Food magazines? Remember them? Sure, there are still a few around. But the print versions have certainly fallen off.

Back in the day, we had a long, full career with food magazines, including being contributing editors and columnists for some of the biggest. Do we have stories to tell!

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of three dozen (and counting) cookbooks. We've written over ten thousand recipes for magazines. And we're so glad you're willing to share our passion for food and cooking!

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[00:54] Our one-minute cooking tip: Have the supermarket butcher unwrap shrink-wrapped meat to make sure it's still good.

[02:54] We're laughing through our stories about writing for food magazines!

[24:19] What’s making us happy in food this week? Our new cookbook that's out in the summer of 2025, as well as vintage port.

Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast

2

Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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And I'm Mark Scarborough, and

together with Bruce, we have

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written so many cookbooks.

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We've published, I don't know,

probably written tens, literally tens

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of thousands of original recipes.

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If not hundreds of thousands.

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No, it's not that high, but

it's in the tens of thousands.

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I used to keep track.

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I don't even keep track anymore.

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Um, we've had a long career, about

25 years in the food business,

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and this is our podcast about

that passion, food and cooking.

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We are so glad you've joined us.

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We've got a one minute clip.

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cooking tip up ahead.

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We're going to talk about our career

in writing for food magazines,

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something that has gone away.

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Mostly food magazines.

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Most of these are now gone by the

wayside, but we'll tell you some actually

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funny stories from the two decades

in which we wrote for food magazines.

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And then we'll tell you what's

making us happy in food this week.

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So let's get started.

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Our one minute cooking tip.

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If you're buying meat at the supermarket

and it's pre wrapped, pre shrink wrapped,

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not like it's been wrapped behind the

butcher counter, but you know they

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brought it in shrink wrapped like the way

a turkey is or a duck or a leg of lamb.

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Don't be afraid to ask the butcher

to open that package for you.

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You want to make sure it smells good.

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You know how many times I have brought

a leg of lamb home and opened it

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and it smelled like rotted meat.

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So if you ask them to open it and

it's good, they could just rewrap

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it and put a price on it for you.

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And you don't get home and

get stuck with some rotten.

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Mark: Yeah, this particularly goes

for turkeys, as you say, for legs

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of lamb, for those lamb shoulder

roasts that are prepackaged.

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Oh, it happened with a

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Bruce: rabbit once.

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It was so nasty.

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Mark: Yeah, it happened with a rabbit.

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Not that, again, as Bruce says, not the

stuff that's sitting on the styrofoam

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trays that's wrapped in the meat counter.

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But if you know this thing came in

from afar, just ask them to unwrap it.

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There's a butcher back there.

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And they'll do it in a minute if they

don't want to go to another store.

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Yeah.

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And mostly they're

looking for things to do.

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So just ask him to do it and

they'll be glad to do it.

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And you can tell immediately if the thing

has gone off, don't waste your money.

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All right.

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Before we get to that next

segment of this podcast, let me

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say that we do have a newsletter.

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It comes out.

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I don't know.

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I used to say every two weeks, maybe

now once a month, because I'm in

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the middle of the design of our next

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So I, I haven't had a minute

to spare to write a newsletter.

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But if you want to sign up for that

newsletter, which is not really connected

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to this podcast, you can find how to

do so on our website, bruceandmark.

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com or cookingwithbruceandmark.

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com.

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Scroll down the splash page or the landing

page that you'll see at the bottom,

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a way to sign up for the newsletter.

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Just to remind you, I don't collect

your email, nor do I allow the

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provider MailChimp to collect it so

it can't be sold to other services.

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You can always unsubscribe.

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at any time.

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We're happy to have you

along for the newsletter too.

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Okay, let's tell some tales

about writing for food magazines.

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I get to start.

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Okay.

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Um, so I want to talk about writing for

cooking light, which is now long gone.

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Oh, we

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Bruce: used to write so much for them.

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Every issue we had a column.

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Yeah.

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We had a column in every issue, and

we got to write other features for

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them, and it was a really, really nice

relationship we had, and we had a great

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relationship with our editor there.

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Mark: We did, and she was

a great editor to have.

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She was very forthright and honest,

which is what you want in an editor.

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She was very serious

about pitches as writers.

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You want this, somebody who

looks over the pitches and goes

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no or yes, which you don't want.

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As a writer, in case you don't know

this, is you don't want equivocation,

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or you don't want long delay, like

a month later, she hasn't even

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said anything about your pitches.

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For feature articles, you want somebody

who's, you know, back in a few days

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and goes, nope, no thanks for all

of these, or yeah, this is great.

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The third one looks good,

and let's talk about it.

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That's what you want.

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It's just a fast, easy response.

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Bruce: And you have this relationship,

usually long distance, because

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not everybody lives where you do.

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I mean, we were in New York,

and you would think, oh, it's a

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food magazine there in New York.

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Nope.

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Cooking Light was based in

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Mark: Alabama.

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Yeah.

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Well, and I want to tell you before

we get to Cooking Light about

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a little side point about this.

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When I say that we pitched

magazines, this is is what we did.

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Um, we were a contributing editor

for years to, uh, eating well,

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but we still pitched the food

editor ideas for feature articles.

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I mean, we had to come up with the

subject matter of the content and we

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were out to dinner once with a very

prominent and snotty couple who wrote

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cookbooks and food magazine articles.

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And I was talking about this very thing.

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And he, the man of this couple,

looked across the table.

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at me with this withering look,

and he said, We do not pitch.

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And I thought, Oh God, okay, great.

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You're way more important than I am.

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I still have to get an editor to

approve of what I'm gonna write.

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But, okay, yes, that was us.

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We did pitch.

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So, we would pitch cooking a lot

of these stories, and one time we

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were at the International Barbecue,

Expo in Atlanta and we drove over

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to Cooking Light in Alabama, right?

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Yeah.

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And we drove over to where they

were and we met our editor.

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Finally met her because we'd never, we'd

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Bruce: only ever, you know, email.

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Mark: You know, I was deathly

afraid of meeting her because,

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you know, it's Cooking Light.

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So I'm like, God, what are

we going to have for lunch?

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I better have like celery or

a glass of water or something.

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Half an aspirin.

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And I was like, are you

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Bruce: kidding?

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She's going to take us to some,

you know, place where we're

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going to be served a carrot.

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Right, and I was like,

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Mark: I don't want to fill

up on a whole aspirin.

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Why don't you just give me a half of one?

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Bruce: Instead this woman took us to Two

kind of two different barbecue restaurants

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because she felt that the brisket and the

ribs she couldn't decide which were better

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So we had to eat them all at both The

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Mark (2): second restaurant part of going

to this two barbecue restaurants from

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one lunch and the second restaurant for

cooking light The second restaurant it was

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Mark: all going there also because they

had this giant cream cake and she wanted

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to get a huge slice And eat it, and I was

like, okay, so much for my theory about

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aspirins or carrots or celery or whatever.

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So, what have

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Mark (2): we learned today?

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Mark: What have we learned

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Mark (2): today is that, uh, the editors

at Cooking Light, they may have cooked

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light, but they didn't eat light.

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I was like, holy crow,

I can't eat two barbecue

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Bruce: meals in one sitting.

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That woman also loved her bourbon.

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Mark (2): Yes, she did.

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She

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Bruce: did.

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Loved her bourbon.

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She did.

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Mark: Um, for years, we

wrote for Wine Spectator.

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In fact, you might consider that

really our first magazine gig

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is writing for Wine Spectator.

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And it was really a bit of a posh gig.

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Oh, it was fabulous.

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Because, uh, it was back in the day where

you had to be totally anonymous, and we

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were writing food and travel articles for

them, and we had to do the whole thing

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of just being absolutely under the radar.

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We'll tell you about that in a minute.

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And it was very old school.

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This is so old school that in

writing for Wine Spectator, we

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were given an expense account.

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Bruce: Well, we had to pay for

all those meals we were reviewing.

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But this is the best.

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The funniest thing about, here we

are writing for Wine Spectator and

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we did not get to write about wine.

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Mark: No.

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Bruce: We were disallowed

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Mark: from writing about wine.

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We weren't the wine experts, we

were the food and travel experts.

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We weren't James Suckling and all these

really important people who raided wines.

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And so, we had to write this.

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these reviews, let's say that we did

this whole piece on the Vaucluse, this

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region of France and we had to go to all

these beautiful restaurants with these

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giant wine lists, oh I have to tell

you about it in a minute, with these

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giant wine lists and then, you know,

we would review the meal that we ate

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anonymously and stayed anonymously, paid

for it, paid for ourself, we couldn't,

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you know, accept anything for free.

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They didn't get to know who we were.

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No, exactly.

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Exactly.

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And then.

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Afterwards, I would reveal myself to them

and say, okay, this is who we are, but

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this was a great, this article and you

know, I, I described the vocaloos and

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the hotels and the restaurants and all

that, and then I literally had to leave

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space in the article that says, you know,

copy about wine goes here because of

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course they would look at the wine list.

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And this is one of the things that

I think is so funny about writing

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for spectator when we did it.

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So we would, after.

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eating dinner at a restaurant.

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Then I would call them the

next day or drop by and I would

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say, okay, here's the truth.

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We were critics for Wine Spectator.

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We're writing an article

about this region of France.

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We'd like to include your restaurant.

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And most importantly, what

I need is your wine list.

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So I went.

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to this one.

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We went to this one restaurant, had a

spectacular meal in the south of France.

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At the end of it, I asked, uh,

well, the next day, actually,

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I asked for the wine list.

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The wine list, just to tell you, it

was 175 pages long, 175 pages of wines.

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And we were traveling and I wasn't going

to carry this thing around and they

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didn't offer it to me anyway, right?

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This is a fancy restaurant with like, Two

wine lists, you know, two copies of it.

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So I asked her to fax it to us.

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Remember fax machines?

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Yes.

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Remember the

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Bruce: paper that rolled up?

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So what happened?

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So we got home after three weeks

of this trip, and the fax machine

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was on my desk in the foyer of our

apartment, and there were hundreds

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and hundreds of scrolled paper.

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Out of order, out of

sequence, on the floor.

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In that, that glisteny kind of pseudo

wet paper that fax machines would

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Mark: spit out.

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We had to pick them up

and put them in order.

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And put them in order.

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That was the

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Mark (2): kicker.

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Is it 175 pages?

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Mark: And I was trying to figure

out, okay, wait, what's the And

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it's not necessarily paginated.

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So, I'm like, oh, my gosh,

how do I put this thing in

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Bruce: order to give to my editor?

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And when we went back to that place

to talk to them afterwards, to

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actually talk to the chef, he was

like, oh, have a glass of champagne.

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I'm like, no.

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We can't even now, after the

fact, we cannot even have a

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glass of champagne with you.

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Absolutely nothing.

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Which is why it was a little bizarre

when we wrote an article for Wine

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Spectator about Austin, Texas.

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Mmm.

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Um, if you don't know me, if you

haven't heard enough stories about

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me, I am always looking for a deal.

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And a bargain.

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And we were going to review these

hotels in Austin and restaurants,

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and I wanted to stay at the Driscoll,

which is a really, really nice hotel.

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Mark: Really old school hotel.

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I mean, so old school in Austin, if

you don't know the history of Austin.

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This is where LBJ, Lyndon Baines

Johnson, would hang out in the lobby

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and essentially make legislative

deals when he was a state legislator,

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and then even when he was a

congressman and a senator from Texas.

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Bruce: You know, our expense account paid

for the nice meals, but it didn't really

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allow us to stay in the best of hotels.

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Mark: Well, okay, let me back up

and say, so Spectator put us on an

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expense account, which is really

lovely, and it would have been a

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generous expense account for one hotel.

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person.

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But there were the two of us.

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We came as a pair.

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So we had a split.

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We took what one writer would get

back in the days of expense accounts.

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And then we had to get a double room.

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We had to eat twice as

much food, all that kind of

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Bruce: stuff in the

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Mark: restaurant.

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Bruce: So I called the marketing

director at the Driscoll.

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And I said, look, here's the deal, Mark

and I are going to be writing an article

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in Austin for Wine Spectator and I

want to stay at the Driscoll, which was

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breaking the rules immediately there,

and I asked him what kind of deal he

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could give me, and he ended up saying,

you know, he gave me a really good deal

271

on this room, and we ended up showing

up at the hotel, and basically that Good

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deal, which I thought was per night.

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He was only charging us for the whole

stay, and he was including dinner.

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Like, 99 bucks for like for

three nights, three or four

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nights, plus one night dinner.

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And it was going to be a

big tasting menu dinner.

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And

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Mark: mind you, here's

how unethical this is.

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He's charging us 99 for four nights.

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And yes, we're going to eat in his

restaurant one night, but we're going

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to go to other Austin restaurants.

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So we're staying on his dime to

review other restaurants in Austin.

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Oh, it was terrible.

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So.

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Uh, we weren't married yet, but

we had a relationship loudness

286

over this when I got there.

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So

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Bruce: we go down to the dining

room now, and usually this is

289

supposed to be anonymous, right?

290

The chefs don't have to know who we are.

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And I told him the chef

may not know who we are.

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Of course, he said, no, no problem.

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I will keep you anonymous.

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At our table was a little

sign that says the Driscoll.

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Welcomes

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Mark: Wine Spectator.

297

So, right, you're supposed to be

anonymous, like the old days with

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Ruth Reichel, when she would, like,

put on the wigs and the dresses,

299

and nobody would know who she was

dining in New York restaurants.

300

Okay, it's supposed to be like that.

301

Not quite that bad, because we're not

a known quantity like Ruth Reichel was.

302

But still, we're supposed to be totally

anonymous, and there on the table was

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this thing, uh, just glowed, a Welcomes

Wine Spectator, and I was like, Oh my God!

304

Oh, my God, we're going

to be fired from this

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Bruce: gig.

306

The chef comes out.

307

And by the way, the head chef

was off that night, but I brought

308

him in just to cook for us.

309

And he had planned a

12 course menu for us.

310

Now, if you've listened to us talk

before, there are certain things

311

I don't like to eat and don't eat.

312

And so I told him things I don't eat.

313

He just freaked out.

314

He ran, he thought it was a test.

315

He ran back to the kitchen

and they had to rethink it.

316

And it was a fabulous meal.

317

And luckily we kind of kept

it as honest as we could.

318

We did.

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Mark: We wrote about it in Spectator.

320

But now even this many years

later, this is like 20 years later.

321

No, 25 years later, I'm still

just super embarrassed by it.

322

It just makes me cringe inside.

323

It was, it was a great gig with Spectator.

324

It was.

325

But, uh, we were definitely

the non cool kids on the block.

326

Oh, I have to tell you

this about Spectator.

327

They had their big offices in

New York City and the, uh, Marvin

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Shakin owned Wine Spectator.

329

He owns Cigar Aficionado, several of

these really high end magazines and

330

at the time, and so we went up to the

offices and you walked into the Wine

331

Spectator offices and there was this

giant glassed in wine cellar and like an.

332

Idiot Rube from Texas, which I probably

am an idiot Rube from Texas I walk

333

up to the glass wine cellar and I

look down and I see this bottle of

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like 1889 Bordeaux literally like

335

to my editor and say is that real?

336

Yeah, cuz they're gonna

have a fake bottle there.

337

It's like a wine spectator.

338

It was so Overwhelming.

339

I thought, wait, what?

340

What is this?

341

This cellar of wine that's in the, in

the reception area of Wine Spectator.

342

Yeah,

343

Bruce: I will say that when we

came up with ideas and we pitched

344

our editor at Wine Spectator for

articles, it was actually a lot of fun.

345

And it was It's easier than pitching

food magazines because food magazines,

346

you're thinking about, okay, let's do an

article on turkey leftovers, or let's do

347

an article of what to do with cranberries

or something, you know, really weird.

348

For instance, with fine cooking once

we had written a ham book and we said,

349

let's do a ham thing and let's replace

turkeys at the holiday with ham.

350

And they did an article where they

recreated the Norman Rockwell painting

351

freedom from want where the mom is

putting the turkey down on the table.

352

That was me.

353

The mom.

354

And then I was there to carve

it, and it was like him.

355

Precious is the dad.

356

Yeah, well, what are you gonna do?

357

So those, it's very different when

we were pitching for Spectator,

358

so we had this brilliant idea.

359

Look at a place like Cannes, you know,

it's a fancy resort place in France.

360

It's a fancy resort.

361

What is it like without the festival?

362

What, what is a city like?

363

What's Cannes without the film festival?

364

What is it without the festival?

365

Are the restaurants still there?

366

Are they still good?

367

Well, they are, but what are they doing?

368

Are they, what are they doing?

369

Are they still up to game?

370

So we pitched that and we wrote a

piece on Cannes without the festival.

371

And that whole problem of two

of us and one expense account

372

reared its ugly head, didn't it?

373

Mark: Yes, we could afford to eat

in the really high end restaurants

374

we were expected to eat in.

375

I mean, we're expected to eat in

two and three Michelin starred

376

restaurants for these articles.

377

So, really high end.

378

You're spending a ton of money on dinner.

379

And we were expected to

order really nice wine.

380

We had to show the bills

that we had bought.

381

Really nice bottles of wine.

382

Even though we couldn't write about it.

383

Even though we couldn't

write about the wine.

384

We had to show the bills

that we had bought.

385

Um, our editor preferred it when we

bought two bottles of expensive wine.

386

So there you go.

387

So we had to do all of that, but given

that there were two of us eating in these

388

really high end places, the budget was

eaten up and we couldn't afford a hotel.

389

So we paid for a hotel out of our

fee, not our expense account, our fee.

390

And so of course we tried to

find a really cheap hotel.

391

And

392

Bruce: we did.

393

There are cheap hotels in Cannes.

394

Did you know that?

395

Oh my god, like a

396

Mark: hotel so cheap I

wouldn't have stayed there as

397

a traveling college student,

398

Bruce: so come on.

399

No, a hotel where you're going to sleep in

your clothes and shower in your sneakers.

400

And it was above some Moroccan nightclub.

401

It was.

402

And I could swear they were slaughtering

a camel every night down there.

403

Mark: There were always these gangs

of motorcycle guys, guys on really

404

loud motorcycles, on the middle of the

night, whipping away from this bar,

405

and I always referred to them as the

Prince of Morocco and his entourage,

406

because I'm like, what is going on down

407

Bruce: there?

408

Loud music banging up in our

409

room.

410

Bruce: So the dichotomy of going

to these three star restaurants and

411

eating like princes and then going

back to this disgusting no star hovel.

412

Mark: We went to this one

restaurant once for a spectator

413

in, uh, nearby Aix en Provence.

414

And so we're in Aix and,

uh, well, outside of it.

415

And it's this country

restaurant out in the country.

416

don't think really people

intend to stay here.

417

It is one of these restaurant with

rooms in France where there's a, you

418

know, a fancy restaurant and they

have a few rooms where if you want to

419

stay the night, you can't put the word

420

Bruce: rooms

421

Mark: in quotes.

422

Yeah, but I don't think

most people really do that.

423

They take a limo from aches or wherever

out to this restaurant and back again.

424

Okay.

425

But we didn't cause when, you know,

again, two people, one expense account.

426

So we stayed in the rooms of

this really fancy restaurant.

427

And let me just say that I.

428

opened the door, the room was cinder

blocks, painted white cinder blocks, and

429

there were filled, completely filled, fly

strips hanging all over from the ceiling.

430

If you're not familiar with that,

431

Bruce: those are those sticky yellow

tape that comes out of the canister

432

that hangs on the ceiling and flies get

433

Mark: stuck to it.

434

We were stuck here, we like the flies,

we were stuck here because we were

435

writing at the restaurant, so we had

to go to dinner and spend the night.

436

And eat dinner, but I was stuck

in this room where literally

437

I showered in my sneakers.

438

Yeah, it was disgusting.

439

I kept my tennis shoes on and

showered because I refused to put bare

440

feet on the tiles of the bathroom.

441

Can you believe this?

442

That you spend, I don't know, you spend

400 euros for dinner, 500 euros for

443

dinner, and yet the room is so disgusting.

444

You're showering in your sneakers.

445

Oh God, it was con all over again.

446

It was.

447

So.

448

We're going to tell you a

couple of stories here at the

449

end about the New York Times.

450

Now, you know the New York Times fancies

itself a serious place of journalism,

451

but let me tell you, in our experience

of writing for the New York Times, it

452

is hardly a serious place of journalism.

453

Instead, it was a place of really

weird and far out gimmicks.

454

So once the New York Times

came up with the story, which

455

actually, we didn't pitch.

456

Oh, see?

457

No, they came to us.

458

We don't pitch.

459

So

460

Bruce: here's their idea.

461

They said, so we have decided to ask

a bunch of famous bestselling authors

462

to give us a paragraph, to write us a

paragraph that says the scene, and we

463

would like you, Bruce and Mark, to come

up with a drink that would be served

464

in that scene, or that that scene is

talking about, and we will photograph it.

465

It's not

466

Mark: the cheesiest

idea you've ever heard.

467

So the first, I'm going to read it,

and Bruce can tell you what he made.

468

So, for example, they They picked people

like Jackie Collins, and they, they said,

469

Okay, Jackie Collins is gonna write a

little paragraph scene, and then you have

470

to make a cocktail that fits this scene.

471

That was the assignment.

472

Let me read you the Jackie Collins bit.

473

Lucky Santagelo, a strikingly beautiful

woman with wild black hair, olive

474

skin, and eyes darker than night,

strode into the Manhattan bar for

475

her meeting with Silvio Mancotta.

476

Ha, she thought.

477

Does this poor excuse for a mob boss

really imagine he can get one over on me?

478

No way!

479

She smiled at the barman and he nodded

back, the usual Miss Santangelo.

480

Absolutely,

481

Bruce: she replied.

482

That's the paragraph.

483

What he made her, in our opinion,

we called it a sweet revenge.

484

An ounce of grappa.

485

Topped by a teaspoon of Sambuca

and a teaspoon of creme de cassis.

486

I don't know.

487

Why

488

Mark: not?

489

It's

490

Bruce: the

491

Mark: Serious New York

Times that is doing this.

492

Tamma Janowitz, which she

wrote for this same assignment.

493

Ready?

494

It was a party of people pretending.

495

The host, A nebbishy guy

from Queens, what, nebbishy?

496

Okay, alright, alright, you gotta be

from New York to know what that means.

497

The host, a nebbishy guy from

Queens, had for years pretended to

498

be from an old New England family.

499

There was an artist, very, who was

actually too terrified to paint a

500

stroke unless he had his assistant

standing behind him saying yes or no.

501

A blonde.

502

Who was really a brunette.

503

And an English aristocrat who

had spent years pretending he

504

was a tough guy from the slums.

505

Otherwise, no one would take

him seriously as an actor.

506

Even the drinks, shocking pink

martinis with the fragrant tang of

507

pomegranate packed a lethal bite.

508

But who cared really?

509

It was all such delicious pretend fun.

510

Okay, that is the most overwritten

piece of junk I've read in a long time.

511

A blonde who is really a brunette.

512

You know what?

513

I'm going back to Henry James.

514

Mark (2): But, um, what drink did you

come up for this with the pink pants?

515

Well, I decided that

516

Bruce: that pink drink

was called Pink Panties.

517

That was the shockingly pink

518

Mark (2): martini.

519

And

520

Bruce: it was an ounce of

Absolute Courant, which is that

521

black currant flavored vodka.

522

Half ounce of Cointreau.

523

A little bit of lime juice.

524

And topped with a splash

of pomegranate juice.

525

There you are.

526

And I'm sure it serves you up, right?

527

Like a martini.

528

Well, yeah, like a Cosmo.

529

Yeah.

530

That's sort of more like a Cosmo.

531

Oh, God.

532

Now, can I tell you one more

533

Mark: story?

534

Sure.

535

So, we had to go to the photo shoot for

these drinks for the New York Times.

536

We had to show up and we were

going to style the drinks.

537

So, they had all their

props and all that stuff.

538

But, really, what Bruce had

to do was make the drinks.

539

So, we got to this one, which would

Bruce had titled Pink Panties, and, you

540

know, I thought, well, this photographer

was there, and I was there, and I said

541

to him, well, what if we put a pair

of pink women's panties in the shot

542

with the drink, right, next to it?

543

That's the New York Times.

544

That's the New York Times, right?

545

So, uh, he looked The photographer,

but he, he was this old Russian

546

man and he agreed to it.

547

So we, he went to the prop room

somewhere and found, believe it

548

or not, some pink women's panties.

549

My question, were those part of the

props or did someone leave them?

550

I don't know.

551

These are huge prop rooms

from fashion shoots.

552

There's everything here.

553

So he finds a pair of pink panties.

554

We put them on the set.

555

We take the photograph.

556

And at this point, the editor walks

in, the New York Times editor walks in.

557

He absolutely freaks out because why?

558

This is a serious newspaper.

559

We do serious journalism.

560

We're not

561

Bruce: gonna have women's

panties in a shot.

562

I'm like, dude, no, but you're

gonna print the Tamma Janowitz.

563

You're asking paragraph

564

Mark (2): Tamma Janowitz and Jackie

Collins to write crappy paragraphs and

565

make drinks up to go with them, and

you're offended at a pair of pink panties.

566

Okay?

567

Yeah.

568

Take your seriousness

where you need to take it

569

Mark: and do with it what you need to do.

570

Absolutely lost it.

571

In fact, I think he's so lost

it with Oz that that was the

572

last time we ever wrote for him.

573

It was the last time.

574

I think I had stepped over

a line by suggesting actual

575

pink panties in the shot.

576

And then fighting him on it.

577

Well, no, I really fight him.

578

We just, we're done like we'd taken it

and you know, listen, this photographer,

579

I'm sure they're paying him by the second.

580

And so he spent time setting up the shot

and taking it and then they can't use it.

581

So he's irritated.

582

The editor is irritated at me and

also believes that I don't understand

583

the gravity of the New York times.

584

So, you know, I mean,

it's the whole thing.

585

thing.

586

But listen, how can you be gravitated

if you've got Jackie Collins and

587

Tamma Janowitz writing for you?

588

I don't know.

589

Anyway.

590

So those were our stories about

writing for various food magazines.

591

We've got lots more that we can

tell you if you're interested.

592

There's so much to say.

593

But before we get to the last segment

of this podcast, let me say it would

594

be great if you could rate this

podcast or if you could write a review.

595

We're unsupported, as you know, and

some of the platforms like Apple

596

Podcasts allows you to write reviews.

597

So if you could do that,

that'd be a spectacular thing.

598

that you can support our

otherwise unsupported podcast.

599

So let's talk about what's making

us happy in food this week.

600

I can start.

601

I, one of the things that made me happy

is as you've probably heard, I am dealing

602

with our new book in layout and design.

603

And that means the designer

has put it into page format.

604

It now looks like it's

going to be printed.

605

I have a huge printout.

606

of it.

607

I'm not going to tell you

what the book is about yet.

608

I'm holding it in abeyance, but I can

tell you this is probably the most

609

beautiful book we have ever produced.

610

The designer did a spectacular

job laying it out on the page.

611

It looks, as they say in the

industry, built, meaning that it

612

looks like a book that has some

kind of heft and weight to it.

613

The photography is

gorgeous from Eric Metzger.

614

I'm just dumbfounded as I'm going

through this book, and it's making me

615

very happy because, you know, we've

written a lot of books in our career,

616

and some of them we wrote because they

fit the market, like Instant Pop books.

617

No shine on those books, but we were

catching a trend as it was happening.

618

This book, we're not catching a trend.

619

We're actually writing something we

want to write about, and I'm so happy

620

that the chance we got to write about

something we want to write about has

621

ended up looking so beautiful on the page.

622

It's just kind of undoing

me, and it's just to say.

623

It takes a giant, giant horde of people

to make a book, not just authors.

624

It takes designers and editors and

managing editors and traffickers and

625

jacket designers and font negotiators, and

it takes a lot of people to create a book.

626

So this one is kind of special,

and it's making me very happy.

627

Okay.

628

What's

629

Bruce: making me happy is a port, a

630

It was a gift from our literary agent.

631

And we've cellared it for a couple

of years and finally opened it

632

with friends the other night.

633

And it was so raisiny and molasses

y and grape y and rich and it

634

tasted like the best jam with

the best wine and dried fruit.

635

And It was an amazing port

and that was making me happy.

636

Mark: It was really crazy.

637

Even the Brit at the table was

impressed by the port, which is,

638

is, uh, quite an accomplishment.

639

So that's the podcast for this week.

640

Thanks for being on this journey with us.

641

Thanks for spending time with us.

642

We appreciate it that you have chosen

this podcast to listen to among

643

the many about food and cooking

on all of the web's airwaves.

644

Bruce: And every week we tell you

what's Making us happy in food.

645

So please go to our Facebook

group, Cooking with Bruce and

646

Mark, and share with us there.

647

What is making you

happy in food this week?

648

Because we want to know on

Cooking with Bruce and Mark.