used the whey to make a fresh ricotta cheese.
And with what was left of the whey ... we froze to add to power smoothies!

Getting ready to start...

Cutting the curds after heating...

Reheating the curds...

Draining the curds into cheese cloth...

Pressing the cheese curds...

Unveiling!  Looks and smells wonderful!

And now for the aging... It will sit in a dark place for 10 months!

The left over whey gets heated for ricotta...

The curds after adding vinegar...

draining...

The wonderful results...

Honeypie cuts the curds...

She adds some walnuts and a drizzle of honey to the ricotta ...

delicious!!!

I add a little salt and a bit of fresh dill...

or...

some bananas, blueberries and a drizzle of honey!

next week?

Daddy takes on our dear Manchego and maybe a little aged Gouda...

mmmmmmm!

2010

Today I am choosing...

to follow myself
Inspire myself
Link to myself
Feature myself
Not comment on myself
And
Subscribe to my own feed...

^_^

I was thinking this year to NOT do a new years resolution...
I never keep them and tend to make myself feel bad about it all year ...
But then...
I did feel I needed a goal... A vision...
A change ... (if I may...) to fly forward into the fresh new year...
So I thought of going about the resolution differently...

What if I just seek to be more mindful?
One goal...
Just being aware of myself and my life and the people, friends and family whom I love around me...
Keeping myself reflective in a positive wAy...?
Shutting down self criticism ...
My lack of confidence...
Keeping present here BUT forward in how I live life...
Keeping mindful ... finding the laughter and humor in the challenges that everyday life brings?
Living in as much joy possible ... Sending that joy out for others to receive... No expectations ...
Just living in present moment awareness ...
In joy... In love and from love.

If the "resolution " is just to be mindful...
Quieting that monkey brain chatter would be easy...?mmmm
And there would be no expectations ...
No dissappointments of what preconceived ideas or ideals there might be within me...
Just being authentic ...
Easy?

I will be more mindful.


On Friday 2 good friends came over to visit with their children. Normally our playdates involve baking , or making art and lots of playing and read alouds...
But this time... The mama's sat ... And thought... And reflected on themselves.., for just a littlebit... And then we went into ourselves... In silence... And created art. Our own.
We each took a large piece of paper and created a vision collage using old magazines to cut out words and images that might resonate within us... A vision collage of some things that were grounding and important to us... We each focused on a word to look onto on the new year and in quiet...together...
We found inspiration for this new year.

Here's mine...












-








And I'd like to share 2 books I love...
That sit by my night table and I use as daily inspiration to nurish my thoughts on what's most important to me...
Parenting.

Everyday blessings by Myla and Jon-kabbat-zinn is a beautiful beautiful book and as I finish this post , I'd like to quote just a little bit...

On presence

"When a child walks in, can we take a moment and really see her and acknowledge her presence?
We do that with acquaintances but we often don't with those close to us. The quality of our presence with our children is central to the quality of our relationship with them. As we have seen, presence lies at the heart of mindfulness.
To cultivate it requires conciousness, sustained effort, attention, a willingness to be authentic, awake, attuned. When we are authentic with someone we are being genuine. We are not hiding or pretending. We don't descriminate against certain feelings in ourselves or in our children.
But, if we've grown up having to hide our feelings or dissimilate in order to feel safe, being authentic can be extremely difficult and scary. It may be new and unknown territory. It helps to keep reminding ourselves. --- literally to come back to our mind and to our senses.
We remind ourselves to come back into the present moment, to be aware if how we are feeling. The breath can be our ally in this. Intentionally focusing on the senses of breathing brings us back into the body. The more we are aware of how we are really feeling in each moment, without judging ourselves the more we embody authentic presence.
The more we live in this way, the more our children will feel it, know it and embody authentic presence themselves."