CONFESSION! I am an addict. I got hooked early on. My grandmother was my first supplier. While eating homemade donuts with a side of chocolate kisses and a glass of milk, grandma showed me a McCall’s magazine. I was not interested. Then she turned to the page with Betsy McCall, the paper doll with great clothes. We cut out the doll and clothes and I was hooked!
My mother only read True Romance magazine, which I thought was icky because I thought boys were icky. I never sat by them in school. I never planned to date one, so marriage was certainly out of the question. I guess mom had forgotten that boys and men all had cooties!
Later when I married and set up housekeeping I relied on magazines like Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, Woman’s Day and Family Circle for decorating, cooking and beauty tips. Eventually I subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens in order to learn how to grow house plants and grow vegetables. They were like textbooks with pretty pictures.
When I started collecting antiques, I relied on Country Living and County Home magazines on how to decorate with antiques.
Then came Martha Stewart Living magazine. I was already watching Martha on tv, and I proudly announced that I was a Martha Stewart wannabe. Women either really loved her or hated her. The haters said that she had a whole staff to create all her ideas, and a housekeeper to boot. The lovers copied her devoutly. Alas, we disciples could never reach the height of homekeeping, cooking, canning, decorating and gardening that Martha set the bar for, but we kept trying.
The older I got, I realized that beauty tips and makeovers espoused by the magazines I read were all for much younger women. That made me unhappy and insecure. I started reading more magazines like Art and Antiques and Archeology Today and Victoria (do not confuse this with Victoria’s Secret, the underwear store). This is a magazine about how Victorian women lived and decorated. It had many articles about Jane Austen and the Brontes with a few tea time recipes and lots of antique furniture, clothing and china, AND NO BEAUTY TIPS!
Then the articles in some of my favorite magazines started to confuse me. The first half of the magazine was filled with recipes for rich food and decadent desserts, and the second half was filled with dieting advise and exercise routines. It seemed like the articles were tempting me with fattening food, and then shaming me if I ate them and gained weight. Obviously something was wrong with my metabolism.
Then I noticed that many magazines were starting to be more like catalogs with pages of merchandise for sale! I also realized that many magazines were lowering their prices for subscriptions and offering free gifts like tote bags to sweeten the deal. Pinterest and computer cooking sites and blogs were taking away their customers.
I still enjoy some magazines, but Pinterest is my new addiction! This recipe did come from a magazine.
Tomato Mozzarella Salad
3 large tomatoes, sliced (preferably just picked from your garden)
8 oz. mozzarella, sliced thin
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
On a large serving platter, alternate tomatoes and mozzarella slices. In a jar with lid, combine the oil, salt and pepper; shake well. Drizzle over tomatoes and mozzarella. Sprinkle with basil. Serves 6-8.
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