Usually when a publisher or publicist contacts me to do a book review on Baking Delights it is about an up and coming cookbook.  I always enjoy reviewing books, I mean seriously, if I was really smart I would have a book review blog so people would send me tons and tons of free reading material..

But I don’t.  I have this awesome cooking blog with awesome readers and once in awhile I get sent awesome books. This was one of those times.

I used to read a lot.  In fact I could go through a book a day easily but with my time the way it has been that hasn’t happened in a while.  I put the book on the shelf to await the perfect moment. It took longer than I thought but once I picked up the book I finished it in two days.

I loved it.

I was set NOT to love it.  There was the occasional F-bomb and other words that I don’t appreciate so much.  So by the end of the first couple of pages I was thinking that perhaps I would put the book down…but I was so addicted that I couldn’t..and as I read saw that the words happened well within the context of the story, at times I more than likely would have said those very words myself.  Uh..and have.

The main character is a recent widow, with two children.  Her unexpected widowhood has created deep and bitter anguish and a prickly, sarcastic exterior.  It is a tradition to make and give a ‘Pology cake when bounds are over- stepped…and the cake must be sacrificial.

I laughed out loud, I wiped away tears and fought sobs..My heart pounded at times, and I wanted to jump into the book and shake some of the characters at times….The book is that good.  I am purposely not telling you much about it because I don’t want a moment of it to be ruined.  I ended up having to think through some things and I can honestly say that the Lord used this book, altho it is not Christian genre per se, to touch some scabbed parts of me.

The recipe for pology cake is in the back and there is enough food description to keep any foodie happy.

There are two scenes that I can think of that are adult.  They are not expicit by today’s standards but I thought anyone who was thinking of getting the book would want to know.  Even so, the book is amazingly worth it.

You will love it.  I promise.  Not one spoonful of adult twaddle.  Not one. If you like Jan Karon I think you will like this although it is a little more “raw”.

image:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

When Tess sent me the copy of Secret Suppers she also sent a fascinating book called Cooking with Les Dames D’Escoffier.

This is more of a cookbook/who’s who list than anything.  I really enjoyed it.  The book is broken into sections as any cookbook would be but then each section is broken down into recipes by certain Dames d’ Escoffier…Julia Child, Dorie Greenspan,  Joanne Weir, Marcella Hazan…the list goes on.

But it doesn’t stop there. There is a little triva about each of these amazing ladies to go along with the recipes.  I did not know, for example, that Dorie Greenspan was in a doctoral program for gerontology when she abandoned it in favor of becoming a food writer!

This is not a small book with twenty pages of recipes.  This is a serious work, a fantastic anthology if you will, of some of the best in the history of food.  320 pages!

Some of the recipes are:

• Winter Minestrone with Butternut Squash and Kale from Abby Mandel
• Phyllo Fontina Cheese Bites from Linda Hopkins
• Scandanavian Cardamom Braid from Beatrice Ojakangas
• Catalan Pasta with Garlic Sauce from Marilyn Tausend
• Burgundian Spiced Caramels from Jennifer McGlinn
• Gingered Sweet Potato Parsnip Puree from Lee Wooding

I have made a few of the recipes, and I have played with a few of the recipes.  The Anise & Vanilla carrots were based on the Anise carrots in the book.  The recipes are easy to follow and interesting but not so unusual that you would not actually make them.  This is real food, stuff the husband and kids will eat without making weird jokes and odd remarks..and fixing themselves peanut butter and jelly instead.

So, what do you think? Is this something you think you would want to add to your collection?

Feel free to ask questions about it and I will try to answer…

Image:MaryeAudet

Post from: Baking Delights