Monthly Archives: October 2013

put a monogrammed grosgrain ribboned sock in it, martha.

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martha

The faux W.A.S.P. from Nutley, NJ has gone too far this time.

Martha Stewart in an interview this week with Bloomberg news says (and I quote):

“Who are these bloggers? They are not trained editors at Vogue Magazine. I mean there are bloggers writing recipes that aren’t tested, that aren’t necessarily very good, or are copies of everything really good editors have created and done.

Sooo, bloggers, create kind of…ummmm popularity but they are not experts and we have to understand that.”

Martha, you lost me a long time ago and it did not even have to do with your jail stint.  Many moons ago when Martha Stewart Living first came out I was a devotee.  But then I discovered that everything you liked as a collectible so went up in price mere mortals couldn’t collect those items any longer.  An example? Antique oil lamps. When you plunked them in a magazine, and possibly on the cover many years ago the prices went up exponentially.  I stopped collecting them.  Same with every time you mentioned anything from transferware to pressed glass. Even vintage linens and quilts were untouchable for a while.

So you created an empire. As a woman I am cool with that. But you certainly are not without fault, and as a matter of fact I remember writing an email to your company years ago, because I, a mere mortal noted a glaring mistake in some recipe of yours I tried.  It was for the garden and roses, not the kitchen.  A spray with baking soda and what not in it.  Your proportions were incorrect. Naturally I never received a reply, because after all, you also invented the word “perfect”.

But Martha Stewart, you did not invent blogging.  And I am not even sure you really write your own blog all of the time because if you read it the writing voices often sound different and if you are a blogger like myself, you know that bloggers have individual voices and writing styles.

And you certainly did not invent the “whole category of lifestyle”.  There is no doubt you contributed to it, but lady, you did not invent it.  It existed before you, it will exist after you.

So why take pot shots at bloggers?  Afraid of a little competition? Afraid we are coming up with ideas and recipes that are better than what you have to offer and we can do it without attitude?

I take an exception to what you said to Bloomberg and am amused at the same time.  The Vogue reference, for example.  When were you an editor at Vogue?  Martha Helen Kostyra Stewart you have done well for yourself, but wow, Queen Elizabeth the first you are not.

I get that you are a long way now from your humble roots in Jersey City, NJ and Nutley, NJ and one of the things I used to like about you was your mother.  Now she was cool and fun to learn from when you had her on your TV show and weren’t afraid of an old Polish woman stealing your spotlight. You married well and became an instant W.A.S.P. just add water.  In my neck of the woods women like you used to be referred to as social-climbing gold diggers, but I won’t be rude and I digress.

But when it comes to bloggers aren’t experts, who said we all were?  I am only an expert in my own world. I am not Martha Stewart or the Pope, after all.  But I will put my gardening prowess and kitchen skills up against you any day.

To say home cooks who blog do not test their recipes and they are copies of I assume YOUR recipes and aren’t very good, well who died and made you Julia Child, my dear?  I can’t speak for all bloggers, but I can tell you MY recipes are tested in MY kitchen before I share any of them and they are MY own recipes.  Most of the time I don’t even write them down. And I know my recipes work because too many people have tried them and oh yeah, I am even in the Epicurious Cookbook.

I sat and listened to you pimp for several retailers in your Bloomberg interview and as I listened to you trash talk everyone who did not kiss the hem of your royal garment I realized what a lot of this is about: you are getting OLD Martha.  “Work”, dermatological fillers, and a clever but classic wardrobe can’t cover the fact that you are a long time from your salad days, aren’t you?

Poor, poor Martha.  Like an aging cat with clumps of fur coming out here and there, you claw at the world desperately trying to keep the throne you seem to have become accustomed to.  The only thing is, you are a legend mostly in your own mind at this point.  I mean I knew you were desperate when you did Match.com on the Today Show. 

Here is a hint Martha: apologize and don’t wear so many Hillary Clinton-esque pant suits. Or put a grosgrain monogrammed sock in that big mouth of yours.

And you can kiss my blogging behind.  As opposed to you I am not running for some popularity contest, I write about what I want, when I want….for me.  I love a lot of the old-fashioned house wifely things you used to extol. I love hunting for cool things like vintage linens and I like to cook, garden, and keep house.  And I am very good at it.  But why I do it is a little different from you.  I do these things because they bring me and those I love pleasure.

You see Martha, it is the simple pleasures in life that you cannot take for granted.  We will all age, you apparently are having issues doing it gracefully.

So Martha, just shut up.

For more on Martha Invents the blogosphere read:

Babble: Oh, Martha Stewart. Why Did You Go and Get the Bloggers Mad?

By SunnyChanel |  October 16th, 2013 at 2:00 pm

 

Mail Online: ‘I started this whole category of lifestyle’: Martha Stewart dismisses  homemaking rival Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP

By  Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 15:06 EST, 15  October 2013 |  UPDATED: 15:34 EST, 15 October 2013

Bloomberg TV:   Martha Stewart Speaks Out: Bloggers Are Not Experts

Martha Stewart declares that she ‘started this whole category of lifestyle’

Babble: Here’s Why Martha Stewart Is Trash Talking Bloggers    By cecilyk |  October 16th, 2013 at 4:47 pm

fall in the garden

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Fall has arrived in my garden. I am now in the home stretch of planting for the year.

My garden has come a long way in the past year. It is now more than a garden with good bones.

Now my garden is only half feral.

This garden was overgrown for years before I began to make it my own. It has been a lot of brutally hard work at times to get it even this far. But it is a true labor of love, because I just love to garden that much.

I inherited the garden from a prior property owner who was quite elderly, hence the huge amount of work necessary. And this is a process that will take years, because every good garden is an evolution in and of itself. It doesn’t just happen overnight. It is about time, work, love, and patience.

The more layers I peel back in the garden, the more I find to do . And lots and lots of pachysandra.

I have now unearthed all garden paths that I know exist, and had no idea my front walkway was so wide. The pachysandra had just crept and overgrown everything for years.

My garden is predominantly being re-planted with things sourced locally. Chester County has amazing plant nurseries.

There is one nursery I do not patronize, however. Main Line Gardens on Paoli Pike. They are hideously overpriced, and they are short on customer service. I tried going in there a couple of different times when I first moved to Chester County and I just didn’t like the way I was treated, nor did I care for the price points on basic items. They don’t seem to get that only Waterloo could be Waterloo.

With the exception of some heavy work I could not do myself, which was performed by Woodlawn Nursery in Malvern, DelVacchio in East Goshen, and a couple of tree guys, I have planted my own garden.

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A lot of people don’t take the time to plant their own garden any longer and I think that’s a shame because they are missing out. This trend is clearly seen in our everyday life if you have HGTV in your cable or FiOS lineup. There are no longer any true gardening shows, it’s all about instant fix landscapes and hardscaping. Done by other people. I call it the “you’ve been shrubbed mentality.”

Gardening is a very basic thing. Some people believe it is very primal. It is terrific stress relief, and it connects you to the earth. I also consider it an artistic and creative outlet, and there’s nothing better than seeing the fruits of your labor bloom. It is very satisfying.

Gardening is a trial and error process. It has taken me years and years to get to the point where I can accept that occasionally something I plant isn’t going to take where I planted it. I try not to have to transplant things once I have planted them, but sometimes you can’t help it. Sometimes stuff just dies inexplicably, and well, you can’t escape the basic responsibility of having to divide your perennials every couple of years.

So now I am about halfway through my fall planting, and I am thinking about the plants that are arriving over the next few weeks that will go into the garden this fall for next year. A lot of those are things like bulbs, which come from various sources, and also perennials from Applied Climatology.

Applied Climatology are the plant people from the West Chester Growers Market, and you can find them in Facebook. If you get on their mailing list, you find out about their amazing specials. And they have a variety of cultivars you just don’t see any place else.

I made my final list of plants that are coming, along with bulbs, tubers, and roots. I think I know where everything is going, but I think I might have to dig out more pachysandra.

How I plant, in case anyone is interested, is I try to plant with a four-season interest in mind. That way my garden seems to have a different outfit for every season of the year for lack of a better description. I also don’t plant many annuals.

Okay, time for me to go digging the dirt. There aren’t very many of those days left in the year! Happy gardening all!

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the fall kitchen

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applebutterWhat is cooking in your fall kitchen?  I have been asking people what they are cooking with and Chef Angela Carlino of Carlino’s in West Chester said to me “I love butternut squash, turnips and sweet potatoes.”

shrimp ricottaI am right there with her.  You can do so much with all of those.  I used fresh turnips from the East Goshen Farmers’ Market in a recent soup. And sweet potatoes I love whenever I can get them and they are versatile…like pumpkin is too.

pork tenderloinPumpkin and sweet potatoes aren’t just for desserts and can be in soups, in a main course becoming things like pumpkin and sweet potato gnocchi (with a brown butter sage sauce – yum!), and baked to perfection. And making butternut squash soup is another favorite of mine as well.  I have been working on reducing the calories in it by using plain Greek Yogurt and buttermilk instead of cream and crème fraiche.

Isoup have a cinnamon sweet bread recipe I have been tweaking and once I bake it and like it, will post the recipe.

I have not only made pickled beets, but a small batch of the most delicious apple butter ever.

Dinners have been rustic pasta dishes potatoes and mushroomswith homemade sauce and pasta.  I have been experimenting with pastas that have ricotta cheese and whole wheat flour in them with great success. And yes, my own recipes and I do have to write more down. The problem is I learned how to make pasta from feel. I know when the dough feels right…until that point it is a little of this, a dash of that.pasta

Dinners have also been marinated pork tenderloins roasted to perfection served with a mushroom, white wine, and apple reduction. Or traditional old-fashioned pot roasts and roasted chicken.  The roasted chickens have then become things like zesty chicken chili loaded with spice.

Pumpkin bread has returned and other fun things like sweet biscuits on weekend mornings.

I love to cook and every season offers you fun! What are you cooking?

file under malvern borough does damage control?

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malvernHow funny! This blog has “arrived” I suppose in Malvern Borough given the very amusing comment under the article I am about to post.

The article is about Malvern Borough and I presume the Malvern Business Association and borough is doing damage control in light of growing community discussion (including on this blog) on development in Malvern Borough. The article is authored by a writer whom I deeply respect, but I still find the article to be a little obvious on the part of the borough.

MalvernResident Comment1

“Certain blogs”? How funny! I suppose that must be yours truly? Well the reality is I have been at this a long time and I do not deal in “misinformation”. And in the same vein, they want you to believe opinion is bad and opinion is misinformation. Which of course we all know as intelligent and rational human beings is simply not true.

I have never pretended to live in Malvern Borough. Truthfully, I would never live in the borough given the local government issues, which while they ebb and flow always seem to be a problem. And it is highly insulting to say to people in neighboring communities in essence “all we care about is you coming to town and spending money. ” The reality is, none of us have to shop in Malvern Borough. There are some local merchants I try to support but if traffic and parking and development increase, I will go elsewhere. Life is too short.

As for developers? Can we put on the big kid pants for a moment? Developers develop to enhance their profit margins, not because they are secretly altruistic and love everybody to the moon and back. They build, take their profit, and move on. They aren’t “partners” in the community. However, not all developers are bad. I have some that I like. But I do not like what Eli Kahn has done. East Side is too big, too hulking and someone left a comment on my last post about fire trucks? Here (and I quote):

Mary Crawford on October 14, 2013 at 3:44 pm said:

It is my understanding that the fire department in Malvern is unable to service the building in the back as the trucks do not have access. Now the behemoth is in danger of burning faster due to lack of planning. Wasn’t Eli Kahn on the planning Commission? How can you not plan on a fire at some point? All hoses must come in through the front door or through the roof.

Now I know nothing of Eli Kahn and the planning commission, I thought he was part of the business association or something?

The horse is out of the barn on East Side flats and yes I think they are huge and hulking and lacking human scale. And yes I am saying that as a neighbor but not resident of Malvern Borough.

I think Malvern Borough sells itself short by allowing density and development that does not mesh with the small town character of low and old Main Street buildings and Victorian and other older homes on the side and connecting streets to King.

Yes it is my opinion that Malvern Borough should hit a pause button and see how East Side flats fare for a few years before committing to additional large-scale development. And yes I think they need to be more selective about infill development in general.

My opinions are based on research and what I have seen happen in other communities where local government wouldn’t listen to residents and where development has not only torn the communities asunder, it has not delivered the promised pathways of gold.

Azar Habib

The comment above is amusing too. This is the guy who decided on my last post that this little woman was going to see it his way or else. Towns and boroughs should not be hard to drive through. It hardly means that people want to go there, it only means that they can’t get through there….and no we don’t need another sprawl mall or series of big box stores, but what do you think goes hand in hand with those development-wise? And there is still no lack of blight in Malvern Borough. Parts of King around the Flying Pig are prime examples. And just building new buildings is not going to make pre-existing blight go away. But incentives aimed at business property owners might help. State grants for facades and sidewalks and whatever. Not much of that money is around but why not have State Reps and the State Senator seek things like that out?gables

There is this whole build it and they will come mentality. But what is it they are building and who is it who is coming and will they stay? Malvern is a SMALL town. How many apartments does it need, and will apartment dwellers really add to the long term tax base or will they just be more transients passing through?

The only way to decide this is to not grow all at once, but in stages. Which is why Malvern should try living with the hulking behemoth that is Eastside Flats and not rush to approve a 600+ unit Transit Oriented Development (“TOD”) project and other high density infill development.

And one other thing about this Malvern Business Association? Don’t they encompass OUTSIDE the borough too? Into Frazer? What are they thinking about the Route 30 business corridor in Frazer? With the landscape that is dotted with dangerously blighted and crumbling buildings? You know like the former Malvern Meetinghouse that is SO bad that East Whiteland is thinking of condemning it and there is speculation of homeless living in it? Or all the odd rental properties that house a lot of transient immigrant workers that look like they are ready to cave in on themselves the properties are so ill-kempt? Do they know about that sinkhole in the parking lot that appears and disappears where the Frazer Post Office and Nudy’s Café is?

I find it amusing that a couple of columns by Henry Briggs and a couple of blog posts and some limited public discussion has the PR machines revving up in Malvern Borough. Apparently a nerve has been struck I guess?

Anyway, I will keep on offering my opinion when and if the spirit moves me. My opinion is Malvern Borough is one hot mess now and all this development won’t improve it. And that is a shame. I still feel they should embrace their inner small town and work on improving what is already there. Especially since no one knows what Septa is doing. They could cut service past Paoli again, they have done it before.

But the mentality of everyone has to be OK with this is wrong. Everyone shouldn’t be ok with this. There needs to be meaningful community input and there hasn’t been. Just deals made between the Mayor, Borough Council and Developers. The only positive I see in this hot mess thus far is the addition of Kimberton Whole Foods and Christopher’s to the business district. Here’s hoping we’ll all be able to park and patronize them when they open.

At the end of the day I can’t see this from my window. Thank goodness. But I have seen what happens elsewhere, so I can tell you that if this all steamrolls ahead without thought and planning, Malvern Borough will end up hating what they created but will merely leave it for future generations to fix.

What happens in Malvern Borough will also affect OUTSIDE of the borough in neighboring municipalities.

Here is the article:

Malvern warming up to Eastside Flats

Published: Tuesday, October 15, 2013

By Caroline O’Halloran
cohalloran@mainlinemedianews.com
@carolineohallo

Now that it’s finally taken shape, Malvern appears to be warming up to Eastside Flats, the mammoth mixed-use project on East King Street that has radically changed the face of the borough.

“The majority of people are excited, especially for the new retail coming to town,” said Malvern Mayor Jerry McGlone.

Public concerns about the $48 million, five-acre complex have mostly focused on traffic and parking, but “we worked with the developer to get that right,” McGlone said, “and the concerns seem to have disappeared.”

One level of a bi-level 330-space parking garage has been set aside for shoppers and a surface lot will hold 84 cars.

“Parking won’t be an issue,” promised David Della Porta, president of Cornerstone Communities, the project’s developer in partnership with Eli Kahn and Gary Toll….“It’s big; there’s no question about it,” said McGlone. “But they’ve done a nice job with the façade. And people forget how blighted the area was. To have a residential/retail complex like this is such a big improvement.”

Della Porta said he hasn’t heard any complaints. “If people don’t like what they’re seeing, they’re being polite and keeping it to themselves,” he said. “We’ve gotten more notes, calls and accolades on this project than for any other one we’ve been involved with.”

Pat Reeser, president of the Malvern Business and Professional Association, admits that local opinion has been mixed

Sigh….it’s all alrighty in Spin City….

gardening tip du jour!

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The fall gardening season is upon us. Many of you out there, like myself, are digging in new bulbs, roots, tubers, and plants. So I thought I would share a little gardening tip with you.

I had a whole box of copper plant tags that someone gave me as a gift years ago from Williams-Sonoma. They are somewhere in my house hiding in plain sight, but I needed to mark new plants and bulbs. And I came up with something easy, inexpensive, and unobtrusive.

Popsicle sticks.

if you have a child or two, you undoubtedly have a supply of plain popsicle sticks somewhere. They are a kid friendly crafting backbone. If you don’t have children, you can buy them in places like Michael’s or any local craft store.

I don’t need these plant tags to last for years and years, I pretty much just need them to get me through the winter so I don’t accidentally dig things up in the spring.

So I found one of my Sharpies, yes pink, and have started making tags. They will go in immediately after I plant.

Maybe this isn’t fancy enough for some people, but for me it is about getting the job done as unobtrusively as possible.

What are your favorite fall gardening tips that you might want to share? Tell me!

farm life

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farm life

other views of chester county…

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chestercountyother

crumbling colonial next to clews and strawbridge in frazer

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next to clews and strawbridge

Look at it crumble. Astounding.  Soon the vines that twist and cover will own what I believe to be an 18th century house next to Clews & Strawbridge on Route 30 in Frazer, PA.  Does anyone know anything about this? And is this the ultimate historic preservation in what I assume is East Whiteland? Structures just molder until they completely rot away? So if I am say, “Getting on Board With Bill”, is this what I am signing up for? Should things like this that rot (Loch Aerie, Linden House, Ebenezer AME just to name a few in East Whiteland) be considered accomplishments during his tenure? I am a realist, and I know that not every old house can be saved, nor every truly historic structure, but wow, it just seems like East Whiteland Supervisors need to kick it up a notch, don’t they?  Why can’t they ask all these deep pocketed developers in the Township to assist?

Where is historic preservation in East Whiteland? I mean other than what Immaculata has accomplished for Duffy’s Cut that is?

chester county in black and white

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Isabella Furnace- taken in Elverson on Chester County Day 2013

Isabella Furnace- taken in Elverson on Chester County Day 2013

Black and white photography is so cool.  I love it as an art form.  As I have grown more comfortable with my photography skills I have been experimenting in black and white more and more.

I actually have an entire photo set devoted to this now. “chester county in black and white”

I have added something to my bucket list of things I want to do.  I would like to some day have a solo gallery show of my black and white photos of Chester County.

Enjoy the photos.

more thoughts on malvern borough

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malvernWho has the most to gain from development in Malvern Borough? Who will get the most out of TOD or Transit Oriented Development? Some have suggested that I narrow my question scope to what will Woody Van Sciver, Malvern Borough Council President gain from all this proposed development in Malvern Borough? (And I was reminded that Woody is a developer too at some place called Monument Management Corp.)  I think after some thought, the answer to this question in as far as who will GAIN from cram plan developments is not the residents or neighbors of Malvern Borough, but Borough officials and developers, and can’t you agree?

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When I wrote about Malvern’s growing pains last week it unleashed a flurry of comments. I was accused of writing a post with racist undertones and all sorts of stuff.  I had people say I was being hysterical, which most easily translated is women shouldn’t have strong opinions on anything and should leave all the big decisions to the men folk. Well I am not exactly a women’s libber but I feel passionately about local governments who give away communities and their ingrained character and history and charm for the nearest buck.  I find it to be like a political lap dance.

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I will keep writing about Malvern Borough’s foolishness.  Because it is foolishness.  I believe small town politicians are corruptible and forget who and why they serve.  In this case they see the Emperor’s New Clothes and can’t see the forest for the trees on what the intrinsic value and charm is of Malvern remaining a small town.  These elected and appointed officials driving the development bus to nowhere don’t even *get* that developers all over the country try to recreate small towns like Malvern Borough.

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Henry Briggs has written another column on this.  I am  looking forward to his column next week, too.  That one is about why Malvern residents are NOT being heard about their own future.

8457330900_c69d4fa589_cLook, please don’t waste your breath leaving me comments that I should basically have no opinion here.  With all due respect, I have a brain and I am not afraid to use it. I am not against growth.  What I am against are these giant one size fits all plans that are the proverbial square peg in the round hole.  This is a small town, emphasis on small.  And Malvern is often quite precarious financially, and the current economy in which we find ourselves in all across this country should cause local governments to exercise caution, not throw caution to the wind.

If Malvern Borough wants to grow, do it responsibly. Allowing developers to shove in developments on small parcels and in a small area so everyone is crammed in like lemmings is IRRESPONSIBLE.  Planning needs to be a partnership between community and government, not government and developers.

Enjoy Henry’s column.

Henry Briggs: Say hello to Malvern Transit Oriented Development

Main Line Suburban Life > Opinion

Published: Thursday, October 10, 2013

Malvern, Pa., once a storybook small town like many around the country, is being beefed up like cows in a holding pen by three different special interests: developers, business people, and governments.

It started at a breakfast in 2008 hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce where Barry Seymore of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission was holding forth.

Woody Van Sciver, Borough Council president, really liked what he was hearing. The subject: TOD – Transit Oriented Development – adding density to areas within half a mile of transit hubs….Around the same time, Eli Kahn, a developer in West Chester, started courting The Malvern Business Association….Kahn’s plan for the biggest development Malvern had ever seen was like free beer at a frat party….Van Sciver, a developer himself, had headed the Malvern Planning Commission  before joining the council and had been heavily involved in drafting Malvern’s Comprehensive Plan, a multi-year effort to define where and how future building and development was to occur…..Because of this background, and the fact that he was Council President, the council decided Van Sciver should lead the negotiations with Kahn.

One developer negotiating with another.

…Malvern is now home to a four story, 45-foot-high behemoth of 190 apartments and a number of stores and restaurants. It stretches nearly a fifth of a mile along the eastern approach to Malvern. When you walk by it, you feel like you’re in Philadelphia…..One recommendation from a recent market study financed by the borough and TOD interests calls for a 12-story, 600 “dwelling unit” high-rise near the SEPTA station….The council has approved plans of another developer for five big houses on a one-acre lot. Still other developers are working on “infill projects,” cramming large, money-making houses and townhouses into whatever bits of land they can find.

Malvern, once a Norman Rockwell small town, has lost it’s magic, irrevocably, at the hands of its own business community, its own government, and developers.