Save Me The Plums

I have read many of Ruth Riechl's other memoirs and was looking forward to reading this new book.
It did not disappoint.  Save Me The Plums was a fascinating description of the world of magazine publishing and a look into the world of Gourmet magazine in particular. 

Ruth has had a varied,  interesting, and exciting career.  Her travels eating her way around the world and meeting the most famous chefs and authors made me envious as I read the book.  She has been a food critic for the New York Times and worked at newspapers in California, but the best job ever seems to have been her ten years as the editor of Gourmet magazine.

I remember subscribing to the magazine in the years she was the editor.  I was a newly married young mother, staying home and wanting to cook delicious dinners for my family.  So many of the ideas Ruth talks about in the book were directly aimed at me during those years.  So this book was very easy to relate to.

Her descriptions of food and cooking are mouthwatering.  "There's something soothing about peeling apples, about the way they come whispering out of their skins. Slicing them is another pleasure, and I listened for the juicy crunch of the knife sliding through the flesh.  I cut into the lemon, treasuring the scent of the aromatic oils as they flew into the air."  You can feel the slippery apple skins, and hear the juicy crunch and smell the lemon as you are reading the passage.  It is beautiful written.

She talks about her personal life and how the decisions she makes in her work life are influenced by her family and friends.  There were two very important lessons she learned along the way and shared with her readers.  I want to remember them and use them as I go forward in life.   One was, "...one of life's secrets: Luxury is best appreciated in small portions. When it becomes routine it loses its allure."    As she travels through Paris in search of a story about Paris on a low budget, she is reminded that it is exciting "to abandon security and run toward the life that is waiting."  That is important advice to us all, enjoy everyday and every experience and don't worry about the rules and the to do list.   The other important quote is,  "Every world has its extraordinary side.  It's just that so few of us know how to find it."   Take nothing for granted, I think is the message.

There are some entertaining antidotes and some delicious recipes.  I wish had continued to subscribe to Gourmet magazine while it was still be published and I also wish I could go out to the newsstand and pick up a copy right now.