Oooh I love the thrumm of modernity. It was a brief fantasy last Friday in the Claisbrook House of Bondage but the normality of independent publishing was restored with a 'til midnight stint of mag packing to white wine, the smell of heat sealed plastic, and the pleasing sounds of DLR Van Halen and Heart to get the mag to the post office by Saturday morning.
This is the fifth issue and my third as editor and while the previous two were gaviscon and instant coffee fuelled festivals of dread, this one was an actual pleasure to do. So calm was I for all but a few days, that I'd assumed my brain had gone into some sort of self defence mechanism and placated me with endorphins. The actual reason is that I seem to have got my editor thing together and systems systems systems. None of this would of course have been possible without Kate the fabulous and hard working graphic designer, Jeff the magnificent and multi-tasking photographer, and the fourth Beatle (if there were three) and Cyrano to my Christian (without the nose) the wise and hard but fair Kate. It also involved a lot of help from basically very lovely people doing bookwork and proofing, writing and photography. I find it hard to look at the mag when it's all done but the process has always been a pleasure.
Anyhoo regular and potential readers and subscribers, hope you like Summer Spice because it's rather good. With stories interlaced in intermeshing on multiple levels, there's stories on the people who produce and get oysters, prawns, pearl meat, and scallops; recipes aplenty; chats with chefs; complicated diagrams; 14 actual jokes; Italy; Singapore; buckwheat farmers; a guide to Beaufort Street; a bespoke cocktail; obscure reference to Margaret Thatcher and ice-cream; reasons to drink Verdelho right now; and, my personal fave, instructions with pictures on how to STUFF FIVE (5) BIRDS INSIDE EACHOTHER!!1!1!1!!!!! (and you can win one).
Subscribe for yourself or for someone deserving for christmas. Available in all good newsagents (hassle them) and at the following outlets around WA.
Fresh Provisions (Mt Lawley), Sealanes (Freo), Kakulas Sister (Freo), Wine Liasons (Freo), The Home Provedore (Freo), O2H (Nedlands), The Grocer (Nedlands), Lady Kitchener (Claremont), Black Duck Pantry (Albany), Blackwood Kitchen (Bridgetown), Seashack (Esperance), Get Stuffed Olive Company (Gingin), Loose Produce (Como), Margaret Riviera (Cowaramup), Picobello Patisserie (Bicton), Swansea Street Markets (East Vic Park), Gourmet Centro (Subiaco), Vanilla (Fremantle), Angelo Street Markets (South Perth), and Food for Me (East Vic Park), Clayton's Quality Meats (South Perth) Kitchen Warehouse (Osborne Park), Margaret River Venison (Cowaramup)