Spendthrift Shoestring

Gourmet, R.I.P

I just want to take a quick minute to mourn the passing of Gourmet. I will truly miss the magazine. I will miss its editorial enthusiasm, its beauty, its breadth, and its influence. The loss of Gourmet will be deeply felt. There is nothing to replace it on the horizon. It will be missed by hundreds of thousands of people who love good food, beautiful layouts, contemporary ideas about travel and cuisine, and lovely kitchen products.

This is an undeniably sad day.

British Elle on Hip Hostels

OK, I'm now officially blaming August for Spendthrift Shoestring's dreadful drop-off in posts. I've got several Nordic adventure posts on deck yet have been, apparently, unable to summon the energy to edit and post them. They are forthcoming. I swear.

Meanwhile, the September British Elle made its way to Fort Greene last week courtesy of a houseguest in from London. (Spoiler for those with unread copies of the issue lying around: cover girl Lindsay Lohan is troubled!) I was interested in the uncredited feature on stylish hostels deep into the magazine (pp 346-7). Five hostels are reviewed, and the least expensive of these is Gyreum in Sligo, where the cheapest double is just €34. The article closes with a plug for hostel booking giant Hostelworld.

Happily, the global recession has brought with it a lot of features like these. I love them. I wish magazine editors would take the next step and begin to extol the coolness of creative, independent, budget-friendly travel on a regular basis. Reduced glorification of the aspirational model of travel would be a good thing all around.

Sunset Magazine: Fresh February Blast

Nothing puts me into a California mood like sighting a copy of Sunset at the newsstand. Sunset, for the uninitiated, is a monthly magazine devoted to the Western lifestyle. The February issue I picked up in San Francisco last week is full of good, short, item-based features trumpeting new and interesting things across the western flank of North America. Highlights include LA Chinatown grub, Denver's buzzing RiNo district, and an ode to the Sonoran hot dog, which the editors fit into their "new Western essential" rubric. I also love the magazine's climate zone maps, which are keyed to planting and shopping suggestions. The Feb issue also has a wonderfully suggestive piece on lawn-free landscaping, as practiced by Sacramento landscape designer Roberta Walker.

Budget hotel hounds should pay attention to the issue's "20 Hidden Getaways" feature, which includes write-ups of 20 guesthouses with nightly rates of $250 or under. The best values: Blue Lake Ranch (near Durango), with rates starting at $90; Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, with rates starting at $80; and Hotel Cielo Rojo (San Francisco, Nayarit), with rates beginning at $75.

Check out Sunset's online travel blog here.

Feb Budget Travel: Mixed Bag

I returned last night from Jordan to the February issue of Budget Travel in my mailbox. I'm growing accustomed to reacting schizophrenically to each issue of the magazine. This one has an absolutely fantastic feature on boutique hostels. Included are Mama Shelter in Paris (with rooms beginning at €79), Stay in Los Angeles (rooms beginning at $65), and Lub d in Bangkok (rooms with shared bathroom beginning at $30). All of the properties are beautiful and aesthetically interesting.

Less pleasing is the "Where Next" feature on various Caribbean destinations. The hotel rate range begins at $150 and proceeds up to $270 per night. I've just booked a room for $50 a night in an old sugar mill in the middle of high season on Nevis—a property surrounded by several acres of fruit trees just feet from a lovely pool, no less. In March Matt and I will spend a few nights on Terre-de-Haut off Guadeloupe, where our room at an exquisite little hotel will run, somewhat splurgily for me, €82. Perhaps, if I hadn't just made these reservations, I wouldn't find the inclusion of the above properties so annoying. But I have, and I am prompted to wonder, yet again, just how hotels at $270 per night belong in a budget travel magazine.

Frugalista

According to Grant Barrett, a lexicographer writing in the New York Times today, "frugalista" is one of 2008's buzzwords.

Its meaning? "A person who is frugal but fashionable."

Finally, a word for the crossroads of frugality and fashion! Long-term practitioners of style on a budget must feel vindicated. 

The 2008 Media Graveyard, Plus One (Alive & Healthy) Discovery

This has been a year of spectacular financial collapses, and the world of magazine and newspaper publishing has not been spared any pain. The New York Sun, with its very good arts coverage, fell at the end of September. I especially miss the contributions of the Sun's London correspondent Zoe Strimpel, which made London feel immediate and nearby.

Then there's Organize Magazine, which closed up shop over the summer. Until recently, I knew nothing about the "organizing" craze, which turns on the mass desire to reduce clutter. I found a copy of the May/June issue of Organize just a few weeks ago on a Target store magazine rack and, needing something to distract me, snapped it up. It quickly became clear how much I needed it. The article on refrigerator reorganization in particular was pretty irresistible. Articles on storage, home and office electronics recycling, and a family reunion planning primer may all, granted, send the obsessive-compulsive-leaning into rages of perfectionism, yet they simultaneously provide much-needed encouragement for the organization-challenged. Oh how I wish Organize were still around. I'd love to pen a list of trip organizing tips for them.

Through a mess of links I came across while researching Organize, I discovered Re-Nest, a great blog within the Apartment Therapy family focused on green living. Its object refurbishment and reuse suggestions are particularly strong.

Print Crush: Vogue Entertaining + Travel

My latest print crush comes from Australia. Vogue Entertaining + Travel is big and bold, an oversize glossy that fuses the pleasures of high-end grub and travel. The default attention to trends and events in Australia makes it feel very fresh. The Australian restaurant scene is very exciting, and the magazine hits this point home again and again. If the cuisine scene in Australia doesn't excite you then you probably don't really like eating in the first place.

The Aug/Sept issue, which I picked up yesterday, is full of interesting features and enthralling nuggets. Most exciting are the bulletins relating to Aussie food and drink, like the news that Sydney's Toby's Estate has opened up a Melbourne outpost, or the tidbit that the fabulously named Elvis Abrahanowicz has opened a casual Argentinian diner-bar next to his extremely popular Bodega (in Sydney.)

There's also a splashy feature on Las Vegas by Michael Walters, with pretty pictures by Julien Capmeil. It reimagines Vegas as a home of old-fashioned kitsch, and points to the town's eco-friendly park and arts district. It's made me actually want to visit Las Vegas, something that the past decade and a half of hype and bluster has failed to do. Also of note: a food tour of Hyderabad by Matt Preston and a whirl through Melbourne's retail and restaurants, also by Matt Preston.

I shelled out $13.95 for a copy of the August/September issue, and I don't regret dropping the cash. In Australia, the magazine retails for AUD8.95 (about $6).

Good Travel Media Roundup: hidden europe, NYT, Monocle

My very favorite publication under the enormous umbrella of European travel is hidden europe, a mesmerizing chronicle of the continent's forgotten corners and terrains. The magazine's September issue includes a fascinating piece by Karlos Zurutuza on the pseudostate of Transdniestr. Read an excerpt here. And then order a copy or two of the magazine.

My sister's very good friend Sophia Kishkovsky had a bang-up piece in the New York Times yesterday on Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. Kishkovsky looks at the presence of Muslim and Russian Orthodox monuments in the city and provides a context for the city's emergent status as a tourist destination.

In the October issue of Monocle, I liked the Lisbon recommendations, which include a mention of A Vida Portuguesa, a shop selling a range of traditional Portuguese products. The "Inventory" section is also good. (Choice item: the beautifully packaged Laitilan sodas.) Also exciting is the overview of Montserrat, a lovely neighborhood in Buenos Aires.

Five German Discoveries

I really enjoyed the time I had in Germany before and after my Balkans adventure. I haven't spent any time in Germany since 2006, and it was great to immerse myself in German idioms for several days.

Following is a list of five discoveries that delighted and intrigued me.

1. Milka with Daim. The mere sight of Milka's violet wrapping paper makes me hungry. I know that my love of milk chocolate disqualifies me from the good chocolate snob leagues, but I don't really care. Everyone knows that nothing makes milk chocolate better than liberal sprinklings of toffee throughout. This confection does just that, and it's dreamily perfect. Apparently, drfossie agrees.

2. Turkish language signage. This may not be new at all, but my recollection is that most public signage in Germany—regarding, say, which objects should not be thrown into toilets—has historically been restricted to German, English, French, Italian, and occasionally Spanish. The appearance of the Turkish language in such contexts is a no-brainer, considering that Germans of Turkish descent comprise the largest immigrant group in Germany by far. (Incidentally, I was also much more aware of the presence of Deutschtürken/innen in the German media on this visit. One media phenomenon, Gülcan Kamps (née Karahanci) seemed to follow me everywhere I went.)

3. How awesome the Süddeutsche Zeitung is. I think it might just be the best newspaper in the world. I really enjoyed Robert Knight's article in Monday's edition on the Germanization of southern Carinthia. It was fifty years ago this autumn that the southern Austrian state limited bilingual education dramatically. Knight writes about the introduction of bilingual education in the first years after the Second World War. The system was the brainchild of Josef Tischler, an ethnic Slovene who for a time was a member of the state government. Tischler sought to create a "second Switzerland" in Carinthia, within which Slovenian and German would coexist fruitfully. Alas, as we all know, Carinthia chose a more provincial path.

4. Great trashy pop tunes. Every time I turned on VIVA I came across delightful poppy songs, like "Florida Lady" by Frauenarzt & Manny Marc featuring Alexander Marcus, which samples Fancy's drastically underappreciated 1984 disco tune "Slice Me Nice." Also satisfying: sugary "2 Herzen" by Kate & Ben; the moody "So Soll Es Bleiben" by Ich & Ich; and, because shame is unknown to me, "Häschenparty" by Schnuffel.

5. Air Berlin. Free drinks, a sandwich, and newspapers and magazines on my cheap flight? Yes please.

Three Stylish Yet Affordable Guesthouses

Yesterday I finally got ahold of the July Wallpaper, which is fashioned as an insider's guide. This theme produces an interesting smattering of properties in the "Arrivals" section, a few of which are moderately priced. Room National, a tiny, very stylish b&b in Antwerp, grabbed my attention (lowest double €95). Another gem for the budget-conscious courtesy of the feature is Moorstone Guest House in Devon, where doubles begin at £60 (singles at £50).

And then, beyond the pages of the magazine, there's Pebble Hotel in St. Ives (Cornwall), where I'll be staying for a night week after next. I'll surely have much more to say about it after my visit, but all signs point to a night of affordable style (high-season doubles begin at £47; singles at £45.)