Now that we're so firmly entrenched in fall it's lovely to cuddle up next to a nice warm fire. This week's episode was taped at a lovely home on Fire Island with a real fireplace. If you don't have the luxury of a genuine hearth you can create a facsimile with a product called sunjel. The little cans of jel will give off a flame that looks like wood flame but doesn't give off smoke so there's no need for a flue. You can also get log and grate sets that have boxes to hold the cans of jel that create the effect of a traditional fireplace.

On this week's NPR podcast I expand on my fire setting advice and give you my recipe for hot cocoa. Here it is:

You'll need:

1/4 cup Cocoa powder

1/2 cup Sugar

Dash Salt

1/3  cup hot water

4 cups milk

1/8 cup Coconut, vanilla or orange rum

Combine the cocoa, sugar, salt and water in a sauce pan and heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes. Add the milk and stir until heated, but do not boil. Remove from the heat and beat with a mixer until foamy. Add the rum and serve.

This should make about 6 servings. If you're a tee totaler you can eliminate the rum and flavor the cocoa with extract instead.

 If you're in New York don't forget to come to my Christmas show! It's taking place on December 10^th at the Cutting Room. You can still buy tickets at Theater Mania.

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday - a time to reflect on our blessings and to reconnect with family and friends over a delicious meal. For most of us that meal includes the traditional turkey. It doesn't have to though. After spending time with one on my show I find them just a little harder to eat. My wild rice casserole is a delicious alternative to the tradition. Here's how:

You'll need:

1 cup wild rice

1 cup ripe olives cut up

2 roasted red peppers cut up

¼ lb grated cheddar cheese

¼ tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

½ cup salad oil

¾ cup white wine

Soak the wild rice in hot water and leave over night. Preheat the oven 350. Combine all ingredients except wine in a casserole dish and mix well. Heat the wine until simmering then pour over casserole. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Serves 6 as a side dish, 4 as an entree.

This week on my NPR podcast I'm discussing the revival of a fascinating vintage photography trend - stereo imagery or 3D photography. It has such potential for Christmas gifts, I'm sure you'll enjoy it! You can see those photos I promised you here.

 Don't forget my Christmas show! It's coming up on December 10^th. Tickets are on sale now at Theater Mania. Hope to see you there!

What topsy turvy tips Verena has! I like my tips a little more on the practical side. Here are a few of my favorites:

 Put a dab of lighter fluid on a paper towel and you can pick up all those ugly skid marks left by your wedgies off of your linoleum.

 Lighter fluid will also remove stamps that have been stuck down - just saturate the back of the envelope under the stamp and it will lift right off. Just don't try and lick it after that...

 Having problems moving that heavy dresser across your hard wood floor without scratching it? Try putting some old socks on the legs and it will slide like a charm!

 And speaking of socks, try pinning them together at the toes with safety pins before washing them - you won't end up with mismatched pairs and lost mates.

 As odd as Verena's tips were her chocolate cake recipe was just delightful! As promised, here it is:

 Grandma Bea's Chocolate Cake:

1/4 lb (1 stick) butter

1 and 3/4 cups sugar

2 cups flour

6 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup hot water

Preheat the oven to 350Ã?°F. In a mixing bowl, cream together your butter and sugar.  Sift all the dry ingredients together in another bowl and set them aside. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, and then add the vanilla. Alternate adding dry ingredients and sour cream in three parts, mixing well after each, then add the hot water and mix well. Pour into two greased and floured 9-inch round pans. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  I like this cake with cream cheese or butter cream icing.

 Remember if you're icing the cake with white icing, coat it with a thin layer and then chill it in the fridge until the layer has set, then ice the cake again and you won't have little chocolate flecks in the top layer!

 This week on my NPR podcast I'll tell you how to make your own charm bracelets for holiday gift giving. It's frightfully easy and so much fun! Be sure and have a listen.

 Don't forget my Holiday show. It's coming up on December 10^th at the Cutting Room and tickets are on sale at Theater Mania. I hope to see you there!

Cheese. It's one of nature's wonders, and one of my favorite foods. This week on the show we're making toasted sesame cheese wafers. It's a very tasty recipe that was originally featured in an episode devoted to the wonders of this delightful food.

For the wafers you'll need:

5 oz processed cheese spread

3 Tbs. butter

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp paprika

2 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 400. Sift the flour and paprika together, and then blend in the sesame seeds. Combine the cheese and butter in a bowl and cream together. Add the flour mixture and stir until well blended. The dough will be stiff. On a sheet of wax paper work the dough into a log about 6 and one half inches long and an inch and a half in diameter and wrap in the wax paper. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour and up to one week. When chilled, unwrap the dough, slice thinly and bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown around the edges.

Cheese, milk's leap to immortality, is one of the most versatile foods in any cook's arsenal. It can be used in savory or sweet dishes and has such varied flavors, as to confuse even the most devoted epicurean. Some of my favorites are:

Cotswald: This is a cheddar variation from England. It's rich and robust with a delightful tang. I love it on hearty sourdough bread.

Saga Bleu and Cambazola: These are brie/bleu combinations - both delicious with French bread or fruit.

Gruyere: This is the prince of Swiss cheese. It's rich and nutty flavor are delightful in fondue or on crackers.

I love having people over for cheese tastings. Putting out several cheeses on a board and letting my friends become intimate with them is my idea of a delightful Sunday afternoon. Try it yourself and see how much fun it  can be!

This week on my NPR podcast I'm discussing some ideas for customizing your wardrobe. With a few stitches, the touch of an iron here and there and some imagination your clothing can look like it belongs in a while new tax bracket! Be sure and have a listen.

Don't forget to join me in the lounge at Pop Rocks this coming Thursday, November 9^th. I have some delightful music for you to listen to. If you do make it, be sure and say hello!

Halloween is almost upon us and this week on the show we're carving jack-o-lanterns. Mary Ellen and I had such fun together carving that charming face. What do you do with the pumpkin seeds though? I toasted them and here's how:

 You'll need:

 Pumpkin seeds

Olive oil or melted butter

Salt

Start by rinsing those seeds and removing any pulp, and then spread them out on paper towels to dry over night. The next day line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with raised sides with foil and preheat the oven to 250. Toss the dry seeds with the olive oil or butter, then salt and toss again. Spread the seeds out on the foil covered cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour, rearranging the seeds every 15 minutes.

This week on my NPR podcast I'm talking about hosting a Halloween blackout party. The blackout party originated with electric light - with electricity you have occasional blackouts and the camaraderie and spooky atmosphere that occurs when the lights unexpectedly go out can be recreated without the mishap of a true blackout. On the show I discuss several different ways to create a mood. One of them is a desilvered mirror with a ghostly image in it. You can create this spooky accent piece very simply with a frame with a clear piece of glass, an image of a face, silver leaf and plain gelatin.

Start by finding an image to use - a reproduction of an etching or some other piece of art with a light background will work best - and trim it to fit into the frame. Then combine two tablespoons of gelatin and one cup of water in a small sauce pan and heat until completely dissolved. Using a small paint brush (with bristles, not foam) brush the edges of the glass with the gelatin, then dry brush out to the edges without applying any gelatin to the center. The effect we're trying to create is one of a gradient application of the leaf, transitioning from a clear center to a fully slivered edge. Apply the silver leaf to the glass and with a soft, dry brush and brush away the extra leaf. When the glass has been completely covered and all the unstuck leaf has been brushed away allow the piece to dry. Then place the picture behind it and put it in the frame. The overall effect will be a mirror that stares back at you. Perfect for a spooky, candle lit Halloween party!

Organizing is the subject of this week's vidcast, and cleaning and organizing are kissin' cousins. Straightening up a room doesn't have to be a daunting task. Organize the chore with these tips:

Start by picking a place in the room to deposit all the things that need to be put away. It's best to pick a spot that will inconvenience you if you stop before finishing - like the sofa. Take everything that doesn't belong out and put it in that spot. Getting your belongings out of their comfort zones on the tables and counters will force you to actually look at them so they can be more easily put away.

Once everything has been returned to its little home, you can simplify the task of cleaning by thinking of your room as a big clock. Focus on one "hour" at a time - work your way around from 12 back to 12 again and the task will fly by.

Here are some related tips from the archive section of my site:

Episode 102

Episode 103

Episode 104

This week on my NPR podcast I'm talking about keeping your car fresh and clean. It's important, not only for cosmetic purposes, but for safety sake. Have a listen!

Hi people, this week I have a lovely family recipe for you: date nut cake. It was my grandmother's recipe and I made it for Mary Ellen's birthday. It's just delicious.

 You'll need:

1 stick of butter

½ lb dates

1 tsp soda

1 cup boiling water

1 ¼ cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup pecans

Begin by putting the butter, dates and soda in a bowl and covering them with the boiling water then let them cool. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9 x 12" baking pan. Then add the egg, flour, sugar and pecans to the cooled ingredients in the bowl and mix well. Pour into your greased pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.

On my NPR podcast this week I'm discussing an innovative and ecologically sound wall treatment for your home that involves magazines. Many people have used the distinctive covers of New Yorker magazine as wall covering - it was quite a trend in the 1970's. I say why limit yourself to one particular magazine cover; why not use some of the beautiful editorial pages and even ads from a variety of publications? The possibilities are endless, from beautiful fashion layouts, to ironic statements using ads from Guns and Ammo or Popular Mechanics.

Chocolate fondue is delicious - a real glamour dessert. What's especially nice about it is that it's frightfully easy to make as well! The fondue we made on the episode is simply:

12 oz of bar chocolate, broken up                                                                              

1 cup of heavy cream

 Melt the chocolate with the cream over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly.

 For dippers we chose pineapple, pound cake and strawberries, but you can add marshmallows, kiwi, bananas, cookies, lady fingers, and pretzels.

 On the show on the Style network we made fondue with milk caramels. The process is similar:

 Combine:

12 oz milk caramels                                                                                                    

1 cup milk

 Over low heat until melted. Serve with apple wedges.

 Speaking of apples, this week's NPR podcast is all about that delightful fall fruit. I discuss several recipes for delicious apple dishes, including apple pie, apple dressing and apple pancakes.

 Here's my recipe for apple strudel:

You'll need:

1 sheet of pastry dough                                                                                                

3 apples (on the tart side)                                                                                             

1/2 cup sugar                                                                                                          

1/4 tsp. cinnamon                                                                                                       

1 beaten egg

 Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Defrost the dough.  Slice the apples to about 1/4" and put them in a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon.  Mix well. Roll out the dough until it's a little larger then when unwrapped.  Lay out the apples on the dough, then roll it up around the apples and seal with egg. Slit the top in several places and brush with the egg wash.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

 Now this is the basic strudel, there are lots of other options: browned bread crumbs, lemon or orange rind, rasins, currants and nuts are all wonderful in strudel. For an extra rich version, try drizzling melted butter over your filling.

Hello people!

 Margaret Cho will be with us this week, so I thought I'd upload a promo for the coming episode. It's going to be lots of fun. Be sure and watch!

 See you Friday

Matzo ball soup is such a "hamishe" dish. The repudiated cure-all is a Jewish staple and it's very easy to make. This recipe originates with Ilse Sander - my grandmother. It took a little effort for Mary Ellen to wrap her mind around the ethnic dish, given her Roman Catholic roots, but once she did she certainly found it to her liking - despite a slight mishap.

Matzo balls should be nice and firm - you want them to resist your teeth and your spoon. This is achieved with ganzeschmaltz, more commonly known as goose fat. Here's the recipe:

1/4 cup matzo meal
1 egg
1 Tbs. ganzeschmaltz
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
Pinch nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mix until combined. Pinch off a small amount and roll into a ball between your palms. Repeat until all the "dough" is rolled. Cook in chicken broth until the balls float and serve.

Makes about 10 balls

This week on  my NPR podcast we're repurposing your old sweaters into quilts, throws and pillows. Putting a sweater quilt together isn't difficult and the results are so homey and warm. I've detailed how to create a quilt and a throw in the podcast, but if you'd like to make a pillow here's how you can do it:

Start by selecting your sweaters. You'll need at least two for this project. Decide what size pillow you'd like to make. I suggest at least 18" x 18" which means that the pillow faces should measure 19" x 19" before they're sewn together. You can then cut your squares out. For this pillow you'll want 4 squares arranged in a checkerboard pattern, so your squares should be half the measurement of your pillow - 9.5" x 9.5" for the pillow mentioned above. Cut the squares out of the body of your sweaters and finish off the edges with a serge or zigzag stitch so they don't run and then stitch them together into your larger square. Now, you'll want to back the sweater squares on a more stable piece of fabric so they don't stretch out of shape with the stuffing. Stitch them down around all four edges to a 19" square piece of muslin. Choose a complimentary woven fabric for the back of the pillow and cut a 19" square of that, then with the faces together stitch the two squares around 3 sides and stuff with your pillow form. Stitch the last edge shut with a slip stitch (if you prefer, you can install a zipper in one edge). Last but not least you can tuft the center of your pillow as I mentioned tufting the quilt by stitching through the center square with pretty, but strong yarn a few times and then tying it off on the face. These pillows make lovely gifts and beautiful fall accents to your home. It's also a wonderful way to use old sweaters you have lying around.

If any of you are interested in podcasting you should have a listen to Robert Walch's Podcasting411 podcast. He intereviewed me a few weeks back and you can listen to the episode here.

On this week's episode Mary Ellen, Delta and I went on a little shopping trip.  The east village here in New York City is full of delightfully off beat stores with eccentric merchandise. The store we visited was the Wandering Dragon on East 10^th Sreet. It had such a curious collection of items, including out dated military paraphernalia, stuffed oddities like two headed calves and a plethora of artificial limbs. I"m afraid it doesn't exist anymore, but if you find yourself in the neighborhood be sure and wander a bit yourself - you never know what wonderful little holes in the wall you'll find.

After our foray into the odd we found our way back to my place where Mary Ellen produced what I believe is called a "joint", or marijuana cigarette. It was my first experience with "pot" and I have to say it made me feel just as odd as that two headed calf.

That accounts for my less than with-it performance in the kitchen while making our dish for the day - veal with olives. The meal was just delicious, however. I found myself enjoying it with much more relish than I usually exhibit at dinner for some reason. Here's the recipe:

You'll need:

4 veal cutlets

Salt and pepper

3 Tbs. butter

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup cocktail olives, sliced

Start by pounding the cutlets to ensure their tenderness, then salt and pepper them on both sides. Melt the butter in a large skillet and brown the cutlets on both sides. Add the wine and olives and let simmer, covered for about 5 minutes. Serves 4.

Be sure and listen to my NPR podcast this week. We�¢??re talking all about the joys of needlecraft. I personally love needlepoint, embroidery and applique, but equally enjoyable are knitting and cross stitch.

Hello people, thanks for joining me! This week is all about flowers - edible flowers that is. Eating flowers sounds incredibly decadent - sort of like something that would get the Romans in trouble with the gods like plumbing with lead or Nero fiddling. It's quite respectable, however, and won't bring any lightning bolts down on your head. It's a wonderful idea for creative entertaining.  I especially like serving flowers in salads. The bright oranges, yellows and reds of nasturtiums are so beautiful tucked among the variegated greens of the different lettuces. They also make a delightful conversational opener for a dinner party!

  Now, there are certain flowers that are just delicious and perfect for a nosh, including nasturtiums, violets, pansies, Johnny-jump-ups, roses, orchids, chrysanthemums, and clover. You can find a complete list of edible flowers here.

 It's so important to know what you're eating, however. Certain flowers are poisonous and should be avoided - these include: daffodils, foxglove, crocus, azalea, rhododendron, lilly of the valley and wisteria. A more complete list of dangerous flowers can be found here.   

 In addition to being used on pastries and in salads as demonstrated in the show, edible flowers can also be used as garnish or frozen into ice blocks and floated in your favorite punch or in small ice cubes for summer cocktails or candied with sugar. It's such a delightful way to liven up your meal. Try it the next time you entertain. Your dinner parties will never be "business as usual" again!

 If you're in New York, be sure and join me at Macy's, Herald Square on Saturday the 16th. I'll be doing a table top demo on the 8^th floor. Hope to see you there!

 On my NPR podcast this week we'll be talking about making your own shoes. You can find out all about how to do it from Mary Wales Loomis. She wrote the book - literally. You can also work with some delightful custom shoe manufacturers like Beyond Skin and Beautiful Shoes to put together just what you want now-a-days. Custom shoes are no longer for the very, very rich!

 Thanks for coming by. Come back next week for some more fun!

Hello people, welcome back! This week Mary Ellen has asked me to help her throw a birthday party. It's a bit cheeky of her and you'll find out why in the vidcast.

One of the subjects we cover is cake decorating. Making a pretty cake isn't difficult. To begin with if you're using a contrasting frosting you'll want to frost the cake twice. Begin by applying a very thin layer over the entire cake and then putting it in the fridge. The icing will harden and seal the cake crumbs in so you can frost it again without pulling up the crumbs and marring the appearance of the finished cake.

I like to use a combination of elements when decorating a cake, as we did in the demo. Begin by amassing your supplies. We used

-         sprinkles

-         sugar flowers

-         colored icing in a pastry bag.

The sprinkles were applied in a swath across the cake and accented with the flowers across the top. The pastry bag was used to create smaller star flowers and leaves. It's easier to create an abstract design than it is to write a name on the cake. The letters all have to be even and regular, where as an abstract design can be...well, abstract.

We also had strawberry punch for that party. It was just delicious. Here's how it's made:

You'll need:

4 cups of water

4 cups of sugar

2 quarts hulled strawberries

1 cup sliced pineapple

1 cup mixed fruit juice (we used kiwi/strawberry)

Juice of 5 large oranges

Juice of 5 large lemons

2 cups carbonated water

3 cups crushed ice

Boil the sugar with the water to create simple syrup. Chill the mixture in the fridge. Combine the strawberries, pineapple and juices and add syrup to taste. Chill the mixture until ready to serve. Just before serving add the carbonated water and crushed ice. The flavor of this punch is intense. It's designed to mellow out as the ice melts. It can be thinned with more carbonated water if desired. You can also make this punch more powerful with the addition of rum.

Now in this episode you meet Delta for the first time. She did a fashion segment on the original show and was just wonderful! She also made a lot of the original costumes for the first season of my Style network show. The party scene of the episode was shot in less than ideal conditions. I'm almost completely in the dark. It's one of those production value issues I mentioned last week. I feel like a Virginia Slims ad "You've Come a Long Way, Baby".

This week on my NPR podcast I'll be talking about some alternative uses for some everyday household products. Make sure you catch it or you won't know what to do with your old teabags!

Also, be sure and check out my appearances page this week. I'll be doing two events, one at Macy's and one at the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe, both here in New York. I'd love to see you there. If you can attend, be sure and come up and say hello.

Thanks for coming by, see you next week!

Hello people! Welcome to my first blog entry and my first vidcast! This week we're making Swedish meatballs. You'll find the recipe below. The segments you'll be seeing in my weekly presentations are from my original cable access show that aired here in New York in the late 90's. The process of putting those shows together was such a valuable education for me. You'll be able to see my progression through the production values of the original material. It's not up to broadcast standards, but the content is such fun I hope you'll be able to overlook the flaws.

Swedish meatballs are a wonderful dish for home entertaining, piled atop pasta, and as a cocktail nibble served out of a chafing dish. I had a little help putting the recipe together from my friend and neighbor Mary Ellen. She served as my sidekick - my Rhoda, if you will - for many of the episodes of the original cable access show. She was played to perfection by a wonderful actor - Thom Hansen. You'll be seeing a lot more of Mary Ellen in this series.

As promised, here's my recipe for Swedish Meatballs or Kottbuller:

You'll need:

1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons minced onion
1 one-inch-thick slice of bread
1/2 cup milk
1/2 pound ground beef
1/4 pound ground pork
1/4 pound ground veal
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup beef stock, warm
1 cup cream (or milk), warm

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat and cook the onion until lightly browned. Soak the bread in the milk until soft. Combine all remaining ingredients except flour, stock, and cream and mix well with your hands. It's important to use your hands; nothing else will combine the ingredients as well. Then roll the meat mixture into small balls and brown them in the rest of the butter.

Remove the meatballs and set them aside. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the fat from the pan. Add the flour and stir until it's mixed well with the fat. Remove the pan from the heat, add the stock and cream, and stir constantly until the gravy is smooth and has

thickened nicely. Put the meatballs back in the pan with the gravy and cover.

Simmer over very low heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then transfer to a chafing dish and serve.

Makes about 25 balls

This recipe can also be found in my book, Brini Maxwell's Guide to Gracious Living, which can be purchased here.

Thanks for coming by. Be sure and come back next week!