Day One of my Recent California Book Tour
Yesterday, I blogged about my recent trip to California and my visit to the wonderful Google headquarters in Mountain View. Let me back up a bit and share with you some of my activities on the first day of my book tour. My plane departed from White Plaines Airport in New York at 9:00 AM last Wednesday, November 2nd. After a 6-hour flight, we landed in Santa Monica, California at 12:00 PM, where we met our driver. There is a 3-hour time difference. We drove to Los Angeles, and because we were hungry, we stopped for a bite at Pizzeria Mozza, a wonderful collaboration of Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali, and Joseph Bastianich. Following lunch, I taped a radio segment at ‘On Air With Ryan Seacrest.’ We then drove to nearby Burbank, where I rehearsed and taped another appearance on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.’ After that, we checked into our hotel and got ready for an intimate book-signing event at the renowned Perrin Paris 1893 Boutique in Beverly Hills. You may recall seeing my good friend, Michel Perrin, on my television show a couple of years ago, discussing his chic line of handbags and gloves that he and his wife, Sally design. They even created one and named it after me! After cocktails, we moved on to dinner at Chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro. What a great day!
1 Pizzeria Mozza is a wonderful melding of Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali, and Joseph Bastianich - buon appetito!
2 At Pizzeria Mozza, you'll find your silverware and napkin inside a brown paper envelope.
3 This brown paper place mat had a detailed diagram of all the parts of an ancient Italian duomo, or cathedral.
4 My makeup artist Daisy Schwartzberg and Kevin Sharkey were part of my traveling group.
5 Here I am with publicists, Kelly Galvin and Susan Magrino.
6 The wine bar is stocked with many, many fabulous bottles from the wonderful wine regions of Italy, with a focus on Piedmont, Friuli and Tuscany.
7 This salad is the tricolore with Parmigiano Reggiano and anchovy dressing.
8 Nancy's chopped salad is a masterpiece, made with iceberg lettuce, radicchio, red onion, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, provolone, pepperoncini, with an oregano dressing.
9 And this is the Mozza caprese - rich and creamy burrata cheese topped with roasted cherry tomatoes and a flavorful pesto sauce.
10 Really great grilled artisan bread
11 Espresso granita with espresso gelato and chocolate dipped honeycomb
12 Gelati sampler with a wafer cookie
13 Butterscotch budino, sea salt and rosemary pine nut cookes
14 While I was there, Nelson, an On Air with Ryan Seacrest staffer, asked me to show him how to extract the arils, or the fleshy seeds, from a pomegranate.
15 You begin by slicing off the blossom end, scoring the outer rind, and splitting the fruit apart.
16 You then use the backside of a wooden spoon to tap the fruit, which loosens the seeds, causing them to drop out.
17 Nelson has been wearing this 'do' for four years. All you need is plenty of hairspray and a blow dryer!
18 Here I am arriving at Perrin Paris 1893 Boutique, located in Beverly Hills, for my book party and cocktails with the Sally and Michel Perrins and their guests.
19 The exquisite light fixture in the Perrin Paris 1893 Boutique, where fabulous Perrin leather handbags, gloves, and eyewear is sold.
20 Kevin, who loves design, took lots of photos inside the boutique.
21 The owners, Michel and Sally Perrin - Sally is sporting the Riva, one of their signature ball bags.
22 In the center is the Jet-Set Enlacez-Moi clutch made of goat leather.
23 Kid goat Spider gloves - a very unique design
24 Spider in black - Drew Barrymore has been seen wearing these.
25 Here I am with Sally and Eddie Zaratsian
26 Boite du Soir 1 - an oval shaped box with a Palladium frame and glove clasp with lambskin lining
27 Boite du Soir 2 - An evening box with wrist chain, palladium frame, glove clasp, and lambskin lining and the Minaudière - an evening wrist purse with a rhodium frame
28 The Manchette, one of their glove inspired clutches - you slip it on your hand for easy carrying.
29 The Menotte is a bracelet clutch - The handle hangs comfortably from the wrist.
30 The Perrin house, dating back to 1893, began as a Parisian glovery.
31 The Perrin eyeware is accented with leather trimmings.
32 With Eddie Zaratsian, creative director of Tic-Tock Couture Florals
33 With Danica Doran and Lissa Chesnoff
34 With Sheraton Kalouria, SVP at Sony and former President of Broadcasting of Martha Stewart Television
35 With decorator Michael Smith
36 With Alex Glasscock and his wife Sue, who own the Ranch at Live Oak Malibu
37 With producer Robert Morton and wife Jennie
38 Another nice shot with Michel and Sally
39 After cocktails, we drove to Bouchon Bistro for dinner, a vibrant space that perfectly accents Chef Thomas Keller's authentic French country fare.
40 The bakery was closed for the day, but the Bistro was open and waiting for us.
41 At Bouchon, I posed for a photo with my friend Chef Wolfgang Puck and his wife, Gelila.
42 The centerpieces were designed by Eddie Zaratsian. See what I mean about vibrant?
43 An extraordinary display of cut-open cheese squash, roses tulips, berries, moss, and magnolia leaves
44 Simple, yet elegant
45 A great tiled floor
46 A photo with Alessandro and Kimm Uzielli and Michael Smith
47 My nephew, Morgan Evans and his new wife, Arwin
48 Trying on a fabulous pair of Perrin sunglasses
49 Gelila Puck also modeling a pair
50 The salad was caramelized Belgian endive, heirloom beets, candied walnuts, garden mache, and truffle coulis.
51 The entree was grilled Colombian river sturgeon with artichokes, pearl onions, young leeks, and a barigoule emulsion.
52 And for dessert, we were served a dark chocolate mousse with burnt orange cream and macarons.
53 Following dinner, Chef de Cuisine, Rory Herrmann came out of the kitchen to mingle. Bravo!
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
So pretty Martha. You're amazing!!!!
Posted by: Barbara MacDougall | November 10th, 2011 at 12:11 am
All the pictures are good ones and everything looks great, but the pictures of you in 18 and 25 are pretty glamorous.
And, we now know if you have to start wearing glasses, you'll still be glamorous.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | November 10th, 2011 at 1:26 am
You are inspiration for many of us ever looking and acting glamorous esp in CA. Seems that you are enjoying new decade being in your 70s and a grandmother! There will be lots of time ahead to be thin and aged. Just as you learned from Big Martha, many of us learn from you, LIVING is a joy.
Posted by: ann | November 10th, 2011 at 8:42 am
Martha, the food you present on this blog looks soooooooo good! Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | November 10th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Looks like a fabulous evening, Martha! You look tremendous!!
Posted by: Andrew Ritchie | November 10th, 2011 at 10:19 am
OMG! The handbags and gloves at Perrin's boutique are stunning! I am crushing over the Menotte, the bracelet clutch! By the way Martha, you looked gorgeous at the cocktail party/book signing. So Glamerous!
Posted by: Cindy F | November 10th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Hi Martha, Many of your blogs and the comments bring back memories of things I did years ago. I traveled to White Plains back in 1980 to visit a friend in Danbury, Connecticut. It was a very small airport with a small cafe and my friend picked me up there. I remember seeing a photo of it before and would love to see what it looks like now. You certainly had a great trip and visit to California and how special it is that you have so many fascinating friends in most of the places you visit and share with us! All of your photos are superb-the foods look so delicious, your group was having a blast and they look so cute, and you look marvelous! Michel and Sally Perrin sure have a beautiful shop! Love seeing so many of your good friends who loved having you sign their copies of your 75th book! Was fun to see Wolfgang Puck, also! Photo #48 is absolutely stunning! Thanks for the memories, Martha, you make my day! Can't wait to see your next trips to Illinois and Kansas!! Hope you have another great trip and terrific book signings again! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | November 10th, 2011 at 10:53 am
Hi Martha,
Great pictures - I'm 'crushing' over the salad in picture #8, especially the way it is mounded up similar to a tagine. I think I'll try to replicate it. I'm glad that you had a great time in California and it was nice to see where you went and all that you did. Happy travels on the rest of your book tour! Trish
Posted by: Trish | November 10th, 2011 at 11:52 am
What a joy to watch you in person at Macy's Cellar in San Francisco, last Saturday! No wonder the house was packed... This was my first time seeing you in person, and I can easily see why you have such an ardent following of lifelong fans! The recipes were excellent and the samples yummy. But it is the book I shall particularly treasure: a book designed to enrich the generations... You have put so much into it, Martha, not just of yourself, but indeed of all the warmest, brightest moments that make our Civilization worthy of the name. Kudos! And, wow!: Bouchon, one of my favorite places in the world! Beautiful, sublime refreshment! Thomas Keller is a genius, and thank you for telling us about his own proprietary gluten-free flour. What a relief to know, just in time for the holidays! Have a blessed Thanksgiving, Martha, with all your dear ones -- you will always be in my prayers, that is for a fact!
Posted by: Maria Ashot | November 10th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
I never "tap" a Pomegranate to get the arils. It might be more time consuming, but I cut the pomegranate into 1/4 and take out every seed by hand. I find that I get more arils and not very many of them burst their juices.
Posted by: Giovanni | November 10th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Your tour blogs are always fun. The story of your day is always long, requires fun food, fun people and delightful clothing stores. I love it. My travel is modest methods, never carry anything i.e. a purse or gloves that I would miss if stolen or dropped in less than desirable retrievable conditions. It works but I still enjoy seeing the other end of the spectrum.
Posted by: Margie | November 10th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Martha, you continue to look stunnning! What a wonderful trip!
Posted by: Joyce Duncan | November 10th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Hi, Martha,
As always, thank you for taking us along on your amazing field trips and to your stunning events! So enjoyable!
Posted by: Bobbie | November 10th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Joseph Bastianich? Is he related to Lydia Bastianich? I love to watch Lydia cook. Although I'm African-American, I call Lydia and Mary Ann Esposito my two Italian aunts.
Posted by: r. steven page | November 13th, 2011 at 9:50 pm