A Keepsake Bouquet

A new trend in bridal bouquets is the brooch bouquet. Timeless and everlasting, they bring sentiment and sparkle to the bride's wedding day. My good friend Jessie was married this past weekend and I attended the event, which was a small and intimate gathering of close friends and family. One of the most striking features of Jessie's attire was the brooch bouquet that her mother, Sharron, had made for her.

Sharron worked for hours to hand craft the flowers you see amid the jewelry. She also spent a good deal of time sourcing special brooches, pins and earrings for the bouquet. Some of the examples of brooches shown are very old and quite valuable, belonging to relatives and friends of the family. Some are new, as well. Sharron presented the bouquet to her daughter in an old hat box that belonged to my Great Aunt Ann, which is where Jessie will store it. The whole effect was very beautiful. For Jessie, knowing it was made with so much care only lends to its value. Rather than blindly tossing an arrangement of beautiful flowers over one's shoulder, consider the handcrafted bouquet instead. Its meaning and sentimental value will far outlast the events of the day itself. Shown here is a photo of Jessie's bouquet, taken by photographer Jennifer Pershick, who is based in Ottawa.

More From the Delicious Food Show in Toronto

There was so much to see at the Delicious Food Show in Toronto last weekend that we scarcely knew where to begin. A good place to start, however, was the Martha Stewart Living kitchen where Martha and the other celebrity chefs would be cooking and doing demonstrations during this three-day event. The kitchen that was used for this purpose was the Ox Hill model. All of the Martha Stewart Living kitchens are available at Home Depot locations across Canada and everyone in attendance was so impressed by how beautiful they looked. There was another Martha Stewart kitchen called the Lacombe Avenue kitchen - a very sleek and modern kitchen that I really loved. The Ox Hill model is still my favourite from the collection, however. I love the simplicity of the design and the very utilitarian components it offers, such as the very deep counters, the open shelving with brackets and very intricate design details that are hidden behind those closed doors that make for easy storage and organization.

The first chef to take the stage was Chuck Hughes - a French-Canadian television host. He has a television program on the Food Network called "Chuck's Day Off" that is shown on the Cooking Channel in the U.S. Chuck owns two very successful restaurants in Montreal: Garde Manger and Le Bremner, both located in the city's historic district called Old Montreal. The next time I visit, I plan on eating at one of his restaurants. Chuck is certainly an entertainer and has a sort of ''rock star'' quality about him. He is very sexy, to be sure, and his cooking is all about comfort and making his patrons feel good. During his presentation he asked his Aunt Louise to join him on stage, along with a gentleman who was selected at random. They were invited to have a seat and a glass of wine at a table where they would be sampling his cooking. The seemed nervous but happy to be there!

Not too long after Chuck's demonstration, it was Martha's turn to take the stage. Before she came on there was a hive of activity to get everything set up correctly. There were two Kitchenaid mixers and all sorts of bowls of ingredients. It reminded me very much of Martha's old television program and I got all nostalgic. When Martha came on she made very sure that everything was in its proper place and that everything was fully prepared. Her assistant, Thomas Joseph, showed Martha everything and took her through the steps of the presentation before they began. Martha took it from there and aced it.

These were three of the cakes that Martha presented to her fans just after the book signing at the Lacombe Avenue kitchen. Each one looked impeccable!

Indigo books - a large Canadian book store chain - had various cookbooks for sale, including Martha Stewart's Cakes, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and Martha's Entertaining. Martha was only signing the Cakes book at this event but it was nice to have a selection on hand to purchase. All of Martha's books sold out by the end of the day.

Say it With Fruit, a catering company in Toronto that specializes in fruits and vegetables, had these beautiful carved melons on display. Martha enjoyed this booth.

Petite Maison is a wonderful brand that specializes in cheeses and spreads. They had a very nice table with some of their wares, including their famous Brie Baker and sets of cheese knives. They also make aioli, cocktail sauces, mustards and jams.

I had a few samples at this booth - Superior Meats. Their shop is located on Dundas Street in Toronto and they have an enormous selection of cured meats, sausages and cheeses.

Everywhere we turned there were booths filled with ''good things'' to sample and buy. We left with quite a hefty bag of goodies, from hummus to chocolate brownies!

I am not a coffee drinker, but I thought this coffee stand was really cute: an old trailer with a glowing sign you could see from across the entire venue.

Everywhere there was food being made to order. There was even a section of local food trucks that had been brought indoors to serve the lunch crowd. We left feeling full and happy! We'll be back next year!

Martha at the Delicious Food Show in Toronto

If I haven't already stated so before, let me say it again: Martha Stewart is a gorgeous woman! My crush on her was further enhanced today after I had the wonderful good fortune of seeing her in person at the Delicious Food Show in Toronto, where I live.  She was in town to promote her new book Martha Stewart's Cakes as well as her line of Martha Stewart Living Kitchens with the Home Depot, which are now available in Canada. As part of her presentation, Martha made three cakes from her new book: raspberry swirl cheesecake (page 175), cinnamon streusel coffee cake (page 100) and chocolate baked alaska (page 207).

The set was the Ox Hill Kitchen from her Home Depot line and I must tell you it looks extraordinary. I want that enormous kitchen island with the expansive counter space and all that hidden storage! Decorating the set was an entire wall of her ceramic dinnerware and serveware from the Macy's line and her Martha Pantry goods stocked all of the drawers and cabinets. Naturally, there was also a big bowl of eggs that had been laid by her hens at the farm the day before. As always, the format of Martha's delivery was intelligent and informative. She spoke clearly and concisely about every necessary step in making each of the cakes. You realize when watching her why she is considered to be the best of the best. (My favourite Martha lesson du jour: use squeeze bottles instead of pastry bags to decorate cakes, something Martha herself says she is doing more and more often. Noted! It's a good thing!)

Helping her with the demonstration was the undeniably adorable Thomas Joseph - one of the 'kitchen elves' you used to see on the Martha Stewart Show, busy preparing the ingredients for her cooking segments. He now works much more closely with the editorial team at Martha Stewart Living and also frequently travels with Martha to events such as these to help her prepare. They were great together on stage and had a good rapport. After the cakes were made, Martha took questions from the audience. One question was whether or not Canadians would get to see her shows on air again. Martha revealed that they are working with Netflix to bring a Martha Stewart show archive to viewers, which is very exciting news!

After the demonstration, it was time for the book signing. Martha was signing copies of Cakes only and the rules for the book signing were quite rigid, but understandably so: when you have 600 people to meet and greet in the space of a half hour, that line has to move quickly. I did get a chance to say hello to her and she remembered me, which was really nice. Thankfully, after the signing Martha toured the booths at the food show and we met up again. We started chatting about Toronto and about pumpkin seed oil and about my favourite spot in the city, the Distillery District. It was like talking to a dear friend. Martha introduced me to Patsy Pollack, the design director of the merchandising team at MSLO. She was incredibly sweet to me and stayed on even after Martha had gone on to the next booth to chat some more. Before I left, I went up to her again and said a quick goodbye. She thanked me for coming and told me to say hello to all my readers! Hello, from Martha, everyone! I really wish we could have talked longer.

Spending the day with me at the show was my husband Tomas and a Martha Moments reader from Chicago, Bill Makela, and his partner Larry. Bill and Larry brought me a nice goodie bag containing chocolates made in Chicago and a bundle of Martha Stewart Collection tea towels, which was so very nice of them. It was a really great day - a special day - that I'll remember for quite some time to come. Below are some of my photos from the day, including photos of Martha's presentation, the book signing and a photo of me with Bill, who came to the show from Chicago. The photo of me posing with Martha was taken by Patsy Pollack for TheMarthaBlog.com. Stay tuned for more about the Delicious Food Show next week: meet Chuck Hughes and some of the great vendors we got talking to!



Martha's Halloween Pop-Up Shop

The witching hour will be upon us before we know it - so get started on your holiday planning! MarthaStewart.com has launched its Halloween pop-up shop where you can see the full range of Martha's Halloween products, available at multiple retail locations and online. From decorations to serveware, crafts to costumes, you'll find everything you're looking for to make your Halloween a real scream!

Martha, the Gentlewoman

In its eigth issue, The Gentlewoman magazine (a UK bi-annual) has published a fantastic profile about our favourite doyenne of domesticity. In a 10-page feature, beautifully written by Andrew Tucker, Martha discusses everything from being a pop-culture icon to what it felt like to go to prison, from advice on aging gracefully to garnering a new generation of young, Etsy-loving admirers who are eager to emulate her entrepreneurial spirit. Accompanying the piece are five beautiful photographs of Martha on the shores of Cannes, shot by Andreas Larsson, which you can see below. I strongly urge you to pick up a copy. (You can find the magazine at international newsstands and magazine stores as well as at Anthropologie.)

Shop: American Made

There is a growing movement in the United States to shop locally, to support homegrown entrepreneurs, farmers, craftsmen and the proverbial shop around the corner. Martha Stewart's second-annual American Made contest, which concluded this month, brought together thousands of people from across the country with wares to sell: products they either designed or made themselves. You can see this year's list of honorees here. Now, you can buy products from these fabulous vendors on eBay and see their products up close. Martha has set up an American Made shop where you can peruse and purchase their products. Please check it out. There are lots of "good things" to see!

My favourite from last year's entries is still this collection of cast-iron pans shaped like the states by FeLion Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.

Should Martha Stewart Living become Martha Stewart?

I received an interesting notification from Facebook last week informing me that the Martha Stewart Living page would be changing its name to simply "Martha Stewart" on October 22nd - dropping the word "Living" from its identity. I found the notification curious and started to wonder if perhaps this is part of a rebranding strategy the company is embarking on, to hone in on the name of the company's founder in order to increase the magazine's newsstand recognition. Should Martha Stewart Living magazine become simply Martha Stewart magazine? Keep reading...

On a radio program this past summer, the new editor-in-chief, Eric Pike, noted that they were working on making the name Martha Stewart appear bigger on the magazine cover. Why not simply name the magazine after her? The timing is perfect: the name and all that it stands for is recognized around the world, the Martha Stewart brand is well-established and has already identified itself as one that produces lifestyle content (the word Living seems almost superfluous given what we know of the brand) and many people already refer to the magazine, casually, as Martha Stewart magazine; "Did you see the article in the new Martha Stewart about taxidermy?"

Quite a few other magazines currently use the word "Living" in their titles, including some of their chief rivals, Country Living and Living Etc., not to mention spin-off home and lifestyle magazines, such as Vogue Living. There is no other magazine that has the words Martha Stewart in its title, however, and playing up the name might be just what the doctor ordered - a way of isolating and highlighting the brand from all of its copycat competitors. After all, there can be only one Martha Stewart on the magazine rack! Anyway, I took the liberty of designing some covers (above) that use only the name Martha Stewart in the title just to give myself a sense of what it might look like and whether or not I would respond well to it, visually. Tell me what you think? Do you like Martha Stewart Living or just Martha Stewart?

I Love Autumn

Fall is my favourite time of year - by far. The days are cool enough for a cozy sweater but often warm enough to forgo an overcoat. Insects are on the wane and the colours of the leaves are truly spectacular. That is why I always find time to escape to my family's cabin in the Lanark Highlands of Ontario, just a couple of hours outside of Ottawa. It is one of the most peaceful, restful, restorative places I know of and I always find a sense of happiness there. I spent several days there last week with my parents and spent a lot of time snapping photographs of some of the splendor around me. I hope you enjoy them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Canada is a land of plenitude; we have so much to be thankful for here. As many of you know, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving the second weekend in October because of our country's earlier harvest season. Read more here for a brief history about Thanksgiving in Canada and see how my family usually celebrates the holiday. And if you're not Canadian or not celebrating this weekend, take some time to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather and all that this wonderful season has to offer. I leave you now with some of my photographs from this northern neck of the woods! Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

The November Issue

Martha always has perfect timing. Just in time for Canadian Thanksgiving, the November issue of her magazine arrives, filled with festive ideas for the yummiest of holidays. In this issue, Eric Pike takes over as editor-in-chief with very little fanfare. He does say, however, that he is very happy to be in the role and it seems as though he will be there for the foreseeable future, which I'm very pleased about, given his expertise and experience, his knowledge of the magazine, its staff, its founder and its readers. The issue contains a wealth of Thanksgiving ideas - from very simple craft and food ideas to more complex treats, cocktails, side dishes and craft projects. There is a wonderful feature about the autumn garden, which is my favourite piece in the issue. This is a time of year when the garden can yield some beautiful rewards and yet it is frequently overlooked as the temperatures begin to fall. For those who voted for the best entrepreneurs and vendors in Martha's American Made Awards, this issue features in-depth profiles of the finalists, which are fascinating to read. Below is the cover. (By the way, Happy Thanksgiving Canada!)

An Autumn Departure

Hi all! This is just a note to let you know that I am currently on holiday - which explains the lack of posts lately. I am celebrating a multitude of milestones with my family, including my parents' 40th anniversary, my 6th anniversary with Tomas, my cousins wedding and my grandmother's 90th birthday - not to mention Canadian Thanksgiving next weekend. I'm using the time in between to relax at the family cottage surrounded by all the lovely fall colours. I assure you, there will be lots to blog about when I come back: book reviews, a fun Martha Moments contest with a great prize to be won and in a couple of weeks you'll see a full review of Martha's visit to the Delicious Food Show in Toronto. In the meantime, enjoy the season! (If you leave a comment and don't see it published, it probably means I haven't had the chance to read it and post it.) Be well, my friends! See you next week!