Learning From Martha Stewart

I could learn something from Martha Stewart. I’ve been taping her shows on our DVR and my time to watch them is on Sundays. In the show I watched this morning she and a staff member prepared some really interesting and yummy looking oven baked pork chops. I enjoyed seeing them use Panko breadcrumbs because I’ve been sort of clueless about that particular product and how they prepared them for use by tossing with a couple of teaspoons of oil and then toasting in the oven. I don’t remember the particulars about the recipe, but then, they posted it on their blog and it’s also in their latest edition of the Martha Stewart Everyday Cooking magazine.

The other thing that really interested me is that it was all really upbeat. If anybody has room to complain I’d think it would be Martha, but she’s got manners like my mother tried to teach me and that is to not let them see you cry. I mean, I’m not exactly a Martha watcher, so I can’t say that I’m glued to the media for any little mention of her, but she did spend time in prison. And, from all I’ve seen she has re-entered public life pretty well. So, I do admire her for that.

What brought this up are all the thrown away blog entries I’ve made over the last few weeks. I’ll write and write and it’s all crap. It’s mostly me complaining and whining and I suppose if you can’t give yourself room to bitch and moan you’re not being fair to yourself. But, I had real misgivings about posting it all online. Not that anybody closely involved would be reading any of it. They’re just not really interested and over the years I’ve come to feel pretty confident that my cover wouldn’t be blown because of that. It’s just that it didn’t feel right to do it. And, then I looked at my statistics yesterday. I'd like to see an increase in my return traffic at all my sites. So, my mind has been running along those lines and it occurred to me this morning that I may have been complaining too much of late.

Nobody likes to listen to somebody complain a lot. So, it’s the new me. Ta Da!

Here’s something else I picked up from watching the show. I was really impressed at the variety included on the show. It wasn’t all interviewing. It was helping. It was addressing issues that are common and constantly with us. Like how to shop for the best use of your money. And, another interesting thing was how to attend to everyday and sometimes emergency first aid for our animals. The bit about calming the cats by putting a clamp on the back of their neck that mimics a mother cat picking up a baby kitten. The kitten could be wiggling all over the place but the minute the mother cat picks her up by the scruff of her neck the kitten goes limp. It's sort of like the Vulcan death grip Spock used to use on the bad guys on Star Trek. I thought any binder clip we had in the house would be too tight, so I went and found a little plastic clothes pin and tested it out on Shelby. It didn’t bother her a bit. She just lay there quietly. So, I’ll remember that tip the next time we have to give a pill to one of the cats. Also, blowing on their snout the second you push the pill down their throat makes them lick their nose and Bob’s your uncle…they’ve swallowed the pill.

Anyway, I think with variety, with an upbeat approach and a desire to help other people I could make my own blogs and website better. And, although that wasn’t the content of her show it’s what I really learned today from Martha Stewart.

Sunday Stuff

Well, that was interesting. I started out with a blog entry to post either to this site or the other one and it kept getting longer and longer. It had gotten to be 3 pages long and I figured that was way too long to put on a blog. So, instead, I used it for a new page at Talking to Spirit. It’s been a long time since I created a from scratch, brand new page there and I feel really good about. The theme was what to do when crappy stuff starts happening in your life. How you really do have control over it and what to do to get some answers. So, if you are in any way interested you can visit my new Help Yourself page.

Otherwise, how’s life treating me? Well, I’m gradually making my way through the Ballykissangel series. I’m ready for season 6, the last year they taped the show. There are only 2 dvds in that season with 2 shows a piece on them. What an absolutely terrific show. Over the years I’d see a show here or there on the PBS stations, but I’d never watched the entire thing. We belong to Netflix and I found out I could watch the first two seasons from my computer, in the on-demand mode. The other seasons I’m renting from NetFlix. For $9 a month we get an unlimited number of dvd’s that we can have providing we only get one at a time. When you’re done you put it into their red mailer and pop it into a mailbox. The turn around time is usually a couple of days. The nearest Netflix facility is in San Jose, not that very far away from us.

Anyway, if you’re interested, “Ballykissangel” is a television show that takes place in Ireland in the village of Ballykissangel. It’s about a group of folks in the village and begins with their new priest arriving in town. There’s the lady who runs the pub and all the folks who drink there. There is love, there is conflict, these are just really interesting stories. I’m looking forward to watching the end of the show.

Saving Grace

I recently started watching, “Saving Grace” on TNT. I think this show is wonderful. Holly Hunter plays Grace, a hard drinking, smoking, cussing detective who, one night as she’s driving drunk hits a man. She is stunned and in the throes of her horror over what she has done pleads with God to help her. When she stops her car to go look for the man she has run over he is nowhere around. God made it all go away.

Later she meets Earl who is a hard drinking angel. People he has saved refer to him as a Last Chance Angel. If he can’t help you nobody can. He’s there to save Grace’s butt. Only she doesn’t want to be saved and doesn’t think too highly of God anyway.

If you get the opportunity to watch this show, do it. It’s a who-done-it detective show, but meanwhile there’s Earl trying to save Grace. If you've got a high speed internet connection you can watch the latest episode on-line.

Anthony Bourdain – No Reservations

One of the things I enjoy doing is watching television. I watched a show this evening called, “Anthony Bourdain – No Reservations” It was on the Travel Channel and this particular episode had Anthony in China. It’s like he’s a sightseer, but he really focuses in on the food. I just loved it. I came into the show just as he was in Shanghai. He traveled farther into China until he ended up in Shangri-La. If you click on this link you'll see still photos from the show. Just terrific. This is the way a country should be visited, by seeing the everyday people and what they eat. By listening to them about what excites them. These aren't 5 star restaurants. These are real people. It's the part I love about traveling.

In reading more about him on the information available at the Travel Channel website I read that he was a chef for 28 years. He is no longer working as a chef, but according to the video he was in he said he figured after having put in his time for that long he deserved the title. He also said he had been described as a bad boy. He demurred saying he was no longer a boy, but went on to say that French chefs, being in the business of pleasure, were almost honor bound to be bad boys. Right. With those words the guy is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I really liked this show.

The Naked Archaeologist

One of the things I really appreciate is a good television show. A show that DeeDude and I like to watch is, “The Naked Archaeologist”. Simcha Jacobovici is a Canadian archaeologist who finds himself in the Middle East more times than not to investigate biblical history. Simcha, who is also the producer and director of the show, is absolutely hilarious, irreverent and endearing. He entertains his viewers so that they actually learn something.

“The Naked Archaeologist” is broadcast on the History International channel. Was Jezebel really that sexy? Eating the foods of the Bible. Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? These are just some of the episodes in the series. If you’ve got the opportunity give this show some air time in your house.