Martha

Since I work at home, I can schedule a few TV viewing periods in my day. Yes, I usually tune in to Martha, as least for a few minutes. She's at her best when she's working with "experts," especially chefs. She's pretty horrible with the celebrities who parade through to promote their movie/TV show/whatever. You can tell she can hardly wait to get through the patter and dispense with them. Two notable exceptions: Francis Ford Coppola, who donned an apron, washed his hands ("does this sink actually work?" of course; this is the kingdom of Martha), and proceeded to show Martha a thing or two about gnocchi. And, surprisingly, Russell Crowe was extremely attentive to detail during his Thanksgiving kitchen duty with Martha.

I wonder what the audience is doing while she displays those didactic how-to videos she's so fond of. I can imagine them trapped in front of some huge screen, while her severe but sonorous voice drones on; the other day, it was all about grooming her dog Paw Paw. I left the scene, so I don't know exactly why we needed to know this. Maybe it concerned this. In which case I will have to learn the cat equivalent.



But I also love her little magazine, Everyday Food, which has its own TV show on PBS; very soothing it is, too. L bustled about today, and made these delightful peanut butter and banana sandwiches, which are given a French toast kind of egg/milk bath:



And the other night I made a great meatloaf (imagine publishing a photo of said food, but here it is). You toss a half of a thinly sliced onion with a mere teaspoon of olive oil and cast the shards over the top (can you tell I also like Nigella?). Delicious.