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MY MOTHER'S SOUTHERN KITCHEN

Name: MY MOTHER'S SOUTHERN KITCHEN
Author: James Villas
ISBN: 0-02-622015-6

RECIPES AND REMINISCENCES

by James Villas with Martha Pearl Villas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1994

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Martha Pearl Villas has served meals to everyone from Pierre Franey to Craig Claiborne, and her son James is food and wine editor at Town and Country and a cookbook author (French Country Cooking, not reviewed, etc.). They team up here to offer classic southern cuisine with homespun anecdotes and inventive twists. In the introduction, James admits that his family doesn't ``pay any mind to diets, fats, salt, and cholesterol,'' and that's obvious in recipes for dishes like cheese and eggs (with ten eggs, one and a half cups of milk, and a pound and a half of cheddar to serve six to eight people) and the turkey roasted with bacon slices, served with giblet gravy and a cornbread dressing that requires a stick of butter and four eggs. And often side dishes that could have been light feel heavy (the summer tomato pie, while thoroughly delicious with its savory blend of fresh herbs, also includes a cup of mayonnaise, two cups of cheddar, and half a cup of Parmesan). Luckily, an unflagging commitment to taste also translates into many more healthful dishes as well, from the wonderfully loopy cold shrimp and wild rice salad to the succulent paper-bag roasted chicken. The recipes are generally well written, but the occasional use of mise-en-place (how many onions make up one cup of chopped onions?) and failure to provide detailed information (how many people know that for a salmon mousse to ``chill till firm,'' it must set overnight?) prove irritating in an otherwise charming and sophisticated effort. Comfort food at its best.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-02-622015-6

Page Count: 291

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.