In the past I ordered a cooking magazine or two, and they clogged up my mailbox or nightstand. Then I would go through the recipe page and look up a few. Then, heaven forbid, I couldn’t throw it out because I might never find it again. That has happened to me time and again. But being a blogger, no-one will give permissions to print credited recipes anyway.
Food and Wine gently suggests signing up. My problem is that I only want online access to the magazine to see what’s fresh and new and peruse the archives. I don’t need a tree cut down every month for my reading enjoyment. Some magazines are getting the hint.
But Cooks Illustrated does the hard sell, in my email inbox at least once a day. And now they’re limiting content in the emails they send me. Sorry, this one’s only for members! Ha! Gotcha! Subscribe to our online membership free for a month then we’ll charge you for life unless you spend three weeks calling India for customer support to cancel. Especially after a fellow blogger changed one of their recipes, published it crediting the company and they harassed her mercilessly, saying that their recipe was “perfect” and she had no right to change it.
I don’t work in restaurants anymore. If I want to change a recipe to please my fellow diners, I will do so as needed. No, I’ll do so because I don’t have one item in my pantry or Jim can’t eat anchovies or whatever I feel like doing. Ninety-five percent of the time I don’t use a recipe, just think of something and make it. But I don’t measure so have to do better on that so I can pass my recipes on to you. Should that be New Year’s Resolution #4? We’ll see.
How do you like the blog? It has its ups and downs, in terms of readership, and I thank a number of stalwart readers for writing in with their comments. I was thinking of some changes, not yet solidified, for 2009. What do you think? Hope you’re enjoying a warm and fuzzy weekend with your loved ones. Dee
p.s. Many years ago, on my first home computer, it came with AOL. When I tried to get rid of it, they wouldn’t let me. I spent months on the phone telling them I no longer wanted their service. They always asked “why” and tried to engage me in conversation. Incredibly annoying. It took having my purse (and credit card that paid for AOL) stolen in Italy for them to drop me. I returned with no money, having spent most of New Year’s at the police station or Consulate. But when I went to sign in I had no more AOL and was a happy camper!!!
Cooking with Dee 