Holidays

The Martha Stewart Holiday Collection - Homemade Holidays

The Martha Stewart Holiday Collection: Homemade Holidays is all about the art of making food and decorating for the Christmas or Hanukkah season. Woe be to anyone who views the four very diverse and remarkable Christmas dinner dishes here on an empty stomach: nothing will taste nearly as exciting. British chef Anne Willan drops by Stewart's kitchen to make a hearty, standing rib roast with accompanying Yorkshire pudding—foods she grew up eating in the farm country north of York. Chef Mario Batali, an expert on foods of Southern Italy, does two segments, one resulting in a fantastic seafood salad (with lobster, calamari, mussels, peppers, and more) and the other an impossibly beautiful baccala ravioli, using fresh-made pasta pillows filled with a mix of baccala and riced potatoes, tossed in Batali's red sauce with a hint of mint. Finally, chef Dan Silverman demonstrates how to remove pomegranate seeds from the fruit without too much hassle, and then add those seeds to an astonishing duck dish.

Playful and dazzling desserts include meringue mushrooms, which look just like the real thing, and a Birch de Noel made of chocolate and cream, laid out like a Yuletide log. Household decorating hints are both clever and simple, including the strategic placing of colorful bowls of fruits and candies on shelves, and the embellishing of homemade wreaths with colorful balls (small, pink ones from Japan are oddly magical), candy, and popcorn. A section on Hanukkah gifts and foods includes a nice idea for filling embossed bags with candies, and a variation on traditional potato pancakes that includes adding strips of carrots and parsnips. Suggestions for making gifts and wrapping round out this very pleasant disc. --Tom Keogh

Bring Martha Stewart home for the holidays! This DVD offers everything one could need for the perfect holiday season. Includes traditional and non-traditional recipes for Christmas dinner, Hanukkah, and holiday baking, plus holiday decorating tips, handmade ornament ideas, as well as gift wrapping ideas.

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features:Printable recipes and how-to instructions, Marshmallow stars, Holiday Planner, Christmas Trees 101, "Ask Marc" Holiday Pet tips, Christmas Cookie Glossary, Plus 13 Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipes
Other:Bonus video: Martha's Classic Eggnog, Collecting Christmas Ornaments, Old-Fashioned Sleigh Bells, Inside Boston Candy Kitchen Bonus tips & techniques: 10 helpful how-to demonstrations

Fun To Know¿ Create a Halloween Haunted House

A group of expert designers will show you how to use inexpensive materials a lot of imagination. Original designing tricks and family team work to create interesting and original gadgets to add to your house and yard creating the most amazing spooky and unique designs for your Halloween part. You home will amaze the neighborhood and will be the center of interest on this holidaySystem Requirements: Running Time 60 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: INSTRUCTIONAL Rating: NR UPC: 822479040727 Manufacturer No: HAUNTHOUSE

In The Christmas Spirit

Imagine you're relaxing in a plush limousine, cruising through a luxurious American suburb (near Chicago, perhaps, or in Connecticut), sipping a creamy cup of hot cocoa and gazing out the window at a nonstop parade of nice homes, all decked out for the holidays. That's pretty much what it's like to watch this soothing DVD, which offers a drive-by tour of dozens of houses spangled with ambitious arrangements of Christmas lights and holiday decorations. (It's like one of those Yule Log novelty videos, only a bit more colorful.) Some of these impressive arrays are so elaborate you'd think they'd need their own hydro-electric dam to keep them glowing, and there's even a variety of animated lighting arrangements that move in dazzling sequences of action.

Nativity scenes? You've never seen so many--you'd think this was a casting call for the many incarnations of the infant Jesus. (We particularly like the ones lit from within, as if to simulate His divine illumination.) And because no scenic holiday tour would be complete without yuletide Muzak--er, music--the visuals are accompanied by easy-listening renditions of just about every carol in the repertoire. Whether this is engaging or dull will depend on your tolerance for ubiquitous holiday atmosphere, but if you play this DVD while decorating your tree or opening gifts, only a Grinch would dare to complain. --Jeff Shannon

Travel around the country in the snowy month of December to witness the festive Holiday light displays. The most elaborate and vibrant hues of people's houses and retail stores are captured and play out to the sounds of the season.

Jacques Pepin's Christmas Celebration

Here is the Christmas feast of your dreams, starting with Oysters on the Half-Shell served over rice with a tangy Mignonette Sauce, a perfect counterpoint to silky Home-Smoked Salmon, served in delicate bundles filled with Cucumber Salad. It wouldn't be a Pépin Christmas without foie gras, and Jacques prepares both a classic baked terrine of Foie Gras in a delicate Cognac Aspic as well as a simple Salt-Cured Foie Gras served with roasted nuts, crunchy sea salt, and sweet preserves. The centerpiece is Braised Duck with a tangy honey sauce, Glazed Shallots, and Honey Sweet Potatoes. A Black Truffle Salad with lemon dressing is an elegant addition. For dessert, it's back to the classics, with a step-by-step lesson in creating a Bûche de Noël, a beautiful Yule log with all its enchanting decorations, as well as an English Christmas Pudding with raisins, nuts, candied fruit, and old-fashioned Hard Sauce.

The Martha Stewart Holiday Collection - Martha's Classic Thanksgiving

The Martha Stewart Holiday Collection: Martha's Classic Thanksgiving is a most pleasant and entertaining way to find inspiration for a Thanksgiving less ordinary. Taken from past episodes of Stewart's television programs, Classic Thanksgiving presents five ways to cook a turkey, beginning with "Turkey 101," in which Martha prepares a fairly traditional meal while revealing the story of her Thanksgiving from Hell. (Her soon-to-be-ex-husband set the oven on broil and inserted the soon-to-be-unrecognizable bird.) Other shows focus on a rotisserie-baked turkey, a deep-fried turkey (with Creole spices), a boned, broiled, and rolled turkey (very nifty), and most provocative of all, a "black-lacquered" turkey, in which one of Stewart's bankers--who knows exactly two dinner recipes and is so naive in the kitchen she calls a grater a "scraping thing"—demonstrates how a turkey browns beautifully beneath a paste of yummy ingredients that blacken in the heat.

Also on the disc are guides for making several fantastic stuffing dishes, the most dazzling of all a pumpkin challah bread stuffing and a fruit-and-nut stuffing recipe that begins with the soaking of apricots and prunes in bourbon--and just gets better from there. Side dishes include a mouth-watering garlic-horseradish mashed potato dish, and the fascinating "Native American Succotash," a brilliantly colored dish that requires little but veggies themselves. As for desserts: the rustic apple tarts are spectacular and look easy to make in Stewart's kitchen, but the cranberry-pistachio biscotti could be enough to make a grown man weep. There are sections, too, on settings and centerpieces (the gourd candle holders sound silly but look great) as well as kids' crafts. Fun to watch, learn from, or just dream by, The Martha Stewart Holiday Collection: Martha's Classic Thanksgiving is a good thing. --Tom Keogh

Let Martha Stewart make your Thanksgiving the most special one yet. This DVD covers the traditional Thanksgiving basics plus offers more ideas for those interested in trying something new. Includes turkey, stuffing, side dish and dessert recipes, centerpiece, table setting and decorating ideas and Thanksgiving crafts for kids.

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features:Printable recipes and how-to instructions Raffia Cornucopia Thanksgiving Planner 6 Gravy Tips Turkey Trivia Place Card Thanksgiving Clip-Art Place Cards
Other:Bonus video: How to Carve a Turkey Classic Turkey Platter Presentation Cranberry Bog Field Trip 10 Helpful How-To Demonstrations

Jacques Pepin's Summertime Celebration

It's a special one-hour tribute to two great cultures and two great cuisines, as Jacques and Claudine create a French-American "fusion" celebration of the Independence Day and Bastille Day. A whole, poached Salmon with a light, creamy Mousseline Sauce is an easy, elegant way to feed a large group. It's followed by charming little crocks filled with Rillettes of Rabbit — the classic French party spread that's perfect with country bread and a crisp white wine. For the main course: a whole Grilled Shoulder of Veal, served with lemon-herb butter. And Jacques' creamy Potato-and-Corn Packages are just right for the occasion. For dessert, there's an all-American sponge cake soaked in sweet summer berries and brandy with a silky custard sauce and a very French Chocolate Gourmand—a decadent chocolate mousse you can serve right out of the bowl.

Thomas Kinkade Christmas Treasures

Jacques Pepin's Thanksgiving Celebration

Jacques is fond of saying that Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday — after all, it's the one holiday devoted entirely to cooking and eating. In this tribute to turkey with all the trimmings, we get a peek at how one of the world's greatest French chefs prepares Thanksgiving dinner in his American home. It begins with two appetizers made from Jacques' "Instant" Home-Cured Salmon: Salmon Tartare with a delicate cucumber salad and salmon caviar; and velvety Salmon Gravlax cured with cognac, served with cucumber, sweet onion, and rye bread. Then, it's on to the main event: a plump, juicy Roasted Turkey with apple cider glaze and buttery Bread-and-Mushroom Stuffing. On the sideboard, there are Jacques' Brussels Sprouts, a creamy, bubbly, decadent Gratin of Butternut Squash, and an alternative to traditional cranberry sauce, a spicy Cherry-Ginger Chutney. Two sensational desserts complete the feast: a Chocolate-Bourbon-Prune Cake with Caramelized Pecans and whipped cream; and Pears Poached in Citrus Juice with a simple, country style "home cake."

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Flowers for the Holidays

Inclueds a DVD and CD. Holidays are precious times set aside for special observances. And what better way to to commemorate these cherished moments than with flowers and music?

Flowers for the holidays matches magificent on screen images of flowers to an exquisite soundtrack of ambient and classical music, seasonal and Christmas songs and traditional hymns, 14 rich selections with full orchestral majesty.

Holidays are memorable times for deep reflaction. Joyous reunions and spiritual renewal. Flowers for the holidays burst forth with magical colors, perfect for every season. While the music plays and flowers bloom, inspiring quotations reflecting the five key factors of life - faith, family, friends, fitness and financial - appear at the bottom of the screen.