Good Grape Wine Company

Great food and superb wines tempt me. Thus, I am an aficionado of food magazines. Three magazines (Food & Wine, Gourmet, Southern Living) nested in my mail box monthly and all of them satiate my longing for great food and wine.

Food & Wine is supreme. It promotes dishes that are 1) fast, 2) healthy and 3) can be made ahead and each recipes gives you the time needed to prepare, the recipes' calories, fat and the carb. count.

I really like the table of contents "Recipes" page, where all the magazine's recipes are categorized much like a cookbook (Soup&Starter, Salads&Vegetables, Pasta, Grains&Breads, Fish/Shellfish, Poultry, Meat, Desserts).

When there are recipe photos they are good to very good (more photo would be a welcome addition) thus enticing you to attempt the recipe.

One suggestion for improvement would be a column of "best buys" wines or "Good wines under $10". Most of the wines that are profiled are, for me, expensive (i.e. 1/2003 issue `Ice Wines' $52, $75, $65 $17, $35, $40).

Food & Wine is excellent in all regards and highly recommended.


Tasty review...   December 31, 2002
 2 out of 9 found this review helpful

My husband is a culinary student, so I ordered this magazine subscription. He looks forward to each issue, and is always finding ideas when he reads F&W. I know we'll subscribe for many years to come. This is a fun magazine for those who enjoy cooking, both at home or in a professional setting.


Get your affluent lifestyle here...   December 18, 2002
 36 out of 37 found this review helpful

"Food & Wine" is a classic doctor's office magazine, particularly if that doctor is a plastic surgeon. The target audience is clearly affluent, but the advice and articles work for most anyone.

The magazine offers a wide-ranging, monthly look at several topics: home; travel; restaurant overviews; general cooking info with recipes and tips on quick meal prep; healthy eating/lifestyle; and a few wine-related articles, including food pairings and an insights into wine types and varietals.

The layout of the magazine is easy on the eyes. The design (photography and text) is in keeping with other magazine of this genre; in short, it is high-quality, but not groundbreaking. For the visually-challenged, though, the font size selection is definitely on the small side. As for the writing, it is neither better or worse than the competition. At between 100 and 120 pages, "Food & Wine" is perhaps a bit skimpy page-wise, but still average for the cover price. And while there are many ads for upper crust products, the magazine wisely clusters them in such a way that articles are less broken up over scattered pages than some other magazines - a nice touch.

The recipes reflect the current trends - multi-ethnic, Puck-ish, and with a bent for unusual pairings of ingredients. But to their credit, a simple scan of the recipes shows few of the bizarre, impossible-to-find ingredients that are the bread and butter of some other gourmet magazines.

Good magazine for a decent price that makes it worthwhile for even us "commoners".


Good Recipies and ideas, rather upper end in aim   November 15, 2002
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I subscribed to this magizine for a year and liked it. I typically don't get more than one year of a subscription to this kind of magizine because collecting many years worth of magizines is more trouble to keep, and look through for recipies than what is practical.

One years worth of this magizine has given me a wide range of recipies and ideas for dinners and wine selections. My complaint is that most of the recipies use a lot of hard to find and expensive ingredients. If you're on a grocery budget, you'll be quite limited. It has articles about putting together dinner parties, and pictures of the home and guests the dinner parties are held in. In this, I found it interresting to see how different people live....although I doubt I'd ever end up at a posh dinner party discussing my summer beach house, winter ski lodge, and that great set of $80 per peice china that I just had to have....I'm more likely to be at a potluck of mix n match dishes.

Although I don't have exotic ingredients at my disposal, I have been able to alter many of the ideas presented to better fit my needs and time constraints. I found the issue las Thanksgiving on how to do a big thanksgiving dinner very usefull, and incoperated many of the recipies into thanksgiving and christmas dinners with great success.


Paris Restaurant Reviews   October 5, 2002
 6 out of 9 found this review helpful

While I would hardly call myself a wine connoisseur, I do enjoy this magazine for the articles and recipes.

The Columns in the September 2002 issue include:

From the Editor - an always inspirational look at what is happening in the food world by Dana Cowin

"Fashions in food do come and go, and that's okay. Food should involve a sense of discovery. There's excitement in trying a new ingredient or visiting a new culinary destination." -Dana Cowin

Contributors
Letters
Web Chat - with Joyce Jue

How do I cure my new wok?
What are some important wok rules?
Should I stir-fry all of my ingredients at once, or cook meat separately?
What kind of soy sauce should I use?

Pairing of the Month
News & Notes
Home
Travel - an article about Mexico
Restaurants - The best new places to eat in Paris
Master Cook
Entertaining
Well-Being
Kitchens - the newest gadgets and kitchenware
Wine Matters
Wine Guide
Fast - Basil Chicken Curry with Coconut Rice
Directory

Last Bite - Plum Tart

The recipes are ranked according to "fast," "healthy," and "make ahead." They include soups and starters, salads and vegetables, pasta and rice, fish and shellfish, meat, poultry and desserts.

~The Rebecca Review
Author of Seasoned with Love: A collection of
best-loved recipes inspired by over 40 cultures