Cooks Illustrated distasteful emails

"timbrel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I cut
out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few

paragraphs

Quoted message said:

on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

My solution was to take a deep breath and stop any contact
with that miserable company. I am lucky to have a friend who
still subscribes to the magazine although failing that the local
public library probably has copies for browsing.

pavane

"pavane" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

"timbrel" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

Quoted message said:

My solution was to take a deep breath and stop any contact
with that miserable company. I am lucky to have a friend who
still subscribes to the magazine although failing that the local
public library probably has copies for browsing.

I subscribe to the magazine and have not had any problems, but I
have heard that they are a nightmare to deal with. I find all magazine
publishers a pain in the butt. People have complained about Cook's
books in that, you buy one and you're in the fight of your life to get
them to stop sending and billing you for them.

I'm quite sure they will not change the content of their letters, so if
you don't like them, I guess you just have to skip that part.

nancy

timbrel said:

I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I cut
out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few paragraphs
on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

Bliss

I agree. I even tried just subscribing for online access to escape
Kimball. His "folksy" wisdom makes my skin crawl. Watching him on TV
gives me the same reaction it does some about Sandra Lee. Only she has
better [censored], though I guess he could buy a pair the same place she
did.

When I had some difficulties accessing "special features" online last
year, I got such a runaround of nonsense and misinformation that I did
not renew the subscription online, either.

Years ago I had trouble with their paper subscription when they sent
me 3 back issues instead of starting my sub with the newest issue.
That took 4 months to settle when I wrote "cancel" on their first
invoice and after many letters and phone calls, they threatened to
send it to collection. I told them to go on and do it. I never heard
back after that. Granted, that is likely a service they use, and not
the magazine personnel, themselves.

Are the articles helpful? Sometimes. Are the recipes good? Sometimes.
I liked the drawings on the back covers. That is really the only thing
I miss.

Boron

"Boron Elgar" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

timbrel said:

I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I cut
out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few paragraphs
on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

Bliss

I agree. I even tried just subscribing for online access to escape
Kimball. His "folksy" wisdom makes my skin crawl. Watching him on TV
gives me the same reaction it does some about Sandra Lee. Only she has
better [censored], though I guess he could buy a pair the same place she
did.

When I had some difficulties accessing "special features" online last
year, I got such a runaround of nonsense and misinformation that I did
not renew the subscription online, either.

Years ago I had trouble with their paper subscription when they sent
me 3 back issues instead of starting my sub with the newest issue.
That took 4 months to settle when I wrote "cancel" on their first
invoice and after many letters and phone calls, they threatened to
send it to collection. I told them to go on and do it. I never heard
back after that. Granted, that is likely a service they use, and not
the magazine personnel, themselves.

Are the articles helpful? Sometimes. Are the recipes good? Sometimes.
I liked the drawings on the back covers. That is really the only thing
I miss.

Boron

Thanks fyi. I just 2 days ago threw out an advert for a subscription with
the free grater. I decided I like the idea of the whole green books in years
2000, 2001, etc. But, so far I've not bought one.
Watching ATK I've not noticed him talking about rural life, tho. Vermont
might be the 'in place' to be rural. I had a rich cousin retire there.
Brrrhhh!
Dee Dee
'Commonwealth' of Virginia
"Rural" Shenandoah Valley
Tee Hee

Boron Elgar said:

invoice and after many letters and phone calls, they threatened to
send it to collection.

Pompous Bow-tie Man is a businessman. He's a journalism graduate and
his whole purpose is to build a media empire. So far he's right on
schedule. Cooking is just his subject of choice because of its
universal appeal. I notice he's taken steps to hide this basic fact
by almost completely eliminating any information about his past life
on the web. He does't give a [censored] if your hollandaise sauce breaks.
He wants your money.

nb

"notbob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Boron Elgar said:

invoice and after many letters and phone calls, they threatened to
send it to collection.

Pompous Bow-tie Man is a businessman. He's a journalism graduate and
his whole purpose is to build a media empire. So far he's right on
schedule. Cooking is just his subject of choice because of its
universal appeal. I notice he's taken steps to hide this basic fact
by almost completely eliminating any information about his past life
on the web. He does't give a [censored] if your hollandaise sauce breaks.
He wants your money.

nb

Go to the front of the line, nb.
Thanks,
Dee Dee

In article <[email hidden]>,

timbrel said:

I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I cut
out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few paragraphs
on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

Bliss

I actually quit both the magazine and on-line subscription. I honestly
don't miss it. I found that more than half the time my idea of what
makes something the best is quite different from theirs. Our of those
recipes where we agreed many of them didn't work for me or taste as I
wished in the end.

I have far greater success with Fine Cooking and I don't have to read
about walks in the woods or fly fishing.

marcella

timbrel said:

I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I cut
out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few paragraphs
on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

Since I haven't seen the magazine, paper or e-version, for a while I
don't understand what you're getting at. Did they publish a
pro-hunting letter, or was it an article? In any case, why does it
generate such a response? Is it that you don't like hunting?

I don't read any magazines that I agree with 100% word for word and I
find it really easy to skip things that I don't like. What keeps you
from just reading the good cooking stuff -- it used to be quite good.
-aem

Quoted message said:

I don't read any magazines that I agree with 100% word for word and I
find it really easy to skip things that I don't like. What keeps you
from just reading the good cooking stuff -- it used to be quite good.
-aem

I get C.I... I like C.I and I bypass the Prairie Home Companion-
Garrison Kieller wannabee parts. Big damn deal! So you have to turn a
whole extra page to avoid it... if anyone's going to [censored] about that,
they got some much deeper issues than a hunting or makin' cheese back
on the farm story.
And regarding those cooking books?! Here's an idea... you know they're
not free and they're going to keep sending them to you until you tell
them to stop. Anyone with half-a-brain knows that the whole "try before
you buy- send it back if you don't like it", is just a means to get you
hooked. If you didn't want the book... don't open the packaging and
write "return to sender" and leave it in your mailbox. Don't [censored]
about being seduced into opening the box and then whining 'cause it's a
hassle to then return it or discontinue your membership. Hell... we've
all been hooked by BMG music at one time or another... lesson learned,
duh.

Anyway.. this is my last posting, so I figured I may as well go out
with a bang. I should've known what to expect back after my first
posting about a pineapple martini and the repurcussions of having my
head chewed off by the intolerant, idiot martini purist in the bunch.

So, to those few of you who I've enjoyed discussing cooking and
sharing recipes with I say in the words of Alton Brown, "Good Eats!"
And to those intolerant, inconsiderate, self-rightous few who's sole
purpose for posting is to belittle and instigate argument, I say in my
own words, "may you choke on your next bite and may the parasites and
bacteria of a thousand raw chickens infest your bowels."

Kev

Kev, that was my point about my criticism of CI. I like discussing
cooking, I don't want to wade through the glorification of country life
and its "values" to get at the cooking. I don't want to open an email
expecting cooking and find a rhapsody about hunting (or even something
I might love if its not cooking). I find Kimball's stuff a sublte
putdown of the rest of us out there. I posted here to see if I was the
only one who was annoyed by it. Not to instigate argument etc. I didn't
read your post about pineapple martini so I can't comment. Sorry I
pushed you over the edge, I tend to be the live and let live type, as
long as I'm not put down for my own views on cooking, or anything else.

timbrel said:

I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I cut
out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few paragraphs
on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine except
it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.

Bliss

The walk in the woods and noble yeoman schtick don't bother me that
much, but I am getting more and more tired of the approach to some of
the recipes. My most recent grouse was the current issue's article on
lamb. The notion of separating a leg of lamb into "mini-roasts" is
OK, though it likely means that I get less rare lamb and that, for me
is not a good thing. What got me was that far too many places in both
the main article and the secondary one, they kept harping on "gamy
taste, gamy taste, gamy taste". It seems to me that if one does not
LIKE lamb, one should cook something else. From what I could tell,
the objective was lamb indistinguishable from young, corn-fed,
unaged, beef. That is to say as near to tasteless as possible. That
refrain of let's make "stuff" only lets leave out anything that either
takes more than an hour to do or tastes distinctive.

On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 10:09:42 -0500, Boron Elgar
<[email hidden]> connected the dots and wrote:

~On 8 Feb 2006 05:09:18 -0800, "timbrel" <[email hidden]> wrote:
~
~>I was a charter subscriber to cooks and to the email newsletter. I
cut
~>out the paper issues because I couldn't stand Chris Kimball's holier
~>than thou articles about rural living. I liked the email because it
~>gave me access to the online version where I could ignore the
~>editorials. Now the latest email contains a "delightful" few
paragraphs
~>on the joy of hunting! Wish I could boycott the whole magazine
except
~>it does have good cooking stuff. Anyone else feel the same way! And
~>they never respond to negative letters, take it from me.
~>
~>Bliss
~
~
~I agree. I even tried just subscribing for online access to escape
~Kimball. His "folksy" wisdom makes my skin crawl. Watching him on TV
~gives me the same reaction it does some about Sandra Lee. Only she
has
~better [censored], though I guess he could buy a pair the same place she
~did.
~
~When I had some difficulties accessing "special features" online last
~year, I got such a runaround of nonsense and misinformation that I
did
~not renew the subscription online, either.
~
~Years ago I had trouble with their paper subscription when they sent
~me 3 back issues instead of starting my sub with the newest issue.
~That took 4 months to settle when I wrote "cancel" on their first
~invoice and after many letters and phone calls, they threatened to
~send it to collection. I told them to go on and do it. I never heard
~back after that. Granted, that is likely a service they use, and not
~the magazine personnel, themselves.
~
~Are the articles helpful? Sometimes. Are the recipes good? Sometimes.
~I liked the drawings on the back covers. That is really the only
thing
~I miss.
~
~
~Boron

My sister can't stand Cooks, but she loves Taunton Press's Fine
Cooking (I think that's the name of it). Says the recipes are as good
or better, and she prefers the photos to the illustrations.

She ordered 2 books for a gift for me, and when they hadn't arrived in
three weeks, wrote or called to complain. They sent her an extra copy
of one of the books.

maxine in ri