Schloss and Bookman (Fifty Ways to Cook Most Everything, not reviewed) have a firm vision of what we eat todaythey just don't understand how we cook it. The basic principle is: Prepare one large dinner on Sunday, and then ingredients reserved from the preparation of that dinner will interlock with the recipes for the rest of the week. That format is too rigid, however. For example, one week's Sunday menu of Roasted Vegetable Paella, Artichokes Braised with Fennel, and Warm Tapenade Bread sounds appetizing, but if you don't plan to make Grilled Vegetable and Chävre Pizza, Frittata Carciofi, and Grilled Black Chicken later in the week, you're left with odds and ends like 1´ cups eggplant mixture and ´ cup olive paste. Basically, if one recipe from this book catches your eye, you're virtually locked into an entire week of set menus, and these aren't recipes that can be manipulated easily, since often what's set aside is a portion of a single vegetable or a mixture that's prepared halfway. Nor are concessions made for those who don't need four servings at every meal or who just might not like an individual recipe. That's a shame, because there are some great, quick dishes with a lot of interesting touches in these pages, and the recipes are quite clear. Brown rice cooked with soy sauce and then tossed with a pecan-garlic mixture was savory and crunchy, and radicchio braised in balsamic vinegar and red wine was delicious and tender. Codependent recipes render this book dysfunctional.
Pub Date: March 24, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-12720-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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