Living Goes From Twelve to Ten

Beginning this year, Martha Stewart Living magazine will publish ten issues instead of twelve. MSLO announced the change on the company's most recent investor-relations conference call. This year, the July and August issues will be combined into one summer issue. It is likely that the December and January issues will also be sandwiched into one issue, or perhaps the January and February issues. The August and January issues were new additions to the magazine in 2001 when it began to publish monthly. Due to increasing publishing costs and a decline in ad revenue, the magazine has opted to return to the 10-issue format by cutting its distribution by two.

While I have certainly come to love the August and January issues over the last eleven years, I am happy with this news. It is essentially a return to the magazine's roots. During the 1990s, the magazine published ten issues annually and they are among the best years in the magazine's catalog. I've reflected on the January and August issues before on this blog. For the sake of nostalgia, click the highlighted links below to read more about their histories:

*January Genesis

*A Decade of Augusts

Martha's 2013 Book Calendar

I wanted to create a little 2013 calendar for collectors of Martha's books since there are several fun releases in the pipeline from Martha's publisher, Clarkson Potter. This year, there are four books on offer (so far) and each one will end up on my bookshelf. I don't have all of Martha's books. (I cannot tell a lie.) I collect the ones that I feel best suit my life and my interests. Since I am not an advanced or prolific cook or baker, I only have seven of the dozens of cookbooks she has written over the years. I have her 'classics' of course, such as Entertaining, Gardening Month By Month, New Old House, Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes and Martha's Entertaining. These books define what I love most about Martha: the drive for aesthetic excellence and the realization of inspiring ideas. Below is a list of the books Martha will release in 2013 with their release dates. Each of these can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com, or you can simply mark the release dates on your calendar if you'd rather pick up the books at your favourite local book store, as I usually do.

Above, left, is the cover of the upcoming book on Martha's crafts for kids with sample pages from the book on the right. I don't have kids but I will buy this book for its layout and design - something I have always admired about Martha's published material.

The Healing Power of Gardens

One in seven women in the United States will hear a series of four words that will forever change their lives: "You have breast cancer." This translates into a new diagnosis every two minutes. While many of these women will survive the disease, thanks to increased awareness, new advancements in medicine and technology and increased access to support groups, the struggle to live a fulfilling life while dealing with breast cancer can be challenging. That's why I'm so pleased to be able to tell you about a wonderful program called Hope In Bloom. Roberta Dehman Hershon founded the organization in 2007 to help improve the lives of women living with breast cancer after her friend of 50 years, Beverly Eisenberg, died of the disease in 2005.

Roberta spoke to me about the program she created and was excited to share the story with Martha Moments readers:

"While Beverly was sick, I saw firsthand the harsh realities of treatment and the emotional upheaval she faced every day. To cheer her up, I took care of her garden and made sure her house was always filled with flowers. I saw how she perked up every time she looked outside at the riot of color in her yard or received a new bouquet. When she passed away, I decided to honor her memory and set about creating a way to keep her spirit alive and improve the mental roller coaster for breast cancer patients."

What emerged was something called Hope in Bloom. Based in Massachusetts, it is essentially a gardening service provided to breast cancer patients, enabling them to create a beautiful spot to experience the calming effects of nature, which studies have shown can increase serotonin levels, boost energy and ward off depression. Patients who can work in their gardens also receive the added benefit of regular exercise. All these factors place people in a better frame of mind to be more receptive to medical intervention.

Volunteer landscape architects or designers begin by meeting with each recipient to develop a landscape plan. Hope in Bloom purchases the plants and materials and a group of the organization's 850 volunteers comes to the home to install the garden. (Indoor 'gardens' and balcony gardens can also be created for apartment dwellers using containers and a variety of houseplants.) To date, the program has planted 118 gardens across Massachusetts, brightening the lives of each recipient and their families. In the process, awareness has been raised about the positive effects and special brand of healing gardens can provide.

Roberta says that many of the Hope In Bloom recipients were living with some of the deadliest forms of the disease when they received gardens. Months later, many of these women were deemed cancer free. "Everyone involved knows their gardens played a part in their miraculous turn of events," she says.

Below are photos of some of the Hope In Bloom gardens that have been planted so far. Roberta hopes to expand the program across the United States and, eventually, around the world. If you'd like to learn more about the program, or pledge a tax-deductible donation, please visit the website.

Martha Bakes Coming to PBS

I was very excited to learn that Martha Bakes will soon be coming to PBS. The program, which was initially developed for the Hallmark channel in 2011, is a how-to series on baking filmed in Martha's Bedford kitchen in Katonah, New York. Last fall, Adweek reported that PBS would be tweaking the series slightly to bring it to its audiences around the United States and Canada. No word yet on when the series will debut on PBS but Martha did Tweet yesterday that Kitchenaid will be one of the sponsors of the show. This is very exciting news for those of us who never had the option of subscribing to the Hallmark Channel; we'll finally be able to see the series! Stay tuned.

Martha Bakes was filmed in Martha's home kitchen at Cantitoe Corners in Katonah, New York. Look at how that stainless steel shines!

New: Wall-Managers From Martha Stewart Home Office

Coming March 17th from Martha Stewart Home Office and Avery at Staples are these easy-to-install wall-manager systems, designed to maximize vertical space and free your counters and desks of clutter. The versatile collection of boards and accessories allows you to mix and match pieces to custom design a system that works for your space. Accessories snap firmly into place using the Click+Lock system and each mount can hold up to ten pounds. Pieces in the line come in chalk white or dark graphite to coordinate with your decor. The wall-manager systems can be used in a variety of rooms to serve a variety of purposes: the home office, the kitchen, the bedroom or the mudroom. These will be available at Staples stores and online at Staples.com early next month.

A dry-erase board, cork bulletin board, shelves, bins and drawers are configured neatly in this arrangement.

The system can be used alone to fit a narrow space or combined with other systems to be wider, depending on your space and preference.

Heeeere's Martha! (And Alexis!)

Martha is set to debut her new live radio call-in show tomorrow (Tuesday, February 19th) at 12:00 pm EST on SiriusXM, channel 107. The show will air daily for a two-hour timeslot and listeners are invited to call in with questions and comments. Joining Martha tomorrow for the first show will be her daughter, Alexis, as they discuss healthy foods for children, parenting dos and don'ts and much more! Be sure to tune in! If you can't listen at 12:00 pm, the show will rebroadcast at 7:00 pm on the same channel.

This will be the first time that Martha Stewart has hosted a daily radio show, and will be the first format that exposes every aspect of her vast interests and experiences, from her enduring passion for living well to her leadership in new media; her international explorations and discoveries; the fascinating people she meets from all walks of life; her growing appeal to millennials and her philanthropic endeavors.

The new Martha Live show will feature segments including “Ask Martha,” with live call-ins; “Mostly Martha,” with high-profile guest interviews and discussions; segments hosted by Martha’s favorite experts; as well as curated segments from Martha’s vast archives of radio and television.

Martha Live will also be available on SiriusXM On Demand listening via the SiriusXM Internet Radio App for smartphones and other mobile devices, and online at SiriusXM.com.

Listeners can call in to "Martha Live" at 866-675-6675.

Tea at the Windsor Arms

Anyone who visits Toronto (or who calls the city home) must experience tea at the Windsor Arms - one of Toronto's most elegant boutique hotels. The hotel was designed by Kirk Hyslop and built in 1927 in the city's downtown Yorkville neighbourhood, which is known for its high-end stores and charming atmosphere. The hotel was shut down in the early 1990s after becoming nearly derelict from years of poor management and almost no upkeep. The building was eventually designated as a Canadian heritage site and was fully restored to its former glory. It reopened in 1999. Today, it is a destination for visiting celebrities, tourists and locals alike.

I recently experienced 'high tea' at the hotel for the first time and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon with a good friend of mine. Below are some of my photographs. The service and selection were excellent and everything was so delicious - not to mention quite reasonably priced. Besides, it was fun to dress up and experience a formal occasion when there was no occasion at all. (I think Martha would enjoy it here.) Click here to see their menu and more photographs of the elegant tea room. If you are planning a visit, be sure to view their tea schedule and make reservations.

Top photo credit: www.phillipac.com

The March Issue + Everyday Food Supplement

The March issue of Martha Stewart Living arrived in my mailbox today. The cheery cover, full of happy bouquets and posies, nearly made me sing with delight. (Too many days of sleet and grey and cold and muck and yuck.) This March issue is a departure from March issues past in that it is not an issue devoted to gardening. The March issue had formerly been designated the annual 'special gardening issue' with a focus on sowing and growing. In her letter, editor-in-chief Pilar Guzman says she intends to feature a garden in every issue of the year, rather than bundling all the gardening advice and inspiration into one single issue. Sounds good.

 

There is still a definite nod to the outdoors with fresh takes on spring bouquets, tips on foraging for edible vegetation and the benefits of composting nearly everything. (You can thank Martha for that last one.) The issue inspires a bit of travel fever, too. The magazine heads north to Canada (yay!) with a visit to the province of Nova Scotia and a beautiful seaside herb farm. Then, it's down to "good ol' Texas" for some flea market excursions. You won't find any Easter ideas in the March issue, however, even though the holiday does fall on the last day of the month. Since it is so close to April, the editors opted to do their Easter celebrating in the April issue instead, which will hit newsstands a couple of weeks before Easter.

The March issue also marks the arrival of the first Everyday Food supplement for Martha Stewart Living subscribers. The magazine ceased publication last year with its December/January issue and it will no longer be seen on newsstands. The supplement was attached to the cover of Living, which came sealed in a plastic sleeve. The new publication (pamphlet size at about 30 pages long) was accompanied by a letter from Martha explaining some of the ways you can follow the Everyday Food brand online. There will be several more issues like this throughout the year for Martha Stewart Living subscribers. Expect to see Everyday Food supplements in the May, July, October and December issues.

Lucinda Scala Quinn's New Cookbook

Lucinda Scala Quinn, executive editorial director for food and entertaining at Martha Stewart Living, is coming out with a new cookbook on March 19th! It is a follow-up to her terrific book, Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys, which came out in 2009 . Yes, Lucinda's family of men is still "mad hungry", only this time she is aiming to satisfy their cravings - and a few of her own - with favourite comfort foods. The book, not surprisingly then, is called Mad Hungry - Cravings and it promises to make your tastebuds dance with joy. I can't wait to try it out! Read more about it below.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Your family has a hankering--a yen for chicken tikka masala or queso fundido, for shrimp pad thai or a Philly cheesesteak--and they want it bad. So you decide to eat out at a local ethnic or roadside restaurant, or do take-out. It's expedient, but is the food really that good? Really really good? Because Lucinda Scala Quinn's versions of all those dishes families crave will knock your socks off and prove beyond a doubt that the foods you love can be made better, faster, tastier, cheaper, and more healthfully at home.

Lucinda Scala Quinn is all about smart strategies that simplify and make for great taste, so why outsource feeding our families when it takes less time, money, and effort to cook these favorite comfort foods ourselves? And why miss out on the untold gifts of sitting at home with your family around the dining room table? So next time there's a request for pulled pork or deep-dish pizza or chicken fettuccine Alfredo, or cold soba noodles or fried rice, forget about soggy takeout and overpriced restaurants--just crack open this book and you'll find simple recipes for all those dishes your family wants to eat, right now.

Rowaida's Valentine's Day Dessert Table

Rowaida Flayhan, a Martha Moments reader from Kuwait who spends part of the year in London, loves to entertain and Martha Stewart is always her inspiration. She sent in these photos of a gorgeous Valentine's Day dessert table she set up at her home last year for a party she threw for friends and family. Rowaida made all of the desserts and styled the table. The cupcakes and cookies are Martha Stewart recipes and the other desserts are Rowaida's own creations! As you can see from the photos, Rowaida loves details. She hand-painted the red flowers on some of the cookies and applied edible pearls to their centers. She iced the heart-shaped cookies and decorated them with edible glitter and heart candies. I love the red-and-white palette she used for all of the desserts. The cake toppers and place cards are by TomKat Studio. The entire effect is gorgeous! You can see some of Rowaida's other creations here.

Aristide Maillol's "La Riviere" at Skylands

On one of the landings off the back terrace at Skylands, Martha's 1925 estate in Maine, a French sculpture called La Riviere (The River) rests beneath the towering pines and hemlocks of Ox Hill, staring up at the turbulent Seal Harbor skies. The sculpture is one of several large-scale artworks Martha has purchased over the years. With the acquisition of Skylands in 1997 came the proper setting to showcase some of these prized possessions, including La Riviere, which was brought out of storage to enhance the rugged landscape surrounding the home. I thought it would be interesting to share some information about this dramatic sculpture.

The sculpture (shown above at Skylands in Maine) was created by French artist Aristide Maillol. The sculpture itself is actually a lead cast made from a plaster mold that he created with the help of numerous apprentices. He began the mold for the piece in 1937 and completed it in 1943, at the age of 85. The casts were not made from the mold until 1948, however, two years after Maillol's death.

The sculpture is unusual for Maillol, who ordinarily sculpted very composed, calm figures. La Riviere, by contrast, shows a woman in active contortion. The work was commissioned by a pacifist and writer named Henri Barbusse. Maillol conceived the piece as a testament to the perils of war: a woman stabbed in the back and falling, perhaps, or sheltering herself from an attack. The commission fell through but Maillol continued with the sculpture and called it La Riviere, resetting the theme by imagining the woman as a river goddess. Understanding the origins of the piece as a reflection on the violence of war, however, adds another dimension to the work - especially considering it was commissioned just prior to the Second World War, a time of great turmoil.

There are numerous casts of La Riviere around the world. Michael Fus, a preservation architect with the Chicago Parks District, sent in this photo he took of another cast of La Rivere in a park in Paris, France. He was immediately reminded of the sculpture in Martha's gardens. (Michael has toured the grounds at Skylands and you can see his photographs of Martha's property here.) Below, you can see a third example of the sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, along with a photograph of the artist, Aristide Maillol. I love that Martha has a cast of this extraordinary sculpture, whose dramatic pose mirrors the dramatic architecture and landscape of Skylands.



Martha Among Women Who Made America

Martha Stewart is one of dozens of women profiled in a new television documentary called "Makers: Women Who Make America," which will air on Tuesday, February 26th on PBS at 8:00pm, EST. The film chronicles the arch of the feminist movement in America from the 1970s to the present day, highlighting the women who made huge strides in their chosen field to advance the accomplishments of women who would follow in their footsteps, whether it was in politics, the military, media, Hollywood or the arts. Other women in the documenary include Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Carol Burnett, Gloria Steinem, Ellen DeGeneres, Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton, novelist Judy Bloom and numerous others.
You can watch a clip of guests (including Martha) arriving at the premier here.

Cakes & Cupcakes Special Issue Out Today!

Don't forget to check your local bookstore or newsstand for the latest special issue from Martha Stewart Living! This one is all about cakes and cupcakes: a collection of the best recipes from Marthat Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Baby and Martha Stewart Kids magazines. It is free of advertising and has over 100 pages of gorgeous cakes, tips and techniques and templates, printed on beautiful, glossy paper. A collector's edition, for sure!

New Totes and Cases From Martha Stewart at Staples

The Martha Stewart Home Office line, available exclusively at Staples, continues to expand with a new line of totes and cases for the office. The new line includes large and small totes, laptop totes and a laptop briefcase to carry all your essentials. Slim tablet sleeves, handy wristlets and durable accessories pouches were all designed to coordinate with each other, in size and in colour. The line also features a versatile iPad folio case that allows you to pivot your iPad from portrait to landscape view. What's more, a sturdy elastic band closure means you can easily mount your tablet onto a car headrest, creating an instant back-seat view screen.

 

Each product is made with durable, easy-to-clean materials that are beautifully rendered with special details, such as brushed nickel hardware with the Martha Stewart logo, sturdy zippers, convenient pockets and refined but strong stitching. The line shown below is now available at Staples - in store and online! There will be more to show you from the upcoming spring collection in the coming weeks!

 

Enjoying Winter

Several years ago, my parents built a log cabin on a beautiful piece of lakefront property in Eastern Ontario, just over an hour outside of Ottawa. While we spend most of our time there during the summer months when we can enjoy the water and the warm weather, I love going there in the wintertime. Since it is a fairly secluded lake, there is a real sense of peace there during this time of year: true silence and a pristine beauty that photographs and descriptions can never adequately convey. We were there last weekend with friends and below are photographs taken by me and by my friend Jessica Hodgson. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed hiking, snowshoeing, tobogganing, walking across the frozen lake and lots of eating, curled up by the fire with the dogs. Calories were burned off with so much outdoor activity! I love winter. Call me crazy, but I love it. Get out there and enjoy the season.