As you might remember, visiting a food magazine test kitchen is something that's been on our list of Culinary Resolutions for two years now.
Last Friday, we finally had the opportunity to make that resolution a reality. Where'd we go? We'll let this photo do to talking:
Yep! We were fortunate enough to be given a tour of the offices of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, in New York. We had the best time! And of course we wanted to share our photos with you.
So come along!
The MSLO offices are expansive, open, airy and bright, with massive windows overlooking the Hudson River and downtown Manhattan. And the kitchens! Oh, the kitchens...
All of the kitchens (each MSLO magazine has its own) were expansive and light-filled and so organized and more than a little jealousy-inducing. Can you imagine cooking in there??
Because it was just before a long holiday weekend, the kitchens were mostly quiet. But one of them, the Everyday Food kitchen, was hopping with activity. Seven or eight Everyday Food editors were busily cooking away. Wanna know what they were making?
Thanksgiving dinner! (That's one of the Everyday Food team checking on a beautifully browned turkey.) Even though we know, of course, that food magazines must work far in advance, it was still striking to see a Thanksgiving turkey in May.
And speaking of planning ahead, we loved seeing this board, which we're sure will soon be filled with stories and photography spreads.
The rest of the office space was equally as cool as the kitchens.
Throughout the office, test pages for upcoming books and issues of magazines were pinned to the walls.
The photo above is what the staff calls the "celestory," a massive open loft that's used for new product launches, special events and other occasions.
We even got to go up on the roof! It was an amazing view, even on a foggy, muggy morning.
It's hard to tell from these photos, but the roof is a beautiful, finished space where the MSLO staff hosts occasional meetings and parties. Not too long ago, they had a party where they created a cricket field on the roof. ("Play cricket with Martha Stewart" may now become one of our future resolutions...)
The roof was covered with pretty planters filled with succulents and fresh herbs.
The coolest thing we saw that we can't show you? That would be the prop house, where the editors store every dish, every cake stand, every platter, candlestick, chair, tablecloth -- everything they've ever used or think they might use. It's incredible. And it's organized like you can't imagine. We weren't allowed to snap photos in the prop house, but Martha's blog offered a photo tour of the prop house a few years back. (If those photos don't show up for you for some reason, try clicking on each individual photo. You should be able to see them that way.)
As unabashed fans of the brand, we just loved getting to see inside the Martha offices! So many creative people doing neat things in the same space -- it really seems like the kind of place you'd love to go to work every day. And our apartment kitchen has never seemed smaller or less equipped by comparison...
Huge, huge thanks to our great tour guide Lauren. It was a treat to see the kitchens and the whole office, and we loved meeting so many terrific people. Thanks, Lauren!
Just because we checked "tour a food magazine kitchen" off our list of resolutions, though, doesn't mean we're necessarily done. Who knows, there may be other test kitchen visits on the horizon....
