Claudine, Oui c'est Francais

Course 3 down and only one to go

Tonight was the final class of course 3 and here is my work of art.....

One tier is Chocolate with Cherry filling

And the top tier is French Vanilla with Bavarian cream.. Ooh la la...

 

What you don't see in the picture is the tiny bow on the bottom layer. I wasn't very happy with it and John was breathing down my neck for a slice.

I am really happy with the way it turned out! And a big thank you to Amanda my wonderful Wilton teacher....

September Everyday Food Highlights

I just got my October issue in the mail, but I never gave you my highlights of September....

Right at the very beginning the Shrimp Fried Rice on page 17 is so good.... I have already made it about 3 times....

The Dill Feta Scramble on page 50...delicious!

The 'fancy' pigs in a blanket on page 72 are soooo good and at least you can feel a little fancier since it is puff pastry and black sesame seeds...

Steak with peanut sauce and broccoli on page 93, a great dinner and fast....

Page 95, the Chef's Salad, it has bacon, enough said

Crispy Shrimps with tarter sauce on page 97

Black Bean tostadas with corn relish, page 100. Very good and very filling

Chicken, edamame and noodles stir-fry page 111

Halloween with Martha

I love to decorate, but with my work schedule in the fall and winter the holidays other than Christmas get a little hard... But this year I have an all new excitement for Halloween decorations. Why....well Martha made some this year and of course I bought them....

Last year I made the glitter pumpkins which Martha first made many years ago. This year she has the great little kit at Michaels with 3 colors of glitter and glue. So I plan like last year, see above, to make these little gems. I already have a set of three real pumpkins just waiting for glitter.

I have quite a bit of the Martha Halloween craft products. I love the Bat garland, the window silhouettes and the flags that I need to stamp and decorate and I can't forget about the skull and bones that need glitter. The cat's better move quick, they may get glittered as well.  So I have lots of fun things to do before I can put it all up. The Manzanita branch needs to get dusted off and I need to find the other Halloween ornaments, because everybody needs a Halloween tree.....

   

So now your mission, if you choose to accept it, is go out and get some wonderful Martha things and get ready for Halloween. And if you need more inspiration, pick up the special Martha Stewart Good Things/Bad Things issue, or the Living October Issue, which is a great one.....

And if that's not enough tune in the Saturday and every Saturday until Halloween to the Fine Living Network for the special Martha Stewart Halloween episodes.

Chicken Pot Pie

Nothing better on a early almost Fall day.... Martha's homemade Chicken Pot Pie.

It takes a bit of time, but it is well worth it and is just a few steps. And in the end you can have a wonderful dinner. This recipe is from Martha's Favorite Comfort Foods Cookbook, which is a great book with tons of things you will want to make such as, Fried Chicken, Tomato Soup, Chicken Soup and the wonderful Mac and Cheese.

Now to make it last more than tonight, John loves it!

what did you buy?

So Martha has her new collection that is now at Macy's as we all know.... And I first found it there in July and purchased a few things, of course. And then again two weeks ago when I went to the big kick off unavailing of the Martha items and got a few more things, oh and I almost forgot I went last weekend too.... Do you see a pattern here? 

So I went again.... I wanted the big iron double burner indoor grill/griddle and I needed to get an adjustment on the Stainless Steel Saute Pan I purchased last weekend...

So here is what I have purchased all ready from Macy's since Martha has appeared:

I forgot the Grill and the Stainless steel Saute pan, which I love!! 

And I also got these bowls which are wonderful! They also come in the different shades of the Martha Blue as well, I think I may need those too...

If you get only one thing from Macy's and Martha you must buy these Spatulas, as you can see I bought a few. I think I have bought 2 every on every visit. They are awesome!! You can throw them right into the dishwasher and not have to worry about any wood handles and they are sturdy and have a nice feel in your hand.

I can go on about each item, I love cake stands and I love that giant pitcher and also makes a beautiful vase and then there is the wire wear which I have loved since her first show...

So what have you bought at Macy's or what do you want to get?   

12 of 12 September

12 of 12 is the great idea of Chad Darnell... you can visit him and see all of the other 12 of 12ers from all over the world.

Since I knew I was going to be in the car most of the day going from location to location I decided to do mine a little different and give you all of the beautiful Oregon scenery... here we go

What's a picture of Portland without a picture of a bridge.... not a real great picture though since it was taken through the window of my car

A little shed at one of our locations

The Oregon valley at about 50mph... A Cannon digital rebel SLR is not the easiest camera to use while driving. But I just pointed it and clicked and this was the best of the bunch

 

This is a pretty blurry one, but I have always loved this red barn in the middle of the field. You don't have to go to far out of the city to find sights like these

more sights, these from Carlton a tiny town but home to lots of Oregon wineries. I liked the old grain building in the background and the new winery in the front that had the most beautiful wood doors

This is what I expect train stops in the old days looked like. It reminds me of the train stop in White Christmas

This is the infamous Spruce Goose, built Howard Hughes. It is now in a giant museum outside of McMinnville, and in person it is absolutely gigantic

 

The Spruce Goose Vineyard located just out side the museum

Another vineyard, I love that the leaves are starting to change just a little.

Those are some lovely looking Pinot Noir grapes... I think they may be just about ready for picking. I didn't eat these but I have tried them before and they are much different then your store brand grapes and that is for sure. These make some wonderful Archery Summit wine.

Dinner tonight was Martha's Everyday Food magazine's Chicken, Edamame, and Noodle Stir-Fry. It was so good!  You really need to get that magazine, there is no excuse with that magazine to not make a great dinner every night, quick and easy and from scratch even if you work all day long.

And last but not least a slice of cake from last nights cake decorating class. To see the cake in it's full Tiffany Box glory click here.

a tiffany blue box

What can be better than a little Tiffany Blue box? Or even better the Martha Blue box....

a big Tiffany Blue box that you can eat.... For my course 3 cake class I needed to make a cake that we would cover with fondant. I made two 9X9X2 cake pans that each took their own batch of cake mix. After they were cooled I made three layers of Bavarian Creme, well because only one layer is not enough....  So my gigantic cake, was not very happy with the fondant on the corners so my wonderful teacher Amanda and I decided to put the ribbons on the corners to cover some of the imperfections up...

And here is the inside that I cut into within minutes I got home. John hears the garage door and runs down for some, but has to wait for me to take the pictures first...

the eve of a new season

It may only be me, but I get very excited about a new season of Martha.... Season three of her show begins tomorrow and I can't wait. I have to get the DVD all set and the DVD recorder ready to go.

But in preparation for the big day I have been working on and off the last few weeks coping the well over 150 video tapes on to dvd's. This is not a easy or speedy task. But spending a few hours with the "old" Martha show is a Good Thing!! And to make it even more Obsessive, I must  write down what was on each episode so that it is in each jewel case with the dvd and then the recipes or crafts are printed from the website and then I put them in notebooks organized by dvd.. yes I know crazy. And many people make fun of me about it, which is not very nice. But now that I look back on the binders that are done from shows back in 2001 it is pretty cool.

 

Pictures: the bins with all the episode info from back in 2003 and 2004...  the stacks and stacks of the videos, they go back 3 stacks and that is just one of the shelves... the finished binder for tapes 1 thru 7

By the rate that I am going I hope to have this project done by the time I am 90. Good thing we live to be pretty old in my family. 

some newness from Martha

it's a big couple of weeks for my Martha world....

Today I received the newest cookbook "the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, the Original Classics" gotta love the Amazon.com pre-order. Can't wait to flip through and mark off all the things I will make. 1100 recipes taken from the pages of the always wonderful Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Complete with some breathtaking pictures of some mouth watering morsels... I'll be sure to let you know my favorites. But it is a Martha book, so you already know that it will be a great book.  And although I have every single issue of MSLiving, one still needs the book so that I have tons of great recipes at my fingertips.

In other big news, the Martha show that begins on Monday September 10th with her 3rd season will now also be shown on the Fine Living Network the following night. You ask, why Claudine would you need to have it on the Fine Living if you already watched it in the morning. Well because, if my two DVR's get hit by a flying cat toy or my DVD doesn't record I will have a nervous breakdown. But thankfully it will be on again on the Fine Living network. I know, you can all sleep easier tonight knowing that I will have a back up plan. 

Also don't forget about the new Martha Stewart Crafts show that will be on the DIY network beginning on Thanksgiving that will feature clips from the original show of Martha being Crafty.  And there is also word that she will have some special Halloween episodes also on the Fine Living network on Saturday's beginning September 22nd.

   

There is even a special Halloween Issue out on newsstands now that feature Martha's Good and Bad things. Can't wait for it's special delivery to me, but you can find it at Borders or any bookstore now. And while you are there get the new cookbook...

I better make a trip to Best Buy to stock up on my blank DVD's

Oh and in case it can't get any better my worlds will collide on the 13th when both Martha and Kenny Chesney will be on the View. Now to just get through the beginning of the show without screaming at the tv that Elisabeth is a idiot.... They better be nice to Martha!

Lax of love

Let's get one thing straight..... I love Salmon in any way you can make it.  I have been wanting to make Gravad Lax for a long time. I found some wonderful fresh Coho Salmon that was from the ocean, not farm raised and no color added. Which you should stay away from in general. It was a beautiful Coral color and was smooth as silk. After getting a couple of pounds and with 48 hours in advanced of going to the beach for the weekend it was time to put it all together. Of course the recipe is from Martha and you can find it here.  It took about 10 minutes to put together and on Saturday afternoon I enjoyed the fruits of my labor.

Here it is step by step,

   

Is your mouth watering yet? I may need to have more for dessert tonight, and then breakfast and lunch and snack and dinner and dessert... Now I need to get some to my friend Michelle since Mr Michelle loves Lax and I have a lot. In the future I might make a little less than 2 pounds since in my house I am the only one that will eat it. That's ok, I didn't want to share anyway...