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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 25 > Entry
It’s all good with fans of domestic diva
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Martha-tinis will be flowing at 10 a.m. Friday when the members of the Atlanta Martha Stewart Good Things Group gather to watch themselves on the domestic diva’s “Martha Stewart Show” (seen locally on WXIA-TV).
The nine-gal group that ranges in age from 19 to 44 will be toasting their trip to New York City this month for two tapings of the daytime show.
“It was a stupendous experience,” Ana Raquel Ruiz, the group’s Powder Springs-based leader, told Buzz. “We were all very impressed with how very organized Martha’s staff is and how clean the studio was.”
Courtesy of Ana Raquel Ruiz
Atlanta Martha Stewart Good Things Group members (from left) Robyn Coward, Darcy Harper, Dawn Klempf, Victoria Clearfield and Shalomie Ruiz and leader Ana Raquel Ruiz celebrate their club’s ninth anniversary at two tapings of Stewart’s show in New York City.
Not surprisingly, the nine-year-old group was first introduced to Stewart and her staff this year when the author came to town to sign copies of “Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook.” Stewart’s people asked the Good Things members to send in a video of themselves. A few weeks later, they received the studio invitation.
On Friday’s show, Stewart asks Ruiz, 44, about the group and asks for “good things” tips from the self-described “Spanglish domestic diva.”
“I told Martha about my food scrapbooking,” Ruiz explains. “My passion is cooking. I have 4,500 cookbooks. I like to document the recipes that I cook, and I take pictures of each dish.”
So what’s exactly in those Martha-tinis?
“Oh, it’s a combination of citrus and vanilla vodka, lime and simple syrup,” Ruiz spills. “I’m the martini queen of the group.”
For Ruiz and her friends, keeping Atlanta’s Good Things group together after Stewart’s much-publicized trial and prison stint was simple: “Martha brought us together. Our friendship is very solid.”
WHAT IS THAT UNFORGIVABLE SMELL?
Look for a new, fancier edition of Atlanta restaurateur Sean “Diddy” Combs fragrance: Unforgivable Multi Platinum.
The new cologne is a limited-edition, amped-up version of Unforgivable, which the 37-year-old rapper-producer introduced last year and watched it become one of the top launches of 2006.
“In the world of fragrances, perfumes and colognes, the actual products we use are based on ‘the juice.’ There are different grades of ‘juice,’ ” Combs said during a recent phone interview. “This is the luxury version.”
He compared it to a fine wine: One year might be a great vintage for a particular wine, and you love it. Then you taste the wine from one of those once-in-a-decade vintages, and you go crazy for it.
Even at $65 for 2.5 ounces, $10 more than the regular version, Unforgivable Multi Platinum is likely to be in short supply.
“I’m definitely attracted to something that won’t be around a long time,” Combs said.
There was no immediate reaction from Diddy’s longtime girlfriend — and a mother of his children — Kim Porter regarding that last quote.
SERENBE’S NEW CHEF
Serenbe braintrust Steve Nygren has snapped up former 103 West chef Hilary White to head the kitchen in the burgeoning Palmetto community that boasts residential living, organic farming and destination eateries south of the city.
Not coincidentally, we suspect, the new restaurant will be named the Hil, and White’s husband, Jim White, has been hired as the restaurant’s manager. We’re told that the Hil is set for an August launch.
‘IDOL’ MARKS A FIRST
In a first, “American Idol” didn’t cut anybody at all Wednesday night.
Indeed, host Ryan Seacrest said the show had raised nearly $30 million for various charities in Africa and the United States before the two-hour special results show had even ended.
The producers basically yanked the viewers’ chains by acting as if they were going to drop somebody. (The consensus on the Web was either Chris Richardson or LaKisha Jones.) In fact, they ended the night with Richardson and favorite Jordin Sparks standing. And for a moment, Seacrest implied that Sparks was out, which would have been truly shocking. But no, he said everybody was safe and that the 70 million votes tallied Tuesday night would be added to next week’s vote. Then, two people will be ousted, leaving four.
The special featured performances by the likes of Rascal Flatts, Josh Groban, former “Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson and a strange duet between a live Celine Dion and a dead Elvis Presley, who was made to look like he was standing next to Dion, at least on camera. For the uninitiated, it was semiconvincing, if not incredibly cheesy.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actress-comedian Carol Burnett is 74. Actor Jet Li is 44. Actor-comedian Kevin James (“The King of Queens”) is 42. Singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of TLC is 37. Country bassist Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts is 36. Incubus drummer Jose Pasillas is 31. Actor Tom Welling (“Smallville”) is 30. Actress Jordana Brewster (“The Fast and the Furious”) is 27.
SICK BAY UPDATE
Film critic Roger Ebert says he won’t miss his annual Overlooked Film Festival in Illinois despite the advice from some who said he should sit out this year.
The 64-year-old’s participation at his film festival this week is expected to be his first public appearance since a cancerous growth was removed from his salivary gland last June. Doctors removed a portion of his jaw in the process and needed to perform a tracheotomy to allow him to breathe. It has left him unable to speak.
“I was told photos of me in this condition would attract the gossip papers,” he wrote in a column published this week in the Chicago Sun-Times. “So what?”
“To paraphrase a line from ‘Raging Bull,’ I ain’t a pretty boy no more,” Ebert wrote.
Ebert will watch the movies from a recliner. He’s written occasional movie reviews since last summer and has called his return to the festival a starting point on the road back to full-time film criticism in print and on the syndicated “Ebert & Roeper” TV show.
Contributing: News services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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