Ode to Gourmet

I finally cracked the cover on my October Gourmet last night. I'd been too sad to do it for quite a few days. Once I had it opened I was sad that there wasn't more in there -- not that the usual stuff wasn't enough-- but I was hoping for more.

I wanted enough Gourmet advice to get me through the rest of my life: restaurant and travel trips for my upcoming jaunt to France and Switzerland, a bevy of recipes for easy dinners and more elaborate, beautiful spreads to make me hope that someday I too might get to eat lunch on a small boat floating in the Adriatic Sea. The Restaurant Issue is a gorgeous issue, but I didn't want it to be the final issue.

I am not ready to say goodbye to Gourmet. I thought we still had so much time ahead of us and I was very much looking forward to a future together: I'd continue to save the magazines, lean on them heavily for inspiration, and be wowed by how well the recipes were written and how good everything turned out.

But it was more than that, too. Twice I've received lovely rejection notes from editors at Gourmet who took the time to read food essays I'd sent. Both times they responded kindly, saying there wasn't a space for Gourmet for me right now. Maybe later, they implied.

I guess there won't be a later, but it doesn't mean I won't continue to savor every bit of Gourmet I have left and hope that it will be resurrected someday soon.