Sunday, February 17, 2008

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.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

That meatloaf sure looks great. As for Martha? I always think her creativity and energy are just amazing and I feel inadequate, so inadequate by comparison.

Anonymous said...

Whoops; I did not make it clear that this meatloaf is an Everyday Food meatloaf idea; those crispy onions make the meal.

tt

Anonymous said...

years ago I saw one of her shows--she featured a 'How to do laundry' segment and showed off her dog's dishes and water bowls. I never saw anything so boring in my life--I was in awe that this actually made it to television as instructional entertainment!

Mutha Mae said...

I want to do for moms what Martha did for entertaining.

And I want a bite of that sandwich.

deedee said...

Does Martha condone peanut butter :) I sometimes get ahold of old Martha magazines...do those still exist? I f only I had half her energy!

Gledwood said...

How on earth d'you manage to contrive to work from home? Do you mind my asking what you do... do you make a fulltime income? Does it all work easily?... Is it worthwhile? Can I do it..?

Please tell: I'm fascinated!

Many thanks for all your comments they are much appreciated... take care

G
xx

;->...

Anonymous said...

Mutha: You would do MORE than Martha! Keep moving foward. The NYTimes article makes me realize how fast all this is moving, and you're already 3 steps ahead.

Gleds: I'm a copy editor; I'm sure you could do what I do. It does work out quite well.

tt

Gledwood said...

Do you mean subbing other people's work to make it fit for whatever publication?

Yeah I could definitely do that. Also I could condense stuff down. You know for audiobooks/Reader's Digest Condensed Books/type stuff... I know I could do that but how would I go about getting the job with absolutely no experience?

I was thinking of abbreviating something already published and just sending my own condensed version in...

being as I CAN do it I at least have an appreciation of the skill required to edit other people's work... it can be quite challenging!

;->...

Anonymous said...

Gled, you usually take some kind of test, at least here. I work with college text books, but there is obviously all kinds of stuff out there to work on. I would call up/contact some publishers and offer to do some proofreading (find out what the going rate is first) to get my foot in the door. Or just do something on spec for a publisher whom you like; condense something, find out who the managing editor is, and send it to him/her. Good luck!!

tt

Anonymous said...

I want a bite of that sandwich too.
And dare I admit that I have never seen a Martha programme?

Anonymous said...

MD: hit the link and you can see a portion of it.

tt

Merisi said...

Whatever happens, I will always love Martha. That peanut-banana French toast looks scrumptious. May I have a bite, pleeease?

Good luck with your crown work!