Good Things by David

If you want to make some impressive monogram sugar cookies for an elegant get-together, consider using an airbrush kit to quickly color a design onto a blank canvas.  This type of cookie can be used for a birthday party, a wedding, an anniversary or any special event.  Begin with a good sugar cookie base, whether it be chocolate, citrus, marble, spice or plain, and then cover each cut out with some delicious royal icing. After the stenciled design has set, the fun begins.  I'm new to airbrushing and feel so behind the rest of my fellow cookie decorators out there.  However, it's time I began experimenting with the airbrush kit, because I need new design ideas for my family, friends and clients. Not having an extensive selection of stencils, I turned to some from Martha by Mail.  The ones I have were originally meant to stencil designs onto cakes, but I thought that they would work perfectly on my cookies. These particular monogram sugar co...

Summer is a time of bounty for us.  Several sets of catbirds have raised a few broods under our back porch and next to the house, the bees have been busy visiting the wildflowers, our resident groundhogs (we have two this year!) can't seem to stop eating, the robins, cardinals and bluejays are as active as ever, and gardens around the neighborhood are ready to burst with vegetables, fruits and herbs. I'm the first to admit that we're spoiled here in our part of Pennsylvania.  The more-than-average rainfall has been good to everyone's garden. I spent a morning over the weekend harvesting a few vegetables that were ready for picking, and I collected some eggs which were greatly needed in the kitchen. The kirby cucumbers are crisp and delicious right now (garden gloves were needed to pick these because of their very prickly skins).  I love using them in my salads, but they also make great pickles.  The carrots are also sweet and crisp.  If I'm not snac...

I've mentioned in years past that I love to bake my own birthday cakes, because I really can't tolerate store bought.  I was craving a yellow cake with chocolate frosting this year, which took me on a search for cake layers made with buttermilk.  For the frosting, I wanted a mix of melted chocolate and cocoa powder in order to make it ultra rich.  After looking at images online, visit websites and thumbing through my baking books, I found what I was looking for. If you happen to own Martha's 'Cakes' book, you will find the recipe for buttermilk cake layers, along with a rich chocolate frosting recipe.  It's a great birthday cake for those of us who like to keep things simple. Once you bake and ice the cake, you can leave it as is, but you can also enhance it with colorful sprinkles, nonpareils or even some sparkly dragées.  Add whatever you wish. Swirled frosting is a simple way to frost a cake, because it looks so tempting and very homemade...

Whether or not you collect Martha by Mail products, you have to admire the uniqueness and quality of the merchandise that was once offered through this exclusive catalog.  As a longtime collector, I can attest to the excellence of the fine china, glassware, stoneware, earthenware, porcelain, copper and enamelware, that I use on a weekly basis.  To my mind, not one piece of what I have looks dated or worn out. It all started when my husband and I moved into our first home back at the turn of the millennium.  I remember wanting the best of the best for our abode, so naturally I turned to Martha Stewart for guidance.  Yes, I did purchase many things from Martha Stewart Everyday through Kmart (I have all of it to this day), but it was Martha by Mail which I considered la crème de la crème . Pricey, to my mind at the time (although in hindsight, everything was a steal!), I began to order from the catalog in earnest.  There wasn't a month that went by when ...