Monday, February 27, 2012

An Affair With Magazines

I am a bit of a magazine junkie, though I hate the term as it insinuates something negative.  A magazine lover?  Whichever, I believe it started with Seventeen magazine, at a much earlier age then seventeen and grew from there.  Surprisingly, though I love them, I am only subscribed to one food magazine.   I tend to wait for the magazine to offer a special subscription price before I hop on board, and now I am at the point that if I add on another I will never read them all.  There are of course months that I skip an issue or two, but for the most part I always get around to reading each one.

Sacramento is lucky enough to have two local magazines

I love opening the mailbox to find a new one, I love the short and to the point articles, I love the pictures, I love it all.  They are happy little vacations from the many books that I seem to always have wrapping up my attention.  Those are some of the reasons that I get subscriptions, the other is that I really, really want journalists and writers to have jobs, and I want to keep these magazines in existence.  Each year it gets harder and harder for print media to stay in business, and along with them the shops and individuals that make them available to us.  Everyone in the food community remembers when the closure of Gourmet magazine was announced, and closer to home for us in Sacramento the awesome and unique midtown magazine shop Newsbeat that closed down just a few months ago.


There is something to be said for a really well written article, and just as importantly a perfectly shot photo.  Though I love books, magazines hold a special place in my reading time, that sexy half hour vacation where everything is pretty and interesting and so perfectly propped, placed and posed.  Can’t help but love them.

Currently my magazine subscriptions include:

Food & Wine  (got a great holiday offer and so far so good, man love those pictures!)
Ms. Magazine ( A Christmas present from my husband, the feminist that he is. I have wanted this one for years and never subscribed)
Marie Claire (Gotta get my beauty tips somewhere J
Sacramento Magazine
Sac town  (seriously I live in a town that has two magazines!  I think it is shameful to live here and not support these two great local magazines)
Bottom Line Personal ( A Christmas present from my dad, and I love the random things I learn with each issue)
Lucky Peach ( though I don’t have a subscription yet, I am loving this brand new food mag, and I think, it is a new essential for any lover of food writing)

So, what are your favorites?  Do you subscribe to the print edition, buy it off the stands, read it online, or subscribe to the  digital edition?

Another yearly favorite of mine:

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Monday, February 20, 2012

Libraries and Oranges



 

So, I have been away from the blog for sometime, it’s true.  But, they gave me a library.  Seriously, a whole library, that is all mine.  I get to make all the decisions and plan all the programs, I even get to make the displays and pick out the stories for story time.


I have been a little distracted to say the least.  More than distracted, I have been in love.  If I were to have written down all of the things I wanted in a job, I probably would not have thought of half of the things that I love about this job.  I am running an entire elementary school library, and I am the only one in there, thus making most decisions on my own, and also figuring it all out as I go.  Sadly, due to budget restraints, it is only a part time position, which you would not know by everything I have been able to pull off.  One book, One School anyone?

This job is by far more perfect for me than I could have hoped for, and though there is the very real threat of budget problems that make this job a bit insecure, I am so, so happy that I have it.  This should not mean that I let the other things I love fall to the wayside, like The Literary Foodie, but that is what I have done .  I have the tendency to put all of my energy, creativity, and thought into whatever major project I have going and not leaving much left over.



But then the orange trees started producing fruit.  And producing.  And producing.  You may remember from my little rant last year, Pick Your Damn Fruit, Or How I Love Winter in Sacramento,  how strongly I feel about the fact that I live in a place that oranges grow.  This year I had the good idea of putting a request on freecycle to pick peoples citrus fruit that they are not eating.  I got a pretty awesome response and so, every few days Rob and I have gone to different homes in Sacramento to pick from different trees. We have ended up with yellow grapefruits, lemons, and bags and bags of oranges.



As you have figured out, when I have a large quantity of something I see it as a project, and these oranges were no different.  Now that I am not (as) afraid of canning, that is what we decided to do.  The results?


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4 4oz & 2 16oz jars of Orange Beet Chutney from this recipe
3 4oz & 1 16oz jars of Morning Cheer Marmalade from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
2 16oz jars of Honey-Orange Slices from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Two trays of Candied Orange Slices from this recipe

(with hopes of doing an orange and lemon curd in the next few days)

So, not that I needed any, but February is yet again giving me more reasons that I love living in California.  I can’t make any promises, but I hope to start learning some time management so that I can actually do all of the things that I love to do.  We will see. 

But, seriously, MY OWN LIBRARY!