On my soapbox

The wonderful magnation blog has a quote right now that seems to strike a strong chord and has got me ranting even more about the vagaries of the magazine game. It says:

Hunter S. Thompson once famously said, “The magazine business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.”

Okay, okay, he was actually talking about the music business but there are times when we’re convinced that this analogy could apply equally to the vagaries of the mag distribution game. Now, don’t confuse the industry with the magazines: we love the mags, but we utterly loathe the endless hoops that we need to jump through to get to them.

The post is all about the distribution game but I’d like to add another little (read large) gripe. Those dam magazines that don’t pay their writers. If you send a commission then please follow through with the coin after we have researched, read, written, edited then re-written what we hope will entertain your lovely readers and keep them buying your magazine another day.

The excuses have got to stop. Im waiting for my advertisers to pay. This is the hardest publishing has been in 25 years. Well no shit, do you think we enjoy writing for 50 or 70c per word. (For those of you who write for more than a buck a word I salut you).

Yes we do it because we love it, the thrill of seeing crafted sentences in print, but like hell we do it because we want nothing better than help you sell more copies. Follow through on your word – you obviously budgeted those commissions in there somewhere so perhaps you would like to pay. Because we would like to eat.

I will write for free, in fact I have done so recently and will do again. But I do it only when the artistic pull, the prettiness of the publication, or that really lovely upfront editor approaches, hat in hand, honest as hell, to say..shit we’d love you to write but we just don’t have the bucks.

So I’m adding to magnations cry – get your shit together publishing world. Hmmppphhh…

And an extra shout out to two fabulous publications I just wrote for who are run by people with the decency to be honest….

Spoonful – a happiness companion. So so lovely and run by the delightful Anthea Crook

Remedy Quarterly – a gorgeous food stories driven journal run out of the US by Kelly Carambula

And to those mags that owe me - the name n shame is becoming pretty tempting....

In NYC......

It's a perfectly pleasant 28C in Manhattan,right about now (sigh) and if I was at my dear friend Rosalind's, I would be sitting on her balcony in Tribeca, gossiping, and if it was a perfect world, enjoying a nectar granita with orange blossom cream. This is summer in dessert. Light, lovely and all other world in its simple perfection.

Perfect for when only cake will do

Chips make it hurt less.

I had the sort of hangover that was trying to rob me of life.

I had eggs.

I had chips.

I made a chip omelette.

Is it naff?

Absolutely.

Did it help the hangover?

Completely.

Happy Monday Peeps

Corn. The Switzerland of Food.

Is it just me or is corn the food equivalent of Switzerland? It always complements, knowing to never overstep its mark and outshine the competition unless specifically asked to do so.

I love how it comes dressed for the occasion, in natures suit, as if ready to go to the theatre at a moments notice. And those yellow - tight round kernels - like bursts of sunshine and prozac. Aaggghh so dam happy and easily shined to perfection by a bit of butter and some humble S&P to finish.

Corn. I think I love you.

They call it Mellow Yellow....

All the colours of the rainbow...

So I purchased a vintage 1930s horticultural colour chart and have since become completely obsessed with the beautiful colour names. So much prettier than pms 157...so much so I've decided to cook my way through a few colours starting with the ever so pretty canary yellow.

And so it begins...

I've always been a little hesitant about the blog thing. Posting random comments into the world, wondering if anyone out there is reading/commenting/hissing etc etc. It always seemed a bit lonely to me. I'm happy to follow them sure, just never to write them. Until that is, some powers that be in the publishing world decided to invest in my foodie endeavours and publish my first cookbook.

My cookbook Kitchen Coquette will be launched in November (cue: the crowd goes wild!!!) and so we decided it was time I went online. But I'd like to set a few ground rules, an ethos if you will about this blog.

So...a few things.

• I wont talk inanely about the ins and outs of my day
• But I might talk inanely about the ins and outs of good foodie discoveries, chefs and things that might have some relevance to you if you love your food
• I will post up recipes, as many as I can and as regularly as I can
• I'll upload tips I find out at culinary school
• I'll try to refrain from slogging out celebrities with cookbooks (although I won't promise)
• I'm not a food photographer or food stylist but I like to play pretend. So if it looks off kilter or out of balance, be kind and remember its the recipe that counts

I look forward to meeting you.

.....Hello?

..............Friend?

..................Anyone there?