The March Issue

When you've been bundled up in sweaters for the last twelve weeks and cranking the heater while it snows outside, it's nice to receive even the tiniest promise of spring. The March issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine is just such a promise. Martha takes the cover of this issue (first time since October, 2017) and I loved seeing her in her green Marc Jacobs top standing behind a table laden with a St. Patrick's Day feast. (All the recipes are included inside, don't worry).

The issue has a freshness to it, a devotion to airiness, colour and light. It starts with the cover and continues throughout the issue. There's a feature on the glories of olive oil, visits to a crafty shop in Ojai, California, an arid garden in Phoenix as well as a sunny home in Philadelphia. In the front of the issue, too, there is reason to linger. I love the article on meditation (something I need more of in my life) and the "Change Maker" column about Kei & Molly textiles in New Mexico whose beautifully printed linens will have you wanting to fill your entire home with their colourful prints.

Sarah Carey and her team of food editors give us fun and healthy recipes in the Everyday Food section (that tuna-salad hand roll has my name on it) while the Good Living section reveals the best locations and vendors used by interior designers to source their best goods.

Starting with this issue, I'll select my favrourite features from each: the best Good Thing, the most intriguing recipe, the best find, and the most engaging article. Here are my picks for March, 2020:

MARCH ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:

Favourite Good Thing: stout shandy on page 24

Favourite Recipe: Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil and Chile on page 76

Favourite Find: Chance by Chanel (Mother's Day gift = solved!) on page 44

Favourite Article: "Just For Us" - the home tour on page 92

The issue is on newsstands now! Be sure to pick up a copy.

Martha's Chocolate Pots de Creme

As often happens when cleaning out the pantry, I discover something I had forgotten about. In this case it was a set of four heart-shaped cocottes from the Martha Stewart Collection I had purchased a few years ago at Macy's. It was a fortuitous discovery with Valentine's Day just a few days away. Included in the box was a recipe card for delicious looking chocolate pots de creme. I had all of the ingredients on hand and decided to give the recipe a go!

The cocottes, which are brightly-hued in Valentine's Day colours, are small enough (11 ounces) to make individual servings and the recipe below perfectly fills them. For presentation, it is nice to bring the cocottes to the table with their lids on. Remove them just before adding the whipped cream to serve. Here is the recipe:

CHOCOLATE POTS DE CREME

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 1/2 cups of heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Boiling water, for roasting pan

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven 325 F. Put finely chopped chocolate into a medium bowl. Bring 2 1/2 cups of heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl. Let stand for five minutes and then stir until smooth.

2. Whisk together egg yolks, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in chocolate mixture. Pour through a fine sieve into a large measuring cup.

3. Place four 11-ounce heart cocottes into a roasting pan. Pour chocolate mixture into each, dividing evenly. Boil water. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the cocottes. Cover the entire pan with foil. Cook until custards are barely set, about 35 minutes.

4. Transfer cocottes to a wire rack to cool slightly. Cover the tops with plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.

5. Beat the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Spoon a dollop over each pot de creme before serving.

The recipe couldn't be easier and produces a luscious, creamy, chocolatey confection that every chocolate-lover will enjoy. Click here to purchase the latest version of Martha's four heart-shaped cocottes.

Martha's New "Everyday System" With California Closets

I was thrilled to read about Martha's new collaboration with California Closets on her blog this morning. Martha has been a great proponent of California Closets for some years now and a collaboration with them seems like such a natural fit. She has used California Closets for several projects around her farm in Bedford, including the conversion of one of the smaller bedrooms in the Winter House to a walk-in closet and dressing room. She also used their services to outfit the dining room at the Maple Avenue House on the property with custom shelving to store her vast collection of cookbooks. You can see photos of these projects below.

Martha's offering with California Closets is called "The Everyday System" - borrowing that familiar vernacular so many of us remember from her Kmart days. It is the first modular system offered by the company, enabling consumers to transfer their Everyday System from room to room or from home to home, making it ideal for renters and apartment dwellers. For the launch, there appear to be two finishes or styles the consumer can choose from with an infinite number of ways the storage and shelving systems can be configured to suit a closet, a pantry, a home office, a laundry room or living space. There are also Martha Stewart accessories, such as a variety of sturdy hangers and acid-free storage boxes, with the promise of more products to come.

This is Perry Street White Woodgrain with Gold Metal finishes. Designed to feel fresh and modern, the system can be adjusted and modified to suit your personal space and requirements.

One of my favourite features is the screen detail in the cupboard door, designed to minimize dust and keep out unwanted pests, such as moths, while still keeping your sweaters and bags visible.

The drawers in this unit are soft-close, which is a very nice and thoughtful feature.

A place for everything and everything in its place! This configuration offers more than 15 feet of hanging space. Click here to watch a video on how this Everyday System can be easily installed.

This more masculine design is called the "Bedford Gray Woodgrain with Graphite Metal" finishes and is shown here in a recessed closet configuration.

The metal mesh drawers are a utilitarian, modern feature.

There is also a full range of sturdy hangers on offer, in both white and gray. Suit hangers, coat hangers, shirt hangers, skirt hangers and slack hangers are all available as part of this collection.

Two sizes of fabric-covered, acid-free storage boxes are also available to store scarves or seasonal items. They come in three different colours: light gray, dark gray and white.

The Perry Street White Woodgrain with White Metal finishes is shown here used for pantry storage. It can be used in a walk-in pantry or on a kitchen wall, as shown here.

Here is the same motif used in a home office system with concealed drawers (soft-close) and a spacious desk surface. There is also a three-drawer filing cabinet and smart storage for all your technology needs including power sockets and USB ports so devices can be charged and on-hand.

 This media center is in Bedford Gray Woodgrain with Graphite Metal finishes. The open shelving comfortably holds TV sets from 43-inches to 48-inches with plenty of space to display books and collectibles. Storage cabinets keep DVDs and other media out of sight, if desired.

Last year, Martha employed California Closets to design custom shelving for the dining room in her Maple Avenue House to store her cookbook collection. I love the effect!

And this is the rough plan for the small bedroom she converted into a closet and dressing room at her main house at Bedford using a custom California Closet design. To see more of this project, click here.

Good Things to Look Forward To

The year is still young but there are several 'good things' to look forward to where Martha Stewart and her brand are concerned. She's been busy (as always) working on new projects, collaborations and products to bring to market in the coming weeks and months.

On her Instagram account @marthastewart48 Martha has hinted at a couple of new partnerships, including an upcoming Martha Stewart skincare line and a potential collaboration with California Closets. We'll have to wait for more details on those announcements. Two new books are also in the pipeline. "Martha Stewart's Cake Perfection", a follow-up to "Cookie Perfection", will be out in the fall. "Martha Stewart's Very Good Things" which will be a compendium of some of the Good Things we've seen in Martha Stewart Living magazine over the last 20 years, is out next January.

Also on the way is a series of 2021 wall calendars and planners based on some of her bestselling books. There is a "Martha's Flowers" wall calendar and two planners based on Martha Stewart's Organizing and The Martha Manual. These will be available in July, but you can pre-order them on Amazon.

Most exciting, perhaps, is the recent announcement of a new international line of housewares that Martha has developed with Gibson Overseas, one of the world's leading producers of kitchenware. Martha has partnered with Gibson to distribute a wide range of new kitchen products, including dishware, flatware, bakeware, cookware, outdoor and storage items. The line will debut at the Ambiente Trade Show in Frankfurt, Germany, later this month and will be unveiled in the US at the Inspired Home Show in Chicago next month. Martha will attend the show and will provide a cooking demonstration using the new cookware products in booth S201.

I know you're salivating over this line of Jadeite-inspired dinnerware and serveware from the new collection.

In addition, Marquee Brands, which now controls Martha's licensing deals, has said that new Martha products reflecting her interest in antiques, pets and gardening will also be revealed, including new bath and bedding textiles with Welspun and kitchen linens from Town & Country Living.

We'll have to wait for the full preview of products, but distribution will be to standalone retailers, specialty stores, grocery chains and online retailers on an international level. The line is separate from the Martha Stewart Collection, which will continue to be available exclusively at Macy's.