Seeing the Martha Stewart show in person is so … Martha. It all begins with the ticket confirmation e-mail:
From: Marthastewart.com
Subject: MARTHA
Your request for tickets to see MARTHA has been selected! Please read the ticket confirmation and show day guidelines below to ensure your reservation.
Arrival Time: 8:30 am. Arrivals after 8:45 am may be denied entrance into program.
ID Required: Each adult guest must present a government issued photo ID with their birth date and address.
Full disclosure: All tickets to the show are free, but ours were arranged by the public relations person who contacted me about interviewing Wes Martin, the “Martha” show chef who grew up in Windsor.
“Martha” is filmed, as they say, before a live audience, in the Chelsea Television Studios on Manhattan’s west side. Other than the giant photo of Martha Stewart on its side, the building is plain, warehouselike. Audience members lined up on the sidewalk along 26th Street and were herded through a metal detector into a couple of waiting rooms, where they were offered croissants and Vitamin Water.
The room looked like an oversized Easter basket: Women in bright sweater-sets perched on blond-wood chairs filling out forms and sipping from bottles whose pastel labels coordinated with their jelly-bean outfits. On the white walls, sepia-toned pictures of Martha’s cats and dogs.
From: Marthastewart.com
Subject: Ticket update
We WILL be showcasing audience member cupcakes that you have brought in. Yes, we do ask that you and your guests bring in one very special cupcake.
This day will be an exciting May Celebration special, and we are very excited to now be able to feature all of your home-made or favorite bakery found cupcakes!
Again, we ask that everyone bring in ONE cupcake per person. Tell us if you have a story that goes along with your very special cupcake. Or, tell us if you just love it and why.
If you are unable to bring in a cupcake for any reason, please let us know.
We had lots of ideas: Decorate it with the Denver skyline, knit a cupcake poncho, make it look like a baseball or a theater mask (for my kids). Sadly, I was unable to take a cupcake – how was I going to bake in a hotel room?
Several tense-looking young women wearing headsets collected the filled-out forms (legal releases and cupcake memories) and summoned the top three cupcake-makers.
The room, noisy as a tropical birdhouse, began to settle. A cute little guy, Joey Kola, in a striped shirt and with a voice like a macaw from the Bronx scampered into the room to “warm up” the audience. Like we needed it. “Whatever problems you got – financial, medical – lose ’em. You’re on the Martha Stewart show!”
He led the nearly all-female audience in clapping and oohing-and-
aahing practice.
After a last call for bathrooms (which, by the way, could benefit from a Martha makeover), we were led into the studio and strategically placed on risers behind the cameras. A team from Whirlpool got the VIP seats on the floor, but other than that we couldn’t figure out how they decided who sat where. Maybe it was based on the color of our shirts.
From: Marthastewart.com
Subject: re: Martha
What to wear: Dress your Best! All audience members may appear on camera. Business Casual is strongly recommended. Bright colors photograph best, and we ask that you refrain from wearing white. No hats, T-shirts or sleeveless tops.
Each camera had the guest’s name – Fran Drescher – taped under the viewfinder, and all the audience cupcakes were arranged on a tiered turquoise stand, awaiting their close-up.
After more applause practice, the theme music began: “Why don’t you stop/and look me over/
am I the same girl you used to know?” and that same girl strode onto her 10,000-square-foot set.
The six cameras zoomed around, and we could watch on flat-screen TVs, but oddly, watching the show from 20 feet away was less intimate than having it on at home.
Martha welcomed Fran Drescher, who entered with her fluffy little dog, and the two women made summer rolls with shrimp and softened rice-paper wrappers. Drescher protested a little when Martha corrected her shrimp-placing technique, but the host was unfazed. “You can just do exactly what I’m doing,” instructed Martha. “Oh, OK. No room for creativity here,” zinged Drescher.
“No no no, there’s lots of room. I didn’t mean it that way, I promise. … Just do the prototype, then be creative. … I don’t mean to be bossy in any way,” said Stewart.
“You know you’re on a talk show and I’m thinking what’s my hair doing, is my mom watching.”
Drescher needn’t have worried about her hair. As soon as Joey signaled us to clap into the commercial break, stylists swooped in to powder noses and fluff the hairdos of both women as the audience tapped its toes to an Eminem song.
After the urgent e-mails and audience members’ efforts – one had Stewart’s face scanned into the icing – she never talked about the cupcakes. She did make some with New York baker Billy Reece, and served them to the audience after the show while she answered questions about doing laundry. No kidding.
Stubborn stains resolved, our PR man escorted us back to the glassed-in kitchen where chef Wes and others prep all the food for the show. As we chatted with Wes, in strode the boss. She’s tall, almost 5-10, and the hair is just as gorgeous in person as it looks on TV. I was studying her so intently, I forgot I had my camera in my purse.
On the way out, each guest received a cupcake carrier and a list of “places Martha has been” in the neighborhood. We still don’t know what happened to all the cupcakes.
Food editor Kristen Browning-Blas can be reached at 303-820-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com.
Summer Rolls
From the “Martha” show, makes 16 rolls. To watch a video demonstration on how to make these rolls, go to marthastewart.com, click on “The New Martha Show,” then under “Top Features,” click on “May Celebrations” and find it under “Top Videos.”
Ingredients
Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Add shrimp; cook until pink and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Slice cooked shrimp in half lengthwise. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, cover rice vermicelli with hot water by 2 inches; let soak for 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Set aside.
Heat canola oil in a large skillet set over high heat. Add mushrooms, and sauté until tender and mushrooms have released most of their liquid. Add vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin and sesame oil; cook about 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a small bowl, and let cool to room temperature.
Fill a shallow dish with warm water. Working with 1 rice-paper wrapper at a time, soak in water for 30 seconds; immediately lay flat on a work surface. Place 3 reserved shrimp halves, cut sides up, on bottom third, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Place 2 to 3 reserved mushrooms over shrimp. Top with 1/4 cup assortment of vermicelli, carrots, cucumbers, mint, basil, cilantro, mango and asparagus. Fold bottom of wrapper over fillings; roll over once, tuck in sides, and finish rolling.
Place finished roll on a plate; cover with a damp paper towel. Repeat process with remaining ingredients. Serve with dipping sauce.
Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
On a work surface, crush garlic clove using the flat side of a large knife; sprinkle with salt. Place the flat side of the knife blade on top of the garlic and salt; press firmly, pulling knife toward you. Repeat until a paste forms; transfer to a small bowl.
Stir sugar in hot water until dissolved, and add to bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill in refrigerator until ready to use. Store sauce in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.
