My daughter and her friend were doing a “school project” with glitter at our house because the other mother was smart enough to “just say no” to glitter. That glitter had more staying power than plutonium!

I bought Martha’s first Christmas book and never made a thing out of it, which in the past I might have attempted to do. She used gold leaf on cookies! She made some elaborate spun sugar netting over a pile of cream puffs, each one of which would have taken me a week to make, by which time they’d be all soggy. And then I’d have to contend with the third-degree burns from the boiling burnt sugar syrup. She and Julia Child made competing cream puff piles on Martha’s show once. Julia’s slumped. It was adorable. I’m too lazy to look up the Italian (or is it French?) name for this elaborate dessert construction.

Martha provides pornography for women. When we look at these crafts and recipes we fantacize about the perfect holiday (or I used to years ago) the way men fantacize when they look at the swimsuit edition (so I’ve been told…) Neither have anything to do with reality! That said, I still get a kick out of watching Martha some times, especially when I’m eating a bowl of cereal for dinner….

I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I think you’re right. Martha offers women this idea that if you can just get your glitter, folding, and menus just right then you’ll be happy. I signed up for her e-mailed organizational tips, which is little like buying a diet book when you have no intention of eating anything but fudge for the rest of your life. Anyway, I think one of the best things about being an adult is having cold cereal for dinner if you want it. Now that would be a funny cook book! Janelle

What happened to the Bee Sting cake?

MJ