Optional: 1/4 cup sanding sugar, see cook’s notes Yield: one 14-inch tart, about 10 servingsģ pounds ripe, firm pears (about 10), peeled, cored, slices 1/2-inch thickĮgg wash: 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water Now you can print it and it will look perfect.) ( TO PRINT RECIPES, the best approach is to cut/paste special. Here’s the recipe for this luscious, very approachable dessert: She baked a Pear Crostada, an open-faced tart loaded with fresh fruit. I needed to own her spatula (yes, I have plenty of spatulas, but she was very convincing). By the time she finished, I was persuaded. “I think it took me 20 days to write the final text.”Īt the beginning of class, Martha spent time talking up her brand of utensils (yes, they are all on sale at Macy’s Home Store). “I lock myself up in the craft room of my house and write the words,” she said. She told me that she worked from the designed manuscript, writing specifically to the visuals.

I really enjoy Martha’s captions they offer rich details about places, props and people. “Her” Alexis took home six glasses.īack to the book. So Martha invited her to come to her one of her homes and take home anything she wanted. Nice dishes, very nice dishes, but only one set.

She told me that her daughter Alexis only has one set of dishes in her Manhattan home. So, Martha, is there a trend toward “casualization” when it comes to home entertaining in our daughters’ generation? Her parties are lovely, but tend to weigh in on the casual side. My daughter Alexis, I said, tends to entertain outdoors. So … I cleared my throat and asked a question about our daughters, both named Alexis.

In the early 80’s I’d go to 30 or 40 stores to get all the ingredients I needed for a party. Now ingredients are more readily available. “The food and recipes have changed, they are more international. “The first book was about parties I was catering for others. “This one is the most personal book she has ever written,” she said responding to a question about how the new book compares with the iconic entertaining book she wrote 30 years ago. (You can see that my copy has had a workout over the years – torn cover, but still in my cookbook library.)

I started our interview with a question about the biggest difference between this “entertaining” book and the original one that was published in ’82. Martha was promoting her newest book, “Martha’s Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations” by Martha Stewart (Clarkson Potter, $75, hardcover, 432 pages). People magazine had their fifteen minutes before I had mine. I had a one-on-one interview with Martha before she taught a cooking class at Macy’s Home Store at South Coast Plaza.

Martha stewart first entertaining book