Hopleaf

as long as it's reposado, right? Hey, I'm psyched about this thread. I'm gonna try Nuevo Leon. Thanks guajolote. I'm partial to corn tortilla's too. I feel that they have a sweeter flavor than flour and they just seem to marry the flavors of whatever you're eating together much moreso than flour does. Has anyone made corn tortilla's? And I'm dying to get my hands on an authentic mocajete (sorry if I butchered the spelling). any ideas? I heard the cheapest for a good value was at the Maxwell St. Market (is that what' they're calling it since they moved it?). Any other places to find one? This is what we need, a Mexican Food thread in the Heartland. I heard the other day that Hispanics outnumber all others in Chicago now.

when you do the math (never my forté) it makes more sense. But where do you get 80% subscription rate? I missed that.

Thanks guajolote, but I'll get my hands on it. eventually. Maybe I'm just missing it at my dominick's.

which one? I haven't seen it in the one I go to.

In other words, it's an "opt-out" policy. Miss the little check boxes on the subscription form, and your mailbox (e- and snail) are likely to be flooded with offers from who knows where. BTW, CI is only $25/year; CR is $26. CI's annual subscription of 6 issues is $29.70 (I rounded up). The $25 price is their promo rate. The thing I still don't get is how does THIS magazine turn a profit? you can't tell me that they're taking profits out of the ten other magazines and the cooking school, et al, to cover costs on ToH. That's ludicrous. What's the benefit of even publishing this magazine if it depletes from other profit generators? And only having seven staff members obviously reduces some cost, but I'm still wondering about the vast cost of actually producing the mag...printing, postage, etc.

CI seems to manage by charging a whopping $30 for six issues. Not sure what ToH charges, but it can't possibly be that high. Not sure about Consumer Reports.

Steve, I wonder if you have any info on distribution of Martha's new digest-sized magazine? We put out similar publications and haven't found it yet in Chicago. I wonder if it was tested first on the east coast?

Does anyone know how this magazine turns a profit? If there are no ads, where's the money coming from? And don't tell me they rely on subscription and newstand sales...I've always understood that these sales were so minimal that they wouldn't help offset cost and that ads were how mags made money.

That is an excellent point, ideefixe. It's one of the things I try to keep in mind when working on the cookbooks I edit. They're branded recipes that often utilize convenience items but mostly they just highlight products that the average joe is already buying and showing them how to put a good-tasting meal together using one of those products. Frequently my books go straight to the bargain shelves. And at first, I balked at this concept and wanted to do more "high-end" stuff. Eventually, I came to realize that the kind of cookbooks we put out, while not exactly belonging on the same shelf as, say, The French Laundry Cookbook, do definitely serve a purpose and at the very least get people cooking. And whether you're making a mornay sauce from scratch and mixing it up with pasta, or melting a block of Velveeta and mixing it up with pasta, it's still better than opening a box and mixing in the flavoring packet. Anyway, that's the way I look at it. And I don't think this applies only to women. Wouldn't you say there're more men cooking now than ever before? Food has sort of bridged the gender gap, not to mention the collar gap...pink, blue or white.

Christopher Kimball.

So what do you mean by 'cottage garden'? I'm guessing something less deliberate. Are there any typical plants common to a cottage garden? wild flowers? I find it amazing, maggie, that you're sowing seeds while it's this cold. What's the logic behind the 'cold sleep'?

anyone doing anything interesting for their gardens yet? or is it still too early. I've noticed buds on one of my as-of-yet-unidentified bushes. Still, it's a good sign. And I still don't know what to do with those dang hydrangeas. Leaning towards just letting them go for all of this growing season, just to see what I have. So, how about it? maggiethecat? nick? dave? sparrowgrass? snowangel? I'm thinking of repotting an indoor plant, just to get some dirt under my fingernails.

Well, we can definitely agree about that article (the chocolate in savory dishes one from this yesterday's Good Eating). I have a feeling that it was edited pretty bad, chopped down. It seemed to end right when it should've been getting started. And you're right on about the chefs; in particular, I was hoping to hear more from Carrie. My chief complaint about Good Eating is the scale of the spreads. It's like they want to do more art elements than the bread and butter...ahem, punny ...of the newspaper industry, the content (I know, I know, everyone's gonna say the b-n-b of newspapers is actually the advertisements, but you know what I mean!). One place I really make a point to check out every week is the Cheap Eats in Good Eating. They always seem to hit the nail on the head. Also, I think Steve Dolinksky does a bang up job on CLTV (via Good Eating), which is much more palatable than it's print sister mainly because they cover things more in depth. A colleague of mine writes for the Local Palate. Good pub. Hey, I have an idea, let's start a local glossy pub!

Yeah, that's what it's all about. Except in light of this conversation we're having about due exposure, the food takes a back seat to the message. If you don't get the message in front of the right eyes, how will they even know. It doesn't take much to get a press release into the right hands. Or at the very least a simple invitation. If these places you're talking about kick the right amount of ass at the ranges and on the prep tables, they could conceivably send an invitation to an editor (local) to come eat there at any given time and be reasonably confident that they will be impressed. The thing is, if a chef that is impressive enough for someone like you to want him in a big glossy, don't you have to ask yourself what he's doing there and not in NY? And before you lose it on me, let me explain what I mean (I certainly don't mean to imply that your area is less than desirable). There is burnout in the industry. People might love cooking but end up wanting to be in a lower-key environment where they are the top dog. know what I mean? Maybe they're sort of running under the radar so their blood pressure doesn't escalate or something. Or maybe they just don't WANT to work where a publicist is taking them out of a kitchen and in front of a rude restaurant critic asking them pointed, difficult questions.

Aurora, you must be reading the Sun-Times!! I jest, of course (though, I am partial to the Trib). You've expressed your displeasure with the job our local food media does in the past; then and now I don't agree. Are there improvements that can be made to local coverage as well? Of course there is. But that's true of any media city, NY as well. It is about expectations. Learning from the glossies what you think you should've learned from those that leave smudgy ink on your fingers? I suggest that perhaps you missed it. Three (four counting the Daily Southtown) major newspapers in a city and I hasten to guess that you can't be reading all of them. Do they look to others for validation on what's gonna interest their readers, what's hip and en vogue? Let's remember Jeannie McManus' eGullet Q&A from about a year ago in which she told us that she came up through the ranks not through the food section, as might be expected, but through the sports section and, I think, the city desk. She learned that news was irrefutable. It was current, there's a buzz. If that buzz happens to be coming from the glossies, so be it. I don't have any issue with the NY food establishment (glossies included) setting the course. My only arguement is that they stop buzzing for a moment to smell the roses in other cities. joler, I don't think Steve's just saying that it comes down to money. Take a closer look, you might find something different. Steve, I think your right, we did cross-post because after I read yours on 'getting out there,' I agree completely. there has GOT to be some effort on the part of the restaurant, in particular the chef. Long gone are the days when the food will speak for itself, if ever there were. A restaurant hinging success on word-of-mouth alone is destined for failure. At any rate, you give me pause. I'm gonna try to take a different approach with some of your comments in mind. In the same vein, I would hope you keep an eye out for any, um, shall we say, news from the wastelands?

Oh come on, Steve, I vented...at least a little, right? There's no doubt that you make a very convincing arguement. Of what exactly, I'm not sure. My inclination is to understand you to be saying that we should cut The Big Three (Gourmet, Food & Wine and Bon Appetite) some slack, that our expectations shouldn't be that They are as immediately in the loop in the hinterlands as They might be in the trend-setting cities, that we should lower our expectations of Them. well, our expectations are (or at least mine are) based upon the precedent that They Themselves put forth with their coverage of NY/LA/SF. When I subscribed to Gourmet (and perhaps this is the worst example in light of this discussion) a two-year span goes by and nary a word on Chicago? That's not just excessively ignorant, but seems determinately deliberate. And what of their editorial staff block doesn't include a single prominent Chicago food writer/editor. Are you telling me that William Rice couldn't possibly be an assett to Them, if even only as a consultant? Steve, you ask whether or not media are sheep, etc. Sad to say, that's probably the best description for most of them. Having ventured out, formed relationships and fostered business partnerships with many of them for the sinister purpose of advancing my clients brand messages, I know what goes on. Many media types ONLY rely upon PR, waiting for the next media alert or press release to drive them to the next story, many end up brazenly lifting copy DIRECTLY from press materials. That being said, there are quite a few that have made efforts not to become sheep. Many have once been us; discerning media consumers that can smell a puff piece as well as a dirty rat. Those few are the exceptions. But the thing that I'm thinking when you bring up media and sheep in the same sentence is, well, then are you suggesting that if up and coming restauranteers in Chicago (and elsewhere) want to get the coverage that their exceptional food deserves, then all they need to do is a better job of connecting with the sheep? Is there inertia. yes. is it fair? is the lag reasonable? yes. Yes, when there actually is coverage of some sort. Tru, Trio, Spring, etc. these are all examples of restaurants around which the buzz generated enough reverb to be measured on New York's food scene Richter scale. But what of some regular attention. I'm not asking for major feature pieces that extoll Chicago's restaurants above others. I'm asking for regular, consistent coverage. And I don't see this as adding expense. In this day and age it would mearly require an established relationship with those in the know, specifically those food writers here that cover our scene (the same could be established with others in sundry parts of the hinterlands). An email here, an email there. Then when warranted, a trip to my fair city to partake of, say, a relatively unknown but, IMO, an exceptional restaurnat The Outpost (Clark and Newport for any interested). See what I mean? It's about effort. I don't think it's there. Steve, you ask a lot of questions. I hope I've answered a few. Edit: spoilt it rong.

The thing that strikes me most about the bigger food pubs that seem to focus only on NY and California is that when they do publish anything about restaurants anywhere else, they only do so after that restaurant has become quite popular in its own area. Steve, maybe this is at the heart of the issue that I, joler and others are raising. The reports on hotspots in NY and LA or SF are focussed on the cutting edge. Innovators that have just sprung up and are really doing things differently or otherwise making their mark. Conversely, it seems any mention of a Chicago restaurant strikes me as "well, no duh, where have you been?" When Gourmet runs something on Trio or Spring, it just comes off as an afterthought. Are we making an observation steeped in generalizations? Yes, to a degree. But when it becomes the norm to be a day late and a dollar short on mid-western restaurant mentions, the generalization becomes very pointed and accurate. What would the NY dining community say if the first mention of, say, Veritas was three or four years after it opened? They'd be irritated just as we are. I'm not expecting the big three food magazines to open up bureaus here in the Windy City, but at the very least, they could be getting copies of the local papers' food sections from their clipping service.

Taste is a good looking publication, as is most everything Williams-Sonoma puts out. My only problem with is the fact that it's just another marketing arm. It makes me wary of the content. then again, having worked in PR I see it's evil doings everywhere. when 80% of your daily newspaper is generated by public relations professionals, it makes you wonder if anything that's written is true. Cucina Italiana is pretty cool if you're into Italian cuisine. Their website could use some work.

joler, you do have to stay on top of Food Arts in order for them to fulfill your subscription. At my publisher, our assistant managing editor probably called them 5 or 6 times. Guess they finally fulfilled our subscription just to get her off their backs. But, it is a free subscription, after all. So, I can understand them being a little slow about it. Eating Well? It's ok.

I love that show. it's on a terrible night though. Tuesdays at what is it (see, I can't even remember for sure) 7? It should be shown on the weekend. And I too had some misconceptions about Amanda. Thought she was married to Wolfgang. Completely baseless. I think you can fill out a form on the website to get on the show. Go for it, nerissa! Make sure to mention eGullet!

I don't have it, but I've drooled over The French Laundry Cookbook. It's a beaut. Nigella's How to Eat is pretty cool (love the cover...I have the reddish one with four shots), tho very limited in its interior. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook has some very solid food photography going on.

cool, merged threads! So, snowangel, I've been trying to get more information on my hydrangeas and I'm finding that not all hydrangeas get whacked back. Have you heard anything about this? apparently some benefit from a pruning, as you've recommended, but others only bloom from existing flower heads. Right now I'm trying to figure out which variety I have.

Despite my earlier post, I've been leaning toward Sierra lately. Been buying it a lot since Anchor's hard to find in my area. Plus, Sierra's got that added bite with the 5% alcohol. Anchor's still a good beer, though. It'll always be in my top five.

Get the extra firm tofu to use in stir fries. And a helpful tip is to get as much liquid out of the tofu as possible. It's packaged in water which complicates cooking it, especially frying in oil. It'll splatter if there's too much water in it. Plus the texture won't get very interesting beyond it's somewhat gelatinous normal state. The thing to do to drain it well is to put it in something perforated like a collander, and then put some weight on it. #10 cans work well. Once most of the water's been removed, you can either cut it up to fit your needs or flavor it with a thick marinade. We like something that uses honey, vinegar and some spices (any will do cuz tofu doesn't have much flavor to begin with). The silken stuff can be used to make frostings. I think there's a recipe on most packages for that.

Just watch out for the...um...aftermath.