The Martha Stewart Home Store in Dubai

Martha Stewart now has three standalone stores in Dubai in various malls around the country: Mirdiff City Center, Dubai Hills Mall and the Mall of Emirates. Additional stores are slated to open in India, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the coming months. (No word yet on a North American location...) The store is called simply, Martha Stewart Home, and carries a selection of her branded housewares under one roof: bedding, sheets and towels, cookware, dinnerware, glassware, kitchen utensils, table linens and more. The store is also supplemented with housewares by other brands in the Marquee family, including Laura Ashley Home, Dorma bedding, Bianca bedding, Muir bedding, Edion home fragrances, Sur La Table dinnerware and various kitchen appliances, such as hand mixers and crockpots. All of the items sold in the store were personally selected by Martha and her creative team. 

Lisa Young Hallenbeck, a member of the Martha Moments Facebook group, recently had the opportunity to visit the store at Mall of Emirates and graciously shared her photos. Below is a look at the store. 

The entrance to the store looks clean and inviting. Lisa was excited that they were having their holiday sale but she couldn't purchase anything because nothing would fit into her suitcase!

Martha's bedding collections.

Martha's kitchen storage containers.

Martha's ceramic bakeware.

Martha's baking sheets and muffin tins.

Martha's towels.

Martha's cookware.

Martha's glassware.

The store's inventory is bolstered by collections from other brands under the Marquee banner, including dinnerware by Sur La Table, which matches Martha's aesthetic. Click here to read more about Martha's recent visit to Dubai to open one of the new stores! 

The Special Holiday Issues

Over the last 25 years, Martha Stewart Living has published twelve special-issue magazines devoted to the subject of celebrating the holiday season, from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's. These "SIPs" (Special Issue Publications) were not a part of the regular Martha Stewart Living subscription but were instead sold separately as standalone issues at the newsstand. (They were also available through mail order). They are cherished by many collectors of the Martha Stewart brand for their beautiful design, enchanting photography and excellent ideas and information. They contain recipes and guides for entertaining, craft ideas, homemade gift ideas and decorating ideas. 

Much of the content is collated from the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine - sort of  'best of' compilations, and each publication is almost entirely ad-free; they are more like mini books than magazines. But many of the early issues are filled with editorials, recipes and photography that were not found anywhere else. They are worth seeking out if you do not have them yet. They are often available on the secondhand market on platforms such as eBay, Amazon, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace. Below are their covers. Each one is a treasure trove.

This one is a must-have. Not only is it a record of the new millennium, it is also one of the most beautiful issues MSL has ever produced. Much of the content is original to this publication and can be found nowhere else. It includes a primer on luxury foods, a deep dive into the history of champagne glasses, a look at how New Year's is celebrated around the world and a New Year's Day breakfast at Skylands, Martha's home in Maine, with a hike in Acadia National Park to view the first sunrise of the millennium. (1999)

The first of several issues devoted to holiday cookies features 100 recipes from the kitchens at Martha Stewart Living. There's a wonderful feature on cookies from around the world and a section on how to package cookies as gifts in beautiful, original and festive ways. There's even a page of detachable gift labels. (2001)

This one, published the following year, expands the subject of baking to include all manner of confections, breads and tarts. There are five festive cakes to serve during the holidays, a section on holiday cookies, a helpful guide to the best baking techniques and an A-Z glossary of holiday baked goods. This one also features a page of detachable gift labels. (2002)

The subject expands once again to now include many different types of party foods to serve during the holidays, from savory hors d'oeuvres to sweet dessert squares. This issue is great because it provides menus for several different types of parties: a homemade pizza party, a fuss-free buffet, and a classic holiday feast, from appetizers to dessert to cocktails. (2003)

This issue devoted to cookies is also a must-have. Once again, it contains almost all original content with wonderful photography by Victor Schrager, including supreme close-ups of some of the most delicious confections against stark white backdrops. The publication is excellent merely as an example of excellent art direction (James Dunlinson) photography, and design. The recipes are pretty excellent too! (2006)

This is the first holiday issue to focus on handmade gifts, with a good mix of recipes and craft projects to get you inspired to make your own presents for loved ones. There's an excellent story on knitting and lessons on making your own soaps, candles, candies and cards. (2007)

From Thanksgiving to New Year's, this guide has you covered. It includes menus for each aforementioned holiday (including some Hanukkah recipes) and some very helpful time-saving strategies to keep you organized during this very busy time of year: countdowns, checklists and schedules for all your party preparations. (2009)

A second holiday issue was also published in 2009, this one devoted to crafts and handmade gifts: ornaments, creating wrappings, making stuffed animals, cookies, candies and other treats from the kitchen, as well as elegant ways to package everything. (2009)

This is a collection of some of the most delectable cookies, cakes, pies, barks, squares, puddings and tarts you can imagine: an ode to dessert! Once again, the photography is beautiful and there are creative ideas to present your confections as gifts. (2010)

If you don't have any of the other cookie issues mentioned above, this one is a great compilation of the best examples from all of them, with a few new additions. (2011)

The best of the best! This is a very thick publication with everything you need to prepare for the holidays, from baking recipes to cocktails, wrapping techniques to decorating ideas, making cards, making wreaths and time-tested techniques for staying organized during this very busy time of year. (2012)

This is another great compilation that pools together some of the best ideas and recipes for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. It contains several original recipes from the food department at MSL and a few great menu ideas for each occasion. (2024 and 2025)

Martha's Red Experiment

Martha's love/hate relationship with the colour red is well known to those around her. She has banished all red flowers from her gardens, yet admires the crimson tones of autumn leaves, particularly on Japanese maples. She rarely wears red clothing or lipstick, but will if the occasion calls for it. In decorating, too, she prefers restrained neutrals, calming greens and pastel blues to the louder warm tones on the spectrum. But when she purchased her property in Bedford, New York, in 2000 she embarked on a daring decorating colour scheme for one of the houses on the property: red! 

In what I believe was the Summer House (the 1770s Colonial on the property once inhabited by the previous owner, Ruth Sharpe) and prior to the complete renovation and restoration of the buildings on the property, Martha used red as the foundational colour to unite each of the rooms in this house, throwing all caution to the wind. She enlisted the help of Kevin Sharkey, who was then the decorating editor at the magazine, to help her realize her vision. She was initially inspired by a set of red roll-down blinds that were used by the former owner in the formal living room, which she found intriguing, and also by the many red-hued decorations, artworks, rugs and fabrics she had collected over the years but had never used.

The historical use of red in Chinese and European decoration, furniture and porcelain was another guiding factor for Martha. She went all in and confidently incorporated these elements into the mix: a chinoiserie chest of drawers and an armoire, a Chinese screen, Asian prints on the walls, red-patterned damasks and toile in the bedrooms. The effect is bold but enveloping and still adheres to Martha's preference for monochromatic spaces, albeit in a more dramatic way. One is still presented with a space with a cohesive palette and atmosphere, which is always important to Martha's design sensibility. Light shades of green were used as a counterpoint to the rich saturation of red, particularly in the bedrooms upstairs, which called for a more serene palette. Red was still used, however, as punctuation throughout the rooms and hallways, as well as an upstairs sitting room, guiding the eye from one space to another seamlessly.

This colour scheme was, ultimately, just an experiment. The house was eventually gutted and renovated from the ground up and the use of red in its rooms only lasted a short while, but it was done to the fullest with the best results imaginable. {Photos by Jose Manuel Picayo Rivera from the November, 2001, issue of Martha Stewart Living}

Martha's Fans Bring "Entertaining" to Life

To celebrate the republication of Martha's first book, Entertaining, I asked the members of the Martha Moments Facebook group in early October to submit photographs of something they had made from its pages. They more than delivered! What a talented group of individuals. It is worth noting, too, that they are not paid influencers. These are everyday Americans with an honest love of Martha's work who enjoy cooking and baking recipes from her books on a regular basis. Among the creations: croquembouche, a pear tart, cranberry and chocolate-pecan tartlets, carrot loaf, poached pears, classic apple pie, mile-high lemon meringue pie, buttermilk biscuits, applesauce spice cake, stuffed chicken breasts, chicken pojarski, various hors d'oeuvres, Martha's eggnog, vodka frozen in ice, and more! I'm so impressed. Below are photographs of their creations.

Anthony Picozzi made Martha's poached pears. A beautiful presentation, as always.

Bernie Wong and Dennis Landon made Martha's almond pear tart, cranberry tartlets and chocolate-pecan tartlets. Their guest, Nathan Schmidt, made Martha's carrot loaf during a fun afternoon of visiting and baking together.

Bernie's almond pear tart looks perfect. 

Dennis's tartlets displayed exactly as they were in the book on a heart-shaped copper tray. 

Nathan's carrot loaf looks so appetizing!

Justin Giannunzio also made Martha's carrot loaf and displayed it in much the same way as Nathan! (Neither of them knew the other was making the loaf as their submission - a fun coincidence). Justin displayed his first-edition copy of the book in the background, signed by Martha.

Jack McKee made Martha's classic apple pie and her mulled apple cider. Look at that perfect pie crust!

Kevin Link made the applesauce spice cake, which looks perfect on a Martha by Mail cake stand.

Kristina Kloss made one of Martha's classics: croquembouche! It looks fabulous on another Martha cake stand.

Laura Guisbert-Clark made the mile-high lemon meringue pie. Looks divine!

Alison Geradot made the kiwi tartlets in the book. Yum!

It was the buttermilk biscuits for Annamarie Pearson. They look so fluffy and perfect!

Todd Hall made Alexis's brown-sugar chocolate chip cookies from the book.

Not everyone chose to bake. Brian Utz always uses Entertaining as an inspiration when preparing curdite platters, paying attention to how the vegetables are prepared and arranged. One of his go-to Martha tips is using a hollowed-out cabbage to serve the dip!

Brian's dining table all set up for guests!

Another one of Brian's beautiful tables, laden with fruits and vegetables, inspired by Martha's lessons in presentation.

During holiday time, Trellis Smith and his partner Lucas always serve vodka frozen in a block of ice, decorated with lemons and cranberries - an Entertaining original.

They also serve Martha's famous eggnog! 

William Silveira and his partner Robert Ahlers made Martha's stuffed chicken breasts from the book.

They look scrumptious!

Megan Dunton endeavored to make several savory recipes from the book, including Martha's chicken pojarski, which she says was a big hit with her family. (Notice the Martha by Mail Danish Fern dish).

Megan also made almond-stuffed dates with bacon, which she says are hearty enough to serve as a small accompaniment or side dish to a main course, such as roast chicken.

Roquefort grapes are an unusual but delicious choice as an appetizer. 

The easiest recipe in the book, according to Megan, is the cottage cheese and dill dip. She says she will never have cottage cheese any other way!

For Kemp Harper and Kevin Boling, it is the style of Entertaining that influences their aesthetic at home, although they always enjoy making Martha's pumpkin soup and cranberry-currant sauce from the book each Thanksgiving. (You can read more about Kemp and Kevin in an earlier post).

As for me, well I've only ever made one recipe from the pages of Entertaining, and that's coeur a la creme, a pillowy, creamy confection using a heart-shaped mold - one that was given to me by my friends Bernie and Dennis. It floats on a little pond of raspberry sauce. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in this fun little assignment. It's encouraged me to look a little closer at the recipes in the book and pull out my apron!