Information Aquisition

There are moments in time when I feel like no matter how much time there is in any given day I cannot possibly catch up with all the reading littering my magazine and newspaper piles. The New Yorker comes every week and I am loathe to recycle them until I have leafed through making sure there are no pieces that will change my life.

Then there's my Saveur subscription which, no matter how poorly I feel they cover the sweet world, I cannot seem to end my expensive glossy habit. Food & Wine makes up for Saveur because at least they know that pastry chefs exist. Although I shake my head every time the "Best Chefs" cover arrives. From the look of things they find it very hard to find any women or people of color in professional kitchens! Let me just tell you, dear readers, we are not as scant as they would like the rest of America to believe! And, wouldn't you know it, that ONE female chef on the cover of the most recent F&W made the one and only dessert in the entire spread. It's like a Shakespearian play where everyone dies at the end.

Some of the best pastry chefs in the world are men, but you wouldn't know that either by looking at American food magazines.

Martha Stewart Living reminds us all that having more than a few houses in the country can be hard work. But here's a strong woman, my god, and at least She puts desserts on the cover of her magazine! Photo shoots worth their weight in edible gold leaf and food stylists which would make even Donna Hay jealous.

San Francisco Magazine, now the size of a coffee table book, dedicates more than its fair share of pages to chefs and restaurant's goings on. I spot the infamous Jan Newberry (Food Editor) at  farmer's markets, the Ferry Building, strolling through Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto and noshing on 18th street frequently. I admit I have a thing for the curly red-headed women and their delicious freckles.

And then Gourmet shows up. With Ruth Reichl at the helm, the magazine now guarantees in depth articles and a produce issue that never ceases to delight and teach me. Just a few weeks ago I quoted a September 2000 article about stone fruit breeding. My issue is still in mint condition.

I take Gourmet to bed with me as I want to give those words my full attention.

Last week my father and stepmother sent me the May 28, 2006 NY Times Book review. Have you seen it? A Warhol-esque cover depicts a Heinz Ketchup bottle but instead of tomato contents the text reads, The Food Issue.

Heat, Bill Buford's book about delving deep into professional cooking kitchen bowels is reviewed. I have to get this of course, but when will I have time to read it? Amanda Hesser, my fantasy future ex girlfriend, reviews new cookbooks I should buy.  I like that she has a sense of humour.  Geoffrey Zakarian's Town & Country, named after his two NY restaurants looks great, as does Vegetable Soups by Deborah Madison. (Feel free to buy these right now from my handsome little Powell's link...) Even if you buy these next year you will have delved farther into them than if I pick them up tomorrow. I also love the spread where different people are asked about favourite out-of-print books they wish would be printed forever. As Snoopy would say, this warmed the cookies of my heart.

Marion Nestle's new 611 page book, What To Eat, was even reviewed. One does wonder though, does the reviewer even have time to read? Does the NY Times allow cliff notes?

So with all this food reading, recipe testing, late night Netflix watching, reading blogs, social activities, working, writing, sleeping, bathing, you can imagine  I have little time for world news.

This is why everyone should have what I have. A Cute Newsy Boi. I know a slip of a smart fey brrrrl who reads the NY Times every morning without fail, sending me a few paragraphs highlighting self chosen stories and headlines. Although on Wednesdays he only reads his obsession, Mr. Frank Bruni. Knowing it's the day I do buy the NY Times and also the SF Chronicle (food section day), Cute Newsy Boi takes the day off.

Here are a sampling of his fine wares:

Friday June 16:

"Both democrats and republicans in this years congressional elections are placing their attention on the burbs as new breeding grounds for potential votes. The burbs used to be republican turf but times are a'changing and now it's a free for all."

Thursday June 8, 2006:

"There's a lovely article about Chile prez, Michelle Bachelet - it's more of a summary of her/portrait piece than a news article.  This is interesting because she's having a hell of a time right now due to the rather violent student protests but the article hardly mentions that.  It is, however, a great article.  We see her emphasis on pluralism and hesitancy about being the U.S.'s "teacher's pet".  Right now, Bush is pressuring Bachelet to vote for Guatemala against Venezuela for the new representative spot on the United Nations Security Council.  Bush is actually using it as a threat against Chile, saying relations will suffer between the two of them if they don't do what he says. 

So far she seems pretty darn wonderful.  Yes, she's a socialist and yes she and her family were tortured
during the Pinochet regime.  But she says, about the U.S. "There is no rancor." "I knew how to differentiate between people and policies."

Can you imagine Bush using the word "rancor"?
Correctly?

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, there's an increase in illegal Latino workers.  Pre-Katrina, there wasn't a
big Latino population in New Orleans, but now the workforce there is about 45% Latino folks who've
arrived hoping to get work cleaning storm debris and building homes.

Do you see the irony?

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If you have any hints about how you catch up with your reading, I am open to suggestions!

 

Comments

[Amy]

My suggestion is you expand your reading to include the fab food glossies of England and Australia they are divine and often give more inches to sweets. Check out Fresh and BBC Good Food. Better yet I'll stop by and give you a sample--you know the drill the first one is free...

[lori]

I noticed that about Food & Wine, too. Sigh.

[Sean]

I am perennially and hopelessly behind on my reading. But I agree that Gourmet pretty much leads the pack -- not only are the articles in-depth, I find the art direction just keeps getting better and better. This year so far has really blown me away.

[Sarah]

Shuna

First, thank you for your blog. You are an inspiration to me. And to know that you craft tasty treats in my neighborhood... WOW. I will be at Poulet soon.

I share your angst re: reading. For me, it is more about picking up that Businessweek when Living or Saveur are twinkling enticingly at me.

Here's what I do. Read food magazines in bath every morning. Wake up early enough to take said bath. No, none of my food mags are in pristine condition, although I have every issue of Gourmet, Living and Saveur going back to 1999.

Read BizWeek hurriedly between 12 and 2 PM, during phantom lunch hour. Use highlighter prodigiously - hastens reading process.

Hmmm... contemplate change in career.

Cheers.

[cookiecrumb]

Even if you retire from working, you still can't read it all. But don't throw them away. (Hint: I check good books out of the library so I don't have to buy them; the due date forces me to either read them or admit I'm not interested enough.)
I love your Newsy Boi's clips. I'd say I need a Cute Newsy Boi, but I've got DailyKos.
:D

[Kat]

I dearly love things in print, but feel SO bad purchasing magazines...it's like I can hear the trees going tsk tsk as I walk by. Thank goodness for RSS syndication. I only wish more print publications offered this alternative.

Although that doesn't solve the problem of never having enough time. heh

[erin]

Shuna--no tips really, just commiseration. Unfortunately, my job is dependent on keeping up with the news so I force myself to read scary articles about nukes and Iraq before I read the food section on Wednesdays. I like to think of the food section as the reward :) One thing that helps me is making sure to always keep a magazine or two in my bag so if I get stuck waiting for an appointment, sitting on the bus, etc, I can use my time constructively!

[lobstersquad]

SO jealous of all the magazines. The choice here in Spain is pretty limited, so I can be restrained. But then go crazy on Amazon, of course.

[lindy]

My problem is usually more that I have to control the reading so I can catch up on my life.
I find not watching real time tv at all gives me more time for other things. It works pretty well. Tv news is so sucky, and I do have a radio for emergency events.
I am thinking about cancelling my cable tv. I can't even get network tv without it, but I can still watch anything I really want on dvd later, from netflix, or the like.

[Aaron]

If you buy Bill Buford's book, you'll find time to read it. Someone gave it to me and I thought...great just what I need, another book...then I finished it that day.
Skip Deborah Madison's soups. It has great pictures, but all the recipes appear (or w/ slight variation) in her other fantastic and much more expansive books.

[melissa]

how about a nice long plane ride?
melissa

[haddock]

I usually save my magazines up for trips to SF and carry them around so if the GM becomes absorbed in comparing items while shopping I've got something tasty on hand.

I have in addition to my "normal" reading load of the abovementioned mags, a huge whopping stack of books, which if piled on top of each other would be taller than me. Yes, hardly a vertical acheivement but a considerable amount of words.

Plus, I try to be mindful of the real truth that obsessive pursuit of a single interest leads to stultification.

Not mention my life will be completely different in about a month.

[Jennifer]

Is that your magazine rack?! Do you really have a magazine rack in your kitchen? So cute. I love it. It makes them all look very organized.

I have stacks. Stacks and stacks and stacks. Which I lug around to different rooms, artfully switching the one on top to match the room decor. I am a magazine junky - the design is so wonderful, so cutting edge - think Flaunt or Nest - that I simply can't toss them.

I'm with Lindy about giving up TV - more time to read!

[Julie]

Hi Shuna,
Funny column. I too have a love/hate relationship with the food maggies. I cannot cancel my subscription to Food and Wine, and I do admit I love the Best New Chefs issue, but the one token woman always shivers my feminist timbers. I am definitely more of a cooker than a baker, but I feel your pain. Pandering to the popular concept of traditional gender roles stinks. After hearing your endorsement of Gourmet, I'm tempted to subscribe...
I enjoy your blog.
Julie

[ann]

what was your handle on chowhound? I want to read your old posts.

[shuna fish lydon]

Ann--

Sailorbuoys.
I think some-many of my posts were erased because I was considered a Bad Boy, but that's who I go by when I'm there.

[katie]

Could your blog get any better?!

and I agree, the token woman on the cover of Food and Wine definitely made me gag.

[Ben]

Was there a link to Cute Newsy Boi? I don't see it. I'd love to see him..er, it.

[shuna fish lydon]

The Newsy Boi is not a link, he's a friend. Wish you had one? Find someone who loves to read the NY Times every day, has a sharp wit and can type.