a p p a r e n t l y

My internet connection has been on the blink, so just this gem for now: five ways to enjoy ramps! 

Kemp’s Kitchen: The Top 5 Ways to Eat Ramps — Gourmet Live.

p.s. I hope this resolves itself soon, as my service call is 4 days away.

Sew, Mama, Sew!, one of my favorite blogs, likes this hat that I made with Kaffe Fassett Winding Floral fabric in Green. So many lovely things in this photo pool!

Gourmet Is Back — But Not as a Magazine | Epicenter | Wired.com.

Wired reports that ”At a press event at the Condé Nast building, CEO Chuck Townsend announced the development of Gourmet Live, stressing ‘it is not a magazine, and it is not a digitized version of a magazine.’”

I wait with bated breath. I miss Gourmet, and the issues of Bon Appetit they send me instead just aren’t satisfying that itch.

The question is, with Ruth Reichl be involved? Because for me, Gourmet = Ruth. Her delightfully quirky sensibility permeated every feature in the magazine and made it worth reading. And some quick web research suggests that no, she’s not involved in this project. In fact, according to the Observer, Reichl twittered, “they’re reviving the brand, not the magazine. Pity.”

My interest just dropped considerably, from “enthusiastic and hopeful” to “curious and observant.”

http://live.gourmet.com

For much of my adult life, I have teased my mother about the abundance of magazines in her home. Nearly every chair in the house has a basket or pile of magazines nearby.

It is time for me to admit that I suffer from the same affliction.

I do read every magazine that comes into the house, with the understandable exception of various programming magazines that Mr. Apparently brings home.

I have put myself on a magazine diet, ignoring renewal notices…until they make me an offer I can’t refuse. Martha Stewart Living plus Everyday Food for less than the cost of MSL alone? Oh Martha, you didn’t even need to toss in that free canvas tote.

The Week and I are on a trial separation. Can I justify a magazine subscription that’s over $50 a year? It’s a weekly, and one of my primary sources of news. (Although I suspect that Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me gets much of their news from The Week, too, so I could just start listening again.) They just sent me a “please come back” email that I’m trying to ignore…

Gourmet and Cookie went bust last year, just after I sent my renewal checks, so now I receive Bon Appetit instead. It’s not the most scintillating read, nor is it worth the time it would take to find the phone number and cancel. I do find a recipe or two worth trying in each issue.

Food and Wine and Real Simple were $5 Amazon specials that I was powerless to resist.

Wired, National Geographic, Make and Family Handyman arrive addressed to Mr. Apparently. I read all of them. I miss Craft, which is now published online.

I have jettisoned the knitting magazines, Cook’s Illustrated and The Atlantic. I’m sorry, Atlantic, but too many bitchy-women articles sealed the deal. ReadyMade got the boot when they fired the founders and moved the editorial staff to Des Moines. But if they offer me another $5 deal at the Renegade Craft Fair, I may be forced to reconsider.

My son receives Click and Your Big Backyard. He is the most resourceful of us, paging through his back issues of Wild Animal Baby and Ladybug over and over again.

I don’t know why eBay banned magazine subscription sales, but I am wistful for the days when I could purchase two years of The New Yorker for $25 and three years of The Week for $8. Don’t worry, New Yorker, I will continue to subscribe.

I have a birthday coming up. My resolve is weakening, and I’m off to update my wish list.

Thanks to the kind words of some lovely friends, I had quite a few custom orders for hats this week and have spent most of my time at the sewing machine…

Apparently can’t be bothered to post something witty tonight because she’s just realized that she hasn’t worn her black special occasion shoes since giving birth (i.e., when my feet grew half a size) and suddenly needs a pair available for purchase online and delivered to my home no later than Thursday.