Settle In and Slow Down

Settle In and Slow Down

A national book tour? A month on the road? Me? Well that’s what I just did—a Home Cooking with Kate McDermott Book Tour. It was wild and wonderful. I’ve been back for about a week and as we are well in to autumn, and winter is just around the corner, it’s time for me to settle in, and slow down. What about you?

There’s a pie in the oven right now, and while it bakes, I’ll try and catch you up on a few of the things that happened in the last week or so of the tour. 

Hallmark Home and Family

As you may know, I was on Hallmark Home and Family last week. I made the Winter Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie in just five minutes…with a little help from the amazing kitchen staff on the set who had already pre-made various steps of the recipe. All I had to do was smile, stir, and take an already finished pie out of the oven. What could be easier than that! 

These are the folks who made my Winter Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie so easy to demonstrate on Hallmark Home and Family.

And some of the crew who make the camera and sound magic happen. 

The great audio and camera crew at Hallmark Home and Family.

Here’s the shot of me (in full make up), with the hosts Cameron Mathison and Debbi Matenopoulos. 

As soon as I got back to the hotel, I washed my face and put my regular clothes back on. 

In case you missed my five minutes of fame when it aired, you can see them on endless repeat as many times as you like right here. 😉 

On to Beautiful Santa Barbara

The next day I headed up to beautiful Santa Barbara, my hometown, on the train. It feels a little bitter sweet now as we travelled through areas that were bone dry and parched and I remember thinking, this is a fire waiting to happen. The next day the Malibu fire started not too far away.

When I got off of the train in Santa Barbara, the first thing I asked Laura, who I have known since I was 13, was if she would take me to my favorite restaurant for Chicken Mole Enchiladas. Without missing a beat, we headed off to Los Agaves. and this is what I ate. I dream about this meal all year long! 

It’s kind of a still life of shapes don’t you think?

That night there was a book signing at Chaucer’s Books and many of my long time friends showed up to say hello, and buy books for holiday gifts. Then I flew back north to Pie Cottage and saw the smoke plume of the devastating CampFire in Northern California. 

A Home Cooking Book Club Event

Then there was one quick day trip to Mercer Island near Seattle for a cookbook club event at Island Books last Sunday. They made lots of recipes from Home Cooking and it smelled just like my own home kitchen when I walked in to the store. 

Last Pie Camp of the Year

There will be one last and very special Art of the Pie Day Camp at Carnation Farms near Seattle on December 8th. If you’ve been thinking about coming to learn pie making with me, this will be the last teaching event of 2018. The farm offers some accommodations, too! Reservations through Carnation Farms. 

OK, my pie is just about to come out of the oven, so I’ll sign off for now. Next week I’ll share with you a few more photos and stories from the DC, NYC, Austin parts of the trip. 

Have a great week! 
 Kate

Be sure to take some time to stop and smell the flowers. 🙂